Quiksilver Pro New York...Cancelled for 2012

Adriano de Souza surfing in Round 5 against Jadson Andre

Kelly Slater in Round 5

Joel Parkinson in Round 5

Last week, the ASP and Quiksilver announced that the Quiksilver Pro New York event for 2012 was cancelled. I'm kind of bummed about the announcement. 2011 was the first year the event was held in Long Beach, NY and the first ever World Tour event held on the East Coast. New York isn't the first place that comes to mind when you think about world class waves or world class surfers so this was an incredible opportunity to bring greater exposure to the sport and its East Coast athletes. The event definitely had its supporters and detractors - folks who were upset about the exposure and attention the event would bring to surfing and a surf culture that now lies largely out of the mainstream. For me, I thought it was an incredible opportunity to be able to see some of world's best surfers surf in conditions that I could potentially surf in. Yes, that would mean that I would no longer be able to blame the waves for my surfing foibles but I would also witness the potential of NYC waves.

However, Hurricane Irene had other plans in mind for Long Beach which was directly in the hurricane's path. Quicksilver had actually planned a huge music, BMX and skateboard festival along with the surfing contest to make a big splash in the NYC media market. But a week or so before the event, it didn't look like the contest was going to run because of the damage caused by the hurricane. But the town and the surfers rallied together and Quiksilver pared down the event to just the surf contest. And luckily they did. Hurricane Katia sent a well-timed swell straight to the NYC area and huge crowds came out to watch the surfers. The consensus seemed to be that it was a great event. There were big crowds, good waves and the word was that the surfers had a lot of fun. You can see the highlights from the contest here.

Ed and I even got a chance to take our boys out for the afternoon to watch Rounds 4-5. It was our first time at a pro surf contest and we had so much fun. The boys even took a few breaks from playing in the sand to look out to the water and watch. I was really looking forward to taking the boys out again in September to experience it again.