Scholastic state title is in the midst

WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN FIG

The National Scholastic Surfing Assn. will be hosting the second half

of the high school and college Interscholastic State Championships

this weekend down at Church’s in San Clemente on Saturday.

The first half began, but was put on hold due to rain by the

buckets and heavy winds and storm swells the latter part of March. At

the critical halfway point we remember, Huntington Beach High School

was trailing San Clemente High 78 to 75 points. Can coach Andy

Verdone, assistant coach Barry Deffenbaugh and the Huntington Beach

surf team rally and pull off the big upset, come from behind victory?

San Clemente black team had 67 points and Carlsbad’s San Dieguito

team has 60. Edison had 46 points and Marina came away with 22. In

the Colleges, Mira Costa, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and Cal

State Long Beach are the big guns battling for bragging rights.

Should be some great competition with some of the state’s premier

talent on hand and there should be some ok swells rolling in too, for

the shortboard guys and gals and longboarders.

This Thursday Big Red Productions will preview the hot surf flick

“This Way Up.” It’s a Rip Curl search video shot at a bunch of

different surf spots around the globe. You can see Aussie World

Championship Tour ripper Mick Fanning in action, along with Aussie

buddy Nathan Hedge tearing it up. Hawaii’s up-and-coming Jamie

O’Brien, veteran surfer Pancho Sullivan and Tahiti’s Manoa Drollet

will all also be featured at 7 and 9 p.m. Today at the Pierside

Pavillion on Surf Night.

The United States Surfing Federation was down at Oceanside last

weekend. A bit on the windy side though with 20 to 30-plus mph

onshore winds hammering the coast. In the seniors division, points

leader and Surf City resident Jeff Combs made another final,

overcoming all odds and finished fourth overall. He’s eyeing the West

Coast title. Fellow resident Sean McCabe was fifth. Surf City’s Jay

Boldt placed third in the open longboard and second in the

grandmasters division, too. Japan transplant Taichi Maruyama came in

fifth position in the open mens’ shortboard to round it out for the

local residents. See ya Fig over and out.

* 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.