Current Ultimate Water and Starboard team rider, Zane Schweitzer, has taken out the 2019 USA National Championship Titles in both the SUP Surf & Tech Surf Race disciplines. The 2 x USA SUP National Champion gives us a recap of how the weekend’s events went down:
Day 2 – 2019 Surfing America Nationational Championship – SUP Technical Racing & Team Trials
“The morning of the tech beach race day it was dark with the classic California fog and some small cold beach breaks surf. With waves around knee high the technical surf race in and out of the beach break was still exciting and a lot of fun. I decided to ride the Starboard Sprint 14 x 21.5 to have some extra speed through the flats on the outside. I ride this board a lot on Maui for training and racing and have learned to manage it quite well through the surf and find it to be exceptionally faster most of the time especially in the clean water outside the waves.”
Coming into the final I found myself up against California’s Tyler Basher where we had a big battle for the line. I knew he was in good form as he was the runner up against Danny Ching in the distance race yesterday, and now he and I were battling for top 2 in the tech race. On the last beach run and lap through the surf I decided to give it my all on the way out through the waves, allowing me to break away slightly before the outside. After turning the buoy I continued to extend my lead in the flats. After the last turn in through the waves and into the beach finish I was able to get in early on a nice wave and run through the finish claiming the title as 2019 Surfing America‘s National Champion in surf racing, along with earning a position on team USA to the 2019 ISA SUP World Championships!”
Day 3 – 2019 Surfing America Nationational Championship – SUP Surfing & Team Trials
“After the racing finished, we switched gears into Sup Surfing. The Waves got a little better as the tide continued to change and the waves were pretty fun from knee to shoulder high. My Starboard Carbon 7’0 EcoBoard pro model was a perfect choice for this event and was excited to start.
My first heat of the day started off slow but I advanced on through. I had two scores that were under six-point rides and was fortunate to get lucky and squeak through into the next round. I did my best to shake that off and build momentum continuing on through.
In the final, we had a solid sheet of riders and competing for qualifying position was Anthony Maltese, Daniel Hughes, Syrus from Kaua’i and myself. I was stoked to start off the heat with a high five ride off the back. I knew I needed something big off the get-go to continue building confidence and show dominance. My third heat less than 10 minutes into the 30-minute final, scored a 9.0! It was crazy because the wave that I scored the nine-point ride on was actually more of a defensive manoeuvre to get on the same wave as Daniel Hughes who was doing well early on in the heat as well. The defensive manoeuvre turned into my top offensive manoeuvre!
As soon as I heard the nine drop I made sure to get another second-highest scoring wave on the board to feel more confident with a high overall score total. I played smart and defensive yet built up on my score total with a 7.6! This sealed the deal for me and I felt so grateful to hear the cheers from my friends from Hawai’i and my supporters! Getting chaired up the beach by my team manager, Chris with Black Project Fins, along with my local California Host, Anthony Maltese was precious- I’m grateful and blessed!”
“So stoked to leave this trip with a mission successful earning two spots on Team USA and as well walking away with 2 x USA SUP National Titles!” ~
Zane Schweitzer
PC: Surfing America
