Surfing Laguna: A big day for surfing

Pumping surf and warm sunny skies were on tap this weekend as Laguna’s best surfers, young and old, had the peanut gallery on the edge of their collective seats with exhilarating performances throughout the two-day-long surf event.

After several years of not holding the annual event due to lack of surf during the summer-long waiting period, the swell arrived right on time and it coincided perfectly with the new Brooks Street stadium-style viewing area.

Ron Lutz, the recreation department boss and Brooks Street contest guru, was over the moon with the new look and feel of this year’s competition.

“I’ve been a part of this event since way back in the ’70s and this one ranks way up at the top of the list for sure. I’m not a surfer, but seeing how these guys and gals surf those huge waves is a thing of beauty,” Lutz said.

At Lutz’s side helping run the event, as always, were local surfers Brandy Faber and Jason Watson, who once again, with the help of many volunteers, pulled off an amazingly smooth and colorful event.

I caught up with a few of the division winners and standout surfers and was able to get their take on the weekend’s festivities. (Editor’s Note: For complete results see page B12.]

The Boys’ Division is always a sneak peak into Laguna’s surfing future, and this year it seems we have twice as much to be excited about. That’s due to the Chapman twins, Shane and Michael. These two were battling it out toe to toe throughout the final, but in the end it was Shane who would snag a big set bomb and seal the victory. Asked about how Shane snuck by him this year for the title, Michael’s response was classic: “He got lucky; I’ll take him down next year.”

The young stars from the Junior Men’s Division put on a dazzling display of solid surfing, and taking home the crown was Brooks Street regular Eli Viszolay whose dad, Walter, has been surfing with him at Brooks since he was 6 or 7. When asked to describe his thoughts on the contest, Eli said, “It felt really good being in my hometown; it’s my local spot. I love surfing Brooks Street and to do it with five other guys out with solid surf was great. My heat strategy was just having fun and thankfully it worked out.”

When asked about the guys he looks up to besides his dad, Eli said, “All the guys in the Pro/Am final are my favorite surfers, Sli Dawg, Watto, Mongo (Tristrum), who knows that wave so well, and Hans. Also Booth, who was injured, but is probably the best surfer ever at Brooks.”

The Girls’ Division was another exciting affair with lots of stellar surfing action from start to finish. In the final it was Laguna’s long-time surfing torch bearer and Coach Alisa Cairns pitted against two of her star pupils, 16-year-old Team USA team member Taylor Pitz and 12-year-old Thurston surf star Leah Pakpour. All three ladies managed to shred apart several clean lefthanders, which made for a real barn burner of a heat.

In the end, however, it was Taylor who edged Cairns for the first place hardware. Leah rounded out the top three. Taylor had this to say about surfing in this local contest after surfing at venues around the world in recent months: “When you’re in the water, surfing in front of your friends and neighbors, it isn’t any different than surfing by yourself — the hassling is just worse when you get out of the water. When you don’t surf well or fall in front of your friends they’re definitely not going to let you forget it right away, so I definitely wanted to win.”

The Pro/Am Division at the Brooks Street contest is typically a collection of current and former professional surfers. As such these guys really know how to put on an amazing show for the honor of receiving the Brooks Street title. Even though the swell had dropped considerably by the final heat on the Sunday the action in the line-up was as fierce as ever. Out of the gates fast with his electrifying frontside attack was Juniors’ Division winner Eli Viszolay, who was looking to double dip on the first place trophies. After a solid early charge, Eli was unable to find a high-scoring second wave and would settle for a very respectable third place.

In second place with his precision backside assault was Laguna’s crown prince of surfing, Ryah Arthur. Arthur was coming off an impressive Men’s Division final (of which he won) and like Eli, was looking for the coveted Pro/Am title. The crowd went wild with every huge blast and Arthur’s performance seemed to feed off the crowd’s energy.

So close, but again it was not to be as this day belonged to 2004 Brooks Street title holder Tristrum Miller. Tristrum left little doubt in the final as to his intentions and the crowd was treated to a beautiful display of pure power surfing.

As fellow competitor in the final Eli said, “The guy displaces more water per hack than any other surfer on the planet and he knows that wave as good or better than anyone in Laguna.” The judges found Tristrum’s style quite pleasing and rewarded him with the well-earned scores that brought him his second title in the last three years of competition.

The wrap-up party and awards ceremony was at Gina’s in Boat Canyon where tons of love, laughter and memories were in plentiful supply.