Seaside Vacations

The Eastern Surf Championships grand finale will be held from September 19th to the 26th at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

This is the 38th consecutive year the contest has been held at the Lighthouse.   If the waves don’t cooperate there, ESA officials have the authority to move the event to a number of other spots.

Obviously local surfers in the contest will have the upper hand, but the ESA’s South New England team will not hand over the first place trophy without putting up a fight.

Here’s a look at some of the competitors from the Northeast that standout.

Ana Barend has competed for the past two years in both the Senior Women and Senior Women’s Long board divisions on the very tough ESA contest circuit. She has not only won the Northeast Regional Surf-Offs in both long and short board, but she has also won the East Coast Surfing Championships Grand Finals in both divisions as well. And she has done this for two straight years against different competitors and different conditions. The only question that lies with Ana is whether or not anyone on the East Coast can dethrone her.

Grand Legend, 70-year old Kitty Pechet is a 3-time winner of the Northeast Regional Surf-Offs and finalist at the East Coast Championships Grand Finals. And just for the record, Kitty is the only female competitor in that division on the entire East Coast.

Pat Redmond is without a doubt New England’s undisputed top bodyboarder. He has proved himself in both giant surf and tiny slop, placing in the finals of both the Northeast Regional Surf-Offs and the East Coast Surfing Championship Grand Finals. He is prepared to advance to the finals, after another great showing at this year’s regionals in Belmar, New Jersey finishing 3rd.

Chuck Barend is yet another local who has advanced to both the regional and eastern finals. Chuck will have another great chance to make the finals again, in both the Senior Men and Master Long board divisions. Ron Belanger has been a consistent finalist in both contests for the past decade and is planning on doing it again, surfing in the same two events as teammate Barend.