THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508280137
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
After six years as a professional surfer, John Logan is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Battling insurmountable odds and thousands of surfer wannabes, Logan dreams of qualifying for the World Championship Tour.
After Sunday's victory in the professional division of the 33rd annual Budweiser East Coast Surfing Championships, he is undoubtedly a major step closer.
Logan - of Ormand Beach, Fla. - won the Bud Surf Tour's last contest in Huntington Beach, Calif., to move into second place in the Association of Surfing Professionals-East point ratings and took over the lead with Sunday's win.
While his shot at the world tour now seems well within reach, his mind was more on the $4,000 paycheck he had just been handed for the ECSC victory.
``It's my biggest ever,'' the 24-year-old said, pulling the check from his pocket three . . . four . . . five times. ``This has been my best year of surfing and everything's just going great. Everything's finally going my way.''
Logan advanced to the final round, which featured four surfers out of 81 professionals, with some hot action on the First Street Jetty break. He exited the water after the 30-minute final heat to the applause of a small, rained-on crowd at the sixth of eight stops ion the Bud Surf Tour - a proving ground for world tour hopefuls.
``Man, I'm so happy,'' Logan said, smiling. ``I'm leaving for Spain and Portugal for a couple more world qualifying events. I really think I can make it this year.
``The waves here were actually pretty good. I was having a good time out there.''
Despite a steady drizzle, the surfing portion of the ECSC - an annual sports festival and beach party that is the second-oldest surfing event in the world - was the highlight. A good southeastern swell setting outside the sand bar provided the surfers with some good waves to work with.
``Considering the way the surf looked Thursday, this was excellent stuff the past couple of days,'' said Ian Cairns of the Bud Surf Tour. ``I think we got incredibly lucky.''
Alisa Schwarstein of California won the professional women's division on some sets that were considerably better than many in the men's.
``I was having a good time out there,'' said Schwarstein, who works for the Bud Surf Tour. ``It was much better than I thought it would be.'' ILLUSTRATION: L. TODD SPENCER
John Logan of Ormand Beach, Fla. rode the waves all the way to
victory Sunday in the Budweiser East Coast Surfing Championships.
by CNB