Thursday, June 15, 2006
By Darryl Miya
On Sunday, June 4th, close friends and family gathered at Emma Wood State Beach for he Second Annual Brandon Yates Memorial Surf Contest. It has been just over 2 years since we lost Brandon to melanoma and a fun contest format was the call to celebrate Brandonıs life.
The contest format called for a team event. 
Teams were made up of 1 Captain, 1 old guy over 30, 2 menıs 18 or over, 2 juniors, 1 girl and 1 grom. The teams were given envelopes 15 minutes prior to their first heat. In the envelopes were about 120 Tasks to complete within the teams 2, 30 minute heats. Tasks ranged from Alley Oop airs, to wearing women's bathing suits, guys wearing womenıs bathing suits.... The most enjoyed task of the day was tracking down Brandonıs mom, Susan and taking a team picture with her.
The waves were 3-5ı faces with some bigger sets and very consistent. 
The wind swell was kickinı and actually picked up as the day went on. The boys and girls were RIPPING and everyone was laughing and having a great time. With the entire 10 person team in the water at the same time, no waves went unridden and some serious airs were being thrown by Adam Virs, Adam Lambert, Tarik Khashoggi, Pete Mussio, Spencer Reagan and this guy, Killian Garland.
At the end of round 1, the top 4 teams were The Surf Happens Tunnel Muffins, A-Frame #2, The Sofa Kings and The Base Poachers. We had a one hour lunch break featuring the fine Barbecued burgers and dogs of Bob Martinez and Warren Yates. We moved on to the raffle where nearly everyone there walked away with some loot.
Then we were off for round 2. In round 2, it seemed that a lot of teams were going for the Drink a 12 oz beverage while on a wave² task. Maybe it was the hot sun, maybe it was the realization that this event was more about celebrating Brandon and the fun that he loved to have, but the second round was LOOSE. Virs threw a huge air reverse and everyone got a kick out of the claim tasks. There was the throat slitting claim by Virs, the fist in the air claim done multiple times by Lambert and Spencer, and the drop knee claim by Chris Keet which came AFTER the stinkbug, butt wiggling off the lip. And who could forget Oneway Boardshops Jon Grover jogging seductively down the beach Baywatch style in a moomoo, although I think weıd all like to forget it.
Honorable mention has to go to Aaron Ernst. Arson put together 2 teams and after the first round, played his cards and completely stacked his second team with Himself as captain, and then took Killian, Tarik, Pete Mussio, Spencer Reagan, Adam Lambert and a host of other rippers that made other teams groan. Arson was smart. He played the rules which clearly state that cheating is NOT frowned upon. But in the end, justice was served and the superteam was relegated to 4th place.
In 3rd place, was the Base Poachers made up of Captains Darryl Miya and Jamie Gathard, Proıs Sean Hayes and Keoni Cuccia, Old Guy Mark Bustamante, Men Kas Alves and Mark Larson, Juniors Josh Mendelson and Kellen Ellison, Girl was Seanıs sister, Courtney Hayes, who racked up 10 points for dropping in on her brother in the heat, and the grom, Andrew Doheny, one of the, if not THE most promising grom from the west coast. They were in fourth at the break, but the Backside attack of Keoni, the Keoni and Sean tandem ride and the consistency from The Marks, Kas, Darryl, Courtney, Josh, Kellen and little Doh pushed them into 2nd place after their second round heat.
Second Place went the The Sofa Kings 
lead by their fearless Captain Kelly Robertson, his Pro's Tyler Anderson and Brain Switzer, Old Guy Jeff Pixley, Men, Noah Schultz and CJ Covarrubias, Juniors Evan Mendelson and Daniel Pritchard, girl Demi Boelsterli, and their grom, Macaiah Furukawa. They were third going in to final minute of action when Captain Kelly took over and pulled the old Bribe the judges by donating $25.00 to Brandon's Wave TWICE for 100 points.
The Winners were the Surf Happens Tunnel Muffins.
Captain Chris Keet set the bar high with his pink one piece-stinkbug -windmill-off the lips to drop knee claim to rack up 23 points on 1 wave. His Army consisted of Proıs Adam Virs and Tyler Anderson. Old Guy Mikey Billgren, Men were Jared Morales(ripping after 6 months out of the water because he is off serving our country) big ups Jared. The other man was Mike Lonson. His Juniors were Spencer Reagan and Adam Lambert who were both showing why they are 2 of
the best Juniors form our area, the groms were Charlie Dentzel and Decker McAllister and the girl was Demi Boelsterli. Demi got a special award for the Marathon surfer of the event, surfing for Surf Happens, Both A-Frame teams, and the Sofa Kings. She ripped for every team and had a smile on her face the whole time.
Thank you to the sponsors- Surf Happens, Sound Kase, Scosche Industries,Surf One, Utopia, Oakley, Oneway Boardshop, A-Frame, Quiksilver, Liquid Militia, Channel Islands, anon, Volcom, True Ames, Adio Footwear, Reef, Block Surf, Powell Skateboards, Josh Pomer, 805 Apparel, Instinct and especially the California State Beach at Emma Wood.
It was an unbelievable day, everyone had a blast, the surfing was incredible and hilarious. Like Captain Kelly of the Sofa Kings said, ²If you weren't smiling, you weren't there. There's only one thing left to say. The 100 point Bonus trick was to pull off the late great Brandon Yatesı layback air and nobody pulled it off. I guess that trick is reserved for Brandon. We miss you and we love you. D-
link to this
Santa Barbara Surfing. Created by Tim Maddux. Continued by Pope.
Teams were made up of 1 Captain, 1 old guy over 30, 2 menıs 18 or over, 2 juniors, 1 girl and 1 grom. The teams were given envelopes 15 minutes prior to their first heat. In the envelopes were about 120 Tasks to complete within the teams 2, 30 minute heats. Tasks ranged from Alley Oop airs, to wearing women's bathing suits, guys wearing womenıs bathing suits.... The most enjoyed task of the day was tracking down Brandonıs mom, Susan and taking a team picture with her.
lead by their fearless Captain Kelly Robertson, his Pro's Tyler Anderson and Brain Switzer, Old Guy Jeff Pixley, Men, Noah Schultz and CJ Covarrubias, Juniors Evan Mendelson and Daniel Pritchard, girl Demi Boelsterli, and their grom, Macaiah Furukawa. They were third going in to final minute of action when Captain Kelly took over and pulled the old Bribe the judges by donating $25.00 to Brandon's Wave TWICE for 100 points.
Captain Chris Keet set the bar high with his pink one piece-stinkbug -windmill-off the lips to drop knee claim to rack up 23 points on 1 wave. His Army consisted of Proıs Adam Virs and Tyler Anderson. Old Guy Mikey Billgren, Men were Jared Morales(ripping after 6 months out of the water because he is off serving our country) big ups Jared. The other man was Mike Lonson. His Juniors were Spencer Reagan and Adam Lambert who were both showing why they are 2 of