Images by Jarett Juarez and Jason Garding.
This spring's Moment of Madness started off Sunday morning, with the first heat hitting the water at 8 AM. There was a little leftover bump from the previous days winds, and conditions were fair overall, forcing competitors to challenge themselves in the tricky conditions. A strong southerly current made fitness a factor, as competitors were swept past the contest area if not careful.
The usual suspects mostly made it through their first round heats, with the first big upset coming in heat 5, where Waldport local Tyler Muth upset local ripper Justin Howard, advancing directly to the Quarter Finals. Seaside Surf Shop's Laird Tuel was another early round standout, looking super sharp in his first round heat.
As Round 2 hit the water, conditions started to improve, and competitors were thrown into the first elimination round of the contest. Greg Urata blew up in his heat, advancing directly to the Quarter Finals. In Round 2 heat 2, Jason Garding and Matt Spencer dueled it out in one of the best heats of the round, with Garding just edging out Spencer with a late left that boosted him directly to the Quarters. Peter Hamilton, Kaylor Hollen, Buzzy Morales, Decklyn Wood, and Ebon Bergeron rounded out the rest of winners in round 2, stetting up a stacked Quarter Finals.
As the Quarters begin, the tide had risen enough to shut down the outside bar, and create a mostly closed out inside shorebreak-like wave. The wind also started to pick up significantly, making conditions difficult, and making everyone dig deep to be able to find scoreable waves. Kirk Tice dominated the first Quarter Final, with Greg Urata coming in second to advance to the Semi's. Laird Tuel and Kaylor Hollen put on a show in Quarter Final number 2, upsetting local ripper Tony Perez, and ousting Washington standout Peter Hamilton. Jonathon Grubbs and Mattie Starr eased through the third Quarter, and Jeremy Rasmussen and Morgan Soller rounded out the last heat of the round.
Semi's saw conditions get even worse, with the wind really starting to nuke, and the current absolutely ripping south. The first heat saw an in-form Laird Tuel take the win, with Kirk Tice coming in second to make it into the finals. In the second heat, a close heat saw Jeremy Rasmussen and Jonathan Grubbs on top, sending them to the Finals.
While the finalists took a break, the "Losers Final" paddled out, jockeying for the prestigious positions of 5th-8th. It was a rough heat, with lots of closeouts and beatings, as the grind from surfing tough conditions all day obviously set in with the competitors. The heat did see some great surfing as well however, with Morgan Soller taking out the heat, and earning 5th Place in the contest.
The finals paddled out shortly after the Losers Final finished, and immediately saw Jeremy Rasmussen catch a bomb left, who ripped it to shreds all the way to the inside. Shortly after, Jeremy backed it up with an even better wave, leaving the rest of the field to try and play catch up. Kirk Tice, Jonathan Grubbs, and Laird Tuel made a couple great late efforts to re-gain the lead off Jeremy, but it was too little-too late, as Jeremy had all but wrapped up the heat in the first 10 minutes, taking the win, and taking home a brand new JS Surfboard. As it turned out, Jeremy was riding a borrowed board the whole contest, and it was fitting that he would end up winning the contest, and earning a new board in the process.
Special thanks to all our volunteers and sponsors of the event: O'Neill Wetsuits, Xcel Wetsuits, Billabong, Spy, Creatures of Leisure, Futures, Hippy Tree, Depactus, and for Ben and Jeff's Restaurant for providing food for the competitors! Also big thanks to Ollie Richardson for providing his personal Jet Ski so that we could get water shots, and for providing Ninkasi beer for competitors.
More images and video will be posted shortly!
Full Results Below:
