THE HISTORY:
Easily one of the toughest surfing contests on the Eastern Seaboard, competitors and spectators alike have cleared their schedules for the 15th annual Quiksilver King of the Peak Skins Pro-Am, which returns to Sebastian Inlet, FL, on November 7 and 8. Year after year, The King of the Peak contest director Matt Kechele fills 92 heat slots, drawing several touted international pros away from their respective November preoccupations to challenge Florida’s best in an idyllic playing field to showcase their skills.
The history of past King of the Peak contests reads nicely, with former ASP World Champions, WCT notables, and freesurfing savants sprinkled into the mix of local legends and top East Coast pros. One must consider also the underground talents that have gained notoriety here amongst the Sebastian hierarchy. Originally conceptualized in 1995 by Kelly Slater — who wanted to create a homegrown event at the place where he first started pushing the barriers of performance — the inaugural King of the Peak doubled as a fundraiser to bring attention to the potential closing of Slater’s alma mater, Cocoa Beach High School. Today it remains the nation’s most popular skins event. The Inlet’s skatepark-like terrain attracts some of the most electrifying surfers from all over the US, the Caribbean, Central and South America and beyond. The unique format is both equitable and fair, leveling the playing field as all entrants’ names are thrown into a hat and then randomly selected. This approache produces eclectic match-ups throughout the draw. On the second day, the drawn names are then flipped upside down, shuffling the field and allowing each competitor a second chance at redemption and the prize purse, typically $250 per skin. To add to the drama, a surfer must determine what he feels will be his best wave in each heat by holding his hands up after the completion of the scoring ride, making a “claim.” At this point the surfer must then exit the water, and his score is called out to give his fellow competitors an idea of what they need to post to get a fistful of dollars and advancement into the next bracket. The highest scorer in each heat can then rest during the following 20-minute heat before heading back into battle, making the King of the Peak a test of endurance as well as performance. Quiksilver has applied this same format to its King of the Groms events, and Kechele assures that this raises the level of action. With each surfer being scored on his single best wave, his opponents are forced to take greater risks and go for broke. Look for many former Kings to return to Sebastian Inlet, as well as all the new lions stepping into the arena, looking to add their names to the illustrious list of King of the Peak royalty!
FORMER KINGS:
1995, 2001 — Kelly Slater, Cocoa Beach, FL
1997 — Todd Morcom, Melbourne Beach, FL
1998 — Bill Hartley, Indialantic, FL
1999 — Eric Hatton, Fernandina Beach, FL
2000 — David Speir, Melbourne, FL
2002 — CJ Hobgood, Satellite Beach, FL
2003 — Bryan Hewitson, Indialantic, FL
2004 — Justin Jones, Melbourne Beach, FL
2005 — Kyle Garson, Melbourne, FL
2006 — Jeremy Johnston, New Smyrna Beach, FL
2007 — Eric Taylor, Vero Beach, FL
2008 — Cody Thompson, Jacksonville Beach, FL
1995, 2001 — Kelly Slater, Cocoa Beach, FL
Shortly before winning his third world title, defending ASP World Champion Kelly Slater got shacked on his first wave in his first heat at the spot that helped hone his prodigious talent. He subsequently thrashed all but one of his heats to win the inaugural King of the Peak, christening the event as a prestigious Eastern spectacle for years to come. Originally designed to resuscitate the flat-lined ASP East, the contest was also an integral part of Kelly’s master plan to reestablish himself on the local scene while raising funds for his alma mater, Cocoa Beach High School, to which he later donated $3000. Outside of Virginia Beach’s WQS-rated ECSC, the 1995 KOP boasted the ASP East tour’s richest grand purse of $4000, and 103 hungry surfers swarmed the Inlet for a piece of it, and a piece of Slater.
