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OCEANSIDE -- At long last, it was time for John Shearer and Virginia Cartwright to win once again.
Shearer, a 42-year-old teacher from Hermosa Beach known as "The Claw," had not
won the big prize at the World Bodysurfing Championships since 1985, but his luck came around again 12 years later. Cartwright had finished second three years straight before her luck changed this year.
In 3- to 5-foot surf at the Oceanside Pier Sunday, each won their third grand championship at the 21st annual event, which is co-sponsored by the North County Times.
"This
contest is always a combination of skill and luck, and I've always felt I had the skill but not the luck," said Shearer, who also won in 1981. "Today, I
felt like my luck came around."
The luck factor in any surfing event, with or without a board, is in the waves. If a surfer is in the right spot when the right wave comes along, the
chances of racking up a big score are that much better.
But this year, Shearer, who surfs in one form or another as much as five days per week, was intent on making his own luck. No one was
more prepared.
"I think of the world contest throughout the year," Shearer said. "in the water I'm thinking how I can make a bad wave look good, and a good wave look
great."
He posted the day's highest score for the second day in a row with a 96 that won
the 35-44 age division, earning him a spot in the grand championship heat with the other age group winners. In the grand championship heat, out of which the judges simply pick a winner rather than scoring rides, Shearer was able to stand out, but he wasn't sure of the result until he heard his name called at the end of the awards ceremony.
"I was hoping and praying," Shearer said. "I haven't been that happy in a long time."
Among his competition in the grand championship heat was the first
father-son combination to make it that far --- Al and Bart Templeman; 21-year-old Chris
Ford, whose brother, Dave, won the grand championship two years ago; former grand champion Bob Burnside, who won the 65-over division for the second straight year; Will Herndon, who recovered from his 10-year class reunion, held Saturday night, enough to beat the likes of the Casinelli brothers in his division; and Joel Gitelson, whom many thought won the grand championship after surfing an impressive final.
Once out of her age division, Cartwright faced less competition. Cartwright's biggest competition came from her own division and the two women who rendered her second the past three
years, Sonja Bertsch and Tish Denevan.
In the grand championship heat, she beat out 12-year-old Mila Finley, who impressed by swimming outside the break to get a number of long rides, and
Brazilian, Isabelle DeLoys.
"I worked at it real hard," Cartwright said of her preparation for the Worlds.
"Being from New Zealand, I have to do more work than the others just to get used to things. I have to get accustomed because it's such a different lifestyle here. About the time I stopped being scared on the freeways was when I got comfortable with the waves."
BODYSURFING NOTES --- It was the first bodysurfing competition ever for Hemet's Clancy Cornell, who won the men's 12-14 division, after which he put on a show
by riding countless waves on the inside in the grand championship heat. ... Oceanside Mayor Dick Lyon, who was the oldest competitor in the contest at 74, was presented with a surprise award at the awards ceremony. ... Defending champion Mike Cunningham of Gardena scored a 92 in the men's 35-44 final, finishing second to Shearer's 96.
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