Lucas Fink of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil won the professional Men’s division, and Casey Kiernan of Stuart, FL won the professional Women’s division at the 2022 OBX SkimJam skimboarding competition on July 16th and 17th at Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head, NC.
The competition drew an international field of 157 competitors including 36 pros with a $12,000 combined pro men and pro women prize purse, the largest ever at the OBX SkimJam.
The professional men’s division and the professional women’s division counted as part of both the Skim USA tour and the United Skim Tour, the world’s only international professional skimboarding tour.
The Professional Men’s field featured 30 skimboarders including the 2021 Men’s UST champion Gerardo Valencia of Barra De Navidad, Mexico and current top UST ranked riders Dane Cameron of Laguna Beach, CA, Yahir Valencia of Barra De Navidad, Mexico and Bruno Sa of Recife, Brazil.
The Professional Women’s field featured 6 skimboarders including Alex Yokely of Dewey Beach, DE who won the OBX SkimJam in 2019 and 2018 as well as Amber Torrealba of Palm Bay, FL who finished 3rd on the UST in 2019.
As part of Skim USA, the contest also featured amatuer divisions for both men and women.
For the amatuer men, divisions included Minis (8 and under), Menehunes (9-11), Boys (12-14), Junior Men (15-17), Men (18-21), Senior Men (22-24), Masters (25-29), Grandmasters (30-39), Senior Grandmasters (40-49) and Legends (50 and older).
For the amatuer women, divisions included Girls (11 & under), Junior Women (12-14) and Women (15 and older). A semi-professional division also enabled all amateur riders to compete against one another without age restrictions.
The waves were one to three feet close to shore and clean for most of the weekend. “Once again we were super lucky with waves,” said Lucas Fink. “OBX was amazing. It was kind of as good as you can ask for.”
In the professional Men’s final, Lucas Fink was ranked first on the UST coming into this event and Dane Cameron was ranked second. After meeting in the final in Santa Cruz, the two riders matched up in the final again at OBX. “It was a very important heat if I wanted to keep my lead in the rankings,” said Lucas Fink after his win. “It was me and him completing high-scoring waves back-to-back. Things like 3-shove out to 5-shove in, 3-shove out to bigger spin in, 5 shuv out…it was insane.”
In the professional Women’s final, Casey Kiernan went up against Alex Yokley who had won the last two pro events at OBX. Casey ended up edging out Alex by a little over one point, securing her win and lead in the UST standings. “My Win at the OBX Skim Jam has really set the tone in my heart on a few different levels,” said Casey. “I’m really hungry for the UST title this year, but honestly not so much for personal reasons. I want to advocate for women in skimboarding by helping to obtain Women’s Pro purse sponsorships, build the female skim community and connection, and help show other women what is possible within skimboarding.”
After the first two stops for the professional men’s division, Lucas Fink is currently on the top of the UST rankings followed by Dane Cameron and Yahir Valencia. After the first stop for the professional women’s division, Casey Kiernan sits in first on the UST rankings followed by Alex Yokley and Amber Torrealba.
Remaining UST tour events include the Zap Championships in Dewey Beach, DE, on August 12th-14th, The Vic West in Laguna Beach, CA on August 27th-28th, Intrafalgar Dogflut in Cádiz, Spain on September 10th-11th and Exile Oktoberfest in Newport Beach, CA on September 17th-18th.
In the Men’s division, points from the best four placings count toward each skimboarder’s 2022 UST points total. In the Women’s division, points form the best two placings count toward each skimboarder’s 2022 UST points total.