1997 — Todd Morcom, Melbourne Beach, FL
Despite the cancellation of the 1996 event due to flatness and other complications — compounded by the disintegration of the ASP East tour — the return of the KOP in 1997 was charged with twice the energy, as picture-perfect First Peak served up grinding barrels in virtually every heat. Unsung rippers from further up the coast and even as far away as Peru and the Caribbean started booking trips to Brevard County for the comp, providing a startling indicator of the talent lurking in the third world and beyond. The organic outsourcing also testified to the attractiveness of the skins format itself, which tends to reward innovative surfing. And that was just fine for longtime Inlet son Todd Morcom, who had enjoyed a fruitful couple years of outstanding media coverage (including the March 1995 cover of Surfer Magazine and “Barrel of the Year” in the 1996 Surfer Video Awards for his still-untouched, 10-second-long Puerto Escondido cathedral).
Morc applied his trademark low center of gravity and Mainland Mexico-honedtube panache to bag five skins — one of which featured a 9.33-scoring double barrel and the “Hottest Wave” award — pitting him in a surf-off against closing ASP East Champ and Virginia Beach, VA, denizenJason Borte.Beating Borte granted the lifelong localhis official coronation, and though Morcom had already built an international reputation as one of the most fearless chargers to ever come from the East Coast, this KOP would be his last major competitive conquest before shuffling into a full-time role as a professional freesurfer specializing in heaving widow-makers few else want a part of. Today, Morcom resides half the year in front of an undisclosed stretch of Mexican beach break, where he regularly pushes the limits of sanity, doing PWC step-offs with a handful of other saltwater masochists.
1998 — Bill Hartley, Indialantic, FL
Known for his patented “H-Carve” and helping mentor global surfing icon Kelly Slater, among other things, few could deny that 34 year-old Bill Hartley is one of the finest surfers to ever cut his teeth at the Inlet. But strangely, the 1998 KOP was H’s first professional victory. Now fitting snugly in its packaging as the most popular, ongoing surf contest in the country employing the skins format, the 1998 event offered a record $260 a skin. “The skins format is great,” condoned Hartley. “When you get on a roll you’re surfing every other heat and it makes endurance a factor, so a lot of times it comes down to who is in the best shape.”
With barrel-light/pocket-heavy right hand bowls on offer, Hartley took his infamous forehand attack to new heights, smoking the competition and giving the born-and-bred First Peaker the chance to show off a more magnanimous side to the otherwise fierce H exterior. Still sporting the spray-painted Burger King crown, Hartley announced that he would split his earnings, $1200, between the Eastern Surfing Association and the National Scholastic Surfing Association to support the next generation of budding pros, just like those organizations did for him growing up. “I’ve never given anything back to the sport,” admitted Hartley. “Plus, I’d like to help give the sport a little better name. Kelly’s done a lot to change that and I’d like to follow that lead.”
1999 — Eric Hatton, Fernandina Beach, FL
With tried-and-true First Peakers Kelly, Morc, and H keeping a local lock on the crown up until now, few thought the KOP would ever leave the grasp of Brevard County sentinels. Which made it all the more surprising and ominous when Fernandina Beach, FL, mysto shredder Eric Hatton drove into town, kicked butt, and took the KOP title three-and-a-half hours north. Though not exactly an “unknown” (Hatton had won the Men’s division at the ESA Eastern Surfing Championships the year before), Hatton was nevertheless considered a darkhorse in this aqueous forum.
With fairly blemished, dumpy conditions on tap and a healthy chunk of the First Peakelite opting for a pro comp in Barbados, consistency was key. And no one was more consistent than Hatton, whose streak brought him eight skins and immeasurable inspiration for Fernandina groms like Brady McKenzie and Sean Poynter, both of whom make regular appearances here today. Hatton’s KOP victory also rang the bell of other lesser-known, non-local East Coast rippers, who by now were starting to see the KOP as, at the very least, a necessary item on their professional resumes.
