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Sports

Surfers Rule the Waves in Boardriders Final Competition

Becca Rosen, Natalie Anzivino, the Zaun brothers, Rachel Tominaga, Jordan Wible, Noah Collins and Pat Komick deliver some great surfing south of the Manhattan Beach Pier during the last contest of the South Bay Boardriders Club's season.

Dubbed “King of the South Bay,” the South Bay Boardriders Club's final contest of the season brought out some of the year's best competition, particularly in the Women's Open division.

As a large crowd of spectators, sponsors and contestants watched the competition just south of the Manhattan Beach Pier, the top two contestants in the Women's Open division, Natalie Anzivino and Becca Rosen worked their wave magic.

“I surf every day, anywhere from one and two hours, up to like six, sometimes eight hours, depending on how good it [the surf] is,” Anzivino, who placed fifth at surf clothing manufacturer Volcom's large contest in Newport Beach last weekend, told Manhattan Beach Patch between heats. “Give it a lot of time and practice, and you can do it.” 

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Anzivino, a young, quiet 20-year-old blond surfer from Torrance who doesn't attempt to draw attention to herself on land—but cannot help but do so in the water—was leading the overall points for the South Bay Boardriders Club surf series coming into Saturday's competition. 

Rosen, a 45-year-old South Bay surfing veteran ranked No. 3 in point totals, has a very respectable frontside and backside surfing style.

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On the flip side, Anzivino uses a more modern approach to surfing. She will try risky, new-fangled maneuvers where she pops the fins of her surfboard off of the face of the wave and into the air; Rosen keeps the fins of her board waterlogged most of the time.

Certainly, Anzivino and Rosen had put in very solid efforts during the surf series.  In contests they both had entered, Anzivino always placed first, Rosen second.  Rosen, who had missed a contest, was ranked behind No. 2 Rachel Tominaga, who won the Junior Girls final at the Boardriders' season finale last Saturday. Mira Costa's Jordan Wible took second in the division.

Despite Anzivino's impressive display of talent and gutsy maneuvering, one can never discount experience. While Anzivino dug her rail on a key, possibly high-scoring wave in the finals at her home break of Manhattan Beach Pier (and missed the landing on a “floater” at the end of another key wave), after displaying consistency in all heats leading to the final, Rosen roped in long wave after long wave. 

“Derek Levy [a South Bay Big Wave Challenge finalist] in the beginning told me just go to the left, and just take those lefts all the way to the beach, and it just worked out," said Rosen. "It was great.” 

Indeed, Rosen developed a metered rhythm, Anzivino didn't, and Rosen surfed each wave with steady confidence, performing multiple, water-tossing backhand turns on two impressive rides.

“They usually judge on a longer wave, and [so you] try to do as many moves as you can,” Rosen said.

Anzivino clenched the lead in the series overall, tallying the highest number of points in the division, and Rosen won Saturday's Open Women's division.

“It feels great," said Rosen. "Natalie's been surfing really well. A lot of the younger girls are just doing so great. It feels really good to finally win. It's been a series of five [contests], so I'm really excited.” 

In the Men's and Boys divisions, many winners were not a surprise. 

Brothers Dane Zaun and Kelly Zaun, both sponsored by large surf clothing companies and considered to be some of the top men's talent in the South Bay, placed first and second, respectively, in the Open Men's division. 

Noah Collins, who had placed first in all of the other South Bay Boardriders Club contests this season, placed first in the 14 and Under division. 

Tommy Ostendorf took home the Open Longboard division, while Scott Johnsen beat out former World Championship Tour competitor Ted Robinson in the Master's division. 

Pat Komick, whose local surf spot is Manhattan Beach, took home first in the Groms (12 and under) division. 

Manhattan Beach Patch caught up with one of Komick's surfing mentors, South Bay Boardriders Club member Patrick Reardon (Reardon shaped the big-wave board that was awarded to South Bay Big Wave Challenge winner Matt Mohagen), about midway through the contest.

“He's [Komick] a young surfer here," said Reardon. "He's really fired up on surfing and competing. He's taking after some of the pros that are doing well like Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, some of these guys. He's one of the kids who's really applying himself... [I] shape him a few boards and give him a little bit of insight on surfboard design, which is really helpful.”

Kelly Zaun took the Junior Boys (18 and under) division. The crowd-pleasing Micro-Groms (9 and under) division, where many kids were pushed into waves by an adult, was won by Trey Mahan.

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