Some of the best surfers on the East Coast, plus a rising star from California, will compete for a $15,000 purse in the 11th annual O’Neill Sweetwater Pro-Am at Wrightsville Beach this weekend.
Organizers expect the July 15-17 contest to draw about 300 participants across all divisions — professional, amateur and guppy. Wrightsville Beach’s Ben Bourgeois, event champion in 2014 and a former world tour competitor, is returning this year, contest volunteer Danielle Bourgeois said, as are local standouts Knox Harris, Connor Lester, Dylan Kowalski, Bo Raynor, Gabe Morvil and Darsha Pigford.
The contest previously attracted well-known talents like Rob Machado and Pat O’Connell, and this year it drew the top-ranked junior surfer in the county, as ranked by the World Surf League: 17-year-old O’Neill team rider Kei Kobayashi from San Clemente, California.
Heats get underway Friday morning and continue Saturday and Sunday. The scoring format is different than most contests, in which a surfer’s top two wave scores are combined for their heat total. In the O’Neill Sweetwater Pro/Am, only a surfer’s top wave score will count, a format that organizers introduced to encourage progressive surfing in the inconsistent lineup.
In each 20-minute heat, contest director Brad Beach explained, the ocean might only deliver three quality waves. So the two-wave scoring format might favor the more aggressive surfer instead of the better surfer.
“Someone could advance with two mediocre scores when there’s a better surfer out there who just couldn’t get a second wave,” he said.
The new format ensures no surfer is ever out of contention because they could earn the lead with one radical maneuver in the final seconds of the heat. It creates a more exciting contest for both the competitors and the spectators, Beach said.
Entertainment for the thousands of onlookers will also occur on the beach strand. Beach said the contest would include giveaways and games, and O’Neill is sponsoring an initiative to have Carolina Skin and Vein Center on site to give free skin cancer examinations.
The guppy division, for the youngest surfers, is also a crowd favorite. Most of the guppies can’t paddle into waves themselves, so volunteers push them into waves and cheer them on.
After competition concludes Saturday afternoon, most competitors and spectators will migrate over to Wrightsville Beach Park for an art and music festival that lasts until 10 p.m. Three local bands — Michael Eakins and the Feels, Zeal and Blue Footed Boobies — will perform while local artists sell their crafts.
The event features kid-friendly activities like tie-dye, arts and crafts and a touch tank of sea creatures provided by the N.C. Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Food trucks will be on site and all proceeds benefit Hope From Helen and the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s surf team.
“Everyone brings their beach chairs and spreads out on the lawn,” Beach said. “It’s a great evening.”
While both the contest and the festival draw a number of out-of-town surfers and a handful of curious tourists, Beach said the weekend feels like a neighborly gathering of family and friends brought together by surfing.
“It’s pretty much a community event,” he said.
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