2000 — David Speir, Melbourne, FL
With the event on hold for three days, Contest Director Matt Kechele stressed a bit about filling a decent entrant count until he saw The Weather Channel reporting a distant low shifting southeast and going subtropical, producing an 11-second interval on the buoy just in time for the first KOP of the new millennium. With chest-high groundswell and southeast winds on offer, First Peak wedge knowledge was vital. Performance levels hit the stratosphere, with New Smyrna Beach, FL’s, aerial phenomenon Aaron Cormican throwing his hat into the ring and grown-up Inlet pup Phillip Watters busting out his alley-oop varial for the first time in recorded history. However, the final day of competition featuredlittle more than a tête-à-tête between eternal Inlet kingpins Paul Reinecke and David Speir, who claimed five skins apiece to warrant a climactic surf-off in nuggety, novelty wedges. “We both got on a roll at the same time,” said Speir, who only a few years before missed WCT qualification by a mere wax shaving. “We were actually one heat away from each other so we were advancing into every other heat.”
A timeless Tom Dugan photo summed up the mood of the event (and to some extent, East Coast competition surfing in general), with Speir tucked under the thick wedging lip of his winning wave, Rhino double-claiming it for him from the shoulder. That barrel-to section-slam combo put Speir — a former Surfing Magazine coverboy and one of the most powerful and consistent Right Coast surfers ever — on a growing list of Sebastian luminaries that seemed somewhat awkward without his name on it. More importantly, the crown was back home. “The best thing is Paul and I were tied and the crown came home,” finished Speir. “That was beautiful.”
2002 — CJ Hobgood, Satellite Beach, FL
Defending ASP World Champion CJ Hobgood took a breather before the final Hawaiian leg of the 2002 WCT to grace Brevard with his honored presence. And to no one’s surprise, Hobgood silenced all with textbook form, strolling through ten heats and hooking the highest scores like autumn snook feasting on baitfish inthe Sebastian shorebreak. With waves becoming scarce for Hobgood’s man-on-man surf-off with former tour mate Bryan Hewitson, Hewy claimed a 7.7 first, leaving CJ alone with 19 minutes left on the clock. Following a 12-minute flat spell and a few meager kickouts, CJ lucked into a small left, broke his fins out a couple times, rebounded to the sand, and claimed. Final score: CJ’s 7.76 to Hewy’s 7.7. By Sunday’s end, Hobgoodhad amassed nine skins which earned him $2025, a KOP record, in bouncy, waist to chest-high windswell — making him the first goofyfooter and the second world champ to wear the crown. “It’s good for the kids to check out a bunch of the boys,” said Hobgood, “so they can see [pro surfing]is totally attainable. They really can achieve this.”
The following year, an injured CJ Hobgood returned to the KOP, to judge the event, graciously donating his two-day’s worth of wages ($200) to the Surfrider Sebastian Inlet Chapter. He is undoubtedly the second most successful male surfer (after Kelly Slater) the East Coast has ever produced. And he has not taken his foot off the gas one bit while gunning for his second ASP World Title.
2003 — Bryan Hewitson, Indialantic, FL
With heinously contestable conditions — eight-foot faces, 20 mph onshores, ripping north swell, broken boards — and a half dozen of Florida’s best surfers struggling like spawning salmon through a relentless barrage of sediment-thickened dumpers, organizers decided to add ten additional minutes to the 20-minute heats. When peering out into the angry Atlantic on Saturday morning and seeing the dredging lefts fold from Chernobyls to Second Peak, an anonymous team manager put it best: “How can Hewy not win this contest?”
A telltale run on the 1999 WCT engraved Hewitson’s name in East Coast surfing history, but even without that tour berth, Hewy’s unique, violent brand of power surfing has stood alone for the past 15 years. He continues to win pro contests everywhere from New Jersey to South Florida, but with his crowning here, the writing was on the wall: The King of the Peak is a world-class contest drawing world-class winners. “I’ve been runner-up a couple of times,” said a freshly crowned and gold-chain-blinging Hewy, “Truthfully, ever since they started this contest, and seeing the guys who’ve done it, it’s the event that’s always been my dream to win. If I was Hawaiian, I’d want to be a Pipe Master. I’m from here, so I’ve always wanted to be King of the Peak.”
