The 15th annual Tony Mezzadri Surf Classic will be held Saturday morning, September 27 2008, at the foot of Ocean Beach pier at 7:00am. The contest offers a variety of heats for all ages, a BBQ luncheon, live music and an opportunity drawing with prizes. A Spaghetti Dinner with Silent Auction fundraiser will be held the night before on Friday September 26, 2008.

South Coast Surf Shops will be celebrating its 15th year supporting the fundraising contest, with all proceeds going directly to spinal cord research.

In September 1994, Tony Mezzadri had a tragic accident while surfing at the Ocean Beach pier. It was a typical beautiful San Diego morning and Tony was a happy, carefree young man of 24 years enjoying the exhilarating sport he had loved since childhood. In an instant, Tony’s life was changed forever. On that memorable morning, he broke his neck, resulting in a severe spinal cord injury. In that moment, Tony’s life changed dramatically. From then forward, it would be a life of depending on others for almost every physical need, a life in a wheelchair.

But Tony’s life was anything but tragic.

Upon hearing of Tony’s injury, South Coast Surf Shops and the Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association rallied in support of Tony and organized a surf contest in his honor. South Coast owner Rob Ard stepped up as a major contributor for the first Mezzadri Classic, and has never missed a contest since.

“It was a beautiful expression of the brotherhood of surfing and an inspiring emotional boost. Knowing that so many people cared so much really lifted my spirits during a very difficult and long recovery,” Tony recalls when thinking about the first event. Tony went on to get a degree from the University of San Diego, started a career in real estate, and best of all, he says, married the most wonderful girl in the world.

Over the years, the Tony Mezzadri Surf Classic evolved into a benefit for spinal cord injury research. This two-day event has become one of the most popular events in Ocean Beach. Known also for its kick-off spaghetti dinner, featuring a silent auction, a raffle, a live band and tons of fun, it’s an enjoyable event for the entire family.

All proceeds benefit the UCSD Center for Neural Repair’s Spinal Cord Regeneration Program under the direction of Dr. Mark Tuszynski. The Tony Mezzadri Surf Classic has raised over $175,000 for the UCSD Center for Neural Repair’s spinal cord regeneration program.

Entry fee for the contest is $50. A new surfing category of Stand-up Paddleboarding (SUP) has been added to this year’s contest. Contestants are encouraged to enter and can go to www.tonycontest.org for an entry form.

The traditional Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction fundraiser will be held on September 26, 2008 the night before the surf contest at the Ocean Beach Masonic Hall from 5pm – 9pm. This year features a beer garden, live music, silent auction, opportunity drawing and multiple surfboard drawings. Tickets for the event are $8.00.

For further information contact Lee Edging at 619-980-4738.  Sponsorship opportunities still available.

The Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association SCSA will be hosting the 5th annual “Gromfest” Surf Contest and BBQ at the Ocean Beach Pier Saturday September 6, 2008 starting at 7 am.

Back in early summer 2003, Point Loma residents Lisa and Rick Haux , owners of MOR
Furniture 4 Less contacted the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association OBMA a local
merchant’s association about wanting to do something for the youth in the area in
remembrance of a long time employee Carl Warner who had recently passed away.
OBMA having worked in conjunction with the Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association in the
past promoting healthy and safe activities for local kids contacted SCSA and asked we
contact Lisa and Rick. The “Gromfest” was born.

Gromfest comes from surfing slang “Grommet or Grom” meaning young or beginner kid
surfer and festival or celebration. Carl loved kids and a fun event for kids and a
celebration of Carl’s life morphed into the “Gromfest”.

The Gromfest will feature free admission for the first 110 kids who enter. Included in the
surf contest are trophies for all participants, free goodie bags containing all sort of cool
stuff including clothing, hats, surf wax, surf leases, gift certificates, etc. Also the kids are
entered into raffles for surfboards, wetsuits, boogie boards and other related items.

Thanks to the generous contributions by our primary event sponsor MOR Furniture,
SCSA’s Junior’s program sponsors and the various local merchants and surf industry
manufacturers the kids have a great summer ending event all at no charge!

