SURFER Magazine is pleased to announce that Berdels of Santa Cruz has officially secured a spot in the Oakley Surf Shop Challenge National Championship event at Playa Colorado in Nicaragua.
Conditions couldn’t have been better for the Oakley Surf Shop Challenge Northwest regional qualifier with calm winds and an easing SSW swell producing consistent 4-6ft+ waves at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz, CA. With great waves forecasted for the duration of the event, contest director Darren Brilhart modified the preliminary heat format and allowed all ten competing teams to surf twice as they searched for a score to make the final cut.
Five teams took to the water for the final heat and within five seconds Berdels team rider Cole Sandman had secured a 7.83. Tagging in next from the Berdels squad was team rider Chad Underhill who whammied an 8.67 on his first wave doubling the score to a 17.34. Channel Islands Santa Barbara was closing in with solid scores from their first two surfers but once Berdels third surfer, Tyler Smith, locked an 8.77 the team was well on their way to their first win at a Surf Shop Challenge regional qualifier.
Clearly ecstatic about the win, Berdels team captain and shop founder Bubb Rader said “The finals was sort of like the moon landing, it’s something that the whole world is digesting right now.” Continuing on, he provided a highly entertaining wave-by-wave finals recap and then belted at the top of his lungs, “And now we’re going to Nicaragua! YEAH!”
