Locals shine during big weekend

RICK FIGNETTI

It was a busy weekend for all the surf tours, which again scored some

well-overhead surf out of the southwest and northwest, with great

beach weather, too.

Locally, the Huntington Beach Surf Series saw sets up to 8 feet at

the pier with good shape. The super groms were charging, and leading

the way was Jared Cassidy, with Jessie Steelman adding the one-two

punch. Boys’ saw Kyle O’Brien ripping for the victory, with

up-and-coming Jimmy Queen second. Junior’s division was dominated by

Logan Strook with Julian Kelly nailing second place. Men’s saw East

Coast transplant Ryan Carlson busting the big moves to ice it and

Slammy McCowan also getting some good ones, pulling off second.

Surf City Lifeguard Greg Eisely was unstoppable and took the win

in master’s, with former Huntington resident Kirk Tice, now teaching

up north, taking second. Locals Mark Austin and Mike Mattison

finished third and fourth, respectively. Picking up where he left off

last season, Marcell Guinaldo won again in grand master’s, with

Darren Limbach and Phill Lockman giving him a run for the money,

placing second and third. Cathy Jo Northham won women’s with Sara

Taylor second, while Michael Jorgensen took longboarding with

Johnathan Shelton the runner-up.

That finishes one competition up that had some macking sets.

The National Scholastic Surfing Assn. was down at Ponto, Carlsbad

over the weekend, where the surf was 4 to 6 plus, with some steep

faces off the jetties. It was the last qualifier before the West

Coast Championships at the Huntington Beach Pier May 20 to 23. Some

Surf City residents were looking good making the finals.

In men’s, Brandon Guilmette tore it up for the win, slashing some

mean ones, with Anthony Duarte pulling into third. South African

transplant Dita Saraiva placed fourth in junior’s, and H.B. Surf and

Sports’ Taylor Pai sixth in boys’. Menehunes, the little guys, saw

Newport’s Andrew Doheny place second and local Christian Saenz third

with some nice rides.

Seal Beach’s master blaster, Chad Wells, who’s also the Quiksilver

surf team manager, got some rad ones to finish second. The Figster

nabbed a few to get third in super seniors and Allison Arvizu ripped

it up to get second in women’s. In longboarding, pulling off some

stylish turns was Justin Hugron receiving a second from the judging

panel.

So the Western Championships are coming up next week, and if ya

get enough points, a possible invitation to the Nationals at Lowers

in San Clemente at the end of June. Yeah now!

Coming up this weekend is the United States Surfing Federation’s

Western Championships at Church’s in San Clemente, Saturday and

Sunday. Six star points and West Coast titles are on the line. The

United States Surfing Championships will be in the first part of

July, so all the top amateurs in nation will be flying in soon for

those big ones.

Good luck, and see ya in the lineup. Fig over and out.

* 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.