Surfers Hope to Catch Waves in Sea Isle

By MADDY VITALE The last Eastern Surfing Association South Jersey District Contest in Sea Isle City was rescheduled to Saturday, Oct. 26 due to poor surf conditions. The contest was originally scheduled for this Saturday. “The west winds really beat down the swells. It was super flat. Hopefully we will have some good, clean surf conditions next week,” ESA Southern New Jersey District co-director Lisa Roselli said on Friday. The all-day contest at 40th Street beach begins at 7 a.m. and wraps up around 5 p.m. So far, there are more than 40 surfers registered. “We will always expect entries the day of the event. We are very low key. We have serious competitors who want to have fun and get their points to work up to big events,” Roselli explained. “Our events are small. Our entry fees are low. We just want the kids to work up to the bigger events.” The first heat in the water is somewhere about 8:30 a.m., she noted. “We have competitions for all ages,” Roselli said. “One of the coolest things is we have a lot of girls. We have some really great surfers in our district right now.” She noted that the contests really showcase the talents of so many surfers around the region. “The kids surf multiple divisions and it takes all day but some travel down from Pennsylvania and North Jersey,” she said. “We have some heavy hitters coming.” Ocean City’s Brynn Gallagher, 11, who won the Girls U12 (11-and-under) division in September in the Eastern Surfing Association’s 2019 Easterns Surfing Championships, held in Nags Head, N.C., will be showing up. Her sister, Mia Gallagher, 13, also an ESA All-Star, will be in the contest, too. So will Sophia Whelan, 13, of Ocean City, who took top honors in Girls U16 (15-and-under). Sea Isle resident Michael Carr, right, will be participating in the contest. He is pictured with Ben Gravy. Other surfers to watch for are Tucker Collins, 13, and Kaiden Cameron, 13, both of Cape May, and Ethan Dunn and Cooper Jewell, both of Ocean City. Michael Carr, of Sea Isle City, will also be someone to check out. This is the last contest of the season, so Roselli is crossing her fingers that the surf will be good. She noted that only four contests out of eight were held over this season due to poor surf. “It was a bad summer for waves,” she said. The last surfing contest, down in Cape May, was great, however. “The waves churned up were challenging,” Roselli said. “It was a good day.” Roselli said the ESA is excited to be heading back to Sea Isle to compete. “We traditionally do our last contest in Sea Isle," she said. "They appreciate us having it there and make it easy for us. They are really nice people to work with. It is just a great all around day for us. The city and the recreation office are wonderful. They have always been very supportive of the ESA.” Brian Heritage is a sponsor of the event. He owns Heritage Surf & Sport in Sea Isle. His father Dan Heritage was very involved with ESA. “Sea Isle was always one of the ESA contest spots. The ESA always came back to its roots. Sea Isle was one of its original roots. My father, Dan, was a huge advocate of bringing surfing to the public,” Heritage said. Heritage stressed that Sea Isle is a good place to surf. “If it was in July, chances of surf would be slim, but in the fall, Sea Isle has very good sand banks that can handle good size waves, and there are larger swells because of our sandbanks,” he said. He is looking forward to watching the contest. “I am donating products and my son might come,” Heritage noted. “Hopefully, the waves will be good.” For more information about ESA or to register for the contest or check for updates visit snj.surfesa.org ESA All-Star Mia Gallagher, 13, of Ocean City, in Nags Head, N.C., in a competition last month. (Photo credit JKingSr.)