Even though it's only been a couple of weeks since the conclusion of the 2012 USBA Scion Jenks Pro, there's been so much going on in the world of bodyboarding (as well as in my life) that it all seems like a screaming blur at this point! Despite the fuzzy memory recall, here's a quick look back at this year's season finale for the USBA national tour.
(5 SEPT 2012)
Things got underway for Day One of competition at 12pm noon. We got halfway through Round #1 of the Mens Pro Division before a violent storm front pushed through, forcing the event to go on hold and sending everyone scattering off of the beach in search of shelter. I was impressed by the strength of this storm...howling wind, driving rain, deafening thunder, and flashes of lightning coming down all around us...as well as how rapidly it moved in. About a half dozen of us were trying to wrap things up at the contest site and load equipment into a trailer attached to the quadrunner that event organizer Jason Bitzer was driving when a bolt of lightning quite literally struck about 100 yards away from us, over the water in the competition area. Bitzer yelled at all of us, "Everybody off of the beach NOW!!!" We all jumped into the trailer, and Bitzer hauled all of us up off of the beach. Crazy!
After clearing off of the beach, I loaded up the USBA Scion xB with my passengers (Jeff Hubbard, Dave Hubbard, Dave Kelly, and Marshall "Mash" Watson) and drove them up to the Courtyard Marriott in Lincroft. Somehow, during all the frantic scrambling to get off the beach, I ended up with several bags of Burritos with chips and salsa in the promo car. Bubbakoo's Burritos had delivered lunch to the contest site just prior to the storm rolling in, and I ended up with all of the food. Later on, I had to pick up "Tech Dan" (our webcast guy) to bring back to the hotel, so I brought him and the burritos back up to the Lincroft Courtyard. DK, Hubb, and Mash met us in the lobby and the five of us dove into some Burritos and chips for dinner. From there, I drove over to the Courtyard Marriott in Tinton Falls to drop off a wind banner to IBA Tour Manager Teza McKenna (it had been lost by the airlines when he flew over from the Sintra Portugal Pro, and we had it shipped to my house). Following that little excursion, I headed back home and crashed out for the night.
(6 SEPT 2012)
No competition for the day. We arrived up at the contest site in the morning to find that the two flatscreen webcast monitors had been stolen out of the event tower. I hung around to put up Scion fence banners while Bitzer filed a report with the police. Dave Hubbard jumped in and helped me with the banners, then we headed out. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at WaWa so Dave could order up a couple of sanwiches and a smoothie to bring with him. It never ceases to amaze me how much all of the travelling bodyboarders fall in love with WaWa stores when they are in New Jersey...especially the Hawaiians! After our WaWa stop, I drove Dubb back to his hotel, then I headed off to take care of several errands. The rest of the day was pretty much spent running around. I picked Dubb up, later on, and drove him down to Toyota World of Lakewood for a Scion promo. We met up with the Bitzers (Jason and Roberta) there, along with the Jenks Pro Scion Wild Card Sean Morin. After the promo, Sean headed out, and the rest of us went to Bubbakoo's Burritos in Brick for dinner. By the time I got home, I was drop-dead exhausted. By 9pm, I as out cold for the night.
(7 SEPT 2012)
My day started off with the usual routine...up at 5am...on my way up to the Courtyard Marriott in Lincroft to pick up Hubb, Dubb, DK, Mash, and Tech Dan by 6am...drove everyone down to Jenks...unloaded at the contest site...parked the USBA Scion xB at the beach entrance to display for the day. We ran a full day of competition in pretty solid wave conditions. I hosted the webcast commentary solo for majority of the day, with a few guests like new 3x US Womens Champion Roberta Bitzer and Hawaiian Trevor Kam stopping by to answer a few questions. By the end of the day, IBA Tour Manager Teza McKenna was jokingly referring to me as "Non-stop Action" Jackson because I had, for the most part, talked non-stop for a full day covering the commentary. I was definitely tired, that's for sure. After we wrapped for the day, I took care of my daily hotel drop-offs and headed home to start packing for my flight to Brasil.
(8 SEPT 2012)
After staying up until 2am to do laundry and pack my bags for Brasil (which I did not finish), I was awake by 5am to make my morning hotel run. I was feeling pretty sleepy-eyed, and my voice was starting to give out a little bit. While I waited for everybody to come down from their rooms, I hit up some free tea and honey in the lobby for a bit of a morning boost..stoked! I got everybody down to Jenks, and went to work covering the commentary for the first half of the day. Then, Dubb and I drove over to my house. I handed over the keys, and Dubb was now set to take over as wheelman of the USBA Scion xB. Dave headed back to the contest, while I dove head first into frantically trying to get all of my things packed for Brasil. Two and a half hours later, my cousin Norma drove me up to Newark airport so that I could make my 6:10pm flight to Rio. When I got to the airport, I got checked in and through security relatively quickly and waited to board my plane...Newark, NJ to Atlanta, GA to Rio de Janeiro, Brasil via Delta airlines. I was so tired after running all day on only three hours of sleep, that once onboard for my connecting flight in Atlanta I fell asleep right after take-off and slept straight through until an hour before landing in Rio. Eight hours sleep on a 9.5hr flight...mmmmm, I needed that! Up next: Rio Bodyboarding International 2012...YEEEWWW!!!
