A comeback story!
There was once a time when Santa Cruz, there hugging California’s great middle north, was seen as a premier surf power. Locals like Ratboy, Barney, The Condor and Flea dominated the magazines. O’Neill the go-to brand of the core and Steamer Lane hosted the contest of the year.
Alas, the town of 60,000 souls lost an ugly fight over the moniker “Surf City, USA” to Huntington Beach, discovered methamphetamine and faded from surf memory.
But is she ready for a comeback?
Maybe.
The Santa Cruz Board Riders Club is ponying up and sending a team of four to Australia’s Gold Coast in order to compete in the Usher Cup, a tournament pitting the best surf clubs around the world against each other for bragging rights and also $100,000 cash money.
Sam and Ben Coffey, Shaun Burns and Autumn Hays each received the mayor’s blessing as they prepare to jet across the Pacific.
“It’s definitely very surreal, I haven’t traveled internationally for a surf competition in a while. All my heroes are competing in this, and there’s just going to be really good surfing that I’m excited to watch,” Hays told the local Action News.
“All the kids over there are so good, boys and girls. It’ll be super cool to represent Santa Cruz and we got a pretty good team this year, so hopefully, we can bring it home, do well,” Sam Coffey added.
“We kind of want to take it to them and be a part of this competition bringing it home to Santa Cruz and stealing the trophy away from them and bringing it home is something we want to do. We’re going in there to compete and fight hard,” Shaun Burns declared.
The Usher Cup features twenty Australian teams and ten from elsewhere in the world. Santa Cruz will have to really brings its A game but maybe, just maybe, it’s time for the sun to shine upon both the east and west sides once again.
Back to this Usher Cup, though. Have you heard about it before? Does it possibly have the clout to replace the World Surf League as the “global home of surfing?”
Things to think about.
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If you live outside your bubble that is the USA, then you’ve heard of the Usher Cup. Been running for about 3 years now, features best of all Australian board-riders clubs and some international. Unexpectedly won last year by the un-fancied Miami boardriders team. The competition will be stiff and I doubt that Santa Cruz team will be able to match the Aussies on home turf.
They’ll get smoked and obliterated by the sun
Help Dredge The Harbor.com
Uh… excuse me.
I have to go reclaim my throne also.
Clearly I didn’t clear the backlog sufficiently. (waddles away awkwardly)
But maybe hot and fat, not just fat.
Usher Cup
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“Usher” Cup sounds like some sort of consolation prize contest for all the rail boggers. “Don’t have room for you up at the front w/ all my real friends, but that usher role is super special!”
Reminds me of this little ripper, who is clearly destined for great things: https://10play.com.au/thepr…
I hope the Coffey brothers get to meet the Coffey sisters..
What was once a pretty hardcore surf town that basically didn’t even tolerate cross town surfing (Eastsiders stayed east of rivermouth and Westsiders stayed west) has become a haven for spoiled rich kids that have no idea what localism is. We used to get rocks thrown at us by the ignorant and illiterate Westside crew for simply checking the waves a block from our house at Stockton Ave. Today, no fucking chance, it a free-for-all. Whole place got destroyed from meth supplied by a certain goofyfooter, allowing the wealthy Silicon Valley crew to move in and take over.
I used to live a half mile from the Harbor in Live Oak so I could surf anywhere besides Stockton. Too bad Chris Brown got involved with that goofy footer.
Well, depends on what year that was. No way in hell you were surfing certain Westside spots unless you grew up there. And Live Oak is straight up Eastside.
83-86. Surfed twenty sixth ave as much as anywhere.
That place goes off, especially Little Windansea. One of the few free for all spots in Santa Cruz.
From what I hear it’s not the same anymore.
goofyfooter, you mean Ruffo? F that guy
Last time I implied that the fucking cunt Mara started threatening me.
Man, you should’ve seen the emails I had.
Too bad bashing the dead is frowned upon.
I liked her. But ultimately you reap what you sow (certainly not meaning her death) I know she’d have no trouble saying anything, no matter the circumstances!
Not I. Cunt in person and on BG.
I liked the chaos, but thankfully not on my doorstep.
Yea It’s funny who comes out of the woodwork to defend so called surf ledgends that were are drug dealing cunts.
nothing to do with the demand !~
What do you think about asking your friends if they want to try doing speed when you know it’s one of the most addicting drugs on the planet?
Why would I ask my friends ,speed or Meth?
heroin is one of the most addictive drugs…..
wherever there is prohibition of ….just about everything…a black market appears to fill the demand!
Not saying you have but I’m talking about how it spread around the surf community in Santa Cruz.
Once someone is addicted then it’s true that dealers are just filling niche that the demand created, but I blame the ones who introduced it to people to begin with.
If you’ve ever taken drugs you can’t really finger point.
ciggies/alcohol ??????
I smoked some pot in the 70s we also grew it ourselves , so im pointing mate.
You ever give a mate some of your homegrown?
You make it sound as if things might’ve been different if certain Goofy wasn’t there?
Can’t say that as someone else would probably have stepped into that role but he definitely didn’t help things for that place and those people.
don’t blame the dealers , blame the demand!
Did you at least escape with a Santa Cruz sticker on your car? Never seen any place so married to fucking town name stickers. They can all fuck off back to Santa Cruz.
Good luck though!
I think those might be skate stickers but don’t know. No stickers on my ride.
Stockton photo/
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