This year’s Garden State Grudge Match was nothing shy of spectacular once again. We waited two and a half weeks for a storm to produce anything near the realm of contestable in terms of waves, and even the night before the actual event it was suspect as to how exactly the conditions would fare when the sun peeked over the horizon the next morning. But, fortunately for everyone involved, Rob Cloupe’s (event orgnaizer, creator, and director) wizard-like ability to summon the gods of the ocean once again prevailed. It was a downright cold morning with air temps in the mid 30′s, but there were waves. And good waves too. It was about head to overhead and clean in the morning, which only came down in size slightly as the day progressed. The sandbars were well shaped offering long walls and barrels, giving competitors many opportunities for high scoring rides. Everything was looking good and all the elements were in place for yet another epic Grudge Match.

As usual the day started off with pulling names out of a hat to see what the man-on-man match ups would be for the first round. My match up was with Brendan Buckley and I would be in the water with Frank Walsh and Mike Gleason as they battled it out against each other. I knew that Buckley was someone I would have to work pretty hard against to beat, especially with his arsenal of maneuvers and airs that have left many in the dust before. Fortunately, I was able to get the waves I needed in the heat and was able to advance against Buckley.

Then round two came around. This time my Andrew Gesler pulled my name out the hat. I knew it was going to be a solid match-up. We are good friends and long-time travel partners and have surfed against each other countless times over the span of our surfing careers. I’m not exactly sure what our record against each other would be, but I would guess it was fairly even. I can think of many times he has beaten me and times I have beaten him. In fact, I beat him in last year’s Grudge Match in the first round (something I’m sure he didn’t forget).

When the horn blew for our heat to start, it was competitive surfing at it’s fiercest. I tried to get things rolling immediately by catching the first couple waves and posting a 5 or 6 in the first couple of minutes, while Gesler struggled to find his rhythm. I was stoked seeing Gesler fumble on his first couple waves and thought I had him right where I wanted him. With about half the heat having expired I felt good about how it was playing. Then I got another wave all the wave across the beach throwing down a couple backside slashes and getting another 6 or 7.  After my final turn on that particular I felt pretty relieved that I had two solid scores under my belt. Then I turned around…

As I turn around and kick out of my wave I see Gesler screaming through a deep barrel which was undoubtedly shaping up to be the best wave I had seen all day. “If he makes this, it’s a 10,” I said to myself as disappeared in the barrel for what seemed like an eternity. Then it happened. He got spit out of the barrel right in my face! He and I both freaked out in disbelief. And sure enough it was a 10 point ride. This was devastating to my campaign in beating him. It me a minute during the paddle back out to get my head back in a good place where I was thinking optimistically. I knew that he was still lacking a back up score and that my two scores were still beating his 10. Then he did what he does best and blasted a solid air reverse for a score of an 8. His total now reaching 18, while my mine lagged in the 11 or 12 point range. While I knew it was still possible given how good the waves were, it would be nearly impossible to top his score. I had posted a 10 and 9.5 for a total of 19.5 in a heat against Frank Walsh a couple years back and knew I just needed to be patient and wait for waves that would allow scores of that magnitude. So I waited. And waited. And waaaiiittteeed. Nothing good came my way. 

As the time remaining in the heat crept towards zero, my hopes of advancing where dwindling exponentially. Then with literally about 20 seconds left in the heat I saw a wave that had the potential I needed. At this point though, the reality was that I was going to need at least TWO great waves to beat Gesler. As I took off on the wave I thought I was little deep and hauled some serious ass. I pulled into a barrel and held on tight. And sure enough it spit me out – right in Gesler’s face this time. I milked the rest of the wave for all it was worth and ended up getting a 9.6 on it. But the heat was over. Gesler walked away with an 18 and I walked away with a 16. Too little too late. It was painful, but it was fun nonetheless. 

But congrats to Gesler for taking me out and even more congrats for making the final this year and just narrowly losing out to this year’s champion, Sam Hammer. 

It looks like he and I now have a grudge to settle in 2010!

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