3rd Annual Regular Joe Festival
- October 8, 2015
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- By Photos By SurfGuru Story by Regular Joe
Regular Joe finally got its wish — contestable waves all weekend long at Sebastian Inlet’s fabled 1st and 2nd Peaks. And with the shot of surfer came a flood of first time winners, headed by the newly crowned King of the Joes, Steve Sherard, an outfitter and lifeguard at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach. Sherard advanced to the Super Heat by winning the Keepers of the Coast category, outpointing runner-up Roger Ross by a point and a half. The shocker of the contest, however, was the failure of two-time King Kelly Branagh to even make it to the Super Heat as another first-time Regular Joe contestant, Elliott Grozan, took the 49 & under short board title by just under 2 points. Joining the two in the Super Heat were Surf & Protect winner Jake Couture, Regular Joesies titleist Lori Bray, Regular Joe longboard victor Jack Hargreaves, 50+ short board #1 Sean Hayes and Forever Hippie! winner Justin Eckhoff, who edged out Couture for the highest total score in the preliminary heats.
After clean surf most of the day on Saturday, increasing northeast winds made for really fun peaks in the final as the seven qualifiers caught tons of waves, led by Sherard and Eckhoff who tallied 9 and 10 waves respectively in the 20-minute heat. In the end, the nod on the two best waves went to Sherard in an extraordinarily close decision.
While the Regular Joe crown went to Sherard, kudos were also due to Pete Anderson of Pareidolia Brewing Company in Sebastian who lit up the awards ceremony with a pony keg of Tail Stall IPA, custom brewed especially for Regular Joe. Anderson, himself a longtime surfer, said he tried to capture in the brew his memories of surfing the Inlet some 30 years ago. Mission accomplished! Best Awards Ceremony ever!
3rd Annual Regular Joe Results
Super Heat Finals
King of the Joes) Steve Sherard
2) Justin Eckhoff
3) Elliott Grozan
4) Jack Hargreaves
5) Jake Couture
6) Sean Hayes
7) Lori Bray
Regular Joes 49 & Under short board
1) Elliott Grozan
2) Kelly Branagh
3) Justin Eckhoff
Regular Joes 50+ short board
1) Sean Hayes
2) Robert Jones
3) Gerry Tudor
Regular Joes 50+ longboard
1) Jack Hargreaves
2) Dan Sullivan
3) Bob Freeman
Surf & Protect
1) Jake Couture
2) Chris Marconi
Suits & Scrubs
1) Brody Sorensen
2) Tripp Bolton
Regular Joesies short board
1) Lori Bray
Regular Joesies longboard
1) Joann Bolton
Forever Hippie
1) Justin Eckhoff
2) Art Lueck
3) Dan Sullivan
