Steamer Lane is one of the best venues for a surf contest there is. The amphitheater-like cliffs allow spectators to watch the action from angles usually reserved for helicopters. O’Neill is kind enough each year to set up bleachers right on the cliff, facing straight into the action. This is a wonderful, if singular, view. Take advantage of the surroundings; watch one heat from the bleachers, another from the point and a third from midway between the two.
If the swell cooperates, the Local Trials will kick off the event the morning of Oct. 26. Aside from the surfing done during the business end of the contest on the final day, the Local Trials can be the most exciting to watch. Everyone in the water knows each other and the wave. It’s one of the rare sporting events where you can watch the home team compete against the home team. The hardest part is deciding who to root for.
The contest organizers decide each day at 6:30am whether any heats will run that day (you can check the call at www.oneill.com/cwc). If the swell is unseasonably small, Waddell Creek, 19 miles north of town, is a potential backup venue.
As the event progresses things get exponentially more exciting. Big names fall, Cinderella stories emerge and the field narrows.
Competitors are only guaranteed one heat. If they lose, they’re done. Check in on the website each day to see when your favorite surfers will be in the water.
To Air Is Divine
In professional surfing there has always been an emphasis on variety, combinations of maneuvers and “speed, power and flow.” Usually that meant three, slightly different turns to the inside where, occasionally, an air was attempted. The best surfing in the world was seen in surf videos, not contests. Safety surfing was the norm, excitement was not.
Now things are different. In 2010 the Association of Surfing Professionals revised their judging criteria to “reflect the progression of the sport” by throwing out a call for “innovative and progressive maneuvers.” Essentially this allows judges to give out perfect scores—10 out of a possible 10—for one maneuver, usually an air, if it is “progressive” enough. You could make the argument that the surfing world has Ratboy to thank for this. He was doing 360 airs in the Expression Session of the Coldwater Classic all the way back in 1994.
These days, if you don’t do an air, it’s nearly impossible to get a 10. Look for rotation, height, grabs and flips. Every air has its own specific name—the Sex Change, Rodeo Flip, Sushi Roll, Superman—but getting into the details of what each one is would be a whole other article.
That being said, Steamer Lane has always been a place where power surfers excel. That’s why Anthony Ruffo has been so good here for so long, and why Bud Freitas is such a threat. If someone does a turn that sends spray all the way to the wharf, chances are they’ll get a good score.
THE O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC runs Oct. 26-31 at Steamer Lane.
