K38 Award given to Schmidt

Local surfer Jason Garding shines among big names
By Gail Kimberling Of the News-Times

Pablo Schulte and his surfing partner, Davey Smith, 980 miles straight from Santa Barbara, Calif. to participate in the inaugural Nelscott Reef Tow-In Contest held off Lincoln City Sunday. "It was well worth it," Schulte said, as he showed off his specially-made surf board. (Photo by Gail Kimberling) As the finalists surfed their last heat for the inaugural Nelscott Reef Tow-in Contest held Sunday, Pablo Schulte stood on the beach off Canyon Way Wayside in the waning afternoon sun and reflected on the day's events.

"Everyone was super nice, super polite," Schulte said of his brief stay in Lincoln City over the weekend. Schulte and his surfing partner, Davey Smith, had driven 980 miles straight on Friday and Saturday from Santa Barbara, Calif. to participate in the first contest of its kind in the Northwest. "It was well worth it," Schulte commented, even though the duo didn't make the finals.

"They all loved it," Stan Michelsen, a contest judge and local surfer, said of the 30 surfers who came from afar to ride the massive wave more than one-quarter of a mile off the Nelscott district of Lincoln City. Placing eighth (individually) among these world-class competitors was Lincoln City's own Jason Garding.

"It was pretty cool," Garding said about a contest of this caliber taking place in his own back yard. "Most of these guys are so cool; they're super friendly, they just love to surf like we do. It was neat." Garding, 33, was paired with Don Curry, a Carmel Beach surfer who appeared on the cover of Surfer Magazine this past spring. Though a little apprehensive at first - "I wasn't too comfortable with getting a new tow partner the day before a big event like this," Garding said - Curry's laid-back attitude soon put Garding at ease and the pair placed "pretty high up" in team scoring. Conditions for Sunday's contest were "near perfect" reported event sponsor actionsportsnw.com. "We had (a) 12-foot swell hold steady all day with sunny skies and light offshore winds," the website stated.

"The swell could have been bigger, but who's going to complain about 20- to 30-foot waves?" asked Garding, and Schulte added, "They were definitely 'A' caliber waves."

Participants were towed to the offshore reef area by wave runners or jet skis. All personal watercraft were equipped with rescue sleds, and every surfer wore safety vests and other required equipment. "I probably have $15,000 invested in all this," Schulte, who is also a partner in K38 Water Safety, said. His company specializes in the use of personal watercraft or jet skis for towsurfing and managing water safety for big wave surfing competitions. After a series of preliminary heats the hour long final was called "close," with less than a point separating the top three placers.

Overall winners of the contest were Zach and Jake Wormhoudt, of Santa Cruz, Calif.; second place went to Shane Desmond and Tyler Fox of Santa Cruz; in third were Peter Mel and Anthony Tashnick, also of Santa Cruz; and taking fourth were Jeff Clark and Mike Brummett of Half Moon Bay. Richard Schmidt was awarded the K38 most valuable player award for best driver of the contest.

The event - which came together at the last minute when conditions finally cooperated in a set "window" - turned out "way beyond my expectations," said Adam Wagner of actionsportsnw. "We had great weather, great showings. Everybody had a great time."

"The community (of Lincoln City) was excellent. There were tons of volunteers, and they were invaluable," Wagner added. "At the awards party (at Chinook Winds Golf Resort Sunday night), all those guys said they were definitely coming back next year," Garding said. "They liked how friendly everybody was, and they loved the wave - it's just a high performance wave. "A lot of big waves you're just surviving ... this (Nelscott reef) wave is just perfect. It has an open wall, it just begs you to turn. You can really show off your surfing in a wave like that," Garding explained. A surfer for most of his life, Garding recalls watching the wave off Nelscott as a teen. "I remember being 16 years old and watching that break outside the (Nelscott) canyon. We were fascinated by that big, giant peak. We didn't have a name for it back then, we didn't even know how far out it was." Then tow surfing evolved, and Garding began riding the Nelscott Reef wave about three years ago.

"As a kid we would just look at it and think, 'No way.' It's weird to finally be surfing it." Garding said he wasn't surprised at the hundreds of spectators at Sunday's contest, since word of the event quickly spread over the Internet. In spite of some grumbling by local surfers who want to "protect" their home turf, Garding isn't worried about the Nelscott Reef gaining this kind of notoriety.

He said, "All the surfers know about Oregon, but it's a tough place to be a surfer. There were actually more surfers (here) when I started 20 years ago. Now there are more valley surfers who are mostly fair weather surfers. Oregon (weather) itself keeps the crowd down." Sponsors and surfers are already looking forward to next year's Nelscott Reef Tow-in Contest, with a window set for sometime between Oct. 15 and Dec. 15. "There are so many variables that have to fall into place for it to work. For it to happen (like it did Sunday) was just incredible," Garding said. http://www.newportnewstimes.com/articles/2005/12/14/news/news02.txt