• Tweet

• Tweet

The Final Countdown: The tension rises as Finals Eve comes to a close at the 2009 NSSA Nationals

Evan Geiselman dropped a ten. The wave was, so far, the highlight of the event. But that won’t last. By now the field is carved down to the bone, the marrow, the skeleton of the very best in the NSSA. The final day is looming. There is no more room for dodgy judgment calls and waves not ended in any sort of combination of blow-tail, air reverse or power gouge. Or shouting matches and fist fights over questionable back paddling. There’s too much focus now.

You may be thinking this all drips of over-hype. But, we’re the media; over-hyping is our gig. It’s all kind of true, though. Paddle-battles and handfuls of triangles are no novel thing at Nationals, just as parents loosing it and heightened rivalries aren’t either. But something is different about all that stuff this year. On Finals Eve at Lowers, the beach is usually buzzing with the expected ensemble of wetsuited children and their slightly manic coaches, mentors and parents. All the sponsoring companies have their own version of diversion beneath their tents: Guitar Hero, foosball, poker and whatever else keeps kids occupied during the biggest contest of the NSSA season. This year, that stuff is kind of there, but it’s kind of not. “It’s the economy,” someone told me. I wanted to punch them in the face. I would’ve rather heard it was because half of Hollywood died this week.

read the full story at surfing mag