VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Organizers called a lay day at the World Surf League (WSL) Coastal Edge Steel Pier Classic competition on Saturday, citing "high winds and victory-at-sea conditions."
Organizers say with a promising forecast on the schedule moving forward, competition will likely begin Sunday.
The Site Director spoke with News 3 just as news broke of the decision to postpone.
“It’s the nature of the beast in this kind of sport," said George Alcaraz. ”We can’t use these conditions so hopefully [Sunday]…we might get some rain, but of course we’ll go ahead with the surf. They might accelerate the heats to bring everybody in because it’s a three-day event that we’ve condensed and made possibly two days.”
The Steel Pier Classic is a North America Longboard Regional Qualifying Series 1,000.
"We're excited to be back in Virginia Beach for our Regional Longboard Qualifying Series, unfortunately high winds and impending weather forced us to call competition off for the day," said North America Tour Manager Brian Robbins. "We will reconvene at 11:00 a.m. for a possible start to competition. Thank you to Coastal Edge, Katin, and the local community for making this event happen and we look forward to getting competition underway."
The surf contest joins the VB Surf Art Expo in kicking of the unofficial start of summer at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
Expo organizers tell News 3 they decided to go ahead with the event, given all the vendors who purchased hotel rooms with the intention of selling along the boardwalk.
Saturday afternoon, organizers told News 3 the contest will resume Sunday and finish Monday afternoon.
Stay with News 3 for updates.
