Wet and Wild with ROCKIN’ FIG

The $120,000 Philips Fusion U.S. Open of Surfing is going full bore on

the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. There’s been some southerly

swell pulses from a hurricane and some wind swell combo to give the

surfers a few waves to shred it up on, even though it’s been on the

small-scale side. The weather has been baking after the morning overcast

has burned off, getting into the 70s.

The first part of the contest was held up at Golden West Street on

Saturday and Sunday, running four rounds of the mens’ trials. The contest

then moved to the pier on Monday for the Billabong juniors. Three rounds

were held, and hotly contested, as the juniors showed some off the worlds

up-and-coming talent. No doubt future World Qualifying Series and World

Championship Tour stars. Some juniors making the quarterfinals were:

Huntington Beach local talent Micah Byrne, Malibu’s Anthony Petruso,

Laguna Beach’s Mike Todd, Hawaii’s Freddy boy Patacchia and Japan’s

Masatoshi Ohno. They were bustin’ the moves. The quarterfinals are

Saturday and the finals are on Sunday.

Tuesday’s action saw more mens’ trials, with about 400 contestants.

There are lots of rounds, and it gives everybody and anybody a chance to

meet up with some of the top-seeded guns. The higher your rating, the

later you’re seeded into the event, and most of the biggies don’t have to

surf till Thursday or Friday.

Some big heats to check out Thursday would be, right off the bat in

the round of 96, Aussie Mick Fanning, highly rated on the series, and

crowd favorite from Ventura Keith Malloy.

Friday in heat 13 will be former finalist Shane Beschen. Also coming

up Friday in the round of 64 at 9:40 a.m., the current WCT points leader

C.J. Hobgood in heat one, plus former winner and last year’s finalist Rob

Machado in heat two. The explosive Australian Taz Burrow is in heat six

and former winner, Hawaiian Andy Irons is in seven -- I saw him warming

up last week and going off. World Champ Sunny Garcia is in eight, local

contingency Ryan Simmons is in 12 along with hot Hawaiian Kalani Robb.

The USA’s Taylor Knox, fresh off a big final placing at the last event at

Jeffrey’s Bay in South Africa, is in lucky 13, and up-and-coming Bobby

Martinez is in heat 16.

Wow, so the round of 32 is Saturday at 11 a.m., the quarters are 9

a.m. Sunday, the semis at 11:40 a.m. and the final is at 1:20 p.m.

In the longboarding, round one is Saturday at 7 a.m., the quarters are

at at 7 a.m. on Sunday, the semis at 11 a.m. and the final is at 12:50

p.m. The womens’ quarterfinals are at 7 a.m. Friday to start things out,

the semis ate at 10:20 a.m. Saturday and the final is at 2:10 p.m. Make

sure ya come down early to get a good seat ‘cause we’re expecting some

big crowds.

The induction ceremony for the 2001 Surfing Walk of Fame is today at

Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street. I intercepted some top secret info

on who’s gonna be getting those stars on the Main street sidewalk.

In the Surfing Pioneers it’s Rabbit Kekai, the last of the Waikiki

Beach Boys, who began surfing with the Duke in the 30s. Rabbit still

competes and beach marshalls some of the contests on the North Shore.

In the Surf Champions, it’s Wayne Bartholemew. Sometimes known as Bugs

or Rabbit, he was the World Champ in 1978. He won the Masters world title

in 1999 in France. An all-around nice guy and great commentator, too.

The Local Heroes division is being taken by legend David Nuuhiwa --

born in Hawaii -- moved to Cali and a Huntington Beach resident for many

years. He was a top competitor in the U.S. Championships, winning the

title in 1968 and 1970. He probably would have been the world champ, if

they had any back in the day, ‘cause he was the best nose-rider. He was

one of the leaders in the fish development and one of the first big U.S.

surf stars.

In Surfing Culture, Simon Anderson from Australia is the winner. He

pretty much changed the shape of things with the development of the

tri-fin. More projection and holding power were definitely some of the

benefits. His size was a factor too, he was a big guy and loved the big

surf in Hawaii, making lots of finals.

And in the Women of the Year, it was Surf City’s one and only, Janice

Aragon -- the main force behind the National Scholastic Surfing Assn., in

fact the Executive Director. She also was World Amateur Champ in 1984 and

helped the team win the overall team title, too. She’s still a ripper in

the lineup at her favorite secret spot in Huntington Beach, which I won’t

mention.

Congratulations to all, and once again this is classified information

till after the awards ceremony.

Fig over and out.

* RICK FIGNETTI is a six-time West Coast champion, has announced the

U.S. Open of Surfing the last seven years and has been the KROQ-FM

surfologist for the last 15 years where he’s done morning surf reports.

He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.