Fifteen-year-old Luke Gordon’s aerial surfing earns pro victory
Three of the four O’Neill Sweetwater Pro-Am semifinalists were previous winners, collecting their respective victories around the time the fourth semifinalist first entered the contest in the guppy division. But after the final day of competition Sunday, July 19, it was 15-year-old Luke Gordon from South Carolina who stood atop the podium.
The contest’s opening rounds ran Friday and Saturday in a fading thigh-high wind swell at Wrightsville Beach’s Columbia Street access. Fifty-two of the best surfers on the east coast and from as far away as Puerto Rico entered the pro division for a chance to take home the $4,000 top prize.
The heats pitted seasoned competitors like Aaron Cormican, Ben Bourgeois and Jeremy Johnston against a slew of young talent like Gordon, Stevie Pittman and Bo Raynor. The contest also included amateur divisions for both male and female longboarders and shortboarders. Around midday Saturday, the stiff competition made way for the entertaining guppy heats, in which WB Surf Camp volunteers pushed tiny grommets into waves.
Following the first two days of competition, only eight pros were left in contention for the top prize. After running three- and four-man heats during the opening rounds, the competition switched to a man-on-man format for the quarters, semis and final.
Gordon sat on the sand by the water’s edge, surveying the choppy waves crumbling close to shore and waiting for the air horn to signal the start of his heat. A friend approached to wish him luck and ask him his strategy.
“I’m going to go to the air,” Gordon said, referring to dynamic aerial tricks surfers often use to earn points on short, windblown waves. “Why not?”
His strategy was put to the test against Pittman as the two 15-year-olds traded the lead throughout the heat. Rather than totaling a surfer’s two highest wave scores, the O’Neill Sweetwater Pro-Am only counts each surfer’s single highest wave score, meaning a competitor is never out of contention.
The format worked in Gordon’s favor as Pittman held the lead with just seconds left in the heat. Gordon found a small wave and combined an air reverse with a few carves in the shorebreak. Both surfers returned to the beach not knowing who won, until the judges announced Gordon’s last wave had been just enough to clinch the victory.
A similar situation unfolded in Gordon’s semifinal against Jeremy Johnson, who won the pro-am in 2008, but this time it was Gordon who had the top score of a 7.83. With one minute left, Johnston caught a set wave did three powerful turns, throwing plumes of spray into the air with each carve. But his final effort was only good enough for a 7.1, so Gordon found himself in the pro final against Florida’s Evan Thompson.
It was Gordon’s fifth heat of the day, as he also advanced to the final of the amateur division. Rather than slowing down, he appeared to be building momentum with each heat, landing backside and frontside aerials with consistency. He said he realized he couldn’t generate as much power in his carves as the older surfers so he played to his own strengths.
One of Gordon’s air reverses earned him the lead in the final with a 7.67. With five minutes left, a set wave came to Thompson and he did three aggressive turns, throwing his hands up afterwards in a plea to the judges. They gave him a 7.3 and with the ocean going flat in the final minute, he never got another chance.
Gordon’s friends and family met him at the water’s edge to carry him up the beach to the winner’s podium. Being the underdog in heats against surfers twice his age with decades more experience was intimidating, he admitted, but it also allowed him to surf more freely.
“I had nothing to lose,” he said. “It puts the pressure off a lot.”
