Another Huge Turnout for the 8th Annual Clean Water Classic Surf Contest

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:

Shannon Serrrano

Washington Field Coordinator

Surfrider Foundation

Email: sserrano@surfrider.org

The 8th annual Clean Water Classic surf contest just wrapped up this past weekend in Westport, Washington and was a huge success! The event, organized and put on by volunteers from the Pacific Northwest chapters of Surfrider Foundation, is a major fundraising event for local chapters of Surfrider Foundation from southern Oregon all the way to British Columbia, attracting over 1000 spectators and nearly 150 contestants in the only Pro/Am contest held in the region.

“Our volunteers and sponsors work hard to put this event on every year and it represents one of the biggest fundraising opportunities and membership drives they participate in”, says Charlie Plybon, Oregon Field Coordinator for Surfrider Foundation. “All of the proceeds are split evenly amongst participating chapters in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia to provide crucial funding to Surfrider Foundation initiatives at the local chapter level. Such as Portland’s Ban the Bag Campaign, Seattle’s Green Bag Campaign, and various outreach efforts and ongoing water quality testing by all PNW Chapters to help raise awareness of our ocean’s health and the need to protect and preserve it,” adds Shannon Serrano, Washington Field Coordinator.

On Saturday May 16, the first heats started at 7:00 AM at the jetty in Westhaven State Park, Washington. The heats concluded at 3 PM on Sunday, May 17, and the day included a great hand-in-hand beach cleanup. Over the course of Saturday and Sunday, 50 heats were run in 15 minute heats. Six competitors per heat was the norm on Saturday, with the semi finals and finals on Sunday drawing between two and four competitors per heat. Surfers put on their best for judges with quality waves and excellent surf and weather conditions particularly in the mornings and early afternoons. Participating surfers traveled from California, Hawaii, British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington.

Title sponsor Global Surf Industries (GSI) President Mark Kelly remarked on this year’s event: “Once again Westport, Surfrider Foundation and all the surfers of the PNW have demonstrated our mantra Life is Better When You Surf. The stoke on display this weekend was sensational, only 52 weeks until next year’s event!” On Saturday night, sponsors combined forces to provide a great surf theme party at Chateau Westport, a Platinum sponsor and host for the event’s volunteers and competitors.

Over 450 people danced and mingled to the sounds of Slacktide Soul, each of the Surfrider chapters hosted display tables throughout the weekend in the Chateau’s lobby to educate competitors, partygoers and event spectators on their local issues, campaigns and programs. The weekend’s turnout packed Westport hotels and lodging, and brought a new curve to surfing through GSI’s official launch of their wild new surfboard design, The Meyerhoffer. From the wide tail through a minimal waist and into a more classic nose, the design brings short board elements into a longer board. “As a designer I believe in the proportions of nature. If you change a shape in one direction the flow on effect undoubtedly changes it in the other," said Thomas Meyerhoffer who attended the event.

The event would not have been such a huge success without the amazing support of all our sponsors which are too numerous to list. Some of our biggest supporters this year were: Global Surf Industries, Chateau Westport, Pacific NW Judges, Kona Brewing, Barefoot Wine, Surf Shop, Steepwater Surf Shop, Spencer Reynolds Art, Precision Shapes Northwest, The Islander, Sportsman’s Chalet, Analog, 104.7 FM, 1490 AM, 107.7 FM, and many more too numerous to list. Thanks to all our sponsors and chapters for making this event such a huge success. For a complete list of event sponsors please visit:

http://www.cleanwaterclassic.com/Sponsors.html.For event photos please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/38505479@N02.

2009 Clean Water Classic division winners included:

Best Wave Shortboard

Perry Abedor

Best Wave Longboard

JP Canlis

Pro/AM

1 Robin Johnston

2 Logan Garrett

3 Janek Peladeau

Master's Shortboard

1 Perry Abedor

2 Geth Noble

3 Mike Tuel

Women's Shortboard

1 Leah Oke

2 Meira Dinsmore

3 Cristen Don

Men's Longboard

1 JP Canlis

2 Bryan Torian

3 Nathan Osborne

Master's Longboard

1 Jon Tipple

2 Peter Cochran

3 Mike Tuel

Women's Longboard

1 Annie Atkinson

2 Cristen Don

3 Sasha Medlen

Juniors

1 Janek Peladeau

2 Simon Bauer

3 Frazer Mayor

Stand-Up Paddle

1 Robin Johnston

2 Kapono Nahina

3 Ken Wilson

Keiki With Parent

Isabelle Martinez-Ybor

Scarlett Redpath

Noah Martin

Trevor Tice

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit grassroots organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of visionary surfers in Malibu, California, the Surfrider Foundation now maintains over 50,000 members and 80 chapters worldwide. For more information on the Surfrider Foundation, go to http://www.surfrider.org/ <http://www.surfrider.org/> .