The winter of 2009-2010 will go down in history as one of the most consistent and appealing seasons in recent memory. The El Nino driven storms served up seemingly swell after swell every few days from October through February. With those swells came rain, and lots of it, with a pattern of mid week and weekend arrivals. That combined with everything from high winds, rains, and even a Tsunami warning, which caused the 2010 Surf Happens Rincon Classic to be postponed four times before the Queen stopped playing hard to get.
Held on Saturday and Sunday March 13 & 14 under sunny skies with temperatures in the high seventies, the glassy head high peelers combined with a high caliber of surfing and truly accentuated the Queen’s royal lineage. From the Gremlins 11 and under all the way to the Budlight Professional division the event was action packed.
Kilian Garland took home his 6th Budlight Professional title pocketing a cool grand for his efforts and truly earning his nickname “The Velvet Slinky” with smooth rail surfing and solid aerial repertoire. Adam Lambert took the Airshow title with a solid frontside air reverse, and one of the most talked about exchanges was the Open Womens Final where it was almost like a woman on woman heat as Demi Boelsterli and Lakey Peterson battled it out. Boelsterli pulled into a nice tube followed by a series of vicious frontside hacks to come out on top with the highest point total of the event 18.5 out of 20 over Peterson’s 16.5. Full list of results is available on rinconclassic.com.
The motto for the event, Be Green To The Queen, lived up to it’s name as all single usage plastic items were removed from the contest. Below is a list of all the changes made for to green the event including the launching of Surf Happens new awareness movie, The Plastic Experiment created by Jenny David.
All single use plastic items including bottles and bags were removed from event.
Surf Happens worked with all event sponsors to remove plastic prior to shipping products while teaming up with like minded businesses to promote change.
Contestants received reusable organic jute bags by Surfrider Foundation and drink tins by Caribbean Coffee along with entry along with organic t-shirts donated by the Quiksilver Foundation.
Sexwax provided unlabeled wax, and a sample of their new compostable, reusable box.
Caribbean Coffee switched to compostable bags for coffee
Trophies were palm trees in hand made clay pots by the Happy Green Merchant
Environmental groups, Surfrider Foundation, Ocean Futures Society, Surfers Without Borders, Save Naples, and Citizens Against Paradon all showcased awareness booths…
