Longboard spectacular

A long-dormant surfing event returns to Huntington Beach this weekend, bigger than even its organizers expected. Pro and amateur surfers on vintage-style longboards will ride tandem, compete in noseriding and freestyle in front of spectators over three days for a weekend of classic surfing.

The Surf City USA Longboard Pro-Am is expected to bring 30 international surf clubs to participate in the event, said Gary Sahagen, chairman of the Huntington Beach Longboard Crew, the event’s organizer. The free event will run 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday to Sunday, with vendor booths open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“The stars are aligned,” Sahagen said. “The amount of excitement this has created, and the number of e-mails and phone calls this has generated has just grown exponentially.”

The competition is actually three in one. The Guy Takayama Professional Noseriding Series is a series of timed noseriding events sanctioned by the World Longboard Championship Series, where surfers try to stay on the nose of a board the longest in a set period. A tandem surfing event will count toward the World Tandem Tour Championship. And the amateurs will come out Saturday morning, competing for trophies in age categories from under 14 to over 70.

But competition isn’t all that spectators will have to enjoy. A boardwalk full of vendors will be there all three days, a “Gallery of Surfing Legends” will surf in an exhibition and then sign autographs at Duke’s Restaurant Saturday afternoon, and surf-rock pioneer Dick Dale will perform. Representatives from sponsor Bud Light will roam the beach and nearby restaurants, and there will be raffles throughout the event.

Also, the Pierside Surf City 6 Cinemas, 300 Pacific Coast Highway, #203, will show “Chasing Dora,” a documentary about famous longboarder Miki Dora at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are available at www.bigredprod.com, and proceeds benefit local charities, including the International Surfing Museum.

The city held a Longboard Pro-Am in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, Sahagen said, but it went dormant. This weekend’s event represents years of trying to get it together again to showcase classic surfing.

“We’re trying to reconnect people with some of the traditional kinds of surfing,” Sahagen said. “Surfing’s been a rebellious sport since its inception. But for awhile, the Billabongs and the Hurleys rebelled even against old surfers.”

That’s changed lately, he said. Some styles like tandem surfing, in which generally a male surfer holds a female surfer in the air while riding the waves, are in the midst of a resurgence.

“There’s a whole new thing called retro surfing,” Sahagen said. “Everything comes back around that’s tried and true. Tandem is really blowing up, and there’s a lot of young, strong teams.”