Luke Kelly Makes Finals

11/5/09- Luke Kelly made the finals of the first stop on Surfing America's East Coast Tour. The event was held in Montauk, NY with the finals being held in 6-8 ft surf with some 10 ft. sets and perfect offshore conditions. You can see more about the event at www.surfline.com

So Luke you just went up to Montauk NY for the Surfing America Prime Event. It is an invite only event, how did you get selected to compete in that event?
The Surfing America Prime picked the top surfers from each division of ESA and NSSA. So I had to do good in all of the contests and get good rankings.


How do you think that the event was organized? How were the divisions set up and what one did you compete in?
The event was organized pretty well and there were 3 boys divisions, U14, U16, and U18. There were also 2 girls divisions, U18 and U16. I competed in the boys U14.



I heard that they had some coaching seminars for the competitors up there? Tell me a little about that and what you learned.
The day before the contest we were coached by Ian Cairns, I liked it and I think it helped out a lot. I learned about wave positioning and what spots to be in at what times.


How were the conditions? I heard you guys scored some pretty serious surf up there.
The waves were pretty big and clean too, It was good. It was pretty though and the paddle out was hard.


How did you do in your heats? Did you keep your confidence up and stay aggressive?
I advanced in my heats and was surfing pretty good. I used some of the pointers that Ian talked about the day before and it worked out for me until the finals. In the finals the conditions were really good with light offshores but was really BIG!

Does your result take you to another round of competition? or are you going to have to wait and start training for next year?
There are 2 more events in the series and when the series is over they pick your top 2 results to see if you qualify for nationals.

What are your plans for this winter? Winter training for the contests next year?
This winter I am definitely going to train and just surf a lot and improve on my weaknesses so I will be ready for next year. I might go on a few surf trips this winter too.

Thanks Luke.

Thank you.