July Quick Hits
by Paul Costales

Time for another edition of Quick Hits, your one stop shopping for Santa Barbara surf news, events, and information.

Lakey Peterson: Best Local Female Performance?
Local high school surfer, Lakey Peterson, added a new highlight to her surfing resume by winning a National Title at the NSSA Nationals in mid-June. The 14-year-old, who had previously been selected by the USA Surf Team for the World Junior's in Ecuador, came out champion in the Open Women's division, the highest title possible. She did this by busting an aerial; a risky move not attempted too often when the stakes are high, on her first wave. The risk paid off. Lakey landed what was to become the first aerial by a female in the history of NSSA Nationals. This accomplishment by Lakey cannot be understated nor brushed aside. She went down to the trenches of the SoCal surf scene, was an underdog against ladies much older and more experienced than her, and came out with the title. Some watchers of the local contest surfing scene have stated this is the best local female performance of the year, of any sport, yet has received very little attention. Santa Barbara, which is one of the centers of the surfing world, with good point breaks, top notch surf companies (Channel Islands), and world class surfers (Curren, Mearig, Martinez), needs to step up its accolades for our up and coming young surfers, who are accomplishing titles akin to an NCAA championship. In other NSSA Nationals news, Conner Coffin placed 4th in Open Mens and 2nd in Open Juniors. Patrick Curren placed 5th in Explorer Menehuene. Conner and his brother Parker look to continue to terrorize NSSA contests next year.

Carpinteria Skate Park
There is a good movement underway in Carpinteria to have a skate park built. The organizers are having a fundraiser night on Saturday, July 25th, at 855 Linden Ave. Starting at 5:00pm, there will be music, food, and beverages, followed by skate movies when the sun goes down.

In addition to the skate movies, local skaters/filmers can submit their own 5-minute skate movie for a prize of $150. The top few entries will be shown on skate night. Movies can be submitted to Carpinteria Sports (1060 Casitas Plaza, 566-1800) by 5:00pm on July 22nd. Only DVD entries are accepted, and profanity is disallowed. For more info on these events and the skate park-in-waiting, visit carpskatepark.org.

Surfing Art Exhibits
There are a couple of surfing art exhibits on hand in the local area worth checking out. The first is the Rogue Wave at Anderson Art Collective (410 Palm Ave in Carpinteria). The exhibit runs until August 2nd, Friday to Sunday from 1-6pm and is "an edgy and comprehensive survey of contemporary surf art". Works by the Anderson Brothers, Reynolds Yater, Bob Barbour, Eric Christensen, Jay Kelly, Randy Noborikawa, Kenneth Ober, Scott Richards, Blakeney Sanford, and David Seiler will be on hand.

The second exhibit is, "Closest Thing To Walking On Water", which runs from July 11-30 at the Latitude Gallery (20 Helena Ave in SB). The gallery is open Thursday to Saturdays, 12-6pm and Sunday 11-5pm, and "highlights the work of surfing artists and art-making surfers".

Channel Islands BBQ
Channel Islands Surfboards is having a BBQ this Sunday from 1-4. There will be complimentary food and refreshments, and a free CI trucker hat for buying $50 in gear. Surfboards will be up to 40% off, and full suits will be 30% off. Check it all out at 36 Anacapa St.

Pt. Mugu Contest
The once secret and always difficult to access surf spot on the base at Pt. Mugu will have its 2nd annual surf contest, August 22 and 23rd, but registration is only open from July 8-17. The public may enter to surf ($100 for civilians), or come and watch (free). Event directors said last year's event drew over 1,000 spectators for the one-day event, so they increased it to two days this year. Thanks to the giant submarine canyon just offshore, waves come in at full speed and hand out some of the toughest punishment of the nearby beach breaks.

Bobby Martinez Update
Bobby Martinez placed an equal 9th in the latest event in Brazil. The Brazil event gets a lot of grief for its small, lackluster surf, and this year, the contest got moved up on the calendar so it wouldn't be the 2nd to last event of the year; right when eyeballs are most watching to see who wins the tour. Kelly Slater, who recently confessed to considering Santa Barbara more his home than any other place on the planet, won the event, as he continues to surf non-traditional boards, some that he has shaped himself. Bobby is ranked 6th in the world, and Kelly is ranked 9th. Venturan surfer Dane Reynolds is ranked 34th, but he has been wowing people with his radical surfing and his blase attitude toward the "3 turns to the beach" contest surfing style. Oxnardian surfer Nathaniel Curran is ranked 40th, and at this point is not looking like a favorite to re-qualify for next year's World Tour. Currently, the World Tour surfers are in South Africa waiting for the start of the Jeffrey's Bay event. The J-Bay event will also feature a blast from the past with its, "Clash of the Icons" contest, featuring Santa Barbara surfer Tom Curren, against Aussie, Mark Occhilupo. These fellas haven't surfed against each other in about 20 years. But they were the tops of the crop, each with his individual style, still not replicated by any other surfer today.

"All bets are off in J-Bay", said Occhilupo. "I don't know what he has been up to. Tom has always been the mysto-man, but I'm pretty anxious, and I am really anticipating the showdown quite a lot."