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3rd Place
Trophy |
Last
year, for cramikfest 3, we really got lucky scoring waves at both
Baker and Lefts. Feeling that the lucky streak would continue, and
due to early season scouting reports from Deebo and others that
displayed a nice slope return to Limantour, we decided to go back to
the source just like Mo. Limantour was the site of cramikfest 1 & 2
and, although they were a lot of fun, the waves weren't the
greatest. It's always a bit of a crap shoot to go to Limantour as
it's a solid 45 minutes to an hour from ANYTHING. After going out
there on Wednesday with the Three Wheel Fenster, we saw that we
should be in decent shape for the Saturday event.
Saturday morning I arrived around 9 to find the Fenster finishing
his fishing expedition, empty handed which was weird because on
Wednesday the fish were going nuts. In any event, Deebo had already
arrived, suited, and was skimming about a mile down the beach.
Directly in front it looked low-ish and weak - but not awful. Josh,
Daver, Efrin, Neddy Bumbo, & Will arrived and we decided to get in.
We headed down to where Deebo was skimming earlier and scored the
better waves of the day. The beach was much higher and steeper down
at the east end and we were soon joined by 57, Ozzy, and a multitude
of others. A good fun session was had down there till about noon
when the tide started to drop and the dub kicked up enough to make
it sloppy.
The
usual afternoon activities then began as more people started to
arrive and wait for the tide to come back in which was scheduled for
8:20. We hoped to start the event (this is not a contest) around
6:00. In the meantime, we held the long drive contest and everyone
got involved. Fenster started it off with a bomb, but he took
himself out of the running to judge, though he would have easily won
the event in all likelihood. Many of the skimmers had trouble with
this sport and it was fun to see all the whiffs. Making it to the
finals with some solid bombs were Ben Hagar, Dad (aka DAK), Patrick
(Manchild), Tom (Ozzy) & Daver with Manchild taking top honors (we
think! - it's kind of a blur) and a
Richard Cranium t-shirt. Much thanks go out to
Richard Cranium for their donation of some zillion sick t-shirts
to the event.
Although there was already a substantial crew already on hand, at
around 3 o'clock there began a steady stream of skimmers showing
up. Bike Mike showed up to donate his traditional beer prizes, and
then a bunch of skimmers showed from Santa Cruz including Corey,
Ben, Geoff, BH, Ryan, Gary, Skyler, Skimkook (Timmy C) & Cole's BBQ
among others. Ryan Parola donated some of his Riding Brainwaves
DVD's and a megaphone which proved to be a lot of fun for me, and a
lot of pain for others to endure. We decided to run the event at
6:30 and after much discussion and argument, decided to run the
traditional Mega Heat - another cramik tradition. In cramik's view,
we don't like to harm the environment, so we always try to run a
non-paper event. This means no judges sheets, and no way could we
have an organized heat table of any sort. After all, this is not a
contest. The mega heat was just completely insane. It was
virtually impossible to count how many skimmers there were packed
into roughly a 40 yard wide area. We guess there were probably
around 35-40, could be less, could be more. The closer set waves
would yield no less than 15 guys at a time. The larger outside set
waves would yield about 4-6. Ryan Parola dominated the Mega Heat
with his drift daddies reaching and making most of the furthest out
set waves that Limantour had to offer. Mariani was also very solid
in the first heat on the smaller closer waves continually getting
the best of the crowd on countless frontsides and backsides. David
stole the 2nd half of the mega heat with a number of solid wraps.
The
Mega Heat was 30 minutes long and it seemed to go by in about 1.
The crowd was pumped and even the tiniest ripple couldn't get by
without being thoroughly molested. The waves weren't great, but
they weren't bad either, with set waves in the 2-3 foot range. When
the Mega Heat was over, these were the 11 guys left standing (we had
planned to make the cut at 10 but it was too hard):
Parola
David
Mariani
Corey
Skyler
Cole's
BBQ
Ben K
Deebo
Gary
Paul
Erick
The
semi final provided more of the same craziness. There's a reason
that normal competitions run only 4 guys at a time. With 10 going
at once, it was still major pandemonium with 57 (a judge) growing
and moaning about how difficult the 4 & 5 positions were going to be
determined since it was so close. It also proved that you cannot
run Mega Heats with a standard judging system - it would be
impossible. You would never have enough time to write scores down.
The judges judged on the basis of "overall impression" - another
cramik staple. Ryan continued to dominate the semi's and had it
ended there, he would have taken home 1st. Ben was also coming
alive and tearing the poor little Limantour waves in ways that it
had never seen in it's lifetime. Corey, the consummate joker,
killed with a fluid style and nonchalance that makes it appear as
though he's not even trying - truly one of the most enjoyable
skimmers to watch. Skyler was killing throughout the Mega Heat and
the semi's but was equally matched by Deebo. In the end, it was a
horribly hard decision to make. I personally thought Deebo got more
good waves in the semis, but Skyler had more in the Mega Heat (not
just more than Deebo, but more than most of the guys who made the
semis). Although there was some sentiment towards Skyler because he
had come from so far away, we had to discard that and be impartial
and after a judges vote of 3 to 2, Deebo was in and Skyler was out.
This was by far the hardest judging decision to ever face the
cramik.
As
darkness approached, everyone was fired up for the finals. The tide
was still pushing in and the set waves were getting a bit bigger and
a tad closer. Deebo re-boosted his energy a bit and had many solid
rides to slide him into the 3rd position in front of Parola. I
think the long drive and the long drifts from the first heat had
tired Ryan out a little. Ben decided to continue his murder rampage
and left several people wondering where the cops were to put a stop
to his behavior. Corey stepped it up HUGE in the finals and took
advantage of the set waves and scored many barrels on the west side
and some sick frontside liners and Beak-style frontside 180 wraps.
1.
Corey Ryan
2. Ben
K
3.
Dustin Boone
4. Ryan
Parola
At the
end, prize packs were disseminated that featured 57's unbelievable
trophies - for the last 2 years these have been the highlight of the
skimfest. Also included were some sick custom shirts designed by
Baker Daver and some custom shirts by Colin that were donated by
Rancid. Also handed out were some cramik t-shirts, long sleeve
t's, a stein, stickers, and truckers hats donated by cramik and
Craig Kay. To finish it off were the DVD's from Ryan Parola, and a
cramik thong to Matt for best wipeout for his numerous attempts at a
kickflip during the mega heat.
All in
all, it seemed everyone had a good time time way out in west Marin.
A HUGE THANKS GOES OUT TO CRAIG KAY (aka 3WF) for all his
help in organizing the vent and for his generous donations of gear. Thanks to everyone for making the super long drive (some as long at
5 hours!). Each cramikfest seems to get better and better and we
look forward to seeing you all out there next year!
|
4th Place
Trophy |
