The predicted swell had not yet arrived, the wind threatened to blow,and the event was sweating. The first round was postponed, and then, asif the vibe of the contest willed it, the surf came up.
The event mobilized to the break, and everyone scrambled across thecobblestones for a shot at the roping lefts. Each surfer surfed tworounds, against the entire field, the top six ascending to the final,which was one of the most electrifying in East Coast history. With thebest sets all day, it featured five Garden State surfers, in MattKeenan, Dean Randazzo, and Andrew Gesler, all of Ocean City, FrankWalsh, of Atlantic City, Sam Hammer, of Lavallete, and Jesse Hines, ofNorth Carolina's Outer Banks.
Everyone on the frigid bluff, from south of Cape May, raucously cheeredfor Hines, who came through with grace.
"Who really wants to surf in the freezing cold?" asked Hines, later, infront of a warm fire, "To pull it off, and make a really great contestis just genius. They brought people to cold water, had a good event,and we had lots of fun."
No one likes to lose, but losing to such a contagiously warm person,the Jersey boys could live with. That is the nature of this event.
Top Quotes of the Red Bull Icebreak, 2005
"F-k. We should have quit while we were ahead."
Jeff Reegis, Red Bull Marketing Mastermind, after witnessing an epicevent in 2004, waking up to a flat ocean.
"The weather in Halifax is cloudy, with a good chance of flurries thisafternoon."
Pilot of Air Canada Flight 636, carrying 18 surfers to the contest.
"He's an old bastard and he can't take the cold."
Sam Hammer, Red Bull team rider, about his best friend, and longtimetravel partner, Frank Walsh, whom he would face in the final.
"Is there a hawky toornament in tooown?"
Gift Shop Clerk at the Halifax Casino Hotel, as the dozens of surfboardsare shuffled through the lobby.