Important info regarding the Feb 4th JAX tournament

Ok, some more details for those attending.

Thankfully, we've secured 4 ESA trained judges!

Competitors meeting will be at Hanna park campground, at the campsite of Carlos Marrone, around 8ish on friday. We'll do check in there, have everyone sign waivers, sit around a campfire, etc. I'm not sure which campsite is Carlos's, so feel free to call me on friday and I'll let you know which one it is. (I imagine it won't be hard to find a group of surf kayakers...but just in case :) )

Entry fee for this event will be $30 for the first class, and $5 for each additional class you wish to enter. ACA members with a VALID membership # will recieve a discount. (Valid does not mean you make up a number on the spot!) Also, as mentioned before, if you bring a new competitor who enters the contest, you will get 10 dollars off YOUR entry! Limit one per person per conest. Entry fee will need to be paid by cash or check on friday at the meeting.

If you've made reservations for Hanna park, you need to make sure of the check in time, I believe I heard you need to check in before 5pm, but I'm not sure of that. Theres also a Comfort Inn close by:
Comfort Inn Mayport (FL433)
2401 Mayport Rd. (A1A) , Atlantic Beach, FL, US, 32233
Phone: (904) 249-0313

Rooms are 59 dollars a night there, with a AAA discount.

Finally, I need EVERYONE who intends to compete to contact me by friday afternoon so I can know who is competing and who isn't. Please call or email by friday afternoon.

I was in Jax last week for an afternoon, and the surf was chest high and the weather was beautiful. Hopefully it will be similar this weekend!

Take care and call me if you have questions.

Joey Hall
ESKA President
803-238-0432

East coast spring circuit dates and info as of 1/22/06

Hello surf kayakers,
I hope this post finds you all well. After an exciting fall with a successful trip to the World Championships (the US East team finished 3rd, and April McEwen and Ross Fulcher became World Champions), we're gearing up for a series of events this spring.

This calendar is not set in stone yet, some of the dates are subject to change, and I am desperately trying to lock down details, but I wanted to get the word out there so that you all could plan to attend, everyone is invited.

Here is the tentative schedule:
Feb 4/5 - Jacksonville FL, Hannah Park
Feb 25/26 - Sunset Beach, NC
April 1/2 - Myrtle Beach, SC
April 8/9 - Jacksonville II, Hanna Park
April 15/16 - Wrightsville Beach, NC * assisted by Salt Marsh Kayak Co.
May 6/7 - Outer Banks, NC * hosted by Kitty Hawk Kites

The majority of these events will be run in one day, but we plan on using the second day to do a Big Trick contest, so plan on sticking around.

Of course these events are dependent on weather and surf conditions and may be subject to change. As more info on each event becomes available, it will be posted to www.eskasurf.com

Each event is scheduled to have the following categories: K-1(plastic), High Performance, International, Beginner/Intermediate Unrestricted and Big Trick.

There will be divisions for Men, Women, Masters, and Juniors, provided there are enough to make a division or category. We may also add a few heats of Waveski, if there is enough interest and time permits.

Entry fees have not been determined yet, but will be comparable to previous contests. The ACA has raised the cost of insurance, so if you are not an ACA member, you may wind up paying a bit more at each contests than before.

As an incentive to get new competitors at these events, if you bring someone with you who has never competed in one of our contests before, and they enter, you will receive a $10 discount off YOUR entry fee. (Limit 1 discount per contest)

Also remember to update your ESKA membership if you are expired, or you haven't yet joined. Membership entitles you to ranking for the contest year, and thus makes you eligible to earn circuit points. You can email me if you are unsure of your status.

In addition to these 6 spring events, we hope to have several more this fall, including a new Virginia Beach event that should be a lot of fun, as well as the US Nationals. More info on those events soon. Remember that to become eligible for US East Team Trials, Men must attend 3 sanctioned events (Women and Juniors 1 event) between now and the trials in late fall 2006, and your top 4 events count toward your ranking.

We'll be posting updates, and more info at http://www.eskasurf.com/, so check the news page there frequently.

For now, please email me and let me know which events you plan to attend, so we can get an idea of how many to expect. Also, if you know of anyone who might be interested in judging at one or more of these events, please pass the info along to me. We use a scoring system similar to the ESA board surfing contests, and we are looking for judges with some experience judging board surfing events.

The first event is at Hannah Park in Jacksonville, FL. For those of you who have not been to Hanna Park, it features excellent camping, as well as cabins, with hotels near by. The breaks are right there in the park, and there are also mountain biking trails, and apparently Gilligan's Island was filmed there. I would suggest reserving camping and cabin space soon for both events. The # is (904) 249-4700. Huge thanks to Carlos Marrone for helping plan this event. It's going to be a lot of fun, and hopefully nice and warm! Info on where to meet before the event for registration will be on the ESKA website, www.eskasurf.com

Also remember that the Santa Cruz surf kayak contest in California, is March 24/25/26.

Another event of note this spring is the Charleston County Parks and Rec Kayak Symposium, April 21-23rd. Double World Champion Ross Fulcher is supposed to be teaching a surf kayaking clinic at this event, sponsored by the ESKA, and beginners are welcome. http://ccprc.com/kayak.html for more details.

Finally, please send this info out to any surf kayakers you know that might not of received it, and feel free to post the info on local paddling message boards, etc. We really want to grow the sport of surf kayaking, and we want to see a lot of new faces at the events this spring.

Thanks,
Joey Hall
President, Eastern Surf Kayaking Association