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The return of the Yancy Spencer III Memorial Surf Contest is right around the corner and here is what you need to know.

This memorial contest has always held a special place in our hearts, not just for the incredible local talent it showcases, but for our amazing community that rallies around it. Having the opportunity to honor Yancy’s life and legacy through this event means the world to us and truly couldn’t ask for a more meaningful way to celebrate him.

Putting on a surf contest on Pensacola Beach is not for the faint of heart. While working with the Island Authority is generally an easy process, we all know how unpredictable the surf can be this time of year — but we have our fingers crossed! With the forecasting tools available to us these days, we should have a general idea of the surf conditions for the weekend a few days in advance. We'll do our best to provide as much notice as possible about whether the surf conditions will be suitable or not for the contest. 

If we do need to postpone the contest our back up dates are May 10th and May 17th.

We will have the following divisions:

• Grom's Open (12 & under)

• Junior Shortboard Open (17 & under)

• Women's Shortboard (All ages)

• Men's Shortboard (30 & under)

• Masters Shortboard (31-50)

• Legends Shortboard (51+)

• Women's Longboard (All ages)

• Men's Longboard (All ages)

• Retro Division Open (boards must be from the 1980's or earlier)

This year we are highlighting the new “Retro Division”. The boards surfed in this division must be from the 1980’s or earlier and can be long or short. All boards will be reviewed to ensure they fit this criteria. This division is all about fun and style and all competitors are encouraged to paddle out with that in mind.  

• All divisions are $10, except for the cash prize Retro Division, which costs $25. We strongly encourage everyone to sign up in advance through our website, as we cannot guarantee an available slot on the day of the event.

Check-in time & Location:

• The contest will take place at the Pensacola Beach Pier. Check-in will begin at 8:00 A.M., and the contest will start promptly at 9:00 A.M. The schedule for the heats will be released on the morning of the contest.

Yancy stopped by the shop to check out and discuss some of the boards from our latest Cronin surfboard shipment.

"We got a couple of pompanos in, Cronin's most popular model for all around Gulf Coast surf. Its a twin fin, not a retro fish, but more of a modern fish with future fin boxes for larger keel fins. Its a thin fish, with a pulled in nose, which allows you to get a lot of speed and maneuverability. The retro fishes usually have wider noses and tend to be slower and more stylish. These are more performance type boards and are one of the fastest and easiest to ride in Gulf Coast waves." - Yancy4

"The ProLance is what I ride. I have a 5’10 and I ride it as a twin fin or a three fin, but I also have the option of four fins. It seems to work good in our Gulf Coast's small, suck out type of surf. It has kind of a wider squash/diamond tail, which gives it a good basic shortboard feel and has a wider chest area for paddling."- Yancy4

 

 

 

   Spear- Available between 5'10 - 6'0

"With its pulled in nose and round tail, the Spear is more of an offshore, hollow wave board. This would be fun in good waves."                                                                    -Yancy4     

                       

                  

                                       

          Club - Available between 5'6 - 6'0

"The Club has a basic rocket fish outline. It would work well in average Gulf Coast waves." -Yancy4

High 5 - Available in 6'10

"The High 5 is a great looking board and is what everyone knows as the 'magic model'. It has chimed rails with a round nose and tail and is more of a performance mid-length. Its a good shape and would catch waves easily." -Yancy4 

-AG

Surfing on the Gulf Coast can be anything but straight forward. It tends to be the kind of place where having the confidence of bringing just one board to the beach could possibly turn into the biggest mistake you've made all year. We've all seen it—within a matter of hours, conditions can shift from thigh-high and weirdly challenging to picture-perfect, head-high barrels that would make anyone feel like they've scored the session of their life. As Gulf Coast surfers, we are conditioned to remain on our toes, ready to strike when the time is right, but even then, what do you ride?

