The locals make a stand here and down south

RICK FIGNETTI

The National Scholastic Surfing Assn. has held a couple events the

last few months. The sixth event at Seaside was right in the middle

of the storm track, so it got moved to Huntington’s Golden West

Street.

Conditions here were on the stormy side too, with onshore winds,

rain by the buckets and some murky water. Still, some of our local

standouts were able to take advantage of the home surf.

Sara Taylor won the girls division and Jessy Hallford was sixth in

the boys’ competition. Longboarder Kelly Kraushaar placed fifth in

his final, while in the women’s, Carly Myers was third and Taylor

took fifth, both with nice exchanges.

In the super seniors final, about half way through, the biggest

rainstorm of the day hit about midway through, limiting visibility.

When the buzzer sounded, it was Patrick Schlick second and the

Figster third.

That downpour was enough to cancel the rest of the finals, as the

rain was coming down too heavily. In the makeups at Mission Beach,

local surfers still shined as Surf City’s Jason Haughey domo’d the

seniors for the victory and Seal Beach’s Chris Waring won the men’s

final to remain No. 1 in the standings also. Huntington’s Chris

Broman took fourth.

In juniors, Drew Snyder ripped his way to second and South

Africa-to-Huntington transplant Dita Saraiva was fifth, holding down

fourth in the ratings.

The next event was down south in San Diego at San Fernando Street

in Mission Beach with the makeups from the previous meet and the

regular finals. The surf was pretty good sized on Saturday at 8 to 10

feet with double overhead sets rolling in, a true test of

conditioning. By Sunday, it dropped a bit, 4 to 6 feet with 8-foot

sets. There were some dumpy sections and lots of close outs, but if

you were in the right spot, you could get a screamer.

Taking charge again, Waring was on fire, busting some sick moves

and won his second in a row with Huntington surfers hot on his heels

-- Broman finished second, Dominic Defeo placed fifth and Randy

Hollowell took sixth.

One of San Clemente High’s national champs, Tanner Gudauskas won

the juniors. Waring placed fourth there, but is still holding the top

spot in the standings.

In masters, Huntington’s Aaron Checkwood blasted some sections to

take second, Haughey had the moves to take third in seniors with an

all around great effort, while Taylor finished third in the girls and

fourth in the women’s.

In the little guys, Newport Beach’s Andrew Doheny won the

menehuenes, and Kraushaar made another final, placing third in the

longboard. And super seniors saw Malibu’s top-notch coach Mike Lamm

win in the super seniors, with the Figster taking third again and

Schlick placing fifth to round out a contest that saw some mack daddy

surf!

At the big Duke’s party for Huntington’s newcomer to the World

Championship Tour, wonder boy Timmy Reyes scored some insane

presents, like a new Jet Ski that O’Neill styled him out with and did

I hear an epic sound system from his surf shop sponsor, Jack’s, too?

It’s all good, life at the top.

A paddle-out to pay last respects for “Pops” David Nuuhiwa Sr.

will be at noon Saturday. Family and friends are welcome.

Did ya get a photo from those last offshore killer days we had

last week? 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.