The Zap World Championships kicked off the first day in Dewey Beach with amazing weather and fun conditions for the competitors to show their skills. We believe this is the biggest contest to date in terms of competitors as there are 195 contestants!! That is a huge turn out and we are stoked as ever to be here to support it all.
The first riders in the water today was the Mini's division. It is a stacked division with 19 riders! These groms are the next generation of skimboarding and we loved watching them have fun. A standout as always was new ZAP team rider SkimG aka Giorgio Tomasi. He was throwing down 3 shuvs, wraps, and airs. Crazy stuff from the Minis!
Next up were the Menehunes, Girls, & Boys divisions. All these divisions had 15+ riders in which is great to see all the youth in the support coming to compete. In the boys division, Colton Ettwein started out the first heat with a very strong performance. He is always one of the premier riders at the contest. Trent Moranda and Cooper Forcucci were throwing down and both had some of the highest score totals for the day.
At lunch break, we had a live band perform at the beach and it was Seranation who came all the way from St. Pete, Florida. They rocked the beach and put on a great show!
After lunch, we went into the Professional division. It was the first round of competition so the top seeds got a bye into the second round. Riders that didn't have to compete today were Lucas Fink, Dane Cameron, Yahir Valencia, Bruno Sa, Gerardo Valencia, Sam Stinnett, Sam McCoy, and Max Smetts. A few Zap Team riders that advanced their way into the second round were Austin Bleiweiss, Brady Green, Eoin Lally, Naji Taha, and Lucas McCoy. We want to give a special shoutout to Austin Bleiweiss who made a return trip to Dewey Beach after a long hiatus from competitions. He is an OG Zap Team rider and clearly still has plenty of gas left in the tank!!
We went straight into one heat of Professional Women's where Zap Team Rider Emma Okoniewsi advanced to the next round.
After the Professionals, we moved back to the Amateur ranks and finished up the day with the Semi-Professional, Junior Men, & Men divisions. A few of the standout riders that are always holding it down were Dylan Duncan, Graham Shelton, ET Beaugrand, and Zeke Williams. All these riders made it through both their heats in Semi-Pro ranks and their respective divisions.
It was a great and exciting first day at the Zap World Championships. We look forward to all the action the rest of the weekend!
Photos: Naji Taha & Devin Demenes
