VIRGINIA BEACH — Locals may look back at the inaugural Chlorine Clash Surf Invitational at Atlantic Park Surf as the start of the prime time era of surfing here.

Sixteen of the top surfers in the country, including local pros Blayr Barton, Michael Dunphy and Story Martinez, squared off Monday in virtually perfect conditions with massive flood lights illuminating the wave pool off Pacific Avenue, at the Oceanfront.

“It’s cool to do a little specialty type of event like this and to be able to bring my friends and family here to come watch,” Dunphy said. “As surfers growing up and always having heats around the ocean, it’s different being able to come here when we know exactly when we’re going to surf for a heat in the evening and everyone’s watching.

“It’s so much different than being in the ocean competing. Usually there’s so many variables and you’re trying to control what you can, but you don’t know what wave you’re going to get. This is like a totally different sport in a way because you know exactly what your run should look like, what wave you’re going to get, so it’s like a snowboard run, you know — you’ve got to kind of have it planned out like the Shawn Whites of the world do. It’s something new for the surf world.”

A crowd totaling more than 500 lined the walls of the lagoon while pounding bass beats spun by a DJ provided the soundtrack for the festivities.

“It’s pretty unreal to surf a venue like this,” Barton said. “It’s totally different than going to get your jersey on the beach, paddling out in the ocean, and being selective on waves when you know you’’re going to automatically get perfect waves.

“And you have such an incredible audience and just the scenery here is insane. You get to look in and see all these people enjoying drinks and food — watching you surf. It’s like going to a golf tournament.”

The Chlorine Clash featured a knockout bracket with each competitor facing off head-to-head in a best-of-three wave showdown, akin to the NCAA basketball tournament. Each surfer was assigned a specific wave in the set to ride among the varying intensity options. Just one side of the pool was in use, featuring the wave breaking to the right, so the normal wildcard of wave selection was no longer in play with Atlantic Park Surf’s ability to churn out nearly identical conditions for each predetermined break.

“Yeah, it fully comes down to skill at this point,” Barton said. “It’s perfect waves and it doesn’t come down to luck. The audience is going to witness some pretty fascinating surfing going down. They chose the best of the best to come here and compete, so it’s going to be the biggest showdown ever. I think this contest will go down as probably one of the best wave pool events around the world.”

Added Martinez: “The waves are just super sick — it’s so fun out there and to just drive up to surf — it’s always flat in (Virginia Beach) but now it’s not.”

The Chlorine Clash opening rounds featured Turning 3 (T3) waves, which are only available in the pro public sessions, and Barrel 1 (B1), which is available in the expert public session. The difference in wave intensity is in direct correlation to wave face steepness and the power behind the wave — as in how fast it moves through the water.

“It’s incredible – in every aspect, from total beginners to experts and everything in between, we have the perfect wave for everybody,” said Jason Borte, Atlantic Park’s director of surf coaching. “Virginia Beach has always had all of the elements of an amazing surfing community, except kind of one of the really important elements — the waves, which now we have. I don’t see how it isn’t just such a complete game changer in many ways.”

From Martinez carving powerful turns all across wave faces in the women’s heats to Barton sitting deep and literally disappearing in a barrel before emerging from the exiting spray of water, to Dunphy slashing fin-gripping tail slides on the men’s side, the partisan crowd made sure it was heavily pronounced who their favorites of the evening were.

And the fireworks in the pool by the surfers during the opening rounds also benefitted from a backdrop of heat lightning periodically illuminating sections of the sky well off in the distance.

Martinez and Barton were both eliminated in the opening rounds, much to the chagrin of the crowd, leaving Dunphy as the lone local surfer in the pool for the semifinals, where the barrel waves were turned up a notch to B2 and the difference was noticeable.

“It’s honestly kind of surreal,” Dunphy said. “You know, we had been talking about it for a long time and to see (the wave pool) actually come to life and see waves like this as close to the actual ocean is pretty crazy, because, you know, these waves are a bit better than the ones we’re used to surfing our whole life. You can see it’s rejuvenated the surf community, like it’s almost a reunion. Everyone’s coming back out and surfing here. Everyone’s smiling.

“It’s like a shot of new life in the (Virginia Beach) surf community.

Dimitri Poulos and Josh Burke advanced to the finals on the men’s side, while Reid Van Wagoner and Eden Walla were the last two women’s competitors. And for the title-clinching round which was also increased to a best-of-five wave series, Atlantic Park Surf pulled out the first of many hidden tricks unavailable on the public wave menu, boosting the turning wave up to T4, which was a quick and steep open face wave. When asked if these were the most intense waves the park can create, Borte flashed a wry smile and shook his head no.

Powerful, spray inducing turns were served by the dozens creating an ultimate heat.

Poulos explained there were subtle differences between the wave pool and the ocean from the buoyancy of the water to the swell angle.

“It’s kind of like a different type of surfing, which is kind of cool in its own sense,” he added.

The finals even pulled some local firefighters down to an adjacent road to Atlantic Park Surf, and they stood on top of their truck to grab a view from just past the fences.

On the women’s side, Van Wagoner dug her rails in to carve out turns and deep barrel ride for a 3-1 victory. Her and Walla treated the crowd to a party wave on the last ride, gracefully intertwining their lines into the shallow end.

“This is actually my second contest in a Wave pool, said Van Wagoner, a native of Carlsbad, California. “I hope that everyone gets to do it one day because getting to sit out there, listening to music, surfing with your best friends on the perfect waves and so many people came down to watch and cheer you on – it’s a really surreal experience.”

Poulos, down 2-0, squeezed out a maneuver on every available section of the last three waves, hammering turns and drifting his fins on tail slides to secure a come from behind victory.

“It’s just a different format – I’ve never surfed an event like this,” said Poulos, from Ventura California. “It was fun, a little more stressful, but a cool, new experience.”

“It didn’t even really feel like a contest – it just felt like a pool party.”

https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/08/26/chlorine-clash-competition-virginia-beach/