Success on the horizon

Rick Devereux

Southern California used to be known as a factory of churning out

professional surfers. Jack Haley, from Sunset Beach. Corky Carroll,

from Surfside. Jerricho Poppler, from Long Beach.

If you look at the leaderboard of the recent U.S. Open of Surfing,

no one in the final rounds of the men’s or women’s divisions is from

Southern California. San Clemente’s Brendan White was first and Colin

McPhilips did finish second in the longboard division, though. But of

the 12 finalists, five were from Australia, the most of any country.

Erica Hosseini has hopes of breaking the Aussie domination and

bringing surfing glory back to Southern California.

“There’s barely anyone from California that’s qualified for the

[World Championship Tour],” said the Newport Beach surfer. “I hope to

be one of the people to put the West Coast back on map.”

Hosseini has already made a name for herself in the surfing

community. She made the finals in the first pro contest she entered,

becoming the youngest (14) surfer in pro surfing history to do so.

By the time she was 15 Hosseini had won the Southwest Conference

Open and Explorer titles as well as the Western Championship Open and

Explorer titles. At 16 she won the Dos Equis Oceanside Pro, but now

she’s 17 and has her sights on improving her chances of making it on

the WTC.

“This year I was trying to do well in contests and trying to get

good seeds for [contests] next year,” she said. “It can be pretty

intimidating because you know the people on WTC have experience and

use different tactics out in the water. You need experience to beat

them.”

At the U.S. Open, Hosseini made it to the round of 32 before

finishing fourth with a score of 6.00 in heat No. 8. The round of 32

is the same round she was eliminated the year before, and one round

sooner than her goal.

“I wanted to make it to the end of quarters,” she said. “I made it

to the round right before quarters. That was where I wanted to get to

because that’s where all the [professional] girls are seeded.”

Hosseini is currently ranked No. 29 on the World Qualifying

Series, the circuit directly below the WTC. She has earned 2,258

points and $1,600 this year. Her next contest will be the

Nokia/Lacanau Pro Trophee Feminin in France Aug. 15-21.

Surfing has allowed Hosseini to travel the world, but this will be

her first visit to France.

“This past year I’ve been to contests in Australia, South Africa,

and of course California,” she said. “This will be my first time in

France. Next year I will go to England, but for most part the

contests I surfed in have been based in California and Hawaii. All

contests are different with different waves. You never get really

great waves. You gotta learn grovel and make something out of nothing

with the waves in contests.”

Hosseini credits her participation with the Newport Harbor High

surf team for part of her success.

“There is more competition in boys in high school,” she said

regarding being one of the few females on the squad. “I think it does

to push you more to surf better. It gets you more prepared to be on

WQS.”

While she can’t explain her own style, she knows which surfers she

likes to watch. U.S. Open champion Chelsea Georgeson is one. Matt

Archibald is another. So is Linda Fisher. These surfers all have

certain qualities Hosseini admires.

“I like watching people who are smooth and quick,” she said. “I

like to watch people who have speed. My favorite is Matt Archibald

because he gains a lot of speed on waves.”

Right now Hosseinni is gaining a lot of momentum toward the WTC.