Local faces, both new and veteran, among those to watch at U.S. Open of Surfing

It seems like only yesterday that Huntington Beach local Kanoa Igarashi was the young buck trying to make a name for himself in the waves on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.

But as the U.S. Open of Surfing gets underway Saturday and runs through Sunday, Aug. 6, Igarashi, at the ripe old age of 25, has become the sage veteran in the water, while making way for a new crop of starry-eyed surfers.

Among the newbies is 16-year-old Sara Freyre, who will be a junior at Huntington Beach High School in the fall. Freyre might seem a bit young to make an impact at such a high-level event, but Santa Ana’s Courtney Conlogue was just 16 and a high school student at Sage Hill in Newport Beach when she won the first of her two U.S. Open crowns in 2009.

Igarashi was only 15 when he surfed in his first U.S. Open in 2013 and placed third as a 17-year-old in 2015. He also placed third in 2021 after winning back-to-back titles in 2017 and ’18. This year is Igarashi’s 10th Open.

“Oh my God, really? Wow,” Igarashi said when told this year’s Open is his 10th. “It’s really crazy how the same exact event can mean so many different things. I remember when I was first coming up and I was 15, I felt I had so much to prove. And I had two CT (Championship Tour) surfers in my very first U.S. Open heat. But I had nothing to lose, and I was just there to compete.

“And now it’s crazy how it’s the same exact event, 10 years later, and again I don’t have anything to lose, only something to gain, competing against people with a lot to prove and a lot to gain.”

Huntington Beach native Sara Freyre is one to watch at the U.S. Open of Surfing.

(Brian Bott)

That would describe someone like Freyre, who learned she earned a spot in the women’s division of the Open earlier this week.

“I was sitting at home in the morning, I had just woken up, and I received an email saying that I got the wild card in the U.S. Open,”Freyre said. “I started freaking out, I ran to my parents, ‘I got in! I got the wild card!’ I was just overwhelmed with happiness and super excited.”

Igarashi is in the midst of his seventh season on the World Surf League’s prestigious Championship Tour, currently ranked No. 13 in the world and coming off his best result of the season, finishing third at J-Bay in South Africa. He’s also an Olympic medalist, taking home silver in the Games’ first-ever surfing event in Japan two years ago.

So if there’s anyone who would qualify to give Freyre some advice, it’s Igarashi.

“I see her in the water almost every day when I’m home,” he said. “But I will have a talk with her and tell her she definitely belongs here, and that’s the hardest part of competing in the U.S. Open at this level. The belief [in yourself] is not as strong as many other competitors in the event when you’re super young.

“That’s the first step towards success. You have to believe in yourself, and you’re trying to get the judges to believe in you as well. It’s really important to have that attitude, the attitude knowing she can compete with anyone in the event. I remember when I was 15 and got the wild card, I actually did believe I could beat those guys.”

Freyre’s confidence should be high entering the Open considering earlier this month she won the NSSA national championship in the women’s open division, her second national title in a row. She’s also a member of USA Surfing’s junior national team.

Freyre, though, is being careful not to get ahead of herself.

“I’m just going to try to take things heat by heat and not get overwhelmed or get too far ahead of myself and just focus on one heat at a time and go from there,” she said.

Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi competes in the 2021 U.S. Open of Surfing.

(File Photo)

Igarashi certainly will have his eyes on the prize, looking for his third U.S. Open crown. Since the contest name was changed from “OP Pro” to U.S. Open in 1994, only Rob Machado has won three men’s Open titles. Besides Igarashi, other two-time winners include Kelly Slater, Andy Irons, Filipe Toledo and Huntington’s Brett Simpson.

Brazil’s Toledo, currently ranked No. 1 in the world and the defending world champion, will surf in this year’s Open in search of his third title as well.

Winning an event with a total of 80 competitors is difficult enough, but it’s made even tougher with the Open being a vital event for surfers trying to qualify for next year’s CT. The Open is the fourth of six Challenger Series contests, and the top 10 in the final points standings get promoted to the sport’s biggest stage.

Among those in the mix is a quartet from San Clemente that includes Cole Houshmand (currently ranked No. 1 in the Challenger Series), Kade Matson (No. 5), Jett Schilling (No. 10) and Crosby Colapinto (No. 13).

“It’s great to see Orange County stepping up onto the world stage,” Igarashi said. “San Clemente is a strong point of Orange County, they have a lot of great surfers. It’s cool to see them stepping up and competing and finding that belief that they can win.”

Among the most notable of the 48 names in the women’s division is Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons, a 13-year veteran of the CT and someone who has finished in the top eight of the world rankings 11 times, including three times at No. 2 and four times at No. 3.

This year’s U.S. Open features the motorcycle-based “Nitro Circus Full Throttle FMX,” which will take place Saturday and Sunday, as well as Saturday, Aug. 5. The Open also features the Huntington Beach Longboard Classic, the first of four stops on the WSL Longboard Tour, which crowns a world champion in the men’s and women’s divisions.

Live bands will perform throughout the week. For the full schedule, go to usopenofsurfing.com.