The Gromfest generally attracts hundreds of spectators and families for a wonderful, kid
filled day at the beach. Everybody is welcome to come on down and “Share the Stoke”!
Proceeds generated by the Gromfest go towards the SCSA Junior’s Program which puts
on various community events throughout the year, benefitting the youth of the Ocean
Beach / Point Loma area.

Gromfest entry forms are available at the Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association website
www.scsasandiego.com

By Jody W. Wood

The SCSA 2007 Tony Mezzadri Contest & Spaghetti Dinner is just around the corner! This annual event, in its thirteenth year, takes place Saturday, Aug. 18, and Sun. Aug. 19, at the Ocean Beach Pier. Several years ago, Tony suffered an injury that left him paralyzed, with no movement in his legs and limited movement in his arms and legs. Since the contest began in 1994, all proceeds from entry fees, t-shirt sales, raffles, spaghetti dinner, and donations have gone to benefit spinal cord research.

Get ready for Gromfest 2007! It takes place Aug. 25, 2007. Gromfest is a surf contest for kids, as well as a barbecue for everyone. This event is always a success and it gets better every year. Everyone is welcome to check out the action and if you’d like to volunteer to help out, contact one of the committee members. Use this link for more information. http://www.scsasandiego.com/MemberNews.htm.

By Robb Bailey

Ten years ago Steve Cowan of South Coast, Parker McNaughton of Black Rock Entertainment and Roger Lee of P.B. Bar and Grill started a summer surfing event that has turned into a tradition here in San Diego. Back then it was a smaller event, with a focus on creating rivalry between surf shops in a “team event” format.

As the event has grown, the PB Summer Surf-off has become to provide more entertainment for people than the average surfing contest. Resident MC’s Jonah Mechanic and Luke Murdock have continued to up the ante every year with exceedingly hilarious contests on the beach to get the crowd participating in the event.

Events like the Grom Race, where our younger participants had board bags pulled over their bodies, got spun around, and then had to run a race to the finish line only sparked the creativeness of the events planned year after year.

This year the surfing conditions were a fun, peaky 2 to 4 feet that allowed the surfing contestants to pull off some very good maneuvers in the water. (See results page) But as every surf contest has experienced, the conditions don’t always allow for those types of heats. That’s where the idea came in to have Jonah and Luke make the event not only a surfing contest for the surfers, but also for beach-goers as well.

Amidst the top of the day’s events was a helicopter that dumped 25 shirts onto the beach crowd, five of which were red. The people who picked up the red shirts got a $50 gift certificate to South Coast Surf Shops.

Next in line was the Sumo Wrestling Event, followed by the Partner Paddle, which entailed two grown men hopping into the same ladies’ one-piece bathing suit to form a paddling team on a longboard. Steve described the event only as “disgustingly funny” as lots of the participants were reps for major surf companies and personal friends of many on the beach.

The event was a huge success and continues to grow each year in popularity, although the goal is to keep providing a fun contest for local surfers and crowd participants alike. See you there next year!

10th Annual PB Summer Surf Off – PB Drive

Saturday, June 9th 2007
2-4 feet, good peaky conditions.

Junior Division Final
1. Ariel Ageoro
2. Daniel Blase
3. Kevin Watley
4. Sterling Weatherly
5. Tim Senneff Jr
6. Mason Dereaux

Masters Division
1. Pedro Diaz
2. Scott Quarrie
3. Keith Bybee
4. Chad Labass
5. Quintin Macklin
6. Chris Munsterman

Men’s Open
1. Hunter Lysaught
2. Jordan Gaudet
3. Danny O’Connel
4. Matt Vargas
5. David Dupont
6. Quintin Macklin

Team Competition Individual
1. Austin Ware
2. Nick Kovack
3. David Diaz
4. Kyle Knox
5. Ratboy
6. Scott Hammonds

Team Competition results
1. Sun Diego – 107 points
2. Quiksilver – 98 points
3. Freestyle – 90 points
4. Reef – 79 points
5. Smith – 67 points
6. Vans – 55 points
7. Hurley – 49 points