Beachley Battles Her Way to the Top

Rock bottom is usually a long way from the top, but Layne Beachley managed to claw herself out within days.

Beachley easily won the elleven Pro Saturday at Huntington Beach, producing the top heat score of the four-day event in the semifinals before pounding fellow Australian Melanie Redman in the finals.

Beachley, the two-time defending world champion on the women’s Assn. of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour, came into the event without her No. 1 ranking for the first time in more than 15 months. She then lost an opening-round heat on Wednesday before crawling back through the loser’s bracket.

“After I lost my first heat, I felt like I’d hit rock bottom,” Beachley said. “I was really disappointed in my performance. I was disappointed in my lack of concentration leading into that first heat, and I think I took too much of a lackadaisical attitude leading into this event. I guess it took rock bottom to fire me back up to the top.”

Beachley said she spoke to a judge after the first-round loss to question her scores and find out what they were looking for. What she heard didn’t seem impossible.

“I either wasn’t doing a bottom turn and then doing a really good top turn, or I was doing a bottom turn and cutting my top turn short,” Beachley said. “I finally realized, ‘OK, I can do what the judges want me to do.’ I just needed to keep putting my board on the rail and start getting off the top and off the bottom combinations going. I knew I could do it because I’ve done it for years.”

With the new guidelines and a better frame of mind, Beachley produced five of the top 10 heat scores and four of the top 10 wave scores for the event.

“I asked the judge what he’s looking for in my surfing, and went out there and did it,” Beachley said. “I got awarded with 7.5s and 8.0s, and it was my scores, I think, that built my confidence.”

Beachley, who was coming off three consecutive fifth-place finishes and had not won a WCT event since March, moved back in front of Hawaiian Megan Abubo for the top spot in the WCT rankings.

“You can only take so many losses before you start doubting yourself,” Beachley said. “I had three fifths in a row, which is usually my lowest placing in a season, and I was beginning to question my ability and that’s why my confidence was wavering.”

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It probably wouldn’t make Sunny Garcia’s list of top 100 barrels, but the one he got late in his fourth-round heat against San Clemente’s Shane Beschen was a huge one.

The high-scoring maneuver, only the third of the contest, lifted Garcia past Beschen and into the quarterfinals today against fellow Hawaiian Kalani Robb.

Garcia, the top-ranked surfer in the WCT standings, trailed Beschen with about five minutes remaining in the 25-minute heat, when he tucked into the three-footer and disappeared for about two seconds. The wave crumbled on top of Garcia, but he was able to stay on his feet and earn a 7.75 from the judges.

“Fortunately for me I got that barrel and it put me out in front,” Garcia said. “I was sitting in the middle peak hoping for a wave that would barrel and, fortunately for me, it came along. I wasn’t planning on getting barreled, it just kind of happened.”

Beschen, who was 19th in the WCT rankings heading into the event, said he was surprised to be surfing this late in the contest, considering he has been slowed because of a sore shoulder.

“My paddling is like 20%,” he said. “Every time I lift my left arm up I have no power in it, so I’m like paddling with one arm. I’m surprised that I made it this far.”

Beschen said the injury didn’t arise from a single occurrence, but has gradually worsened over the years.

“I think it’s a buildup of abuse,” he said. “Injuries, 20 years of paddling, taking wipeouts. Our lives are gnarly. We have 10- to 15-hour flights every other week. I think my body’s just finally saying ‘Ooohh, slow down there champ.’ ”

Also advancing to the quarterfinals were San Clemente’s Cory Lopez, Ventura’s Tim Curran, Cardiff’s Rob Machado, Brazil’s Neco Padaratz and Australia’s Michael Campbell and Nathan Webster.

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Pro Surfing

* What: Bluetorch Pro, $168,100 World Championship Tour professional surfing event, featuring 48 of the best male surfers in the world.

* Where: South side of Huntington Beach Pier.

* When: Today.

* Today’s schedule: 9 a.m.-10:40 a.m.--quarterfinals (Heats 1-4); 10:40-11:10--Jack Haley Memorial Heat; 11:10-noon--semifinals (Heats 1-2); noon-12:30--Wave Action Air Final; 12:30-1--finals; 1:20--awards.

* Admission: Free.

* Parking: Available at city structure on corner of Main and Olive streets.

* Webcast: Live on

www.bluetorch.com

* Information: (949) 215-8000.