Encinitas Firefighters, 2008 Firefighter State Surfing Champions

On Wednesday, July 16^th, 2008, the Encinitas firefighters competed in the California State Firefighter Olympics. The Encinitas firefighters cooled off the competition by carving their way to a total of 9 team medals.  In doing so, the Encinitas firefighters also captured their 9th championship team surfing title (beating Kelly Slater to 9 titles!)!  The surfing portion of the games was held at 1st peak in Santa Cruz. The surf was rip-able 2-4' with glassy conditions all day.

The contest was originally scheduled for Manressa State Beach, but moved early in the a.m. to 1st Peak, Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz on the 16th of July.
The attending firefighters were relieved and thrilled to get out of the heat to have a day of play in Santa Cruz waters. Many of the attending firefighters have been working extra shifts or been deployed on recent strike teams to the many fires which are burning out of control early this summer season.

Encinitas firefighters surf team captain, Jon Peterson, engineer (& owner of Surfin Fire, Inc. a premiere surf school in North San Diego coastal beaches), was happy to be back with the surf team this 2008 competition after missing the past 2 competitions due to other obligations.  Jon anchored down the team with victorious wins of Gold medals!  Placing 1^st  in the short and long board divisions for the Masters.  Other Encinitas firefighter standout surfers were fire Captain Paul Spencer (Gold Medal), Engineer Alex Poff (Silver) and Paramedic Jake Fodor (Bronze) whom combined for the clean sweep in the long board seniors division. Alex Poff also captured the silver medal in short board, followed closely by Engineer Mike Goralski who took home the bronze medal.  Firefighter/medic, Wes Nelson, completed the gold medal count by winning the young guns open division long board.  While Firefighter/medic, Tyson Gargas, also carved his way into the finals and received the silver medal in the open short board division.

The overall team surfing title was solidified with the 4 gold medal performances by Jon Peterson (2), Alex Poff and Wes Nelson. Teams are entered to compete from fire departments located in the state of California.  The best 4 finishes are tallied for each department.  “4 golds is virtually unbeatable!”, said JP (Jon Peterson). The last time it was accomplished was in 2004 when Alex Poff and Jon Peterson doubled their gold medal wins in their respective divisions.

"It was great to get our 9th State championship surfing title back after placing 2nd to L.A. county the past 2 years. This now gives us a big show down for the 2009 Olympics.  L.A. and Encinitas fire departments now have equal amounts of titles.” The perpetual trophy now is back where it belongs and sits at the Moonlight fire station #1 in Encinitas.   Jon Peterson states, “I grew up surfing as a kid in Manhatten Beach and Dana Point and have been extremely lucky to have been hired here in Encinitas - surf city!”   Jon Peterson also owns and operates a surf school (www.SurfinFire.com) here in Encinitas and at the Oceanside pier.