Yesterday we held one of those most memorable Great Lakes surf contests that we will always remember.



Here is the list of thanks first to the people who made our event so successful.



Thank You Chris Furminger for naming the contest The ESA "Spirit of Lake Erie Surf Contest."





Thank you George Holmes for contributing Tim Hortons hot chocolate to everyone at the contest.





Thank You Bill Uliki for supplying the beverage prizes for the adult competitors.





Thank You Board Sports and Silent Sports for the wax and watch donations.





Thank Bob Timkey for the t-shirt donations.





Thank You to Bob Sobering for the leash and beverage donations for the adult competitors.





Thank You Chris Furminger, Smitty, and Bob Sobering for being our competition judges.





Thank You Don Harrison our 78 year young Legend for showing up and cheering us on. He was talking to me about getting a used board and going out again.





Thank You Bob Sobering, Scout, and Finz for turning the competition flags.





Thank You ESM and Surfing Magazine for your years of sending us surf magazines. Thanks for everyone that loaded up on magazines and made my wife happy at home. Pass them on to new surfers and friends.





Thank the Lord for a Sunday of clean waves and this life.







Results for ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes "Spirit of Lake Erie Surf Contest."





Sunday 16 November 2008



The Palmwood-The Crystal Beach Waterfront Park, Crystal Beach, Ontario, Canada.



Lake Erie





Scoring is on a one to ten scale. One being the least and ten being the best score. Judging took place from two vantage points and all scores are subject to the opinions of our volunteer judges. Regardless of numerical wave scores there was a general agreement on the ranking of the final scores between both judges.



All heats ran fourty (40)- minutes in duration.





We deceided to run the longboard events first because the wind had more North in it than west. The wind shifted more to the west and cleaned up the lineup by the time we ran the shortboard events.





The contest start was held back to after one p.m. for better surf conditions for the competitors.





Heat 1



Mens Longboard (18-34)



1 Bob Timkey Hartland, N.Y. RED



1000 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 9, 9.



Smitty score for best two waves: 7, 7.



2 Tarik Abiq Dunnville, Ont. WHITE



900 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 9, 8.



Smitty score for best two waves: 6, 6.



3 Andy DiPinto Rochester, N.Y. GREEN



800 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points


Furminger score for best two waves: 9, 9.


Smitty score for best two waves: 7, 3.



4 Adam Szpajda Oshawa, Ont. ORANGE



700 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 4, 2.



Smitty score for best two waves: 1, 1.





Heat 2



Masters Longboard (35-49)



1 Bill Uliki Toronto, Ont. RED

(I will send up your trophy plate with Rob the next time he visits)





1000 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 10, 9.



Smitty score for best two waves: 8, 8.





2 Dan Michaluk Toronto, Ontario GREEN



900 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 8, 7.



Smitty score for best two waves: 8, 7.





3 Laurence Hewick Kitchner, Ont. BLUE



800 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 7, and 2



Smitty score for best two waves: 1, 1.





Heat 3



We ran Men and Masters Shortboard together.





Men Shortboard (18-24)



1 Mitchell Kachnij North York, Ont. ORANGE



1000 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 5, 4.



Sobering score for best two waves: 5, 5.





2 Marty Parr Port Colborne, Ont. GREEN





900 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 3, 3.



Sobering score for best two waves: 4, 4.





Masters Shortboard (25-34)




1 Jonathan Ambeault, North York, Ont. RED



1000 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 8, 6.



Sobering score for best two waves: 6, 5.



2 Bob Timkey Hartland, N.Y. YELLOW



900 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 5, 4.



Sobering score for best two waves: 5, 5.





3 Andy DiPinto Richester, N.Y. BLUE



800 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Furminger score for best two waves: 1, 1.



Sobering score for best two waves: 5, 3.





Heat 4



Open Shortboard (All Ages)



1 Marty Parr Port Colborne Ont.



1000 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Won by default of other competitors failing to show up.





Bodyboard Open (All Ages)



1. Tarik, Abiq Dunnville, Ont.



1000 ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes Competion Points



Won by default of other competitors failing to show up.







All competitors are on the honor system to join the ESA as part of the agreement we made on Sunday which allowed you to compete. Thank You for paying the entry fee which is going towards paying for your trophy plates. I believe some of the fives I had were left on the table or fell on the floor at Tim Hortons at Crystal Beach. Not to worry I have more than enough to pay for the trophy shop to make the plates. Due to the loss of the money I will not be running a 50/50 draw as I mentioned after the contest.





In the Spring of 2009 there will be a larger contest held in Montauk, N.Y. This is the ESA Northeast Regional Surfing Championships. All competitors are elegible from our contest to compete for either a slot or an alternate position in this contest. Determination for district slots is based on district membership. Districts with the highest memberships are alloted the highest number of slots. Slotting for district members is determined by members who have accumulated the highest number of competition points from their district in 2008. ESA Great Lakes District members from either the West or East lakes who have accumulated the highest number of competition receive first consideration for either an available district slot or alternate slot. All ESA Great Lakes District-East Lakes 2008 competitors with competition points are urged to appy to Lester Priday for the ESA Northeast Regional in 2009. Applicarion can be made directly to Lester Priday in April 2009 via his email address. His address can be found on the Eastern Surfing Assoication web page under district page.





Again another round of applause and thanks to everyone for making the



ESA Great Lakes District's-East Lakes "Spirit of Lake Erie Surf Contest" a spectacular success!





In one sentence. It was amazing!

If he is riding he is smiling. Chris Furminger at The Palmwood. November 2008:






Copyright C Magilla Schaus November 2008

It's a topsey turvey ride for me when I run a surf contest.


Everything is a jumble and now I'm sorting out things and making all sorts of discoveries.

First I found the contest entry fee money that I thought I lost at Tim Hortons during the awards. I had a hole in my vest pocket and the money slipped behind the pocket. Today it slipped back from behind the pocket and I found it. Yesterday I ordered the trophy plates to be enscribed in Port Colborne, Ontario. I will use the contest entry fee to pay for this work and to mail each competitor their trophy plate. If there is any entry fee money left over I will run a raffle and pick out one of your names and send you the remainder of that money.


Second how often have you heard about a guy wanting an old table to make a surfboard to be used to ride the waves? Apparently in the midst of the contest while talking to Don Harrison I misheard what he said to me. Don wanted an old beat up surfboard for his son to make a table out of it. What I thought I instead heard was that Don wanted a surfboard to ride. How often do we hear about guys wanting to build surfboards from old tables?

The universe this afternoon is still red shifting and there is a grease gun and some tools that were lost yesterday during a space repair walk around the space station. Weightlessness is a state of gravity and location. Around the planet there is garbage orbiting the earth in space and in the Pacific Ocean there is a vast floating area filled with plastics. Yet I have recovered the entry fee money and got a story straightened out. There is hope for the bigger problems too. Carry on.