Schizophrenic. Taxing. Chaotic. Pick your preferred adjective that means “challenging” and you’ll be right on the money. On the beach, conditions veered from sunny and brisk to shivering and squally — 80 degrees with pleasant breezes one minute, sideways rain, 30 mph gusts, and zero visibility sending everyone scurrying for cover the next. You could get your bronze on, wear your rain gear, and hunker down in a hoodie, all in the space of those same two minutes. The final day of competition was bookended by rainbows just offshore, but it wasn’t enough to wipe the salt out of your eyes or the sand off your clothes. “It’s a lot of work out here getting battered by the winds,” Event Organizer Matt Kechele said. “It’s still fun at the end of the day, but obviously we’d prefer offshores and clean conditions, mostly for the athletes. It was really challenging for them with all the elements, definitely with a bit of an ironman, perseverance thing thrown in.”

That story remained the same throughout Sunday and Monday: chunky six- to eight-foot sets detonating on Sebastian Inlet’s treacherous inside sandbar. Washing machine currents, especially on outgoing tide. Brutal paddle-outs that denied several competitors young and old — Kech himself even said he was humbled on Sunday morning. After the tide switched both days, a few more waves opened up, and before and after squalls, the wind would momentarily die down. But none of those advantages lasted long, turning the 17th Annual Quiksilver King Of The Peak into a wave-catching — and, if you were lucky, wave-making — contest.

Maybe that’s why only 54 guys showed up this year. The most noticeable absence was that of 2010 King Of The Peak Aaron Cormican, although the draw was filled with other heavy names from both ends of the East Coast’s age spectrum. Thirty-something heavyweights like Gabe Kling and Peter Mendia. New-guard pros like Oliver Kurtz, Blake Jones, and Fisher Heverly. Grom wonders like Keto Burns, Nathan Behl, and Giorgio Gomez. Out-of-staters like Cam and Cole Richards, Fisher Heverly, and Billy Hume. Brevard County loc’dogs and past KOP champions like Kyle Garson, Justin Jones, Eddie Guilbeau, and Bryan Hewitson. Quality over quantity, if you will.

Before we get to Beckmann, let’s throw some love to those closest to him at the end of the 17th Annual Quiksilver King Of The Peak — three young men of varying ages who represent different ends of the pro surfing spectrum. First, Cam Richards, who could have easily skipped this corest of East Coast surf contests, especially given the year he’s had. 1st-place in Open Men’s at the NSSA Nationals. 3rd-place at the Quiksilver King Of The Grom International Championships in France. Trips to Bali and Teahupoo. 1st-place last week at the Rip Curl GromSearch National Championships in San Francisco. In fact, Cam flew straight from SF to Sebastian for the King Of The Peak — and straight from here to meet a macking northwest swell in Puerto Rico — surfing throughout it all like a man possessed. “We’re good friends with Kechele, and he told me and my brother to come down,” Cam said. “The conditions were challenging, but thanks to Billabong taking me on trips to Teahupoo and Hawaii I’ve started feeling so much more comfortable. I got to surf against some great guys at the King Of The Peak, and there’s good money at that contest. I was psyched to win four skins.”

Next up is Oliver Kurtz, who after contest struggles in the past was on fire throughout the duration of the King Of The Peak. Like Cam, Ollie could have easily blown this one off for another trip to Indo or a six-star in Australia or a mag trip to some other far-flung destination. Lord knows that’s where Kurtz is getting most of his love these days showing up all over the surf world’s radar: shots in all the big mags, features on Surfline and in international advertisements for Hurley, video clips far and wide. But when your roots lie at Sebastian Inlet, nothing else matters but the KOP. “I feel right at home in these conditions, and if you grew up around here this contest is really important,” Kurtz said. “With this format, you can have fun and almost take a breather in your heats because you get to try everything under the sun. I fall a lot, which is why I don’t good in ASP. Here I can fall and get right back up and still win a skin.”

And then there’s Gabe Kling, who’s only two months removed from his third stint on the ASP World Tour — but already reassessing his priorities. “I’m looking for a sponsor now,” Kling said, “and I want to do a few of the ASP contests in America next year, but I don’t think I’m going to chase ‘em all. I’m enjoying myself having a little more time; I’m going to Puerto Rico tonight to just go surfing and relax. The ups and downs of doing [ASP] contests all the time started getting to me; it wasn’t fun anymore. I’m excited to just surf and enjoy a contest or a trip, instead of the whole week anticipating my heat, which takes away from the fun of travel. Anything you do for that long gets old. I’m getting married soon, and there’s plenty of fun stuff to do around Florida like this contest.”

But let’s not forget Beckmann, who won the damn thing. Here’s a guy with no more than one or two stickers on his board; in fact, the bottom says, “I’m not a professional surfer… I play badminton naked!” Last month, his Facebook page featured the status, “Travis Beckmann is officially not a professional surfer. He has decided to become a normal human that washes dishes for a living. At least we know he shall succeed in this genre.” In addition to losing sponsors, Travis has dealt with recurring injuries, including a severe knee tweak earlier this year and even a bad back during the contest; he had ice on it after his final heat. “Travis has had a hard year, and he’s been down on himself a lot, but I kept telling him, ‘It’s gonna happen before you know it,’” Kechele said. “And it did at this contest.”

While obviously stoked on the massive $4,620 payday, Beckmann wasn’t sure the King Of The Peak victory would do much for his surfing career. “This win isn’t going to do a damn thing for me,” he said. “Nothing’s going to come out of this in the sense of fame or more money [from contracts]. Of course, I can’t thank Quiksilver and Kechele enough for offering up the prize money, but I’ve been deserving of something in my life for the last eight years. I’m baffled I won this contest; it took luck and skill… sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and this time it did for me, and it rarely does. It’s definitely a good way to end the year. The coolest thing is my name will be among the winners; Kelly, CJ, Hewy, Eric Hatton, world champs and random names. My name being on that list is the main thing in my mind that’s making me happy. It’s not the biggest list in the world but it’s one I’ll be stoked on for the rest of my life.”

Source: Eastern Surf Magazine