Doheny catches the perfect wave

Chris Yemma

With AC/DC blasting on the loudspeakers, the groms, as the surfing

world calls them, took center stage.

And as the sun blazed above the Huntington Beach Pier area late

Wednesday afternoon, Andrew Doheny electrified the spectators:

He caught the perfect wave.

Competing in the first round of the boys under-14 division of the

Surfing America USA championships, the 12-year-old Newport Beach

resident scored a perfect 10 on his second wave en route to winning

Heat 4 with 14.25 points -- the highest score in the division.

“Everything was going right on that wave,” said Doheny, a

soon-to-be seventh grader at Ensign Middle School. “I was just in the

right place and the wave was clean. I got a lucky wave.”

Needing just less than two points to jump into first in the heat,

Doheny grabbed 10, marking the day’s only perfect one-wave score

among all divisions.

The “Doheny Wave,” as the announcers called it during the

remaining heats of the day, drew attention. As Doheny exited the

water following his performance, a Garden Grove local news crew was

waiting for him, seeking a television interview.

Doheny, along with two other Newport Beach residents and a Costa

Mesa resident, is competing among 360 surfers from across the nation,

all vying for one of 36 spots on the 2005 USA surf team.

Doheny was Wednesday’s only local advancer, as Costa Mesa’s Allan

Kincade and Newport Beach’s Ford Archbold concluded competition.

Newport Beach’s Sheila Huber did not paddle out Wednesday and is

slated for the open women’s division today.

It was Doheny who stole Wednesday’s spotlight, though.

A competitive surfer since age 6, the amateur ranked his

performance among the better ones of his career.

“It was definitely up there,” he said. “I’ve had better heats

before, but this one felt good. I like [Huntington Beach] a lot.”

Doheny, who regularly surfs at Newport’s 54th Street, said he has

high goals for this event.

“My goal is to hopefully just keep doing good,” he added.

Doheny advances to the division quarterfinals scheduled for 12:30

p.m. Friday at the same location. The semifinals are slated for 2:30

p.m. Friday and the final will be at 9:10 a.m. Saturday.

Should the youngster advance to the final, he could be one of two

selections from the boys under-14 division to make the USA surf team,

which will be competing at the International Surfing Association

world junior championships -- also at Huntington Beach -- in October.

Doheny entered Wednesday’s 15-minute heat fresh off a second-place

finish in the Explorer Menehuene division of the National Scholastic

Surfing Association Nationals last week, an event bringing some of

the top amateur surfers in the nation together.

But the competition in this week’s event is even more stiff, as

the best surfers from the NSSA join four other regional member

organizations of Surfing America, spanning from the East Coast to

Hawaii.

The 12-year-old, however, is up to the challenge.

Sponsored by Volcom, along with numerous other skateboard and

surfing companies, Doheny has covered the globe surfing in events.

His travels have taken him to Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Fiji,

Australia, Oahu and Kauai.

He has even won prize money from events -- a total of about

$6,000, his father, Mike Doheny, said last week.

The event concludes Saturday with the boys under-18 final at 11

a.m.