Beginners’ foam top surfboards, boogie boards or even inflatable pool giraffes — as long as you can stand up on it, all is allowed in this Saturday’s surfing competition in the Rockaways!
Locals Surf School is inviting everybody to compete in Foam Top Frenzy surfing competition this coming Saturday, April 2. “It is this goof ball idea we had,” told us Mike Reinhardt, one of the founders of Locals Surf School. “Surfing competitions are usually serious events full of rivalry. We wanted to make this one accessible to everyone regardless of their skill level and have a lot of fun.”
And so everything but actual real surfboards are allowed in this competition. Mike Reinhardt explained that a foam top is a surfboard without a proper fiber glass structure suitable for beginners. Locals wanted to encourage primarily surfing beginners to come and participate.
“We’re expecting some great waves,” said Reinhardt and laughed off our worries that the water might be still cold. “We surf year round,” he said. According to Reinhardt wet suits today are good enough to keep you relatively warm even on a cold January day when the snow is falling. They encourage the surfers to bring their own wet suits this Saturday, but if you don’t own one, don’t sweat it — they will have a couple of extra suits at hand.
Foam Top Frenzy starts at 10 a.m., but if you want to compete make sure to be at 90th Beach Street by 9:30 a.m. Better yet, reserve one of the 48 competition slots online. The registration fee is $5.
The prizes will be given out for the Best Alternative Craft, Best Wave, and Best Wipeout.
Afterparty starts at 2 p.m. at Rockaway Beach Surf Club (302 Beach 87th Street), the purveyors of the best fish tacos in Queens. Expect free Red Bull cocktails while the supply lasts.
Locals Surf School was co-counded by Rockaways’ born and bread lifelong surfers Michael Kololyan and Mike Reinhardt five years ago. They organize events and provide surfing classes to everyone all year round.
