Packing them in at the U.S. Open

RICK FIGNETTI

Live and direct from the U.S. Open with yours truly, the Figster,

who’s doing the emcee work with my buddy Mike “Storm’n Norm’n” Morgan

and TV commentator David Stanfield.

So far the weather has been pretty fantastic, overcast skies

rolling back to sunshine early. The winds haven’t been too bad,

mostly out of the northwest, with the pier blocking some of it. We

could use a little more surf, but it has been in the 2- to 3-foot

range, plus or minus at times of the day.

We’re callin’ the first two days, last Saturday and Sunday, to be

the biggest crowds at the start of this event with an estimated

20,000-plus each day. The Lost Junior Pro, part of the U.S. Open,

featured the hottest up-and-comers from all over the surf world. Out

of hundreds of surfers at the start, the first semifinal has:

Hawaii’s Bust’n Dustin Cuizon, who’s winning a bunch of heats;

Brazil’s Jean Da Silva, who’s had some great exchanges; East Coaster

“E.T.” Eric Taylor; and Hawaiian ripper Nathan Carroll.

In the other semi is Brazilian world amateur champ Adriano De

Souza, who’s been surfing lightning fast; Kekoa Bacalso, the two-time

defending champ and trying to three-peat, from Hawaii; another East

Coaster in “J.J.” Jeremy Johnston, who has been busting the big

scores; and Australian Ben Dunn, who’s been going off too.

Seal Beach’s Chris Waring made it to the quarters. Looking good in

some earlier round heats were Huntington’s Brett Simpson, Chase

Newsom, Brad Ettinger and Ian Ekberg. In longboarding, some of Surf

City’s finest got knocked out in some close ones, like Josh Mohr in

the quarters. Mohr made it through the heat of the day earlier with

two-time world champ Joel Tudor and three-time world champ Colin

McPhillips in it -- that was like a final. In the round of 32, Joey

Hawkins, Huntington’s only world champ, got a third in a nail-biter.

In an earlier heat, Hawkins won with an interference call. Now that’s

a toughie.

Surf City’s Mike Jorgensen, Dodger Kremel and Justin Hugron all

lost in that same round, but all had their moments. Who’s left?

McPhillips, Josh Baxter, Taylor Jensen and Aussie Josh Constable, to

name a few.

In the men’s open, there are probably 500-plus competitors

entered. Different stars in different heats, like local Ryan Turner

getting one of the high scores of the contest (an 8.5) and also Micah

Byrne, who got an 8.0 ride in the early rounds.

One of the big stories came in one heat. Huntington surfer Danny

Nichols, who was winning by a good margin, helped out fellow homie

Brandon Tipton by keeping another surfer off a wave in a severe

paddle battle that resulted in an interference call. That paved the

way for “Tippy” to get second in a one-two Surf City sweep.

Seal Beach’s Ryan Simmons has been ripping too. Some of the top

guns have been tearing and hopefully will be around when the dust

clears, like Timmy Reyes, Shaun Ward, Mike Hoisington and Simpson,

who got a wildcard seed from O’Neill.

The round of 64 has some stacked ones for Friday: heat one, Mark

Occhilupo vs. Shane Beschen; heat four, Damien Hobgood vs. last

year’s winner Cory Lopez; heat eight, world champ Andy Irons, who

just won at J-Bay, vs. three-time world champ Tom Curren; heat nine,

Kelly Slater vs. Rob Machado -- wow.

Walk of Fame inductions are today at 10 a.m. in front of Jack’s.

Corky Carroll, Pat Curren, Rich Harbor, Lisa Andersen, Gordon Clark

and Meg Bernardo will get their stars today on Main Street. The Hall

of Fame is Friday at 10 a.m. in front of Surf and Sport for

inductions and footprints of Jack Haley, Jericho Poppler, Occhilupo,

Peter Townend and Gerry Lopez.

See ya!

* RICK FIGNETTI is a nine-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 18 years, doing morning surf reports. He

owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.