The waves of the world

Claudio Barbuzza shot a quick glance toward the shoreline and

surveyed the surf, then turned to one of his surfers to offer him

some advice.

His tone was even, his message -- delivered in his native tongue,

Italian -- firm and direct.

“The Italian team is very excited to be here,” said Barbuzza,

coach of the delegation that has come to Surf City to compete at the

2005 Quiksilver International Surfing Assn. World Junior Surfing

Championships at the Huntington Beach Pier.

The championships, which began with ceremonies last Saturday,

continue today, Friday and Saturday and conclude with finals

competition Sunday.

Competition is being held in boys’ under-18 and under-16

divisions, girls’ under-18, and a tag-team event.

As a few of the Italian surfers were preparing for their heats

Sunday, Barbuzza, whose English was nearly as fluent as his Italian,

stood back and took in the scene.

It was very different, he said, from the surf along their home

coast, from beaches in Sardinia to those near Rome and Toscana.

“This is the first time the Italian team has competed in the world

junior championships,” said Barbuzza, now in his third year as head

coach of his country’s junior team. “The type of waves here are very

powerful, not like the ones we see back home.

“This is a very nice experience for our team and for the culture

of the sport. We’re very glad to be here.”

The world’s most prestigious junior surfing contest was launched

Saturday when more than 250 athletes representing 27 countries

marched in the Parade of Nations.

Preceded by the Huntington Beach High School marching band and

wearing their team uniforms, athletes marched down the pier, their

country’s flags blowing proudly in the autumn breeze.

After parading down to the stage at Pier Plaza, they took part in

the Sands of the World ceremony.

Two representatives from each of the 27 teams poured sand from one

of their country’s beaches into a specially designed box, creating

layers of colored and textured sand. The ceremony symbolized unity

and a fraternal spirit.

The team from New Zealand got the crowd revved up with its

performance of the country’s traditional haka dance, a war dance in

which the words are shouted loudly, accompanied by arm actions and

foot-stamping.

Welcoming speeches were given by Fernando Aguerre, president of

the International Surfing Assn., Mike Gerard, executive director of

Surfing America, and Huntington Beach Mayor Jill Hardy.

Hardy received a special proclamation presented by Surfing

America, which proclaimed Huntington Beach the official home of the

USA Surf Team.

“This is one of the most amazing events to come to Huntington

Beach and one of the coolest events I’ve gotten to go to as mayor,”

Hardy said. “Thank you to the ISA and Surfing America for all of

their hard work to bring it here.”

Stefan Corbin, 16, and Niall Thomas, 15, two of the surfers from

Barbados, walked through the competition site Sunday, carrying their

country’s flag. Thomas finished third in his heat Sunday, and Corbin

hit the water for his heat on Monday.

“We like it a lot here, although we have had to adjust to the

water,” said Corbin, noting that the water temperature was much

colder than in Barbados.

“We never use wetsuits back home, just baggy shorts,” he said.

“We’re enjoying all of this. It’s great to see all these countries

and all the different athletes.”

The 27 countries participating at the world junior championships

are Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa

Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hawaii,

Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Portugal,

Puerto Rico, South Africa, Tahiti, United Kingdom, the U.S. and

Venezuela.

Surfing begins daily at 8 a.m., and live scoring and streaming

video can be seen at www.quiksilver.com/isa.

“There’s nothing like seeing the flags, the colors, the teams and

the camaraderie,” Fernando Aguerre said. “We have the best junior

surfers from every country here together, and there’s nothing else

like it.”