Surfing Soapbox: Excitement continues at Lower Trestles

The Hurley Pro is underway this week down at Lower Trestles, with a new swell expected in the next couple of days, which should certainly increase the excitement in the water. Lower Trestles is widely known as one of the most high performance waves on tour, and with the likes of new school surfers such as Dane Reynolds, Jordy Smith and young Aussie upstart Owen Wright, along with the veteran mix of surfers like Kelly Slater, Andy Irons and defending champion Mick Fanning, this is one event that will see plenty of fireworks going off in the water.

Round one saw heat wins by the likes of current No. 1 Smith, C.J. Hobgood, Taj Burrow, Slater, Irons and Fanning. Some good upsets came in round two, with Huntington Beach local Brett Simpson upsetting Fred Patacchia of Hawaii and Florida’s Gabe Kling over Santa Barbara’s Bobby Martinez.

Competition will most likely resume Thursday or Friday with a large southwest swell expected to be in the six- to eight-foot range by Friday afternoon with good conditions and light winds.

With the world title race heating up, my pick to win this event remains Slater, with my dark horse pick being Burrow. So do yourself a favor and get down there and watch it.

Until next week, stay healthy and keep surfing.

Peace.

JAMES PRIBRAM is a professional surfer and John Kelly Environmental Award winner. His websites include AlohaSchoolofSurfing and ECOWarrior Surf.com. He can be reached at Jamo@Aloha SchoolofSurfing.com.