Signs leading into town warned, “No alcohol on beach/Special event,” but aside from slightly heavier traffic, you might not have known that a volleyball tournament was underway by the pier Friday during the late afternoon. Downtown stores remained open and many people enjoyed the beach not far from the Charlie Saikley 6-Man finals.
Still, a few hundred enthusiastic observers gathered around the courts as the teams duked it out in the hot late afternoon sun.
Around 5:15 p.m., the crowd congealed around court four as the team Fletch and a Stack, wearing the signature Lakers jerseys and afro wigs of their namesake Chevy Chase movie, played the final game against the Panchos, dressed in light blue trunks.
A man in an Elvis wig provided a running commentary from behind the guys from Fletch, peppered with insults directed at the Panchos. Speaking through a megaphone, he pointed out one of his team’s players who had on a waist-length black wig and was shorter than the rest.
“We call him Seabiscuit,” said Elvis. “He has the body of a filly, and the heart of a thoroughbred.”
Fletch and a Stack prevailed, 15 to 6. When the game was over, the yellow jerseys and their fans rushed the court, hugging and cheering. As they gathered for a team photo a few minutes later, someone pulled out a giant bottle of Dom Perignon, with which they proceeded to spray each other and guzzle.
A couple of hours earlier, during the women’s finals, Club 900 Bacchus in hot pink bikinis beat SoHo Yoga, dressed in hot pink and neon green suits, 15 to 8 and 11 to 4.
Hoping to bring back some of the competitors who disappeared after the event was moved from the weekend to mid-week a few years ago, the organizers convinced the city council to let them hold this year’s 6-Man on a Thursday and Friday. Speaking after the tournament ended Friday evening, Jessica Vincent of the city’s parks and recreation department said that although she estimated around 3,000 people had attended each day, she didn’t think the changed days had made much of a difference.
“Maybe in a few years,” she said, once the broader community realized the change.
On Aug. 2, the city will have its first-ever Junior 6-Man, for which 28 teams had registered as of Friday evening. Vincent said the kids would wear costumes, taking on the tradition of the adults. The move was part of an effort to bring the event back to its family-friendly roots, according to a press release sent out by the parks and rec department, which noted that this year was the 10th anniversary of the death of Charlie Saikley, who started the event forty-one years ago.
Speaking from the California Beach Volleyball Association tent, Denny Smith, who has long participated in and observed the tournament, said he appreciated that the tradition of the competition had been kept alive, pointing out how Saikley’s son J.P. drew out the scoreboards by hand like his father and how many of the referees had been returning for many years.
“That’s just what’s so good about this event,” he said. ER
