Rusty

Photo from: OC Register

The NSSA Interscholastic State Championships finished this past weekend in wet and unruly conditions caused by the El Nino storm patterns. However, the surf remained consistent and allowed the competitors a good opportunity to showcase their talents. Rusty’s Breyden Taylor participated in the contest, surfing for San Clemente High in the Junior Varsity Division. Breyden surfed a nail biting heat against Josh Giddings and ended up the claiming the division. Congratulations from all of us at Rusty!

After taking home two national titles last season Rick Takahashi has tasted blood and is on a rampage. Takahashi claimed double wins, for the third time this season, at the NSSA Southwest Explorer conference contest held at Huntington beach over the weekend. The technical regular footer competes in the Seniors and the Masters divisions, but still surfs like an amped junior - making the most of every wave. Takahashi knows how to make heats and get scores. For instance, in this weekend’s event he got at least an 8.5 in every heat he surfed (in both divisions) and he even nailed a perfect 10 in one of the finals! Once Takahashi gets his momentum going he is tough to stop: better get out of the way because he is blazing full speed ahead to another pair of national titles!

The NSSA Southwest Conference season opener took place in Huntington Beach over the weekend and reigning Conference and National Champion, Rick Takahashi, is looking ready to meet or beat his personal best. Repeating last season’s opening day, Takahashi put on another dominating performance putting 7-point rides on the scoreboard. He nailed wins in both the Masters and Seniors divisions proving the merit behind his double Nationals titles last June.

Click here to check out the full story at nssa.org.

Jake Halstead

NSSA Nationals is a great time to be a grom…

What better way to amp up for a heat than a little Black Sabbath on Guitar Hero?  What better way to rejuvenate after an exhausting paddle battle than an extra large shaved ice and fresh BBQ fish tacos?  What beats a post heat massage?

The Rusty Groms got to enjoy the V.I.P. treatment.  Jake Halstead, Keto Burns, Tayler Brothers, Mikey Ciarmella, Corey Howell, and Ian Garcia climbed the ranks of the NSSA to earn a spot in the coveted Nationals competition for a chance to duke it out with the next crop of (soon to be) World Title contenders…

Tayler Brothers

Photos: Brody

The NSSA Nationals are under way at the coveted Trestles Beach in Southern California and the most talented surfers from across the country are in town to compete for the championship…

Amongst the elite crowd of up and coming surfers are Rusty’s very own Corey Howell, Mikey Ciarmella, Ian Garcia, and Tayler Brothers. Although, the surf was a bit inconsistent, the sets provided for clean rippable walls and the groms went off!  Ian Garcia was a stand out, taking first place in his heat!

The Playground: Trestles

Ian Garcia working it all the way to the beach…

Ian Garcia winning the heat

Mikey Ciarmella

Corey Howell

Join Us for the Rest of the Nationals Contest and Come Show Your Support for the Rusty Groms!

All Photos: Brody

Photo: Brody

Takahashi and friends gathered at the La Jolla Brew House over the weekend to celebrate a tremendous season in NSSA.

Takahashi surfed in both the Masters and Seniors divisions and when it was all said and done he took home 18 wins, 5 seconds, 1 third, 1 seventh, 2 Conference Titles, 2 Regional Titles, 1 Western Title, and Two National Titles!

You are the man, Rick!

All the best from the crew at Rusty!

Before this year’s NSSA season started we took a few minutes to chat with Rick Takahashi (see “The Man With No Middle Name”), last year’s Masters’ Champion, and he claimed he was going to bring home two Championship titles this year… well, the man is true to his word and he brought home the NSSA Southwest Conference Masters (25+) and Seniors (35+) Championships!

The NSSA states that, “Rick Takahashi kicked up the heat in the Masters and Seniors categories this year, dominating the divisions with a major 14 win-record while handily collecting both conference titles.”

Takahashi did not just sneak by with the titles, he destroyed the series in both divisions, leaving everyone points behind. In the Masters division Tak took home seven 1st places, two 2nds, and a 3rd- leaving him with a series point total of 12,450, 2,935 points ahead of second place!  For the Seniors division he took home seven 1sts, two 2nds, and an equal 7th- a series total of 12,134, 1,805 points ahead of the runner up! Tak only missed one final in two divisions all year!

