What conditions do you like to longboard in? For many, they only step on a longboard when it's too small to shortboard. I like to ride mine anytime the waves are clean and under shoulder high.
I'm sure that at least some of you weren't too excited to see a forecast of 10ft+ at 12-14 seconds along with strong south winds.
The guys at Moment understood this issue, and asked what everyone wanted to do. An overwhelming majority said to go for it...it's not like we're not used to rough conditions.
To everyone's surprise, we woke up Saturday morning to no wind. Better yet, it stayed light until late in the evening, with sun for the majority of the day! With clean swell, the overhead waves were much more manageable, and actually a lot of fun. Paddling through endless walls of whitewater wasn't quite as fun, but we all certainly got plenty of exercise that day.
It's safe to say a lot of the competitors pushed themselves this weekend, and every heat had some good quality rides.
The event would have been great even without nice waves and weather, though. Everything ran extremely smoothly because of the hard work and planning from all of the volunteers, the generosity of the sponsors, and the good vibes from all of the contestants.
This year's Cape Kiwanda Classic was probably the happiest contest I've been to. A great surf movie on Friday, tasty food, music to dance to, a tasty selection of beer and wine, and time spent with old and new friends.
Let's hope next year's event is as good as this year's, although maybe with a little less drama leading up to it and possibly a little smaller waves.
Here are a few photos from the weekend's action and activities.
