THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408280205
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Hot fun in the summer time.
Hey, even the surf was smokin' by typical summer standards.
As a rideable swell rolled in off the Rudee Inlet Jetty Saturday, surfers slashed and grooved in what is the foundation of the 32nd annual Budweiser East Coast Surfing Championships at the south end of the Oceanfront.
But while the surfing is what makes this end-of-the-summer festival the beach party that it is, there was plenty of other action to catch the eye.
For the sporting at heart, there is volleyball, skimboarding, catamaran sailing, tug-of-war and an obstacle course.
Come on, dudes and dudettes. Get busy.
And music, oh, they've got the tunes, man. Local and national recording acts play on the main stage all day. Headlining this afternoon, the Smithereens kick up the sand at 4:30.
Way cool!
Say the ol' gut is growling? Food vendors are grilling up the stuff you need.
And lest we not forget, the ECSC is also a people watcher's paradise - namely the annual bikini contest.
Ah . . . sun, surf and lots of fun. That's the East Coast Surfing Championship. The locals' party to end the summer.
But the surfing is what makes this Virginia Beach Jaycees' event really happen.
There is competition for amateurs and professionals - with the money-makers adding a division for women this year.
A couple folks, however, weren't all that pleased with the products King Neptune was serving up Saturday.
``It really was much better last year,'' last year's professional winner Shane Stoneman of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., said. ``There is surf this year, but it's more like slot machine out there. You just don't know what's going to happen from heat to heat.''
Local professionals Wes Laine and Jason Borte were just happy to have made it into the third round of competition. Five other Beach surfers had already fallen to the wayside.
``I'm still in it, there's still some waves and that's about all you can say,'' said Laine, who finished second last year.
Surfing continues at 8 a.m. and professional finals are expected to start around 11:30 a.m.
And just in case the surf's not up in your neck of the woods today, the biggest party of the year continues.
Cowabunga! ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
IAN MARTIN/Staff
Bill Curry competes in one of the amateur heats Saturday in the East
Coast Surfing Championships at the Rudee Inlet Jetty in Virginia
Beach. [This photo appeared on page C1]
Photos
by CNB