Lots of surf to be thankful for

WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN’ FIG

Well, let’s start off with a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Lots

to be thankful for:

The waves have been going off for about a month, can’t beat that.

The weather has been great, too -- how many sunny days have we had

with warm air temps like summer?

We just scored some offshore, Santa Ana conditions earlier in the

week, which provided lots of mini bowls out in the lineup.

Most people I talk to are in good health, staying in shape,

surfing, paddling around, cross-training and maybe playing some

hoops.

Life in general seems to be pretty good for most of us lucky

enough to live this close to the beach. And if you’re lucky enough,

maybe you’ll grind some killer turkey with the family.

The pro surf scene this time of year hits the North Shore of

Hawaii just in time for the macking northwest swells. Heroes are made

with standout performances there at the big time breaks like Sunset,

Pipe and Waimea. Here’s a quick run down on what’s been happening.

The two-star Xcel Pro, held Oct. 28 to Nov. 10 at Sunset, was won

by up-and-coming Hawaiian Freddy Boy Patacchia.

Then at Allii Beach Park at Haliewa Nov. 12 to 23, former world

champ Sunny Garcia won the last World Qualifying Series six-star

event of the season. The Aussies dominated the top spots in the final

WQS ratings, with Australian Jake Paterson winning it, Richard Lovett

second and Chris Davidson third. Laguna Beach’s Pat O’Connell was

sixth, Oxnard’s Timmy Curran 13th, Florida’s Damien Hobgood 16th, San

Clemente’s Chris Ward 21st and Shane Beschen 24th. Huntington Beach’s

Timmy Reyes took a very respectable top-60 position.

Two events are left on the World Championship Tour. The first is

at Sunset Beach, the Rip Curl Cup, Nov. 24 to Dec. 7. Hawaiian Pancho

Sullivan won the trials and moved on to the main event, along with

shredder Bruce Irons from Kauai . We’ll keep ya posted.

The X-Box Pipeline Masters at the Banzai Pipeline will be held

Dec. 8 to 20 to wrap it all up. Once again, Hawaiian Andy Irons has a

big 1,000-point lead going into these events, with Aussie Luke Egan

in second. Both are great Pipe riders, so we’ll have to see what

happens.

See ya.

* RICK FIGNETTI is a seven-time West Coast champion, has

announced the U.S. Open of Surfing the last nine years and has been

the KROQ-FM (106.7) surfologist for the last 17 years, doing morning

surf reports. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him

at (714) 536-1058.