The warmth of the sun brings life to Surf City

RICK FIGNETTI

I’ll take a few days of sunshine, as some warmer days have finally

hit here in Surf City.

Those sunnier days have pushed daytime air temps up to the ‘70s

and it’s feelin’ good. The water is still freezin’, but it’s mostly

getting back to its normal color after all the runoff. After a long

flat spell, finally some overhead surf has hit. In fact, today just

might be the day, with good surf and nice weather too, you have to

call in sick and head to the beach.

Over on the East Coast, the first World Qualifying Series contest

is already in the books. The three-star Globe Sebastian Inlet Pro saw

some pretty good surf for Florida this time of year. The inlet was

rocking, throwing two- to four-foot rights and lefts on the north

side of the jetty’s boat harbor entrance.

In the final, Floridian and World Championship Tour star Cory

Lopez found one of the biggest sets, went left, threw a huge floater

and then rifled the lip three times in a row to beat out the

hard-chargin’ six-time world champ from Cocoa Beach, Kelly Slater.

Slates was ripping his waves apart too, and lost by a close

half-point decision.

Lopez cashed in on $7,000 for the win at the surf contest that was

held at the same time as the Surf Expo trade show in Orlando.

Finishing third was another local boy, Aaron Cormican, who was

busting some insane futuristic airs, and fourth was North Carolina’s

Ben Bourgeois, who was packing those maneuvers in, tight and fast.

Among the other notables were three-time world champ Tom Curren

surfing really well, even getting a few Sebastian barrels in some

heats, and Damien Hobgood, turning it on out there as he returns from

an injury.

There were a few shark sightings, which Florida is known for, but

the big shredding came from the surfers over the five days.

Coming up this Saturday is the sixth annual Surfline Seal Beach

Surfing Championships at the Seal Beach Pier. There’s a good turnout

every year by the locals in all age brackets for this event that

usually showcases some pretty good talent. For the size of the town,

they’ve had some major talent come from there over the years, like

U.S. champ Ryan Simmons, rippers Mikey Riley and Troy “TNT”

Tecklenburg, national champs Chad Wells and Chas Wickwire, top

National Scholastic Surfing Assn. standout Chris Waring and his dad

Scotty and Mike Morgan the announcer that rips too, just to name a

few. Should be a fun one with no rain in sight this weekend and a

swell on the horizon!

There’s gonna be a benefit for the South Orange County Surfrider

Foundation on Feb. 5 at the Festival of Arts grounds in Laguna Beach.

The bands scheduled to play include reggae greats Common Sense and

World Anthem, plus the Blues Offenders, Just Jinger and some former

members of that classic old surf band Honk and more.

That’s it for now, see ya.

* 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.