EDMONDS – Steve Powell doesn’t live in Edmonds, but he’s famous in the city for being a big flop.
That doesn’t bother him one bit.
Powell, 27, was among nearly 50 people who competed Friday night in the city’s 28th annual belly-flop and cannonball contest at Yost Pool.
The Marysville man, who’d won each of the past four years, defended his title and extended his dynasty of water-slapping greatness.
“You go for the biggest smack, a lot of smack,” Powell said, reddened and shivering after the competition. “Everyone wants to hear the smack. That’s the key.”
Jumps were scored on a scale of 1 to 10 by three judges who sat across the pool from the diving board. The competitors, some as young as 4 years old, were split into different age categories.
Cannonball winners in each age bracket were: Kevin Mooney, 42; Ashlie Bissell, 12; and Gavin Hardwick, 10. The belly-flop winners were: Powell; Joon Choi, 14; and Kiana Steed, 10.
“We’re thinking of doing it as a family next time,” said Vonya King-Norton, whose sons, Chase, 9, and Kyle, 8, took part in the contest.
A young boy who was the event’s first jumper scampered off the end of the diving board and fell into the water. The next competitor, a girl, walked to the end of the diving board, plugged her nose and hopped into the drink.
The next boy sprang on the end of the board, curled into a ball and splashed down into the pool.
As the people got bigger, the waves grew larger and the flops grew louder.
“The younger kids don’t quite get it, but the older kids and the adults go out of their way to make the loudest noise they can,” Yost Pool manager Kate Trettevik said.
The pierced-and-tattooed Powell – jokingly nicknamed by an announcer as “Can’t-Get-Through-the-Airport Steve” – made the audience cheer and wince with his belly-flops.
On his first jump, he did a forward flip and unfolded just in time to slam into the water. On his second jump, he grabbed his ankles in midair and pulled his legs behind him, arching his stomach downward at the decisive, stinging moment.
Both leaps scored perfect 10s.
“I do it for the kids, and the kids get a kick out of it,” said Powell, who discovered his talent when he botched a dive at a party after graduating from Stanwood High School.
This year, Powell had some competition.
First-time participant Kevin Mooney, 42, of Edmonds beat Powell in the cannonball competition when he splashed rump-first into the water.
Mooney, who wore a pink bra and his 10-year-old daughter’s pink skirt during his belly-flop attempt – jokingly trash-talked Powell during the hour-long competition.
Next year, Mooney plans to unseat the champ, he said.
“I can’t wait until next year,” he said. “Now I’m going to go home and work on my belly-flops.”
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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