Alan Cleland, Sally Fitzgibbons win U.S. Open of Surfing titles
World Surf League broadcaster Joe Turpel summed it up perfectly when presenting the championship trophies to the winners of the U.S. Open of Surfing on Sunday afternoon when he said, “If you have a sombrero, throw it to the sky!”
It was legendary broadcaster Vin Scully who first uttered those words, after the Dodgers’ Fernando Valenzuela recorded the final out of a no-hitter years ago.
Turpel, though, was honoring Alan Cleland, who became the first Mexican-born surfer to win the U.S. Open of Surfing, beating out Marco Mignot of France in the final heat, 12.70-12.60 on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
It was more than winning it, but how he won it that was so impressive — kind of like hitting a grand slam in the ninth inning in the World Series. Cleland trailed Mignot for the duration of the heat, needing a score of 6.61 as the clock ticked away during the 35-minute final.
For the last 12 minutes, no waves came through as both surfers waited for a bump in the ocean. Throughout the day, waves were hard to come by, and the swell dropped from 4 to 6 feet on Saturday to 2 to 3 feet on Sunday.
But with just a few seconds remaining, it came.
“I just heard the announcer say ’30 seconds,’ then I heard people on the pier say, ‘There’s a wave,’” Cleland said. “I started paddling, then I saw it, and once I started paddling for it I heard, ’10 seconds,’ and I’m thinking I’m not gonna get it, but I stood up right at the buzzer.
“To get that opportunity to just surf and let all the nerves not bug me and let everything out and show my surfing, it was the most important moment of my life.”
The wave wasn’t great, but Cleland made the most of it, snapping off several turns and riding it to the shoreline. After the final bell, he paddled back out in the water to join his good friend Mignot, waiting for the judges to announce the final score.
Needing that 6.61, Cleland, who surfed for Mexico in the just-concluded Olympic Games, got a 6.70 and the significant contingent of Mexican fans on the beach erupted in celebration.
The victory was worth even more than the $20,000 prize awarded to the winner. For Cleland, the win amounted to 10,000 points on the Challenger Series, vaulting him from 51st to ninth in the rankings. The top 10 qualify for next year’s Championship Tour (CT), with two contests remaining.
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons won the women’s event and the $20,000 prize. And with it, declared she is not quite ready to hand over the reigns to the new generation of young talent in the women’s division.
Fitzgibbons, 33, took out 17-year-old Bella Kenworthy of San Clemente in the final, 12.06-11.96, winning the U.S. Open for the second time. She also won in 2011 at the age of 20.
She finished off an eventful week in Huntington Beach, as she was also inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame on Thursday.
Fitzgibbons has been on the CT since 2009 and has finished in the top eight in the world a remarkable 12 times, including finishing No. 2 three times and No. 3 three times, but never getting the ultimate world title.
“Because I love it,” Fitzgibbons said when asked why she’s still in it. “I love everything about it. I love waking up at 4 a.m., start stretching, and you don’t know what waves you’re gonna find that day. Paddling out in this jersey and all that energy you have, and you feel all those emotions.
“I’ve never experienced anything else like it in my life. I’ll go until it just fades out, but I’m not going to stop trying. It gives me the most amount of joy out of anything in my life.”
For the past three seasons, the World Surf League has implemented a mid-season cut, meaning surfers in the women’s division who are not ranked in the top 10 after the first five events are dropped from the CT and most go back to the Challenger Series to re-qualify for the following season.
Fitzgibbons was 13th after five events this year, forcing her to re-qualify, but Sunday’s Open win pushed her to No. 1 on the Challenger Series, with the top five qualifying for next year’s CT. Coming so close to a world championship for so many years still motivates her.
“I’m still dreaming,” Fitzgibbons said. “When you have a big dream, that becomes your direction in life. It’s a beacon of light, whether you hit it or not. It drives me onto a really cool path in life, really gets a rise out of me, brings out enjoyment just striving for it.
“The unknown can be scary sometimes, but then you learn that surprise is the best thing in life. And I’m still surprised by the story line. I want to know what’s next too.”
San Clemente’s Crosby Colapinto, ranked No. 9 in the world and the No. 1 seed in the Open, was taken out by Cleland in the quarterfinals. Another from the San Clemente crew, Kolohe Andino, also was knocked out in the quarters, losing to Australia’s Jackson Bunch.
On the women’s side, Alyssa Spencer of Encinitas reached the quarters before losing to Kenworthy.
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