As Quiksilver Trials Start, Tropical Storms Loom

As the Quiksilver Pro New York kicks off Sunday with 16 professional surfers competing in the ASP World Tour Trials for the final wildcard spot for the main event later this week, Tropical Storm Lee and Tropical Storm Katia could make their way north and impact the New York area. 

While Tropical Storm Lee is in the Gulf of Mexico and expected to hit the Louisiana Coast on Sunday and head north through Louisiana, Tropical Storm Katia is in the Atlantic headed west about 370 miles northeast of the Leeward Islands and is expected to turn into a hurricane and threaten the East Coast later this week.

Both storms are not expected to directly strike New York, and that's inviting news for Quiksilver organizers in more ways than one.

"It's taken a lot of work to get the event ready after Irene, but we are ready to go and the surf forecast is looking very promising for the coming week," Mike Matey, the marketing vice president for Quiksilver, said in a statement released Saturday.

According to the National Weather Service, the weather forecast for Long Beach on Sunday is mostly sunny with a high temperature of 79 and a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms at night, followed by a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms on Labor Day that will increase to 70 percent by evening.

From Tuesday to Thursday, as remnants of Lee's winds and heavy rain are expected to head north into the Ohio River Valley and New York, there is a 40 to 60 percent chance of either heavy rain or showers during that time. The Weather Channel predicts that Tropical Storm Katia will go north along the East Coast but turn back out to sea, well short of making landfall.

“Swells, rough surf, and rip currents are possible along the U.S. East Coast later on this week and into the coming weekend as well regardless of where Katia ends up going,” the Weather Channel reports.

Quiksilver’s statement continued: “In contrast to Irene, the next storm system in the Atlantic is positioning itself to remain off-shore and generate good waves — precisely the kind of surf Quiksilver was hunting when they made the call to stage the Quiksilver Pro at Long Beach."

The surfing event in Long Beach suffered the damaging effects of Hurricane Irene, which mainly flooded the area and knocked out power in thousands of homes when the storm struck the barrier island Aug. 27-28. In the storm's wake, both the City of Long Beach and Quiksilver decided to cancel the festival portion of the event that included music, skateboard and motocross events on the Foundation Block and Superblock.

Sunday’s trials are expected to start at 8 a.m. at National Boulevard beach. Monday starts the holding period for the main event.

The 16 trialists competing Sunday are:

Masatoshi Ohno (Japan)

Christobal De Col (Peru)

Fisher Heaverly (USA)

Sam Hammer (USA)

Garrett Parkes (Aus)

Keanu Asing (Haw)

Aaron Cormican (USA)

TJ Gumiela (USA)

Marc Lacomare (Fra)

Jeremy Johnston (USA)

Travis Logie (SAfr)

Ryan Carlson (USA)

Maxime Huscenot (Fra)

Clay Marzo (Haw)

Asher Nolan (USA)

Leif Engstrom (USA)