The East Coast Surfing Championships (ECSC) is an annual surfing contest held in late August in Virginia Beach, Virginia on the oceanfront, and is one of the United States Surfing Federation's major amateur events.
The event originated in a summer 1962 beach and surf party organized by a group of teens at Gilgo Beach on Long Island, New York. It moved to Virginia Beach the following year, and is now the longest-running surfing contest in the world and a major source of tax revenue for Virginia Beach, attracting more than 100,000 people a year. In 2011, the Association of Surfing Professionals designated the pro division a 4-star event and the junior division a 4-star junior qualifying event. The 2020 ECSC was not canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but took place with health precautions including live-streaming. However, the 2020 and 2021 events were not World Surf League qualifying series championships. In 2022, a women's World Surf League qualifying series event was added.
Men's and women's professional and amateur surfing events are held throughout the week, plus other beach sporting events such as volleyball, a 5k oceanfront run, and a swimsuit competition. The ECSC also includes live music, BMX, skateboarding and skimboarding exhibitions, and in some years freestyle motocross.
The ECSC is organized by the Virginia Beach Jaycees, a chapter of the United States Jaycees; its primary sponsor is Coastal Edge Surf Shop, which became name sponsor in 2013. The Jaycees established the ECSC Legends Hall of Fame awards in 2005.
Past winners + Open/proYearMen1963Jack Roland Murphy1964John Eakes1965D. W. Carter1966Gary Propper1967Steve Bigler1968Corky Carroll1969Joe Roland1970Dennis Doyle1971Dennis Doyle1972Jimbo Brothers1973Yancy Spencer III1974Jeff Arensman1975Bennett Strickland1976Kim Hickman1977Kim Hickman1978Dave Nuckles1979Allen White1980Wes Laine1981Wes Laine1982Buddy Pelletier1983Matt Kechele1984John Futch1985Richie Rudolph1986Richie Rudolph1987Scott McCranels1988Scott McCranels1989Steve Anest1990David Speir1991Alan Burke1992Matt Kechele1993Shane Stoneland1994Jeff Deffenbaugh1995John Logan1996Ryan Simmons1997Danilo Costa1998Tom Curren1999Taylor Knox2000Marco Polo2001Bryan Hewitson2002Dino Andino2003Jason Reagan2004Eric Taylor2005Aaron Cormican2006Aaron Cormican2007Aaron Cormican2008Asher Nolan2009Aaron Cormican2010Jeremy Johnston2011Kolohe Andino2012Jean Da Silva2013Patrick Gudauskas2014Michael Dunphy2015Kanoa Igarashi2016Evan Geiselman2017Keanu Asing2018Hiroto Ohhara2019Luke Gordon2020Noah Schweizer2021Dylan Hord2022Jett Schilling2023Kolohe Andino2024Blayr Barton
References
External links
Official website