2004 — Justin Jones, Melbourne Beach, FL
The last time the KOP was put on hold was 2000, which ended up enjoying some of the best First Peak conditions the contest had ever seen. And with a slowly building north swell in the cards for late Tuesday, competitors had to wait it out once again. Nevertheless, the 2004 contest went off with (then) record attendance (96 surfers)and prize money($12,250). And while Day One offered little more than waist-high slop, performances were nothing short of blistering. Perhaps the most unlikely champ since Eric Hatton, local in-between (meaning in between a junior with heaps of potential and a bona fide professional threat capable of beating anyone) Justin Jones claimed four scalps on the first day like a vexed Apache warrior, giving the elder Inlet war horses a reason to be concerned. Past kings Hewitson, Speir, and Morcom failed to get decent rolls going, and by the fifth heat of the second day, it looked to be a three-way slugfest for the crown between Joneser, Jeremy Johnston, and Jon Gosman. By this time, local sharks had gotten over their losses and were ready to get behind one of their own. “If it’s gonna be a grom,” barked annual KOP entrant Ron Keindl, “it better be our grom.”
And it was. Few could deny that this was far and away Joneser’s weekend, no more evident than when his lanky-but-powerful face carves, laybacks, and vertical section slams grabbed him the highest score of the contest, an 8.0, for his sixth of what would be seven skins, meanwhile taking out defending King Hewitson, plus a hefty $1785 in cash and the coveted crown — his biggest professional achievement to date. At 20 years old, Joneser was the youngest surfer to ever win the KOP. “It’s about time,” said Jones. “I’ve always wanted to win this one because it’s home and I’m surfing against all the boys.”
2005 — Kyle Garson, Melbourne, FL
Bagging a multitude of pro victories over the years everywhere from Cocoa Beach to New York, a yoga-rejuvenated Kyle Garson had just won five grand after slaying every heat en route to a WQS 2-star win at Arona/ Los Realejos, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. And he carried that trademark reptilian momentum through the crevices and chasms of his Sebastian Inlet home break, nabbing five skins on Day One plus one more on Day Two, inching closer to earn his rightful place among the crowned Inlet elite. But Garson’s victory lay in Ryan Helm’s ability to beat a streaking Zander Morton... on his wife’s surfboard. Helm’s psych-out tactics plus a 6.6 put Zander down, asHelm said later, “Glad I could win it for Garson!”
“Obviously living around here, it’s the contest that you wanna win,” said Garson, who had been competing in this event since its inception. Touchingly, he dedicated his win to his close friend, Austin Paine, a Brevard County surfer who had been tragically killed less than a month earlier. Today, when he’s not running game on visiting and local surfers near his second home in Costa Rica, Garson is scaring heat seekers all over the coast by putting his name on heat sheets from New York to Puerto Rico, consistently finaling, and grabbing his share of any cash purse out there.
2006 — Jeremy Johnston, New Smyrna Beach, FL
Undoubtedly one of the most inspiring KOPs in the history of the event, New Smyrna Beach, FL, refugee Jeremy Johnston greeted rainy, windy, cold, dumpy, sectiony, backwashy, troughed-out, overhead Sebastian Inlet with a new surfboard, no leash, and no sponsor and attacked the contest like a rabid hyena. “It’s been a tough year for me,” admitted JJ. “I got to see a darker side to the surf industry that I never knew before, and it forced me to look at things differently. A lot of guys do better when they get dropped sometimes. It makes you hungrier. Sponsor or no, I’ll always be a competitor.”
A former three-time NSSA National Champion and the epitome of amateur golden boy known for his devastating, point-magnet frontside slash, JJ’s crowning here would spark a renewed vigor that has turned him into one of the three most feared competitive surfers on the East Coast. Immediately following the KOP, he went on to log major professional victories in the Outer Banks, Wrightsville Beach, St. Augustine, New Smyrna Beach, and New York (twice).
