Terrible surf, great surfing at ISF 50th Anniversary contest
Alex Sexias didn't let losing his nose in the shore pound end his heat. Photo It was a stormy two foot, sloppy, onshore windy drizzly morning for the 50th Anniversary International Surf Festival Surf Contest on the south side of the Hermosa Beach Pier on Saturday. “I almost called it off. But then I noticed there was enough surf to survive the high tide and started the contest,” director John Joseph said. A lot of hot surfers from the South Bay High School Surf League and their parents were totally into the contest, despite the conditions. The South Bay Board Riders Surf Club had their top surfers entered in the contest, too. John Joseph, his son John Junior and his wife Claudia had every heat running on time. At first glance I thought I was pulling up to a ‘60s contest where all the top surfers were there because you knew the contest was on no matter what the conditions were like. You never complained about the waves because the late Hoppy Swartz and Leroy Grannis always said “Everybody has to ride the same waves.” The long board heats were having the roughest time. You’d think it would be easier because you can catch the wave further out on a long board. But halfway through…
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