Catch a Wave This Weekend at 27th Annual Rincon Classic

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By Jon Shafer, Santa Barbara Surfer

Surfers, fans finally get their chance after popular competition is postponed four times

Santa Barbara County’s oldest and most revered surfing competition continues Sunday at the fabled cobblestones of Rincon Point, where the 27th annual Surf Happens Rincon Classic presented by SIMA is under way. The tournament was postponed four times by rain, wind and even a tsunami warning, but weather and swell conditions are expected to be ideal Saturday and Sunday.

The surfing competition is an all-ages event with 17 divisions, from the 11 & Under Gremlins to the 55+ Legends, and will run from 6:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. both days. For the fifth straight year, the classic features the specialty division favorites, the Airshow/ Expression Session and the Bud Light Professional “Bud Light Pro” Division, with the new addition of the Jarritos “Hack Off The Top” award for the best turn per division.

The credo for the 2010 Rincon Classic, “Be Green To The Queen,” honors the environmental efforts of Surf Happens, event sponsors and the local community, in spreading the awareness of problems stemming from the over-consumption of plastics, and the removal of all single-use items from the event. Event sponsors removed plastic packaging prior to shipping donated products and several sponsors altered the way they offer products to help support the cause. All waste created through the event will be recycled and managed by GreenProject Consultants. Event trophies are handmade pots with the Rincon Classic Logo branded into them created by Happy Green Merchant.  Each pot contains a palm tree, with the symbolism that like these trees we are all rooted in the earth and need clean water to grow.

If you can’t make it to the event, a time-lapse Webcast is available courtesy of SantaBarbaraSurfer.com, a Noozhawk sister site, and PostModernSurfer.com. The Webcast features heats on demand posted every few hours on santabarbarasurfer.com, postmodernsurfer.com and rinconclassic.com. Each heat is professionally filmed and photographed with the movie and images for sale. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the nonprofit Hugs for Cubs, which works with local children with cancer.

The competition wraps up Sunday with Wahoo’s Classic awards ceremony at 7 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, 113 Harbor Way. The awards ceremony is free to contestants and open to the public for a $10 fee, which includes dinner, live music by Free Culture Artists, live and silent auctions, a raffle, a slide show of images, video highlights, the awards presentation, environmental booths, and the world premier of the Surf Happens reduction movie, The Plastic Experiment. Proceeds benefit the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum and The Surf Happens Foundation.

The 2010 Surf Happens Rincon Classic is sponsored by Surf Happens, SIMA, Santa Barbara Independent, Bud Light, Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, Blue Line, Jarritos Beverages, Caribbean Coffee Co., Surfrider Foundation, Santa Barbara Surfer and Happy Green Merchant.

Click here for a complete competition schedule and more information.

— Jon Shafer is publisher of Santa Barbara Surfer and a Noozhawk contributor.

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