Otter Rock and Roll Recap
Photos by Mattie Starr
The 2016 Otter Rock and Roll had a suspect start, with swirling winds, large rainclouds looming, and thunderstorms forecasted for the whole morning, threatening to stall or ruin the days planned youth surf contest. As the first heat was 5 minutes away from paddling out, and a dark cloud looming overhead, it started to rain, sending event organizers and volunteers scrambling to get things under cover, and buckle down for a long morning. However the weather decided to not give the contest much hassle after that initial shower, as the sun came out, the winds turned light out of the north and groomed a nice little waist high swell, perfect for all the groms attending the event!
Surfrider puts the Otter Rock and Roll on each year, as a way of giving back to the community, and encouraging groms to enjoy our lifestyle of surfing, and ocean stewardship. Along with the surf contest, there is a beach cleanup, micro-plastics education, and fun beach games for the groms to do while they’re not out in the water. They also partner up with Warm Current to give free lessons to beginners, and this year, they even gave away a free surfboard to the “Best Beginner”!
Team moment represented well in 2016 with riders Kai Huggin, and Marley and Avery Snavely all representing respectively in their own divisions! Kai got a 2nd place in the 12 and under division, and 1st place in the 13-15 division, continuing his streak of victories after his first place finish in the winter surf jam grom division! Avery Snavely got 3nd Place in the child with parent division, and her sister Marley Snavely got 2nd in the 12 and under division!
A huge thanks to all the people who contributed and sponsored the event, it was nice to see all the local surf shops there participating and representing (Moment, Safari Town, Ossies, Lincoln City, Pura Vida, Cleanline, Ocean Pulse), as well as many more local and national sponsors that helped make this event happen! And of course a huge thanks to Vince, Charlie, and all the other volunteers at Surfrider for making the whole thing a reality!
