The 2004 Roxy Quicksilver Surfjam was bigger and better than ever. Again competitors came far off places in Brazil, Australia, the U.S. and Nova Scotia. By our reckoning and all other consulted sources, there were far more bikinis and skin in general than at any proceeding Surfjam. The weather was great! The sun shone down and cooked the place on Saturday and a small SE pulse tried to wrap around the headland sending us a shadow of last year's overhead conditions. By Sunday the sun hung on but the swell had deteriorated. A brisk onshore breeze kept the beach cool at full cost to surf.
Tofino's Pete Devries took back top pro title and $2,000. Raph Bruhwiler placed second and brother Sepp Bruhwiler placed third. Brazil's Guto Jacone took 4th.
In women's pro first and second place went to Americans Kassia Meador $500, & Meleana White. Port Renfrew's Leah Oke placed 3rd and Shandy Kardsweir came in 4th.
Supporters of Tofino's new skate park put on a deadly BBQ and raised funds for the new park. Construction is slated for late summer 2004. Cutting Edge dragged a 5 ft mini ramp built by Jamie Collins out on the beach. Vert skaters came out of the woodwork and put on a hell of demo, except for Sunday morning when the ramp lay silent and tarped. Huh. An excellent addition to SurfJam. More, more.
This year saw the addition of "under 14 classes for both Mens and Women's". This is a great move and critical to the development of competitive calibre surfers in British Columbia. We counted 19 competitors in the under 14 classes from as far away as Oregon.
Hundreds of spectators waded out knee deep into the crumbling surf to cheer on the Men's Pro finals. Like I said, a bigger and better Surfjam than ever but I also hear more and more calls for a series of small comps timed for swell rather than sun and crowds.
There is a tremendous amount of effort goes into planning and running the Surf Jam. Big shout out to all the volunteers and especially Dom Domic who shoulders so much of the task.
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