Wet and Wild with Rockin’ Fig

Here’s a look at the action that’s been happeningover around our area

and in Hawaii the past couple weeks.

At the United States Surfing Federation’sfive-star championship tour

contest at Salt Creek lastSunday, in fun 2- to 3-foot surf and sheet

glassconditions, some of our local contingency did well.

Inthe men’s, Satoshi Nakamura -- who lives in Huntington and is

fromJapan -- finished up third.

In the master blasters,Harold Bessa was carving some nice turns and

showinghis consistency as he placed third, making another final.

The hotly contested senior’s final saw Topanga’sJeffrey O’Donnell

winning his first contest with somepower moves, while Surf City’s Jeff

Combs placed third withsome solid scoring waves. He would have done

evenbetter if he didn’t get an interference call midwaythrough it. Larry

Schlick paced equal fifth, JamesWebb and Danny Ray LeMaster were ripping

too, losingout in the semis and placing equal seventh.

In the Grand Master’s, Figster couldn’t be stopped, winningall prior

heats and the final. Pat Schlick pulled intothe third spot with some nice

lippers, too.

In women’slongboard, Margo Hamrock finished up third.

Over in Hawaii, the surf’s beenup and down for all the competitors

trying to solidifytheir year-end standings.

The $100,000 G-ShockHawaiian Pro at Haliewa Beach Park was won by

Hawaiianripper Andy Irons, who pocketed $10,000. Second wasAussie new

guard Mick Fanning. This final placingpushed Fanning into the overall No.

1 spot forthe World Qualifying Series points race, edging out Taj Burrow.

Third inthe final, went to da big island’s Myles Padaca, andfourth was

the USA’s Corey Lopez. This was the lastWQS event of the season.

Then came the $250,000 Rip Curl Cup, aWorld Championship Tour event at

Sunset Beach that, at the time of this article, is still going on. The

surf’s been small and they’re hoping for a swell, with a few more days

left in the waiting period.

The top guns in the standings were still intact:1. Floridian C.J.

Hobgood, going up against Hawaiian Myles Padaca

2. Aussie: Mark “Occy” Occhilupo againstNorth Carolina’s Ben Bourgeois

3. Floridian Corey Lopez against San Clemente’s Shane Beschen

4. Carlsbad’s Taylor Knox against England’s Russel Winter

5. Hawaiian world champ Sunny Garcia vs. Aussie Mick Fanning.

So some tough heats are going down. We’ll see who the world champ is

in next article.

The rest of the pros’ future should go like this: top 25 from the WCT

back again, top 15 from the WQS move on to the WCT and four wild cards

seeds. That’s the new top 44. I tell ya, there’s gonnabe a few new faces

and a couple shake-ups.

In the women’s, they just finished up theBillabong Pro at Maui. The

surf ran around 2 to 4 feet, with some heavy trade winds at times.

In an action-packed all Australian final, Neridah Falconerdefeated

former world champ Pauline Menczer.

The Big News Flash Bulliten, though, is Australian LayneBeachley has

added another World Title to herrankings. This ties her with the USA’s

LisaAndersen -- both of them have four.

Local Hawaiian galsMegan Abubo and Rochelle Ballard had a shot at it

butwent down in the early rounds.

See ya in the lineup.

* 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.