WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN’ FIG:U.S. women win gold at Games

The 11th International Surfing Assn. World Surfing Games came to a close Sunday after a wild week of competition, with teams from all over the world surfing for their respective countries on the south side of the Huntington Pier.

Surf City didn’t let them down, either, as the whole week had fun, workable surf. Last Wednesday, with the offshore winds and overhead swell combo, the surf was epic.

The U.S. team was tearing it up all week and had hopes for Gold, but Saturday was an unlucky day, with three of the big guns — C.J. and Damien Hobgood losing their repro-charge heats and Chris Ward busting his surfboard in half in another — going down.

By Sunday, carrying the flag for the Americans was Pat O’Connell in the men’s competition, and Julia Christian and 14-year-old Courtney Conlogue on the women’s side. And in longboard, Colin McPhillips had a good run but lost a close one in the semis.

When the finals came around, it was the young up-and-coming South African Jordy Smith, who set the pace. He popped some rad airs for the win and took the Gold.

Aussie Luke Stedman had to settle for the Silver.

In the women’s final, it was a tight battle between Julia Christian of the U.S. and Jacqueline Silva of Brazil.

It went down to the last wave, with Christian in the lead and Silva riding hers to the beach as the buzzer sounded. Christian won by one-tenth of a point to take Gold — the first for the U.S. in the last 10 years.

In men’s bodyboard, Portugal won both the Gold and Silver.

In women’s bodyboard, Kira Llewellyn took the Gold with some nice rollos, and Brazil’s Neymara Carvalho won the Silver.

And lastly in longboard, South African Matthew Moir was on fire the whole event and won again. The U.K.’s Benjamin Skinner was second.

In the team competition, Australia took the Gold, Brazil won the Silver, U.S.A. finished with the Bronze. This was a great improvement for the U.S. squad, which placed 17th in Equador in 2004.

A special high-five goes to Surf City resident and U.S. coach “P.T.” Peter Townend — who I saw ripping on the north side of the pier earlier this week — for a heck of a job.

Did I mention Rockin Fig’s birthday bash is coming up Nov. 1 at the Beach Front 301 on Main Street next week?

See ya!