JJ copped an 8.2 (one of the top three scores of the comp) for his first ride in the second to last heat of the comp, breaking a skins tie between him and rival Ryan Helm and taking the KOP crown out of Brevard for the first time since 1999. He came to the beach beaming like a champion reborn. “That’s right, I’m about to win the King of the Peak, boys,” JJ said to a journalist and team manager before his score was announced. “What do you think about that?”
2007 — Eric Taylor, Vero Beach, FL
“I’m not sure if this will be a North Florida win or a ‘local’ win,” he downplayed. Though never a Brevard County resident, growing up over the bridge in Vero Beach, former amateur prodigy/ NSSA East Coast record title holder Eric Taylor definitely put his time in at the Inlet. In fact, he’s probably won more heats in these State Park waters than any 20 local ams combined. But by the time Eric Taylor won his KOP crown, he wasn’t chasing points on the WQS (though an impressive professional resume that includes various Junior Pro victories and an ECSC title pointed toward that scenario); he was applying his cunning to the world of academia at Flagler College in St. Augustine, FL.
With a humble cheering section consisting of only a couple family members and a class to make the following morning, ET showed the field that he still had all the finely tuned competitive chops he built such a fierce reputation on. In fact, they’ve matured. With Tropical Storm Noel dropping the heaviest swell of Fall 2007 into Central Florida’s open arms, stiff north winds made for well-overhead, choppy board-breakers on Saturday — giving way to light winds, hollow sections, and four to six-foot glassy energy pulsing from Chernobyls to the Peak all day long Sunday, prompting Contest Director Matt Kechele to claim, “These were some of the best waves we’ve ever seen for the King of the Peak.” Even with the entire coastline going bananas from Noel, some of the East Coast’s most swell-dialed pros sacrificed heaving Hatteras, nuking New York, or below-sea level Bayhead for a shot at the illustrious KOP title. But armed with the same forehand gouge and backhand vert that retired dozens of pros, ET grabbed seven skins early Saturday. And with consummate gnarler Bryan Hewitson and ET on opposite ends of the draw, the possibility of Hewy setting up his own streak loomed on Sunday. But localgiant killer Chris Duff scooched into a spitting backside barrel for a 7.0, axing Hewy and officially knighting undergraduate ET in some of the most bipolar conditions — equally grotesque and beautiful — the KOP has ever seen.
2008 — Cody Thompson, Jacksonville Beach, FL
“Fernandina’s already taken it away from those local guys [1999], then Smyrna [‘06], then St. Augustine [‘07]... it’s Jacksonville’s turn now,” prophesied Hurley East Coast Team Manager Asher Nolan the night before North Florida neighbor Cody Thompson obliged a NNW windswell’s against-the-grain rights with searing fin-flashing flair a la Taj Burrow. By holding Nolan off of a mysto shoulder-high barrel and ripping the remainder of it for an 8.33, the highest score of the event, Cody hijacked the King of the Peak crown yet another county north and solidified his rightful place amongst Sunshine State royalty.
Up until then, Thompson was known more for his hyper-lip flamboyance (kerrupts, varials, full rotations) in videos like Frothing and the Billabong Freewave Challenge than ruthless competitive savagery — testifying to the KOP’s embracement ofanarchic surfing. Deep tubes, tweaked-out airs, and violent hacks are regularly scored higher here than four slappies to the beach, and this contest has provided the showcase for everything from Phillip Watters’ never-before-recorded alley-oop varial (‘00), to any number of unnamed punts by the likes of Cormican, Slater, and CJ (‘00 to ‘02), to Jon Barclay’s Gorkin flip in ’03. “The King of the Peak gets people’s hearts pumping,” said perennial contender Bryan Hewitson, “It allows kids to be like, ‘Oh I need an 8.0? Well, here I go. I’m gonna do that move I’ve been trying forever...’ Boom! They do it and the next thing you know they’re the next big hero coming up.”
Already regarded as one of the five most technical aerialists on the East Coast, defending his crown at this year’s KOP is merely a sequel to new action hero Cody Thompson’s 2008 blockbuster.