Waves are ripe for contests

WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN’ FIG

The year is going by so fast it’s hard to believe we’re in

December already, with Christmas less than two weeks away. It was a

pretty good one by most standards, with a lot of days of fun surf.

Summer did have a few slow moments, but the fall and winter have

picked up the slack.

Lately, the weather has been pretty nice, although the mornings

have been a little nippy.

Last week, we left off with the quarter-finals of the World

Champion- ship Tour’s $250,000 Rip Curl Cup, which was held at Sunset

Beach, Hawaii, with insane 15- to 20-foot conditions.

Twenty-one-year-old Aussie shredder Joel Parkinson found a deep

barrel, came out and threw a big cut and pulled a 9.5 from the judges

-- almost perfection, and enough to take the $30,000 first place

prize. That pushed Parkinson up to third in the standings, behind

Andy Irons, who just clinched the world title, and Aussie vet Luke

Egan.

Lee Winkler, another Australian, came in second with some

outstanding rides. This result will definitely help him on his bid to

requalify for next season.

Aussie Nathan Webster got his best result of the year, third.

Shane Dorian, from the big island of Hawaii, rounded out the top four

of an action-packed event.

The women are in Maui right now for the Billabong Pro, their last

event of the 2002 season. It was still going on at press time.

I heard that Julia Christian, the West Coast wonder gal from

Carlsbad, got a wildcard slot into the event. And she had one of the

big upset heats, by taking out the four time world champ Layne

Beachley. Julia likes bigger surf, and now here’s her chance to prove

it. We’ll see how she goes.

The United States Surfing Federation held its fifth event of the

season at Salt Creek Beach Park last Sunday. Again the swell was up

with some west and southwest swells producing some 3- to 5-foot-plus

surf, with good bowly shoulders at times. Mostly longer rights and

shorter lefts and a few close-outs too. In the seniors division,

Huntington Beach’s James Webb lost a close decision in the semis,

placing equal fifth, while the overall points leader from Surf City,

Jeff Combs, was equal seventh, along with Nelson Richardson, who’s up

there in the standings, too.

Grandmasters saw the Figster get a couple nice lippers to win it,

while Jay Boldt, who had some good ones, too, finished third. Pat

Schlick ended up equal fifth, but also placed third in the open men’s

mini-series with the young guns, surfing a few divisions down.

In the legends division, Bob “the Greek” Bolen was ripping, and

won, using one of his turbo tunnel fins for a little design and

research testing on site. Boldt made another final, in longboards,

finishing fourth there with some great rides, to finish it up.

Next up is Surfers Point in Ventura in January.

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 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.