grace muckenfuss
seventeen year old surfer/photographer from charleston, south carolina pursuing the dream of surfing for a living.
schedule
schedule
hurricane season flashback, 2011. praying for another season like this. tons of storms, and no damage.
ESM article on ESA’s Regionals this past weekend, landed 2 pictures in it (#5, #6). You can also see the full final results from every division.
I went into the ESA Mid-Atlantic Regionals as the reigning champion in Jr. Women shortboard, and I defended my title to win it again. I combo-ed the rest of the field and even managed to get a sneaky little barrel.
I also surfed in Open Shortboard (girls and guys, all ages) and Jr. Women longboard. I got through the first round of open before being put out in the round of 18 when I got 5th. I was super stoked to get through a heat in tough competition before falling to the eventual champion and runner-up.
I won my first round of longboard and went straight to the final. I really don’t longboard….as in I never have outside of a contest, and I don’t even own a longboard. I used my friends’ and somehow surfed pretty well in round 1. In the final, I was back to my usual nonexistent longboarding talents and just faceplanted everywhere. I entertained the beach for sure. I ended up getting 5th. The girls who got 2nd and 3rd in my first round heat got 1st and 2nd in the final.
Overall, it was a super fun event. It was the best regionals that I’ve competed in as far as waves go. Wednesday-Friday was really fun with awesome conditions, Saturday was small and windy but still pretty fun, and Sunday was pumping again. The weather, for the most part, was warm and beautiful. I have to admit when I heard it was going to be in Maryland I was thinking they were insane, it was going to be flat and freezing… but it was the opposite, and probably my favorite regionals so far. Waves and nice weather, good friends, and winning helps too.
More pictures will be posted as they are uploaded from more photographers. Both of these pictures were taken by the official event photographer (who is really rad and takes awesome shots), Nick Denny.
I placed 2nd in the SurfingAmerica Nags Head Prime. The waves were huge, dumping, and it was rather windy. The swell and wind increased all day, and of course we were the 2nd to last heat of the day. I ended up only catching one wave, and I lost by 0.25 to a girl who had two waves. I tried to get back to the outside after that one wave and never could, effectively wasting whatever time was left in the heat. It was really difficult conditions and I was definitely having lots of knee brace issues (as in I duck-taped it to my knee…too tight and lost circulation).
Tomorrow I’m heading up to Nags Head to compete in the SurfingAmerica Prime. After that, I’ll be in Virginia Beach for a couple of days before going up to the ESA MidAtlantic Regionals in Ocean City, Maryland May 9-12th.
Hopefully, a nice week-long surf trip to Hatteras will follow Regionals (May 13-18) as a nice way to unwind from the stresses of competition, score some good waves, get some good clips, and train.
Either way, there should be tons of pictures and videos forthcoming soon. My friend Jeffrey O’Neil and I are collaborating on a video throughout May while I’m in OBX/VB the next couple of weeks and again for the Steel Pier Classic that should be uploaded at the end of May/early June.
I’ve also been working and filming for another video that Susan’s been helping me film. It should drop shortly after Regionals, May 15th or later depending on if we film in OBX the 13-18th.
