Hot here, hot on tour

RICK FIGNETTI

It looks like a late Indian summer week here in Surf City for

October, with some scorching air temps at the beaches, which climbed

into the 80s. So sun worshipers are loving it, with sunny skies and a

combo that, with a blast of west swell again, gave overhead sets in

the lineup. Water temps are in the mid-60s too, giving us pretty epic

conditions for this time of year at our local beaches.

Heading up north this week will be the Foster’s U.S. Surfing Tour

for its final stop of the 2003 season.

This year the prize money and champions bonuses have pushed the

total purse money to more than $500,000. The two-star $30,000 dollar

O’Neill Cold Water Classic started Wednesday at Steamer Lane, Santa

Cruz, with trials action for the best in the nation and a few top

overseas pros flying in, looking to nab a few more World Qualifying

Series points.

It will run till Sunday’s finals.

This will determine our new national champions that have surfed

events on the east and west coasts of the United States. The last

event that was scheduled for the Outer Banks on the Foster’s tour was

canceled as Hurricane Isabel did the most damage in the last 50 years

to parts of the coastline and raised a lot of havoc to the contest

area.

The other event, the Rip Curl Heritage Pro in Sea Isle City in New

Jersey, saw the points leader, former tour star Rob Machado of

Cardiff, take the win, with Huntington Beach hottie Timmy Reyes

finishing second.

The “Mob,” Rob Machado, does have a substantial lead in the

Foster’s points race, but Reyes, one of our most promising rising

stars from Huntington on the WQS is in second.

East Coast ripper Ben Bourgeois is third; Bobby Martinez is in

fourth; hot Aussie Heath Walker is fifth, while the “Whiz Kid from

HB” Brett Simpson is sixth.

Hawaiian Roy Powers is in seventh, and last year’s overall points

winner, U.S. champ Jessie Merle Jones, is in eighth.

In the women’s, Australian Pru Jeffries is holding down first with

Hawaiian Melanie Bartels knocking on the door in second. Third is

Palos Verde’s new TV star from “Boarding House,” Holly Beck, with

local gal Surfside’s Jodie Nelson fourth, Julia Christian of Carlsbad

fifth, ripper Carmen Buecher sixth and Newport’s young up-and-comer,

Governor’s Cup winner at the national’s Erica Hosseini seventh.

Good luck to the rest of the local shredders in the chilly waters.

Over in Europe at the Billabong Pro at Mundaka, Spain, Hawaiian

Andy Irons, the winner of the last surf contest in France and points

leader, suffered a first round shocking loss and is out.

Six-time world champ, Kelly Slater, second in the standings, will

gain some ground on Irons, after winning his heat, as did Oxnard’s

Timmy Curran and Hawaiian Kalani Robb.

Some bad news is Laguna Beach’s Pat O’Connell tore some ligaments

in his knee during his heat and had to leave the water early,

suffering a loss. Every event is getting more crucial to requalify

for next year.

Hopefully he’ll be back for Brazil, which is next up on the world

championship tour.

That’s it for now. Fig over and out, see ya.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an eight-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.