Photos: @devindmedia / Words: Sydney Pizza
This past weekend the team met up at Sebastian Inlet, Florida for the second stop on the 2025 SkimUSA tour, the ShoreLB Throwdown. With top performances from team riders, new and old, good vibes, and a new broadcasting addition to skimboarding, it was a fantastic weekend as the crew threw down and made lasting memories!
Overall, the conditions were tricky but manageable, consistently troughy and somewhat tumultuous, at about 1’-3’ with few open faces and some sneaky but rewarding barrels to find. The weather was also pretty typical, staying in the low to mid 70’s all weekend with an onshore wind that switched south on Saturday as the day went on.
The contest started off with our very own Kate Warrington saying a quick prayer to get the vibes set and the weekend kicked off to a great start! Without wasting a beat, Brody and Gio hopped right into their Menehune semi-final heats, both swiftly advancing to finals! As the day went on, we saw some of our newest additions to the team, Zach and Evan Rubin meet some of our veteran riders, Graham Shelton, Will Grady, and Tobi Blount, in the Men’s division for some very competitive and progressive heats! Charging through the trough, throwing 3-shuvs on the way out, and delivering massive air drops back to the beach. Trent Moranda and Yuan Bonhayag were not far off in their Jr. Men’s heats edging out the competition with ease! Wrapping up the morning, another new and exciting addition to the team, Turner Scarborough showed up and showed out in his Masters heats advancing onto Sunday without a doubt! On the women’s side another new and very exciting addition, Nicole Phillips, advanced through her semi-final along with Kate Warrington to meet on Sunday in the final! Both women show lots of promise and prowess, Nicole using her technical knowledge to edge out the competition and Kate using her elegant and effortless style to stick a very stylish 360 wrap and frontside bash with ease!
As if that was not exciting enough, the amateurs had drawn in a great crowd just in time for the Pro Men to take the water and give the people a show like no other! Right off the bat, Team Captain Gerardo Valencia was putting together great heats and showing promise for a great finish for the weekend! Another standout performance was from Zeke Williams, one of our youngest professionals who is fired up and ready to take names this season. CJ Lugo, Eoin Lally, Dylan Duncan, and ET Beaugrand, also started their 2025 contests seasons off strong getting the crowd going and giving strong performances. After a couple of rounds, Zeke was set to face off against Gerardo in the first semi-final heat, and Dylan was ready to meet Eddie Dixon in the second semi-final on Sunday!
On the women’s side, it was no different. Casey McCollough is back from taking a year off to start her family, and did not miss a beat! She and our new team manager Sydney Pizza both advanced to the final by demonstrating variety, technicality, veteran knowledge, and tons of style! Casey’s power and steeze helped her bash waves into tomorrow and slash the trough to nothing! Syd also showed lots of promise for the season, using what she has been working on down in Mexico this offseason to complete critical combos and not miss a beat charging the outside sets! Sunday was a beautiful, picturesque beach day with some cloud cover and lighter north breeze throughout the day. Starting off with a bang, we saw quarter and semi-finals in the Men’s and Master’s divisions, and they did not disappoint! Zach, Evan, Graham, and Turner all advanced to the finals in their age divisions, setting up for a very exciting finish for team Zap! Moving into the afternoon, all that was left were the Professional semi-finals and amateur finals!
Setting the tone for what was left in the day, our Menehune Monsters let nothing get past them, skimming strategically, Gio and Brody, landing in very well-earned 1st and 4th place finishes respectively. Great job boys! Followed up by our Men’s division and Masters division, the guys were cleaning house with Turner taking a very hard-fought 4th place finish back home to Cali! Evan was able to edge out his brother Zach by 0.9 points in their final to take 1st and 2nd place finishes back to their dorms and Graham finishing close behind in 4th place. Well done, guys! For the Women’s division, the preview we saw on Saturday set us up for a great final show leading to new team rider Nicole Phillips taking home 1st place and Kate close behind in 4th place! The women are taking skimboarding to a whole new level throwing 3-shuvs like nothing and putting together some very stylish, eloquent, and technical combinations for some very exciting heats! They must be taking pages out of Casey’s and Syd’s books because we saw it all in a Zap v. Zap final between the two! At the end, Casey was able to take home a 1st place finish and Syd earned herself a nice 2nd place finish to round out their weekend! We look forward to seeing more finals between these two this season!
The pro men were just as exciting, picking up right where we left off, Zeke was able to edge out Gerardo and make his first pro final, he was then ready to give it his all against Eddie Dixon in the final! After many 360s out to the wave, 3-shuvs and big spins down the face of the wave, air drops back to shore, and airs high enough to high-five a seagull, the boys wrapped up their weekend with Zeke in 2nd place, Gerardo in 3rd , Dylan in 4th , Eoin in 5th , and ET in 6th !
We are very proud of the whole team and cannot wait to see what the season brings for them!
For full results, check them out here: https://liveheats.com/events/327743