For the first time in several years local area South County surfers are sitting on top of their respective age group categories in the Eastern Surfing Association rankings with only one contest to go. This season saw epic surf at most of the contests, especially in the last two that were held at the Narragansett Town Beach. Several division races are still very close with the final outcome to be decided after the ESA Holiday Surfabout on November 21st.

The South New England East Coast Championships team gave a solid performance again, at the 2009 ESA Easterns Grand Finals in North Carolina this past September. Lead by local surfers SNE placed four riders in the finals taking one first, two seconds, and a fourth place. Three other competitors from the area placed in the top eight.

There is no contest in two divisions concerning New England's undisputed top competitor Ana Barend of Little Compton. This amazing athlete recently returned from taking two very close second place finishes at the 2009 ESA Easterns Finals at Cape Hatteras. Ana won both the Senior Women and Senior Women's Longboard eastern crowns in 2007 and 2008, and almost did it again this year. She continues to remain unbeatable at the ESA Northeast Regional Championships, having won both divisions for the past three years. Going into the final contest she maintains a lead of almost 2000 points over 2nd place Melanie Kotalac of Nantucket and 200 points over Kitty Pechet of Cambridge, Massachusetts in the Senior Women's Longboard division.

Katie Ryan's consistent contest results puts her in the lead in both the Women's and Women's Longboard categories, holding a slight lead over another local Westerly rider, Sarah Parker. Kitty Pechet who finished 4th in the 2009 Easterns Finals has a solid lead in the Grand Legends division and is currently is 2nd place in the Senior Women's Longboard rankings. Narragansett's Courtney Sutherland is the leader in the Junior Women's division while Mya Kotalac of Nantucket is on top in the Girls category.
Wakefield's hottest up and coming competitor, James Pilkington maintains a slight lead over another Wakefield regular, Andrew Ragosta in the highly competitive Junior Men's division. James leads Andrew by slightly over 200 points going into the final contest. James McGraghan is close behind in 3rd place. McGraghan has a solid lead in the Junior Men's Longboard category with Narragansett's Matt Nota in 2nd place.
This has been an outstanding season for Westerly's Ron Belanger, who is currently the leader in two of the toughest categories in the ESA. He leads the rankings in both the Senior Men and Open divisions and is in contention to win the Master Longboard crown at the final contest of the year. Former Northeast Regionals champ Chuck Barend is close behind in all three categories while Narragansett's Scott Sutherland has taken over the lead in the Master Longboard ranks. Boston's Naoto Ohashi remains the top hotdogger in the Men's Longboard field with a 900 point lead over Westerly's Jarrett Parker.
John Basile of Scituate, Massachusetts remains undefeated in the highly competitive Men's Open contest, and leads the field going into the Holiday Surfabout. West Kingston's Kai Holtbakk has a 2000 point lead over Nick Carter, in the Masters division. Little Compton's Cob Ingalls has a 1000 point lead over Narragansett's Matt Nota in the Boy's race while Jana Laurendeau is winning the Menehune division with West Kingston's Dylan Holtbakk in second place in the rankings.

Another great performer this season has been Newport's Pat Redmond who has won all seven Open Bodyboard contests by wide margins. Redmond has been one of South New England's top competitors for several years, placing in the finals of both the Northeast Regional Championships and the Eastern Finals numerous times. Jana Larendeau leads the Menehune Bodyboard ranks over Narragansett's Caroline Sutherland.

The 2009 ESA Holiday Surfabout is scheduled to run on November 21, 2009 at a site to be determined in Narragansett. The final contest of the year is on call for Friday night, November 20, after 6:00 PM. Interested competitors should call the ESA hotline at 401-789-1954 for updates at that time. ESA members will be notified by email if any changes are made. For further information, surfers can email the ESA at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

| More...