Quiksilver, Unsound to Stage Surf Contest in Long Beach — Again

Unsound surf shop in Long Beach has teamed up with Quiksilver to present the Right Coast Cup competition in the city next month, when 64 of the best surfers on the East Coast vie for $20,000 in prize money.

Coming at the peak of the hurricane season, the two-day event will play out within a five-day window, from Sept. 5 to 9, and will feature a “skins” contest that allows amateur surfers to compete against pros such as Long Beach’s T.J. Gumiela and Point Lookout’s Balaram Stack, as well as Quiksilver merchandise, a Roxy surf camp for women, surfing demonstrations and more, according to the Long Beach Hearld.

Unsound co-owners Dave Juan and Mike Nelson — who also own a Quiksilver store in Oceanside — and Luke Watson, Quiksilver's director of marketing, are promoting the contest. Said Watson:

Quiksilver is really excited to be the presenting sponsor for the Unsound Right Coast Cup this year. We’re looking forward to seeing some of the best young East Coast surfers shred the Long Island coast.

Unsound has held its own pro surfing contests in Long Beach. In September 2010, Juan and Nelson staged the Nike 6.0 Unsound Junior Pro Suring Tournament at National Boulevard beach, which featured several dozen of the nation’s best young men and women surfers competing for a $20,000 purse. Stack won the men's competition and 15-year-old Quincy Davis of Montauk took the women's heat.

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Last September, Unsound was a major partner in the Quiksilver Pro New York competition in Long Beach, which was the largest surfing event on the East Coast. An estimated 100,000 spectators watched some of the world’s top surfers, including 11-time champion Kelly Slater and Owen Wright, the Australian who earned the top prize.  

The competition was scheduled to include concerts and skateboard and motocross events, but the city cancelled them in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene, which wreaked destruction on Long Beach days before the competition was set to start. Last December, Quiksilver announced that it would not return to Long Beach in 2012.