Suddenly Summer: No waves like home

Richard Dunn

When the two biggest surfing contests on the U.S. mainland are hosted by

neighboring Huntington Beach in July, many of the top local surfers will

follow their heat, grabbing their boards and heading down Coast Highway

for more wave-catching thrills.

For years, since the Op Pro Surfing Championship was launched in 1982,

pro surfers like Richie Collins, Todd Miller and Troy Eckert would remove

their colored competitor’s jerseys, towel off, pack up their cars and

head off in search of freedom from the competition and, in the minds of

many, even better waves.

They drive south less than four miles to the south side of the Santa Ana

River, then unload and surf the breaks at 56th and 58th streets in

Newport Beach.

While it might be sacrilege to say Newport’s swells provide better rides

for surfers than nationally renowned Surf City, those with an ardent

opinion who frequent the popular West Newport breaks wouldn’t trade their

home shores for anybody else’s.

“There are better waves in Newport than Huntington Beach, more

high-performance waves,” said Pat Towersey, a Newport Harbor High senior

and standout in the junior circuit.

“There are more barrels ... more tubes. Maybe it’s because of the way the

sand forms at Newport. [The length of the sand from the shore to the

sidewalk] is not as far out as Huntington Beach, and the waves are not

really as mushy.”

Known more for the largest recreation-only harbor in the country, Newport

Beach has a unique graduating scale of surfers along the jetties on the

west side, starting at about 22nd Street north of the Newport Pier, where

mostly beginners surf.

“The higher the street, the better the ability,” said Scott Morlan, a

longtime surf instructor for the city of Newport Beach and a teacher and

surf coach at Newport Harbor High. “You tend to get smaller swells

[closer to the pier]. We start our lessons at about 36th Street, then,

when the kids get better, they graduate to the bigger streets.”

With a surfing history as funky as any town with warm water, good surf

and a mild year-round climate, Newport Beach has also produced several

pros, including Collins, who was once rated fourth in the world.

Collins, Miller, Eckert, David Giddings, Todd Morcom, Brad Dougherty,

Maikai Makena, Cordell Miller, Dave Post and James Crush are the most

recent locals to surf professionally, while Costa Mesa’s Veronica Kay

made it big on the women’s circuit, primarily as a model.

“She was going to make our girls surf team really hot, then she got

famous as a Roxy Girl,” Morlan said. “She had her chance and took it. ...

when she started out on the team [two years ago], we were winning

everything, and when she left, we were just pretty good. Now she’s

surfing at exotic places and I’m sure she’s making good money.”

While the city of Huntington Beach prepares for the Blue Torch Pro

(formerly the Op Pro) July 19-23 and the U.S. Open of Surfing July 24-30,

devotees of the celebrated West Newport breaks believe Surf City has

nothing on them in terms of producing quality surfers and offering

excellent waves.

“There are a lot of really good surfers who come from Newport -- pros and

amateurs both,” said Towersey, who plans to attend Loyola Marymount in

the fall and major in business.

Another top junior surfer, Costa Mesa’s Joe Alani, said “Huntington Beach

sometimes has mushier waves and the breaks are farther out. Newport is

kind of a quick, faster wave. It’s more high-performance, and sometimes

there are more barrels around Newport.

“I’d rather surf Newport, but that’s because I grew up here. I just like

it better. Sometimes, it’s not as crowded as Huntington Pier.”

At Newport Harbor, Morlan teaches a surf class in the spring semester and

coaches the surf team in the fall. The surf team was once a club sport,

but Morlan said the program is now a lettered sport that competes in the

Sea View League with Los Alamitos and Laguna Beach, and emphasizes

balance in the students’ lives.

“It started off as this maverick sport, with surfers [having a

reputation] for throwing parties and causing trouble, but there’s not

that problem anymore because we try to hold the kids accountable,” Morlan

said. “They’re neat kids. Some of them are working hard on their grades

to be on the team because (academic achievement is mandatory). For some,

their life is surfing and school is hard, but we’re trying to get balance

in their lives.

“When you don’t get an education, it really screws you up. I really push

the kids. We have a lot of really super students, like Pat Towersey ...

kids who have taken care of business. Now, he has options.”

No one from Newport or Costa Mesa surfs full-time on the 2000 Association

of Surfing Professionals Tour, but many will be in competition this

summer at the Blue Torch Pro and U.S. Open of Surfing.

Collins captured the 1989 Op Pro championship, toppling the world’s best

surfers in what is still considered in local lore as the single-greatest

triumph for an area competitor.

The Rusty Newport Pro-Am held every September is the largest surfing

contest in Newport Beach, featuring pros and amateurs riding the breaks

at 54th and 56th streets -- depending on conditions. The event is

sanctioned as a World Qualifying Series contest with more than $20,000 in

cash and prizes.