Garcia, Tavares big winners

One week after finishing second at the Bluetorch Pro in Huntington

Beach, Hawaiian Sunny Garcia, rated No. 1 in the world, returned to the

scene Sunday and reclaimed his dubious ranking.

Garcia turned in a spectacular performance at the south side of the

Huntington Beach Pier, and turned away Ventura’s Dan Malloy, Cardiff’s

Rob Machado and fellow Hawaiian, Kalani Robb, to win the $10,000 prize in

the Men’s final of the Panasonic ShockWave U.S. Open of Surfing before an

estimated crowd of 50,000.

The 30-year-old captivated the crowd with several aerial and vertical

maneuvers, and all but made the Men’s event a race for second place.

“It’s always nice to win in Huntington Beach, and it’s pretty sweet in

front of a big crowd,” said Garcia, who performed in front of his wife

and three children. “I haven’t seen my kids in two months and they were

here today. It’s been a long time since they’ve seen me win.”

Also on Sunday, Joel Tudor of Del Mar won $2,500 and first place in

the longboard competition, defeating current world champion, Colin

McPhillips, en route to the title

It was the sixth consecutive U.S. Open of Longboading title for Tudor.

The day before Garcia’s triumph, Brazilian Tita Tavares on Saturday

conquered inconsistent surf and opponents Megan Abudo (Hawaii) and

Australians Kylie Webb and Prue Jeffries to win the top prize of $5,000

and the crown in the elleven U.S. Open of Women.

Tavares’ win completed a three for three day for the Brazilians, with

Karla Costa winning the Manta Pro Women’s bodyboarding event, and Diego

Cabel finishing first in the Manta Pro men’s bodyboarding competition.