Wet and Wild with Rockin Fig

Rick Fignetti

One of the longest-running Surf City contests, the31st annual

Huntington Beach City contest, went off lastSaturday and Sunday. The surf

was 2- to 4-foot plus,had its good moments on the right tides and onthe

southside of the Huntington Beach Pier and got evenbetter Sunday.

Tons of divisions, and lots of Huntington Beachtalent in all age

brackets, ripped it up. All kinds --hot amateurs, former pros, little

kids, old men, gals,shortboarders and longboarders -- were out in force

trying totake their perspective divisions.

In the menehunes, the little guys with the big moves, Jessie Steelman

took first, Jefferey Newell second, while third went to Billy Hopkins.

In boys, Dwyer standout Ian Ekbert took it, second was Bert Farley and

third was National Scholastic Surfing Assn. ripper Chris Waring.

Juniors saw Huntington Beach Huntington School airman Brad Ettiinger

winning it, second was Sean Rios and third Justin Augmon.

In mens, in a tough one, southside shredder Ben Will had the moves for

the victory, as Todd Hutton pulledinto second and Marc Belmonte third.

Fourth, fifth andsixth were David Brakenhoff, Mike Nitt and JackOlsen,

respectively.

Master blasters saw SouthAfrican transplant Greg Eisely edging out

numerous-time Huntington Beach city winner Jason Haughey in a final

thatwas pretty action packed. They were followed by Ryan Harmon,Stevie

Kane, Jason Robbinette and Tim Gleason. I’ll tell ya what, there’s a few

hours of surf time logged to that crew.

In seniors, which had an incredible 65entrants, Dave O’Toole took down

defending winner,Phill Lockman. Hot on their trail were pier

regularsEddie Flores, Steve Martin, Chris Pionessa and George Lambert.

Grandmasters saw Gary Sahagan throwthe turns to take it, Steve Cambell

second, third wasGuy Spagnoli and fourth Fast Eddie Enriques. And in the

super grandmasters, that’s 55 and up and stillrippin’, Micky Lockhart was

first, Al Miller second and RoyCrump rounded out the top three.

The Women’s division is one of the fastest growing ones, and winning

thisone was pier standout Gloria Carlson, secondwas Monica Cordoza and

third Allison Apodaca.

In theSuper heat, the George Farquar Memorial -- that’s allthe winners

of the divisions -- it was Greg Eiselytaking one more trophy home.

Farquar was the editorof the original Huntington Beach News, way back

when, and wouldalways be seen paddling out at the pier, hisfavorite spot,

with his classic helmet on. He’s one of thefirst real locals here.

A high five to Bob Worth,who’s been running this event for 19

straightyears now. Bob said it was nice to see the involvementof the

community and having it be such a fun thing for the whole family too.

He’s starting to see secondgenerations already happening, with dads,

sons, moms anddaughters in the contest over the years.

The final word: Next year be ready for entrys to go out a

littleearlier, as we’re probably looking at the middle ofSeptember to run

it.

Up the coastline at Topanga wasthe United States Surfing Federation’s

third event ofthe 2001-02 season, with five-star points. The surfwas

knee-to-waist high, occasionally shoulder high, at thepoint, with some

racy little rights. A few locals did well.

In masters, Harold Bessa made his secondfinal of the season, placing

fourth. Two Surf City bodyboarders, Dan Rector and Jeff Combs, were

thirdand fourth, respectively, powering a few. The Figstergot lucky in

grandmasters, speedlining a few of thosesets, with the “Slickster” Pat

Schlick finishingfourth. And in women, Margo Hamrock was third and

RachellBellows fourth to finish off a nice couple days at the beach.

* 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.