WET ‘N’ WILD WITH ROCKIN’ FIG:

The Hawaiians shone on the final day of the six-star $145,000 Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro in San Clemente as all things came together. The surf picked up in the two- to four-foot zone, the wind mellowed out and the sun came out and the boys were ripping taking advantage of what Mother Nature dished out for them. In the big time, man-on-man final, the “Flying Hawaiian,” “Freddy P” Fred Patacchia, was on fire on his back side, taking the rights, slashing off the top numerous times, getting vert, all the way to the inside.

“Freddy P” opened things up with an excellent 9.17 score to get it rolling and never looked back. Last year’s winner, West Coast transplant Ben Bourgeois, was trying to make it two in a row. Bourgeois took out Brazilian Adriano De Souza in the quarters, who was racking up some of the high scores of the event and was looking for a finals spot, and local San Clemente rippa Nathan Yeomans in the semis, who was going off too. But “Benny B” could only muster up a pair of sevens with some nice cut backs in the final, but that just wasn’t enough. So it was a flip flop — last year Patacchia second, this year first, winning $20,000 for a great effort.

Other notables losing: in the semis, the Frenchman Tim Boal, and in the quarters, Florida’s C. J. Hobgood, San Clemente’s Tanner Gudauskas and Hawaiian Dusty Payne. In the Oakley Pro Junior final, another Hawaiian, the big boy Kai Barger, came on strong in the latter part to take it. Barger was coming hard off the bottom, hard off the top with some backside power slashes, throwing lots of water, busting the big scores.

Barger, who won the world junior championships earlier this year, and Cathels both received entries to the junior championships in Bali by finishing one, two. Hanging out at Trestles was nine-time world champ Kelly Slater, who said he’d picked “Freddy P” to win it at Lowers this year, while doing some play-by-play on the Internet. Also checking out the action was USC head football coach Pete Carroll, who was also doing some Internet action along with Surf City resident and former world champ Peter Townend in the roving commentary booth to wrap up the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro till next year.

A possible start on the A.S.P. championship tour at Teahupoo, Tahiti, as the waiting period May 9 to 20 for the Billabong Pro, starts this weekend. Current ratings: “Parko” Joel Parkinson first, with two wins; Mick Fanning second; equal thirds Fred Patacchia, our Lowers winner, and Jordy Smith; fifth C.J. Hobgood; sixth Adriano De Souza; seventh Taj Burrow; equal eighths Damien Hobgood and Kekoa Bacalso; 14th Taylor Knox; equal 19ths Bobby Martinez and Dane Reynolds; 24th Kelly Slater, and equal 29ths Chris Ward and Timmy Reyes. That’s it for now. Figgy over and out!

RICK FIGNETTI is a 10-time West Coast champion and a longtime KROQ-FM surfologist. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.