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Saturday’s expected snow storm would cause most to hunker down.

This is not the case for surf pros participating in Sunday’s Cold War surf competition in Asbury Park. 

A hand- picked group of surfers from up and down the East Coast have signed on to compete in the second annual winter surfing contest, organizer Tim Donnelly said.

Kicking off at 8 a.m. Sunday at the Asbury Avenue Beach, behind the Casino building, 18 pro surfers, divided into two teams, will vie for the Winter Takes All bragging rights.

Jersey Shore surf legends Andrew Gesler of Ocean City and Sam Hammer of Lavalette [shown in feature photo] continue their 20-year friendly rivalry by returning as team captains.

“After a somewhat slow start to our winter swell machine, it looks like there is potential for a bitter-cold blast of swell to kick it off,” said Gesler, the competition’s defending champion. “Add a beat down on team Hammer in Cold War to that, and you have the greatest of starts to my favorite time of year.”

But Hammer, who is known to be a fierce competitor, has been waiting for this day.

“The conditions are looking to be exactly what we’ve been waiting for – snow, wind and good south swell,” he said. “Also, it will be perfect conditions for revenge on Team Gesler. I’ve been waiting a while to get back at Team Gesler [and] I’m ready.”

Returning collaborator, Surfline.com made the official call to move forward with the surf competition.

“Low pressure tracking along the East Coast through the weekend sets up a pulse of South South East swell, mixing with local East North East wind swell for Asbury Park on Sunday,” said forecaster Katie Spagnolo. “Fun-sized sets in the chest to shoulder high range are expected for the morning with moderate offshore West winds providing clean conditions. In addition, we expect chilly air temps and some snow on the ground.”

The contest is sponsored by Surf Taco, Asbury Park Boardwalk, Surfer’s Environmental Alliance, Surfline, Smith Optics, Reef, Nixon, Da Kine, O’Neill, Traeger Grills, Blazing Visuals, and Asbury Park Brewery.

The battle lines are drawn as follows:  

TEAM GESLER

Andrew Gesler of Ocean City

Mike Gleason of Long Branch

Clay Pollioni of Ortley Beach

Rob Kelly of Ocean City

Travis Beckmann of Montauk, NY

Conor Willem of Surf City

Brendan Tighe of Point Pleasant

Randy Townsend of Surf City

Ben McBrien of Ocean Grove

TEAM HAMMER

Vince Boulanger of Ocean City, Md

Zack Dayton of East Hampton, NY

Ben Gravy of Longport

Sam Hammer of Lavallette

Simon Hetrick of Ocean City, Md

Tommy Ihnken of Asbury Park

Pat Schmidt of Manasquan

Balaram Stack of Point Lookout, NY

Logan Kamen of Belmar

Follow THE COLD WAR via social media on Instagram and Facebook.

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The Asbury Park Sun is affiliated with the triCityNews newspaper.

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