Team USA Rides Epic Performances to 1st Ever Continental Surf Cup Victory

After 4 consecutive wins, Team Europe falls to a skilled and daring Team USA

information released, team photo above by Richard Uhlhorn, All Things Lake Chelan

The buzz started to circle the crowd and Team USA as Cash Hoover (O’ahu, HI) was taking her victory lap during the women’s overall final of the 4th ever Continental Surf Cup (CSC). Hoover was putting her stamp on an event she dominated and putting the nail in the coffin on the dramatic comeback effort the talented European Team was mounting.

After a statement making day one performance, Team USA had surfed to a large 5-point lead, but by the time Hoover and fellow USA teammate Reese Bordner (Chelan, WA) grabbed their boards for the women’s final, the lead had shrunk to 1.5 points. Bordner set the tone for the heat on her first drop-in, landing her first-ever air-reverse in a standard heat and paired that with her speed, power and flow to bank an impressive 8.83. Hoover nearly matched her teammates’ score on her first run and immediately Team USA had the advantage in the heat. In a heat that was going to need two good runs from each surfer to win, both Hoover and Bordner raised the bar with their second drops and improved their scores. The pressure was squarely on Team Europe riders to respond, but continuing the theme of the two-day event, the Team USA women proved to be too strong and by the time Hoover dropped for her fourth and final run the individual title and the Team title were secured.

Hoover’s dominance was start to finish. As an individual, Hoover won the absolute maximum number of team points possible (9.5) for Team USA. She was paired with her fellow female teammates through the first four rounds and together they won each heat point. She also added a half point for the team by climbing to the top of the best trick podium and 5 points for being crowned individual CSC Champion. It was Hoover’s second individual championship at the Surf Cup and third major title in a row at Lakeside Surf after winning the 2025 Gerry Lopez River Surf Invitational.

Bordner was the second leading point contributor for Team USA helping the team win 7 points—including 3 for her 2nd place finish.

Chelan local Reese Bordner lines up for her signature power turn on way to a 2nd place finish in the Continental Surf Cup Labor Day Weekend at Lakeside Surf (Chelan, WA) Photo by: Craig McMillen

Team USA women won 6 of the 8 heats in the first four rounds against a European Team that boasted a combined 7 national titles between their four surfers. Local surfers Maya Cowan (Chelan, WA) and Sierra White (Wenatchee, WA) surfed alongside their female teammates to help the Team USA women earn a total of 14.25 team points.

Team USA was put in a position to be able to hoist the surf cup for the first time in the history of the event because of the strong performance of the men’s side of the team in the Surfing Classic & Best Trick rounds. Despite facing the most talented European men’s team in event history, the US Men won 6 of the 8 heats across those two rounds and Jose’ “Cacaro” Lopez added a .5 point with his Best Trick title.

Lopez, the 2025 Panama Ocean Surfing National Champion and Team USA wildcard entry, ended up as the top point earner for the US Men (4.5) barely edging out local legend Cash Eygabroad (4).

It was Eygabroad (Chelan, WA) who provided the most consistent and highest-level surfing for the US Men from start to finish. It landed him in the men’s overall final with a chance to top the podium and complete the epic sweep of team title and both individual champions. But despite having the team title out of reach, Germany’s Lenny Weinhold was undeterred and proved to still be the best surfer on the water and surfed his way to his fourth individual title in the CSC.

Jose “Cacaro” Lopez was a wildcard selection for Team USA Captain Jared Eygabroad and as the top point earner it proved to be an excellent and important choice in the road to the victory for Team USA. Photo by: Craig McMillen

With momentum clearly having shifted to Team Europe and the lead having shrunk to only 1 point after the women’s consolation final, it was Team USA veteran and 3-time CSC runner-up Ben Benson who rose to the occasion and out surfed two or Europe’s best surfers to snag 5th place and stretch the lead back to 1.5 points heading into the overall finals. Benson posted a 9.08 on his first drop and improved his score on his second and third runs and by the time he dropped for his 4th run he was essentially out of reach.

The men’s final was a classic slugfest with scores climbing for every surfer as the heat went on. Every time his competitors posted a big number, Weinhold came back with a bigger one. When their fourth and final runs came around the top of podium was still mathematically obtainable for each surfer, but it was going to take a near perfect score to dethrone the champ. At the end of the heat, it was Weinhold once again slamming down his best runs of the event in the finals and climbing to the top of the podium.

After four rounds of competition, a total team effort by Team USA set their finalist up with a 3-point cushion. With four consolation and overall finals and load of team points still available the pressure to protect the lead was immense. Team USA finalists ended up expanding their lead and securing their first ever Continental Surf Cup victory with a 27.75 to 23.25 victory over the 3x defending champion European Team.

Kielan Jardini (Haleiwa, Hawaii) proved he is more than just an up-and-coming surfer. He helped his team win 3 of his 4 heats and joined Benson in the consolation final and with his growing aerial game he has set himself up as podium threat for years to come.

The youngest competitor in the event, 12-year-old Jax Oshiro-Labbe (O’ahu, HI) was a fan favorite and team hype man. Known as Grass-Hopa to many, Jax brough the stoke and the aloha from Hawaii and is expected to be a contributor to Team USA for a long time.

Elijah Moody (Chelan, WA), Austin Fernand (Boise, ID) and Logan Watson (Chelan, WA) all put down incredible runs throughout the event—earning valuable team points across multiple heats. Watson, a first time Team USA member and Chelan local put together his best surfing ever in a competition and both Fernand & Moody earned two points for the team.

Lakeside Surf in Chelan, WA was host to the Continental Surf Labor Day Weekend.

Team USA earned their first ever team victory in the pre-eminent international river surfing competition Photo by: Craig McMillen

For the 5th Labor Day weekend in a row, Lakeside Surf has showcased the best standing wave surfing in the world. With a world-class wave, venue, livestream, and most importantly surfing, those that take notice have seen international competition on the rise. With four Continental Surf Cups completed—each one better than the previous—plus the Gerry Lopez Invitational, Lakeside Surf has established themselves as the premier venue in the world for standing wave surf competitions. Centered around citywave© technology, the 16-meter wide pool offers the most power of any wave of its kind in the world and that is paired up with customization that can create varying degrees of steepness for the wave, air-sections as well as wave recipes available at the touch of a button that are geared for beginner, intermediates, advanced surfers and anything else frothing surfers can dream up.