2005 RED BULL ICE BREAK
It's All Aboot the Experience
Brendan Petticrew
Copyright ©2009 SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA™. All rights reserved.
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This weekend's fourth annual Red Bull Icebreak was the last. It has been announced that this contest, a logistical odds beater, and the most successful event to highlight the Northeast surf scene, while bringing together the East Coast surf community like no other in recent history, has heard it's last horn.
Industry shakers and movers take note. The gig is up. Red Bull will inevitably go on to raise the bar of Northeast surfing on some other level, but the Icebreak (a series of five qualifiers from Nova Scotia to the Outer Banks, and an epic final in the Canadian Maritime, all held "on call,") is up for grabs.
After watching the Northeast's top pros and hometown heroes surf two rounds and a 45 minute final, in water just above freezing, at a several hundred yard pointbreak, I suggest maybe Viagra, 'cause that takes some stamina!
Now you bigwigs at Viagra, be advised - the East Coast scene is a little strange. I mean, surfers travel 35 hours to surf in 35-degree water, where the accommodations are infested with giant, furry, bunnies, and the event is directed by a ski jumper. The top surfers, are nail-bangers and waiters, and actually appreciate the opportunity they are given. Plus, the locals are so hospitable, it's almost sinister.
Then you consider surfers like Ryan Carlson, who call moving from So Cal to New York, a career choice, and Zev Gartner who travel from New Zealand to Canada for the contest.
But, the weirdest part is that a contest actually brings surfers together!
"Last year, Jason Borte (2004 finalist) said that the contest is secondary to the experience. I know a lot of people who have made good friends with guys, whom they'll be friends with for life," said Halifax Pro, Neco Manos.
Yeah, a pro said that.
Pat Emery
Copyright ©2009 SOURCE INTERLINK MEDIA™. All rights reserved.
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Allow me to explain. Red Bull Icebreak contest director, Jack Fleming (former Ski Jump World Cupper) had the unenviable task of running the qualifiers through the fall, calling the swell, and then seeing that 60 people involved with the event - surfers, judges, media, and personnel, were flown to Nova Scotia, and delivered to a remote headland on the coast of nowhere. Upon arrival, the crew found the sleepy resort, a gorgeous collection of cabins on a rocky beach, to be the home to hundreds of domesticated rabbits.
The idea is to bring the best surfers in the Northeast together in the ultimate coldwater arena, and those who have become involved certainly don't let cold water or chance of flurries stop them from experiencing this epic event, ..and the waves are epic, without fail.
For the final year, the drama was higher than ever. Especially, at 5:30 a.m., when the spotters reported the ocean was flat.
"At 5:30, I was thinking maybe I should get on a plane and go home," said Fleming.
THE BEST WAVES!
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