Seaside Reef

 

The first day of competition saw the Men’s Shortboard division go through three rounds in peaky waist high surf. The first round proved tough for the UC San Diego squad, advancing only 4 of their 12 surfers through. By the end of the day, only one Men’s Shortboarder remained for The Tritons, Captain Michael Ciaramella. Day 2 started with the Women’s Shortboard division, where both Laura Dentz and Frankie Seely advanced from their round 1 bouts. While Laura faltered in round 2, freshman Frankie Seely advanced all the way to the semifinal, where she just missed qualification into the top 6. Dane Petersen cruised his way through a few longboard heats, but his run was cut short just before the final, as afternoon conditions proved difficult for such stylish surfing.

The only surfer remaining from the UC San Diego squad was shortboarder Michael Ciaramella, who did his best in the wild conditions and found himself in the Men’s final. The last heat was severely anticlimactic, as a rainsquall pushed in and blew the waves to pieces. The surfers tried their best and made their way back to shore after a miserable 20 minutes of fighting the unruly ocean. Although nobody performed to a very high standard, every competition must have a winner. Somehow, Michael Ciaramella won the oceanic lottery and walked away as champion on that day. Overall, the Tritons had a fairly disappointing performance, finishing just within the top 10 of 29 teams overall. The next event is not until January, so we hope to improve our strategies to perform better when that day comes.