Women's Longboarding Steps Up at the Roxy Jam

Sep 29 2006 / Los Angeles, CA

Cardiff was the call in early fall for the Roxy Jam Cardiff Featuring the Linda Benson Women's Longboard Pro. This was the first ever first ever ASP-sanctioned women's longboarding competition in the United States, offering a $15,000 purse for the pros, plus a chance for Teenie Wahines, Menehunes, Junior Women, Senior Women and Masters to get a taste of serious, world-class competition.

While the pro contest was the focus of attention there was also a paddleboard race and the Hansen Surfboards Longest Nose Riding Contest, offering a $3000 purse. Winners of each of the amateur divisions received as Surf Tech longboard, as well as the winner of the paddleboard race.

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They picked a good time to run the event, as the contest happened during a three-week run of south and west swells and perfect weather along the Southern California coast. During the weekend of September 23-24, a small tent city appeared in the parking lot near the place where San Elijo Lagoon empties into the ocean. About 50 yards offshore, perfect, offshore, lime-green peaks were breaking non-stop and provided a perfect canvas for the top professional and amateur women longboarders to compete.

They came from as close as Malibu and as far as Hawaii. Carla Rowland from Malibu had won her division in both the Call to the Wall and the MSA club contest during the summer of 2005, but when she got to Cardiff she found more than a little competition: "The waves were good and clean for the majority of the event. The level of competition amongst the longboard women is PHENOMENAL! There are so many good girls and any one of the preliminary heats could have been a final. My performance was fairly mediocre, but I had fun all the while. It was really great to partake in such a historical event created for longboard women."

Carla Rowland was one of the surprise eliminations on the final day, as were the current ASP Women's World Longboard Champion Schuyler McFerran and redhot longboarders Kassia Meador and Daize Shane. The final of the Pro Women's division came down to four relatively unknown names: Lindsay Steinriede, Cori Schumacher,, Kaitlin Maguire and Jennifer Smith.

Steinriede has been a known quantity as an amateur for many years and during the summer of 2005 she won the Corona event in Hawaii and took second at Huntington Beach. She could not travel to France for the ASP event there and so came to Cardiff hungry: "I was happy just to be seeded in round three ˆ there are just so many good girls in this event," Steinriede said. "I was stoked to make the quarters and I was stoked to make the semis and when I got to the finals, I was just more relieved. I think I built up a little bit of momentum and I caught those two 6.75's right off the bat and they won the heat for me."

Steinriede is now guaranteed a spot in next summer's Roxy ASP Women's World Longboard Championships in Biarritz, France, will now have the opportunity to further establish herself on the international stage. This was a long weekend with a lot of heats and judging but in the end, everyone was smiling: "Thank you to Cardiff Reef for giving us great waves and a spectacular event," said Linda Benson. "I could not be any happier with the turnout of athletes and fans and the support from the community here in San Diego. I also want to thank Randy Hild and Roxy for the vision of taking women's longboarding into the future."

-Ben Marcus

RESULTS

Roxy Jam Cardiff Finalists:

• 1: Lindsay Steinriede (USA) 13.50
• 2: Cori Schumacher (USA) 10.40
• 3: Kaitlin Maguire (USA) 9.45
• 4: Jennifer Smith (USA) 9.10

Roxy Jam Cardiff Amateur Winners:

• Masters Women - Melanie Bouse (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
• Senior Women - Amy Murphee
• Junior Women - Ming Hui Brown (Ventura, Calif.)
• Menehunes - Anneke Barrie (San Clemente, Calif.)
• Teenie Wahines - Ashley Beeson (Trabuco Canyon, Calif.)