Long board paradise on tap this weekend

RICK FIGNETTI

This week, down south at Oceanside Pier, will be the gathering of the

tribes, or surfers and clubs, that ride the 9-foot-plus boards.

Starting this Friday will be the Pro Noseriding Championships,

presented by Guy Takayama, an avid style-master and nose rider

himself. The pro-am brackets will feature a Young Guns 33-and-under

age group as well as a Kahuna division age group of 34 and above. I

hear there are still a few open slots, but filling fast.

Saturday and Sunday is the Oceanside Long Board Club Invitational,

where the top teams will try to rack up the big points and go for the

big win. Twenty-five clubs from up and down the coastline, from Santa

Cruz to San Diego, will compete for charity, individual, and team

trophies.

The Huntington Beach Long Board Crew will be well represented by

some talented locals, starting with the director of the Huntington

Beach Surf Museum, Gary Sahagen -- sometimes known as the “Sea Hag”

-- just off a final placing at the last event in Malibu. Sahagen is

the president of the Huntington Beach Long Board Crew and one of the

co-founders -- going all the way back to 1985 -- when shaper Mike

Minchinton and veteran surfer Wally Walczwk all teamed with Sahagen

to get it going.

Also representing the club in Oceanside this weekend will be local

hot shot and fancy footwork artist Allen Lambert; U.S. Surfing

Federation top-ranked long board competitor Jay Boldt; and veteran

water men Doug Bailey and Dave Hilts, to name a few. Hopefully, the

swell will be up for them to show the judges what they’ve got!

For more information on the club, check out its website at

https://www.hblongboard

crew.org.

Not long ago, Huntington residents Randy and Gaby Browning opened

up Surf City Island Grill and Pizzeria on the south side of town at

9560 Hamilton. Randy, known by most as “Moony” in the surfing world,

is originally from Long Beach, but moved here to get a little closer

to the surf that cranks at certain times of the year at our Surf City

beaches. He starts the day with a little sesh in the morning when the

waves are good, and then heads for work to make up some fine

Hawaiian-style lunches and pizzas.

If you do some surf traveling in the islands, you’re ready to go

grind a killer plate lunch at the many mom and pop drive-ins there

after a hard surf. But save yourself some plane fare, cause it’s

driving distance now. Together, Randy and Gaby have run a successful

catering service for the last five years. Also working on the busy

nights is Mike “Flisty” Flister, last year’s runner-up in the United

States Surfing Federation Western Region West Coast seasonal

standings. One of the highlights for Surf City Island Grill this

summer was doing the catering for the U.S. Open of Surfing last

month. Many a traveling, big-name surfing pro was seen munching down

a killa’ plate lunch with “Moony,” talk’n surf stories in the V.I.P.

lounge. The restaurant is done up in bamboo, surfboards and aloha

style.

For a touch of the da islands, call (714) 962-3332. Just another

one of the many people that make up our city!

See ya, Fig over and out.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an nine-time West Coast champion, has

announced the U.S. Open of Surfing the last 11 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.