Spring, swells arrive

RICK FIGNETTI

Ah yes, spring break is here for most of the colleges and some high

schools. The local schools still have a couple weeks to go before

they get out.

The weather has been a mixed plate, with overcast skies some days

and blazin’ sun some of the others. The air temps have been up and

down, too. But it does seem to be on an overall warming trend as we

are coming out of winter.

And on those sunnier days, the beaches have been filling up with

early tanners. Out in the water, there’s been some wests and a few

early south-west pulses to keep the action rolling.

Up at the local mountains, the snow has been melting away with the

warmer temps and most are down to 1- to 3-foot base depths. The big

resorts are planning to go for another two or three weeks before they

shut down for the year.

There have been spring break activities going on for the last few

weeks -- pond skimming, bands playing and other fun things going on.

They just had the International Surfing Assn. World Surfing Games

down at Salinas, Ecuador last week. Surf teams from around the globe

all showed up, looking for amateur world titles, some good times and

a chance to meet new friends.

The Americans didn’t fare too well, as the lone USA finalist was

former World Championship Tour ripper Julia Christian from Carlsbad.

Peru’s Sofia Mulonovich took the win, Christian surfed well and

placed second, while Brazil’s Andrea Lopes was third.

Tahiti’s Hira Terinotoofa had the big moves for the victory in the

open mens.

Coming out of retirement, former Championship Tour standout from

Brazil, Flavio Padaratz -- also a former Huntington Beach resident --

finished second, with Australian Mark Richardson third and South

Africa’s Sean Holmes fourth.

Brazil’s Marcelo Freitas won the longboarding, and South Africa’s

Jason Rubbink came in second.

In bodyboarding, it was Australia’s Andrew Lester getting the

title and Spain’s Yerny Martinez runner-up.

The final placings: Australia first, Brazil second, South Africa

third, Peru fourth, Tahiti fifth, Spain sixth, France seventh,

Venezuela eighth, Costa Rica ninth, United Kingdom 10th and the U.S.

19th.

Usually, the U.S. does better in these world games, but there has

been some problems with some of the amateur surfing organizations

getting along, so a lot of our top surfers aren’t getting to go.

Within the last couple weeks, Surfing America has taken over the U.S.

governing body, trying to unite all the different surfing groups to

put the next team together.

Huntington’s former world champ, Peter Townend, is one of the

leaders in Surfing America.

The president of the ISA, Fernando Aguerre, is pleased with the

new leadership and direction.

This looks like it will benefit U.S. surfing in the long run. I

can remember back in 1980 when I was on the U.S. team that won the

overall title in France -- with some hot kid on the team back then,

named Tom Curren, who later went on to win numerous O.P. Pros in

Huntington and three pro world titles in the big leagues.

Plus, meeting surfers from everywhere saying, “Come surf our

waves” -- quite an experience.

Before I forget, you gotta check out Timmy Reyes’ latest surf

flick “Second Thoughts,” which chronicles some sick waves in

Indonesia. It will premiere at 8 p.m. April 7 at Huntington Beach

High School.

That’s it for now, 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. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.