Games get hot and heavy

The 2006 Bank of the West Beach Games featuring the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O’Neill opened last Friday, but the main thrust of the games begins today at the Huntington Beach Pier.

A wide range of events take place today on 12 acres surrounding the pier, beginning with U.S. Open of Surfing men’s competition and ending with the Boost Mobile Pro Surf Trials.

Also today, an interactive festival village officially opens and Teen Vogue Fashion Live! will take place on the concert stage.

Included in the festival village are 100 vendor booths. Live music will be showcased on the concert stage beginning Friday.

The Bank of the West Beach Games has again attracted 600 international competitors in surfing, skateboarding, BMX, FMX and the Karch Kiraly Invitational beach volleyball tournament.

Nearly 500 world-class surfers are scheduled to compete in the $185,000, six-star Honda U.S. Open of Surfing, North America’s highest-rated qualifying event for the world tour and the world’s largest professional surfing competition.

Heat action in men’s, women’s, juniors and longboards continue today, Friday and Saturday. Division finals are set for Saturday and Sunday.

“There’s definitely something here for everybody,” said James Leitz, executive promoter of the games and vice president of International Management Group Action Sports. “We should have tremendous crowd support once again, and the surfing competitions and Soul Bowl events will be awesome.”

Leitz said that 400,000 spectators are expected over the 10-day event.

In men’s surfing trials Tuesday, former U.S. Open titleholders Sunny Garcia (2000) of Hawaii, Shea Lopez (1999) of Florida and two-time winner Rob Machado (2001, 1995) of Cardiff advanced to the round of 96.