Wind sprints down the beach, demanding paddling through heavy currents, small wave skills, a trusting eye for sets, etc. Those aren’t your normal items on the Nationals to-do list for winning titles, but the 8-day marathon event was a different animal.

The 34^th annual National Championship event was contested in plethora of conditions which included bombing south swell 6-8 foot surf for the first few days diminishing to waist high with a few chest high nuggets for the final day.  But super challengers will triumph in super challenging conditions and the surfers with the abundant flexibility to alter their games came out the winners collecting titles in the 7 premier Open divisions and the Explorer categories. Huge July 4^th holiday crowds turned up to check out the action with thousands of people flocking to the event arena on southside. The kids showed up to perform and they didn’t disappoint displaying the highest level of surfing. Even the airshow finalists put on a show despite the tricky surf. Zeke Lau, who was clearly disappointed on his failure to make the Open Men’s final, boosted a to land the Airshow gold and the $1,000 prize.

CAM RICHARDS BRINGS MAKES THE COVETED TITLE TO THE EAST COAST!

Clearly the biggest story was the victory by South Carolinian Cam Richards who was put out in a frustrating early round loss in the Open Juniors and then gained his composure and claimed the Open Mens, the most coveted surfing title in the NSSA and amateur surfing. To add to Richard’s glory is the fact that he was the first east coast surfer to claim the prestigious Open Men’s title since fellow South Carolinian Mark McDandel accomplished the feat in 1978, the NSSA Nationals inaugural year. 15-year-old Richards surfed with remarkable polish pulling out all the stops in every one of his Open Men’s rounds, even beating Nationals standout Ezekiel Lau in four straight heats. He delivered a combo of fin free turns, aerials and appeared to surf faster than his opponents making incredible connections to the shorebreak. "This is an accomplishment I have always wanted,” an elated Richards said. "It’s the happiest I’ve ever been!” In an interview with Eastern Surf Magazine’s Nick McGregor, Richards was on cloud nine bringing it on for the east coast. "It’s pretty crazy. I was not at all expecting an East Coast surfer to win, and I just can’t believe it was me,” he said. "It felt so cool to get carried up the beach… to win that contest was like the greatest feeling in the world. It’s been my dream since I was a little kid; I remember going there and watching Clay Marzo win, and I can’t believe now it’s me that will be on that winner’s board.” Congrats also goes to runner up Taylor Clark, who made a last-ditch effort in the final minute but came up a bit short, Kalani David, who became the youngest surfer at age 13 years and 7 months  to make the Open Mens final and Jeremy Carter who was named "Breakthrough Performer of the Event.”

5-time National Champion Leila Hurst showed a veteran’s touch charging through the first days of the Explorer clinching her 4^th career National Explorer title and then continuing her dominance of HB Pier’s sandbar banks and reforms during the smaller Open days. Hurst, who resides in Kauai, used an uncanny knowledge of the fickle surf crushing outside turns and then presisely negotiating the reform sections to seal the Open Womens gold, a goal she has had since she first put on a NSSA jersey. "I wanted this for so long,” Hurst said. "This was my last chance to get it, so I’m stoked.” Congratulations also goes to runner-up Tatiana Weston Webb who nailed her first National title in Explorer Girls, Mahina Maeda and Taylor Pitz who claimed a National Interscholastic title in the High School Womens division at Salt Creek a couple weeks back in the team surfing segment of the National Championships.

If anything, Mother Nature gave the Juniors field a fighting chance. As some of the earlier finals fought through slower high tide conditions, the tidal swing in the Juniors final saw waves starting to come alive on the outer sandbars bringing better scoring opportunities. Santa Barbara’s Parker Coffin took advantage of the improved wave conditions immediately when he put an excellent 8.75 ride on the scoreboard. He backed it up with another 7.75 leaving opponents Kain Daly and Knox Harris in a combo situation and Ian Gentil needing a 9-point ride.

Jake Marshall dominated the 12 & under categories taking double National titles in the Open Boys and Explorer Menehuene categories. 12-year-old Marshall who has been a decorated west coast standout since his Mini Grom days, solidified his reputation as one of the nation’s most promising talents. His inspiring competitive skills were clearly showcased throughout the 8-day event surfing perfect heats from the opening rounds in pumping overhead surf through the challenging final days where he continued to lacerate every wave he took off on.   

