Roxy Jam Cardiff 2008 Photo Gallery - Photos by John Slavin, Shannon Switzer, and Chris Grant

For the third year in a row, JettyGirl Online Surf Magazine had the honor of displaying our tent with a bunch of other great companies in the street fair area. While it's been a blessing to be able to meet and greet people all day, it's a tiny bit of a bummer that I don't actually get to see the contest as it unfolds. For instance, this year I was able to see a great backside noseride by Kassia Meador and a last-second go-for-broke lip bash by Kelly Nicely that caused the beach to erupt in cheers. Other than that though, I wasn't able to see any surfing at all...which doesn't make for a great event recap.

Since I don't have a play-by-play, I thought it might be fun to simply ask a few competitors what they thought about the event ...specifically:

"What did you enjoy most about this year's Roxy Jam Cardiff?"

Here are their responses...

Cori Schumacher (the newly crowned Roxy Jam Cardiff Champion): "I enjoyed the camaraderie the most. I hadn't seen some of the girls for far too long. Seeing everyone in one place brings me back to my core and puts the world into perspective for me. This contest felt like coming home."

Jenni Flanigan: "What I love best about any of the Roxy Jams, and in particular the Roxy Jam Cardiff, is that it is truly a world event. Because many of the women competitors cannot afford to fly to France for a week for the Women's Longboard World Championships held in Biarritz, they opt instead to come to the Roxy Jam Cardiff in California. Because of this, the competition is more difficult, and the contest sees a variety of competitors from around the globe; girls come from Hawaii, Florida, Japan, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Europe and beyond to compete in a truly global event."   

Kassia Meador: "I just really enjoyed seeing all of the young girls down the beach. It's great to see the next generation of longboarders getting out there and having fun. When I was a kid I wouldn't have even dreamed of an event like that. Competitions like that are really going to help push women's longboarding into the future."

Leah Dawson: "The camaraderie amongst the competitors is always great and the Surftech Paddle Challenge gave us a chance to play as teams.  I think we all realized how much fun it is to work together and I hope events like that will be present at the contests in the future.  Also, I loved seeing my heroes Donald Takayama and Linda Benson catching up on old memories."

Bianca Valenti: "I really enjoyed the stand up paddle team relay. It brought a cool team dynamic which surfing doesn't usually have. It was fun and exciting. I also enjoyed the bonus prizes and the Paul Mitchell hair cuts which benefited the San Elijo Lagoon. Ooooo... and I like the elevated competitor watching zone. Pretty much everything went well though, and I think the contest is getting better by the year."

Rosie Locke: "I loved the fact I could travel so far and enjoy time at the beach with friends, new and old alike. The surf throughout the weekend was contestable and there was always something fun to do and keep us entertained."

Kaitlin Maguire: "Roxy Jam '08 was another amazing year of good competition at Cardiff Reef. I enjoyed chillaxin with all the girls, while being able to surf with the best of the best!!!"

Janna Irons: "I loved seeing all the girls in my own town! These contests are the only time when all of us get together and spend the weekend laughing and being silly."

Kelly Nicely: "The best thing about Roxy Cardiff is getting to see a lot of girls coming from other countries and to get a chance to surf and spend time with different people. Oh, and most importantly stoked because Rosie from Australia brought me a three month supply of Vegemite, woohoo!!!"

Maja Muric: "I enjoyed the atmosphere, the people who put on the event, volunteers, the crowds and of course the competition itself.
The girls push each other to perform to the best of their abilities and the level of surfing is amazing, of course the fact that the waves are there every year just adds to the magic of this event."

Julie Cox: "My favorite part of the Roxy Jam was watching Cori Schumacher dominate. She's always been one of my favorite surfers, so I was totally pumped that she won. Other highlights included raffling a new board from the Jule Collection, curating a display about Linda Benson at the street fair and spending time with my mom. I also had a blast free surfing with Lisa Anderson after I lost out in my heat. It was a killer event."