Old City Style with Respect for the Classics
Story & Water Photography: Darby Moore | @darbyjanemoore
DISCLAIMER: If you were not able to surf or attend the St. Augustine’s Oldest City Fall Brawl Log Jam event, I would heavily discourage you from viewing the following images. Missing out on this day of light winds, stellar surf and endless sunshine may incite feelings of envy or sadness in those who were unable to attend.
For those of you who have been a part of the competitive surfing world, there is no need to explain that the contest scene can be somewhat of a grind. Events are scheduled months in advance, contingent on the hope that swell and conditions can provide for the selected date. Not surprisingly, it can be very rare for all of these elements to line up and produce a day of fun surf for competitors. In the true spirit of Murphy’s Law, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. That being said, there are days when Murphy’s Law makes way for good luck and good fortune, and yesterday’s Fall Brawl was just that.
Yesterday’s swell and light West winds produced some unbelievably lined up, clean waves in the thigh high to rib high range. The event was held on the southside of the St. Augustine pier, providing surfers with multiple peaks, making for a logger’s heaven. Contest organizers Chris Tincher, Chad Doyle, Cole Hardwick and Alex Hobbs pulled together with local artists and talent to provide yet another Oldest City Log Jam event, gathering some of the East Coast’s best longboard and twin-fin riding talent this past Saturday.
For this fall’s event, divisions included an open girl’s division, groms under the age of 30, grandpas over the age of 30, and a twin fin invitational division. The rules? All surfers in the longboard events must ride a single fin and all boards must be over 9’ in true log fashion. Following Joel Tudor’s example with his iconic traveling Duct Tape Invitational events, both male and female division winners received equal pay for their show of grace and classic logger style. The surfer deemed most stylish received a skate deck donated by the Surf Station, as well as a prize pack loaded with Vans gear.
After a day of offshore winds and undeniably fun surf, surfers and spectators alike returned to the Surf Station for the event’s after party. The shop parking lot filled with artworks from East Coast artists including the works of Addie Gibson, Mia Larson, Chad Doyle, Trenton Tarpits, Patrick Conklin and more. These talents were joined by the sounds of Jacob Hamilton and Oh Great Sea, comprised of sliders and singer-songwriters, Alex and Lizzy Hobbs.
“Thank you Jesus for surfing and great surf,” Tincher remarked as the after party festivities began. “This Log Jam was one for the record books.”
With an awe-inspiring level of skill and talent on display, the evening was wrapped up with the long anticipated premiere of local filmmaker Luke Kothera’s movie, East Coast Sucks?, featuring surfers including Saxon Wilson, Justin Quintal, Patrick Conklin, Ryan Conklin, Cole Hardwick, Austin Marvin, Chad Doyle and many, many more.
After a showing of such high levels of skill both in and out of the ocean, it’s hard not to start to believe that there is something in the water here along the East Coast. Until next time, the Oldest City surf community will continue to stay thankful for surfing, thankful for those who create events like these, and thankful for those that help keep our stoke level at an all time high.
2018 Log Jam Fall Brawl Results:
Girls Division:
- Mia Larson
- Jazmine Dean
- Maddie Franz
- Olivia Beaven
Grandpas Division:
- Josh Autrey
- Chad Doyle
- Chris Tincher
- Scott Kellogg
Groms Division:
- Justin Quintal
- Patrick Conklin
- Fisher Grant
- Parker Sawyer
Twin Fin Division:
- Dustin Richardson
- Josh Autrey
- Chris Ropero
- Parker Sawyer
