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| Ratopia Charity Surf Contest 2025 |
I can't help but think about how far I've come since last years Ratopia Charity Surf contest. I went from being broken and recovering from multiple life threatening injuries to the most fit I've been since high school. I put in over 700 ocean miles in between surfing and prone paddling in 2025, and thats more that I did for the last 8 years combined! Needless to say the last few years have been the hardest with life altering physical injuries that put me in the ICU more than once. Plus what felt like endless doctor appointments, tons of allergy tests, physical therapy, and mental therapy. Some doctors told me I should never surf again, because I could die. I had to get stronger, I wasn't giving up on surfing. I added so many lifestyle changes just so that I could keep surfing. Surfing has been one of the most things I've done continually for 35 years and I wasn't about to give that up.
The 2024 Ratopia contest was the first longboard contest I had entered in decades. My body was wrecked. I had shooting pains running down my lower back and right side. It was a challenge to just carry by board from the parking lot to the contest area. The surf that year was a cold 2-3'+ and closing out with just a few seconds to try and make something happen that would score some points. I did get 7 waves in those 15 minutes, but ate it on half of them. I never eat it that much, it was so frustrating. I ended up getting 4th in my heat and didn't even advance to the finals. I became determined to do better, and advance my way to a top three podium finish.
I started entering the South Bay Boardriders Club Surf series for Open Longboard in the early months of 2025. I got up on the podium a few times during the season, but never hit that 1st place spot. I even placed 3rd for the entire season and that felt like a huge achievement. I was still chasing a 1st place finish in the finals and I was running out of time to hit that goal in 2025. As soon as Ratopia posted the sign up sheet for the 2025 annual charity even I signed up. Then I checked the surf forecast. It was showing a huge storm hitting days before the contest and I wasn't sure if they were going to reschedule due to rain or heavy surf.
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The next morning my wife and I got down to the Torrance parking lot around 7:30 am. I ran into a handful of SBBC guys that were going to judge the event and they wished me luck. I saw a few more friends in the parking lot as I was suiting up for my heat. The surf was big and crunchy. The sets were huge closeout barrels that just dumped. My plan was the same as the last final I was in a few weeks ago. Get out there, skip the big closeout sets and get back inside to the in-betweeners.
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| Ratopia Charity Surf Contest 2025 |
I stuck to the plan. I got nervous more than once and just reminded myself that only needed two waves. I got a long right with a noseride and cutback with a floater finish. Then ran down the beach to paddle out in front of the judges again. I got 3 more waves before the horn sounded to end the heat. Stoked. Finally, after nearly 30 years, including all the surf events I did this year I finally got 1st place in open longboard. It was the best way to end 2025. Now I'm hoping that I'll keep that momentum going in 2026.
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