Finally, a Wave of Excitement for Andersen

After a week of bad surfing and energy-zapping waves at the G-Shock U.S. Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach, things finally went Lisa Andersen’s way on Saturday.

Andersen took advantage of almost angelic three- to four-foot waves that rolled to the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier to win the Kahlua U.S. Open.

“I had a tough week,” said Andersen, who looked exhausted after Saturday’s victory. “This is the hardest contest I’ve ever surfed at. The strong waves and the current we had this week took a lot out of me. And even the guys were talking about how difficult it was to paddle out in these conditions. It came together today.”

Andersen had a disappointing fourth-place finish in Friday’s Wahine championship finals and was eliminated in the first round of the Men’s Open division, the first time a woman was allowed to compete.

Andersen was helped along in her victory by the event’s defending champion Layne Beachley, who made a costly error late in the final. Beachley decided to catch a wave instead of remaining where she was and hold wave priority over Andersen. As a result, when Beachley took off on the wave, she gave up priority and Andersen immediately caught a wave which scored her enough points to take the lead for the victory.

In the Open division, Tom Curren’s number of consecutive heat victories ended at nine as the three-time world champion finished third in the third round. He failed to advance to the quarterfinals.

Defending world champion Kelly Slater had one of the highest scores--9.33--to win his heat and advance.

In longboarding, Joel Tudor of La Jolla defended his U.S. Open title.