After falling a hair short of winning the Nationals in 2010, Tyler Gunter achieved his goal of winning the 10 & under Open Mini Grom title. When Hawaii’s talented Finn McGill claimed the Explorer Super Grom National title earlier in the week, Gunter knew he had to put the pedal to the medal in the Open division. In a hard fought final, Gunter put on a small wave show edging out North Carolina’s Stevie Pittman (who was also runner-up to McGill in the Super Grom division), Eithan Osborne and Barron Mimaya to clinch his first National Championship.     

Joining brother Finn McGill on the Nationals podium, older sister Dax delivered a strong performance in the inaugural year of the Open Girls category, claiming the division’s first National title. In a hotly contested final with hot up-and-comer Tatiana Weston-Webb who earlier in the week clinched her first National title in Explorer Girls, 2010 Explorer Girls Champion Mahina Maeda and talented Bailey Nagy, McGill took command winning the final by a 3-point margin over Weston-Webb.

Cocoa  Beach’s Steve McLean surfed his way to a place on the prestigious list of National Open Champs winning the Longboard final. McLean had his work cut out for him matching up in the final with 2010 National Open Longboard Champion Shaun Thompson and 2010 National Explorer Champion Dane Peterson.

2011 NSSA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS FAST FACTS

­--HISTORY MAKER! The 2011 National Championships was the largest attended and longest running event in Nationals history. The championships ran over a total of 11 days. 3 days at Salt Creek for the National Interscholastic Championships and 8 days at Huntington Beach Pier for the National Open, Explorer and Airshow Championships.

--Cam Richards became the second east coast surfer in history to win the coveted Open Mens title. Fellow South Carolinian Mark McDandel won it in the Nationals inaugural year in 1978.

-­-Leila Hurst’s two victories in Open and Explorer Womens gives her 5 career National titles (2011 Open and Explorer Womens, 2009 Explorer Womens, 2008 Explorer Womens and Girls) second on the all-time female champion’s list to all-time National record holder Carissa Moore (11).

--At age 13 years and 7 months, Hawaii’s Kalani David entered the NSSA history books as the youngest surfer to make the Open Men’s final at the National Championships. He also won the Explorer Boys title bringing his career title count up to three (2011 Explorer Boys, 2010 Explorer Menehuene, 2008 Open Mini Groms).

--Knox Harris was another east coast surfer to break barriers at the Nationals. Knox put on an impressive performance placing 3^rd in the Open Juniors final in a heavily competitive 64-person field. His dad Ray Harris made the Open Men’s final at the inaugural National Championships in 1978.

--Jake Marshall was in heavy pursuit of his first National Championship this year claiming not one, but two titles in the Open Boys and Explorer Menehuene divisions. His superb all-around surfing in an array of wave conditions earned him the Sex Wax Performer of the Event and the 2011 Kalani Robb Most Inspirational Performance.     

--2011 marked the first time in 7 years that the east coast scored more than two National titles. In 2004, the Right Coast had a huge year when Evan Geiselman, Jeremy Johnston, Dylan Graves, Tony Silvagni and Kristen Wilson brought five titles home. In 2011, Cam Richards, Steve McLean and Chris Tucker won Open Men’s, Open Longboard and Explorer Men’s respectively.

--Cardiff’s Rusty Phillipy put down the hammer in two divisions winning the Explorer Seniors and Super Seniors categories. The double victory raised Phillipy’s career National title count to five (2011 Explorer Seniors and Super Seniors, 2009 Explorer Super Seniors, 2003 Explorer Seniors, 1991 Masters). 

--Hawaii’s Honolua Blomfield stepped up her game big-time at the Nationals earning the Carissa Moore "Rookie of the Year” award. Blomfield shredded her way to the semi finals in both the Open Girls and Open Womens.

--Rick Takahashi’s victory in the Explorer Masters extends his Nationals win streak to three consecutive years and boosts his overall National title count up to four (2011 Explorer Masters, 2010 Explorer Seniors, 2009 Explorer Masters and Seniors).

The 2011 NSSA National Championships is presented by Nike 6.0 and proud to have support from Huntington Surf and Sport, Surfing Magazine, Sex Wax, Surfline, Vitaminwater, Sugar Shack, Daphne's California Greek Restaurant, 5 Points Plazal Laguna Art College and CBS Sports. The NSSA is a member of Surfing America, the ISA-recognized National Governing Body for Surfing in the United States.