Collins bows out

Patrick Laverty

Richie Collins is a surfer.

Some people are artists, some people are salesmen and some people

just surf.

A 20-year professional, Collins was back doing what he does best

this week at the 2003 Honda Element U.S. Open of Surfing. After two

years of selling cars, Collins was back competing in the water.

Any questions about his competitive spirit at age 34 were answered

when he lost in the seventh round, the round of 96, on Thursday.

“How disappointing is it to go through seven rounds and lose after

coming in as an alternate?” Collins said. “Very disappointing. More

than you can imagine. But I made it through six heats, got to the

seventh round. That’s a lot of heats for me.”

After advancing through the first six rounds, Collins had an

excellent chance to continue his remarkable run with five minutes

remaining in his heat Wednesday. At the time, he held second place.

But he didn’t catch another wave until there was just one second

remaining in the heat. By that time he had dropped to fourth and only

the top two competitors from each heat advance.

“That’s the ocean,” Collins said. “The waves come and go. The only

thing I can say I did wrong was that I moved out of the place I was

sitting in the whole week and I shouldn’t have moved.”

Collins paddled south, away from the pier, after seeing two of his

competitors catch good waves in that direction. But after Collins had

left his spot, South Africa’s Travis Logie caught the best ride of

the heat, recording a 9.17 that catapulted him into first place.

While Logie was finishing his ride, Collins was left to catch one

last wave in the final seconds of the heat. But it wasn’t strong

enough to vault him back into second place.

“I went over there hoping to get a little bit of a left and I just

couldn’t get a wave,” Collins said. “I thought it was breaking better

over there. I should’ve just stayed put and I didn’t.”

Collins has rarely stayed put throughout his lifetime. The

lifelong Newport Beach resident was once ranked as high as No. 4 in

the world. But his entire professional career, which began when he

was 14, has included a back injury so serious, that twice during

competitions he has had to be carried out of the water.

“The back’s shot, but I’m surfing” Collins said. “It’s pretty

bombed. But I’ve had this injury for 20 years and I’ve dealt with it

for 20 years. I know how to deal with it. It’s not fun to deal with

it, but you know, that’s just part of life.”

Surfing will always be a part of Collins’ life, no matter how many

forays he makes into car sales and the like, but the U.S. Open was

only his second competitive event since last September. Both times, a

few weeks ago in Oceanside and this week, Collins finished one round

out of the money.

“You can’t make [surfing] a career if you keep losing right before

the money round,” Collins said.

But with his auto sales career behind him, Collins is going to

keep surfing. He’s back to making boards, which he’s done ever since

he was a young child, and he has already booked a trip to France next

week for the O’Neill Surf Challenge.

Without a sponsor, Collins paid for the trip himself and he had to

fight off the disappointment of Wednesday’s finish thinking about the

flight to Europe.

“Now I just don’t want to go, it’s just a depressing thing,”

Collins said. “You work that hard. You train really hard. You get

this far. I’ve just got to bite my tongue and go and surf.”

That is, after all, what Collins does best.