Not to mention that, just for fun, Tak entered and won one of the Sun Diego Pro/Am Events; as if he had not surfed enough contests this year…

“I won both conferences and looking forward to Westerns next week. I’m not looking forward to nationals until I win the Westerns Cup…”

Congratulations Rick! No Mercy at Westerns and Nationals!

Although the morning’s glassy conditions were eventually chopped up by a southerly afternoon breeze, hundreds of surfers competed in 23 divisions for a chance to surf in the NSSA National Championships in June in California.

“I was a little worried about waves on my way here,” said NSSA Executive Director Janice Aragon, who drove a truck and trailer full of scaffolding and equipment from California last week. “So I couldn’t believe Friday was the day this swell arrived. And once the wind died this morning, it was so clean. You don’t see Sebastian Inlet like this very often.”
Those glassy conditions gave contestants from Florida to Maine the opportunity to showcase their skills over four days.

Click here for the full photo gallery of the event!

Explorer Boys
1. Cam Richards
2. Pat Schmidt
3. Corey Howell
4. Noah Schweizer
5. Sam Duggan
6. Knox Harris

Explorer Juniors
1. Balaram Stack
2. Evan Thompson
3. Frank Roper
4. Fisher Heverly
5. Tayler Brothers
6. Peter Polanski

Explorer Men
1. Nick Rupp
2. Balaram Stack
3. Tayler Brothers
4. Frank Roper
5. Cole Richards
6. Kedren Ferrero

Open Juniors
1. Evan Geiselman
2. Mikey Ciaramella
3. Dylan Kowalski
4. Cam Richards

Hunter Lysaught, captain of the Point Loma Nazarene Surf Team and major NSSA threat, decided to skip out on the rest of this year’s season to venture off to Australia for a semester abroad on the Gold Coast. Although this was a tough decision for Hunter who, at the time of his departure, was currently sitting in 1st place for the College Mens division with a 1st and two 3rds at the first three events, the lure of Australia’s perfect point breaks was too strong…

I stopped Hunter while he was grabbing a few boards at the factory the day before his departure. After we argued about the proper spelling of his last name for a few minutes, here is what he had to say:

My brother’s used to call me “Huntwah” just to heckle me. I have three brothers and ever since I was growing up and surfing they gave me shit and made me tougher, but I wanted to stand out. So I kept surfing and wanted to get better, it was so addicting I just wanted to do it every day…

I am freaking amped! I leave for Australia tomorrow at 11:50am. I’ve got a 16 hour flight with free alcohol and five of my buddies from Point Loma Surf Team.

I’ve got three fresh boards for the trip… two 6′0″s and a 5′10″. The 5′10″ is my small wave board, it is a GTR; I have been riding that around here a lot, just the beach breaks and stuff, because it has been kind of a weak winter. It works pretty good in small, mushy surf. Then I have a 6′0″ Redline, which is my standard shortboard; kind of normal days- chest to head high. Then my 6′0″ thumbtail is for bigger, hollower waves- like blacks.

I am ready for South Straddy! Everyone says they don’t want to do it because it is so sharky… but if I get eaten by a shark that is kind of a cool way to go! And if not, I get sick barrels on the other side!

I’ll be in Australia for four months doing two major business courses and two GE courses at Bond University, but mostly, I am just going to surf.

I am going to keep surfing the NSSA events at home and I am going to try and enter a few of the Pro Juniors in Australia. Oakley is sponsoring a few events - so I will try and do those ones for sure. Some more Pro Juniors when I get home and maybe the U.S. Open this summer. Eventually, I would like to take a crack at the WQS…

Although, Hunter was looking like a sure thing for claiming the NSSA College Mens Championship if he stayed and he would miss the State Championships, he boarded the plane to Australia with no regrets…

Text By: Brody

In the most recent NSSA Southwestern Conference Contest, held at pumping Ocean Beach pier, San Diego, Jake Halstead took 1st Place in the Explorer Boys Division. Rick Takahashi, once again, took 1st in the Seniors Division as well as the Masters Division. Both the amping rookie and the unstoppable veteran seem to be on a clear path to victory…

Click here to see the full contest results from the NSSA!