Wet ‘n’ Wild with Rockin’ Fig:Surf is going off at U.S. Open

Straight from the Figster in the announcer’s booth, this years’ Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O’Neill has been going big time. The weather has been kinda tropical, with partly cloudy skies, but sunshine too, with air temps in the mid-70s. Definitely on the humid side, with light variable winds, which brought down a good-sized crowd for the event’s first weekend.

The water has been unbelievable, at 70 degrees with a lot of the competitors trunking it. The waves were small last weekend, but with pretty decent shape. Then the southwest and west combo swell hit, pushing it up to the shoulder- to head-high zone last Tuesday.

There were about 600 world-class surfers at the start of the U.S. Open from countries all around the globe. The trials for the mens’ started out with about 100 surfers, with eight making it to the main event last Monday.

Some of the local standouts in the first few rounds included the NSSA’s Quinn McCrystal, Micah Byrne who pulled some big scores, San Clemente’s Mike Losness â€� a semifinalist last year â€� and Laguna Beach’s Mikey Todd. The Hawaiiians were ripping: Jason Shibata, T.J. Baron, Mason Ho and Granger Larsen were getting through some big heats.

International stars like Brazil’s Paulo Moura, Aussies Darren O’Rafferty and Adrian Buchan, and Japan’s Masatoshi Ohno were tearing it up too.

Some early casualties were former world champ, Hawaiian Derek Ho, losing out, as did the Big Islands’ Myles Padaca, S.C.’s Dane Gudauskas in a close one, and Great Britain’s Russel Winter. One of the toughest losses went to another Hawaiian world champ, Sunny Garcia, who posted an 8.0 score in the last minute, only to drop to third as the other competitors rallied at the end.

The big guns coming up today include the air-busting Chris Ward, former winner Shea Lopez, Luke Stedman, Adriano De Souza, local Shaun Ward, former winner Cory Lopez and Surf City’s Micah Byrne.

Over the weekend we ran the juniors all the way down to the final which is coming up Sunday. Seal Beach hottie Chris Waring was blowing up making it, as was South Africa’s junior world champ Jordie Smith, who’s ready to sign a six-figure contract with the highest bidder after this event.

The other spot went to Hawaiian’s Tonino Benson and Mason Ho who caught a wave in the last five seconds, went big and advanced. Honorable mention goes to H.B.’s Ian Ekberg who made it to the semis, and Quinn McCrystal who lost in the quarters.

In the longboard division, San Clemente’s three-time world champ Colin McPhillips was going off as usual, making the final, as did former winner Taylor Jensen. Hawaiian Kai Sallas also qualified for Sunday’s final, as did Oceanside’s 16-year-old sensation Cole Robbins.

Tough losses for the locals as Josh Mohr went down in the quarters and last year’s champ Dodger Kremel in round three. The women’s final will happen on Saturday and the gals have been ripping.