Projo Sports Blog

The South New England District of the Eastern Surfing Association designated the annual Professional Longboard Association Championships as a non-rated contest last weekend. This meant that no valuable rating points were given to participating competitors, so it was not essential to attend. Because of this, the turnout was very low, despite the fact that there were perfect 3-5 foot waves all day long.

While the contest might have been small, the moves were big, as everyone managed to get a barrel or two by the end of their heat. Ron Belanger had an outstanding day, as he pulled off two dramatic fin-first take offs, to win the Masters Longboard Final. Jim Chabot closed the gap with a nice inside barrel section, but it was not enough to catch Belanger. Ron switched to shortboard in the Open Division, and grabbed the second place trophy.

Before the contest began, ESA Co-Director Belanger conducted an hour-long coaching clinic that was attended by several ESA competitors, including Katie Zullo, who is currently undefeated in New England competition in both the longboard and shortboard divisions.

"We have some real talent out there," said Ron. "The surfers just need to understand how to put those talents to good use during a contest."

Masters Longboard - 1.Ron Belanger 2.Jim Chabot 3.Nick Carter 4.Ryan Andrews Legends Longboard - 1. Peter Pan 2.Tim Brooks
Open Division Shortboard - 1.Peter Pan 2.Ron Belanger 3.Jonathan Tartaro 4.Anthony Tartaro 5.Tim Brooks 6.Ryan Andrews.

Results of the June water testing from the Surfrider Foundation were released this past week. These tests covered every major surf break from Westerly to Newport. The tests conducted, were to detect both fecal coliforms and enterococci, both bacteria harmful to human health.

All breaks reported clean water in the June test. Bacteria counts were found to be higher than normal in the May test. The offending breaks included the Watch Hill Harbor, Weekapaug Breechway, and Conant Avenue. All of these breaks tested clean on the second test. The July test will be conducted this Saturday, between 9 and 10:30 a.m.

Local surfer and professional photographer, Joe McGovern of Narragansett, has a stunning display of surfing photographs on display at the Blue Wave Pizza Cafe, located on 1004 Boston Neck Road, in Bonnet Shores. His work will be displayed there for the month of July. Joe is recognized as one of the premier surfing photographers on the East Coast, having been published in virtually every major surfing publication. His work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Eastern Surf Magazine, Surfer, Surfing, Transworld Surf, as well as the Providence Journal and the Narragansett Times. Several local surfers are featured in the exhibit.

 Tags  environment photography surfing

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