Wet ‘n’ Wild with Rockin’ Fig:Another year at the Open

Ten days of fun in the sun — the $175,000 U.S. Open of Surfing held the finals last weekend in some small-scale contestable surf on the south side of the pier. Giant crowds, estimated to be around, 100,000 spectators, came down to check out the mens’ late rounds and the womens’ finals Saturday.

By the semifinals, No. 1 in the world, 19-year-old Australian Stephanie Gilmore had her hands full with hot local Orange County ripper, 14-year-old Courtney Conlogue. Both gals were ripping the rights off the pier, but it was Conlogue who led most of the semifinal. In the last couple minutes Gilmore caught the wave that moved her into the final with a series of hard slashing turns from outside to inside, denying the upset.

In the other semi, East Coast star Karina Petroni put together a great heat and took out another hot Aussie, Sally Fitzgibbons, who had some of the high scores of the contest and looked as if nothing would stop her.

In the final, Gilmore started strong and maintained the lead pretty much all the way till the end, again surfing the rights with a solid forehand attack to win it. Petroni couldn’t maintain the pace Gilmore was on, but was happy with the second-place position, which pushed her up into the top 11 of the qualifying series ratings.

Sunday in the junior final, Hawaii’s Tonino Benson took control early, picking off the biggest set waves and executing some radical 360-degree air maneuvers and big slashes out the back that wowed the crowd and won.

Chris Waring, the hot local from Seal Beach, had some great-scoring rides too, and kept it close, ending up second. Waring shot up the charts and now is ranked No. 1 in the North America Pro Junior series standings.

Third was the prodigy kid Jordy Smith who ripped, but couldn’t quite find the good waves.

Although with his supernatural talent, it is rumored Smith’s close to signing a seven-figure deal soon. Hawaii’s Mason Ho rounded out the top four with some nice rides too.

The longboard final saw three-time world champ Colin McPhillips from San Clemente take a decisive win, with a 9-point ride and an 8-point ride, with hard-driving turns and some killer nose rides. Second place was Taylor Jensen who needed an almost perfect-10 score to catch McPhillips — that’s how much of a lead he had. While 16-year-old sensation Cole Robbins led at first, he dropped to third by the end, and Hawaii’s Kai Sallas placed fourth overall respectively.

Just getting to the semis was a hard feat in the mens’ No. 25 on the WCT, C.J. Hobgood, came up against the giant killer, Hawaiian “Bustin Dustin” Cuizon, who had been taking out all the big seeds. But in this one, Hobgood pulled one of the moves of the contest: a super high-flying air 360 reverse, to score huge points and move on, leaving Cuizon out in the cold.

In the other semi, last year’s semifinalist Jeremy Flores made easy work dismantling Brazil’s Jean Da Silva to move on. In the final, the beach was full, the grandstands packed, the pier was standing room only. But mother nature wasn’t doing her part; there was a big lull for waves in the first eight minutes of the 30-minute final.

Then some surf rolled through. Hobgood kept busy picking off waves, reforming them to the inside where he destroyed some shorebreak sections. No. 12 in the world, the French man Jeremy Flores, looked like the man to beat the whole event, but was having a hard time finding the ones that would go through.

Flores did get a couple of big outside moves, but couldn’t combo on it, and only needed a five score to win. So it was tense. Both surfers went for the last wave, and rode it, with Hobgood having priority as time expired.

When the buzzer went off and Hobgood had won, the crowd went wild with cheers and he was carried off the beach.

Another year at the U.S. Open has ended! See ya — Fig out!