EDITORIAL

Gone are the days of overturned police cars and rioters egged on by

girls in bikinis.

Those are old images of the once-OP Pro surf contest, which now --

after a few other incarnations -- is camped in and around the pier as the

Philips Electronics U.S. Open of Surfing.

Today, the biggest surf event in America comes complete with

skateboarders, product tents and a host of “extreme sports.”

But if the rumblings around the contest are true, these days could be

gone, too. The word is that surf contests in such nonexotic locales as

Surf City are a dying breed. Instead, contest sponsors are setting up

stands in Fiji, Tahiti and anywhere the biggest surf imaginable is

breaking. Just this year, surf-wear company Billabong dropped its

sponsorship of a World Championship Tour contest set for just south at

Trestles near San Clemente for one of the world’s hottest breaks:

Teahupo’o in Tahiti.

This trend should worry city leaders in Huntington Beach, where you

have to look back to the mid-80s to find any really heavy surf for the

contest. And it isn’t just the obvious loss of tourists, visitors and

their dollars during this week that is the problem.

Imagine Surf City without the mainland USA’s biggest surf contest. It

just doesn’t work. It just isn’t “Surf City.” And without the

world-famous “Surf City” nickname, Huntington Beach becomes just another

in a line of Southern California cities trying to lay claim to the sand

and surf.

City leaders -- not to mention the organizers of this year’s U.S. Open

-- cannot be blase about this possibility and its consequences. If they

are, their wipeout is all but certain.