In my opinion, you should always be a little cautious when it comes to taking advice from someone on the internet that lives in a far away land saying "this is the perfect board for you". Well, they may be right for the waves that they are surfing, but does that "perfect board" work here on the Gulf Coast? When it comes to answering this question, among many others, one name comes to my mind.

Photo- @Shellfilm

You would be hard-pressed to find someone who is more knowledgeable and has more hours logged surfing the Gulf Coast than Yancy Spencer 4th (YS4). Yancy lives and breathes surfing and it’s immediately evident when you talk with him. His knowledge, style and ability to ride whatever the Gulf throws at us is truly awesome and inspiring. 

Over the next however long ,(and when the surf is flat), he will be looking at and reviewing boards that we have in the shops along with covering all topics surfing here on the blog. Stay tuned...

If I'm looking to rebuild the transmission in my truck, I go to an expert. If a water pipe bursts in my house, Im going to an expert and if I’m seeking insights on our waves, boards, or anything surf-related, Im going to an expert... So here we are.

-AG

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That refreshing cool breeze we’ve been waking up to the past couple of mornings can only mean one thing: I know what you’re thinking, and it’s not that the fair has rolled into town. Nope! It’s that the Coastline Fall Fest is right around the corner!

Every year, Coastline Calvary Chapel hosts a family-friendly fall festival at Shoreline Park. It’s packed with fun activities, delicious food, raffles, and the much-anticipated annual skate contest put on by Coastline Skate. If you want to participate in the contest it starts at 1PM and it is a free entry with sign ups taking place at the Gulf Breeze park day of. There will be multiple divisions for varying skill levels and everyone is welcome to join!

With the new Blake Doyle Skatepark downtown, the skate scene has really been blowing up.. finally right!? Finally, there is a place that seems right and does the local skate scene justice, but as time goes on, it may become easy to forget that it hasn't always been this way.

Sometime around 2014, Coastline Skate started a weekly skate night in their parking lot to give local skaters in the community a fun and safe place to skate. At no cost and with a welcoming atmosphere, it became a huge hit. Week after week all of the local heroes of the day shredded the home made ramps and helped inspire and guide the upcoming generation of young skaters who frequented the skate nights. The countless late night sessions filled with fun times, mentoring, getting clips and making memories still echoes today.

Its no easy task to accomplish what they have done and continue to do and now is our chance as a community to give back and show our support. Let’s do our part by showing up for the Coastline Skate crew, who have given so much to the skate community over the years.

The Coastline Skate contest is Saturday, October 26th at the Gulf Breeze park and we are excited to see everyone there!

One may think that with the Gulf having such a healthy surf community that it would be fairly easy to find a shaper locally that is up to par to hold such a position, but its actually quite the opposite. Don't get me wrong, there are a handful of very talented shapers in our area, but for the most part they either fly under the radar or they are already established elsewhere. 

So this brings us back around to our original question, " Why doesn't Innerlight have an in-house shaper now?" Well on top of it just being plain hard to find someone, we actually have the next best thing already.

Sometime around 2013ish the stars aligned for us to partner with East Coast shaper Craig Cronin. Even though he is technically not our in-house shaper or even a Gulf coaster, he is about as good and as qualified as it gets when it comes to hand shaping surfboards that fit in perfectly with the waves we have here in the gulf. If you surf, it is almost guaranteed that you have either been on one or seen people ripping his boards out in the line up. 

        Photo - @Sumlinvisuals

Craig has been shaping for over 20 years and is currently based out of New Smyrna, FL. He has handled a lot of our custom shop orders through the years and stays consistent with his tried and true line of hand shaped and very popular Cronin surfboards. You don't have to venture too far to find someone who has something good to say, including myself.

Whether you are looking for a high performance shortboard, nose riding longboard or anything in between, Craig is the man. He is always open for custom orders and will knock almost any color requests out of the park. If you are ever interested in working up a custom Innerlight or Cronin order or if you just want to see some of his boards in person, you can head over to our Gulf Breeze or Destin location and they will take care of you.

- Trust Your Shaper/ Trust Craig