Wet and Wild with Rockin Fig

The start of the new National Scholastic Surfing Assn.’s 2001-02

season hit the shores of Huntington’s 9th Street last weekend. The first

event of the Explorer season saw some good 2- to 4-foot plus surf outta

the southwest and some nice sunny days as the amateur hotties were

hanging to cash in on the five-star points. A record number of surfers,

325, turned out to surf it.

The Surf City contingency fared pretty well, starting with the

menehunes. Tommy Steury ripped to first place in the 12-and-under

division, while Newport’s Andrew Doheny finished fourth.

The boys’ division was taken by Del Mar’s Jensen Hassett, while Dwyer

Middle School’s standout Ian Eckberg finished a close second.

In the juniors, new Huntington Beach High transfer Brett Simpson took

second in a close battle, and Willie Safreed made two finals, sixth in

juniors and had a very impressive third place in the tough men’s division

final, which was his best showing yet in the South West Conference.

It all goes to show that Huntington Beach High School is coming on.

Also Dan Fennell placed fourth in the mens. Masters saw some stiff

competition by the seasoned veterans. Former pro Greg Browning of the

South Bay placed first, but hot on his heels was surfer/shaper Barry

Deffenbaugh in second, with Newport’s Darren Brillhart third and Seal

Beach’s Chad Wells fourth.

The seniors saw more action, with Seal Beach’s Charlie Wickwire

winning it and Dean Quinn and Phill Lockman finishing fifth and sixth,

respectively. Super seniors saw Pat Schlick, who’s been winning

everything in sight, take another victory, with former Surf City resident

Steve Weaver second.

In the women’s, Monica Cardozza made the final and placed sixth, and

in bodyboarding, Huntington’s Darren Moody had the right moves to take

it.

Next weekend is the second Open Season event at Oceanside’s South

Jetty, and the next Explorer event is slated for San Clemente at Trails

on Oct. 20-21. The Western Championships will be at the Huntington Beach

Pier next May 16-19, and the NSSA Nationals at Lower Trestles is set for

June 25-29. So some big action is slated for the new season.

On to not so good news. The Assn. of Surfing Professionals World

Championship Tour has canceled the European leg of the circuit because of

security concerns around the globe following this month’s terrorist

attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

That’s three WCT events not happening: the Figueira Pro in Portugal,

the Quicksilver Pro in Franc and the Billabong Pro in Spain at Mundaka.

That means there could be only one event left on this year’s shortened

season, and that’s at Pipeline. As of now, the Rip Curl Pro at Pipe is on

for Nov. 26 through Dec. 7.

Also two ASP four-star World Qualifying Series events in Brazil have

been canceled.

The current world standings are: USA’s C.J. Hobgood first, Aussie Mark

Occhilupo second, USA’s Corey Lopez third, USA’s Taylor Knox fourth and

current world champ Sunny Garcia of Hawaii fifth.

In the women’s competition, current world champ AustralianLayne

Beachley is in first.

That’s it for now. Stay tuned for more updates, other than that maybe

we’ll get some more hurricane swells by the time you read this, cause

it’s on the way!

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

U.S. Open of Surfing the last eight 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.