Curran captures men’s final at U.S. Open of Surfing

Nathaniel Curran said he was in somewhat of “a daze” in the immediate aftermath of the Men’s final at the U.S. Open of Surfing Sunday.

As Curran and his finals foe, Tim Boal of France, awaited official word on who won the coveted title, the two were mobbed by the media and well-wishers at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.

And they waited.

And waited.

But Curran, a resident of Oxnard, said he had been told earlier that he was the winner.

He was just waiting for confirmation.

“It’s really strange and weird to be waiting like this,” said Curran, who turns 24 on Aug. 6. “I mean, let’s get this over with.”

Still, the non-annoucement of the winner didn’t stop Curran’s supporters among a massive crowd at the pier from carrying their christened winner up the beach.

And their coronation was right-on.

When the announcement finally came, it declared Curran the winner of the 2008 event. He won $15,000 for taking the title while Boal claimed $7,500.

“I’ll probably pay some bills and have some fun tonight,” Curran said of his winnings.

He defeated Boal by a score of 11.66 to 10.70.

Curran rode to a solid score - 6.33 - in the opening seconds of the 30-minute final and led the remainder of the way.

There were several lulls in the surf throughout, with waves being inconsistent for the final.

The conditions went dead flat in the final five minutes.

“Despite that, it was an awesome event,” Curran said. “It was kind of a bummer that the waves never really came in. My strategy was to get a good score early and take it from there. I’ve seen the surf here be fickle before.”

Yet Curran, who has competed at the U.S. Open since he was 16 but won his first title Sunday, had to sweat out one final ride by Boal.

With 40 seconds to go, the Frenchman was able to take one final wave, and his strong effort was nearly good enough to overtake Curran.

“My back was to the action so I didn’t see him,” Curran said of Boal’s final attempt at victory.”

The win put Curran at No. 1 on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals World Qualifying Series ratings. Boal comes in at No. 18.

The closing seconds of the final had an eerie similarity to one of the Men’s semifinal heats Sunday, when Boal pulled out a last-second ride and score that denied Huntington Beach’s Brett Simpson from surfing in the championship final.

Simpson actually had been announced as the winner but as he and Boal padded toward shore, another announcement came that Boal’s last ride score was, indeed, enough to overtake Simpson.

Boal pulled out a 12.10 to 11.93 victory.

“That was really bizarre,” said Simpson, who was both candid and philosophical about the mistake. “It’s super depressing to lose that way, but that’s part of the game. Sometimes you end up on the bad end of things.

“I was hoping to make the finals. I had a lot of friends and family out here, cheering me on.”

Simpson, who leaves Monday for Japan, followed by surfing excursions to England, Fance and Portugal before returning home to compete in early-September at the Boost Mobile, was one of three locals to advance to the final day of the 10-day event.

Simpson, Huntington Beach’s Timmy Reyes and Chris Waring, a graduate of Huntington Beach High and resident of Seal Beach, all made it to the Round of 16 on Sunday. Reyes, rated 11th on the World Tour and a graduate of Edison HIgh, had been impressive throughout the contest. He was on a quest to win his initial U.S. Open title but was eliminated from title contention when he lost his heat to Dusty Payne of Hawaii.

But Simpson and Waring moved on to the quarterfinals, Simpson by defeating 2006 Men’s U.S. Open champ Cory Lopez (Florida), 16.17 to 14.34, and Waring beat out Torrey Meister of Hawaii, 15.17 to 9.97.

Waring, last year’s runner-up to the Junior Pro title, had his magical run come to an end in the quarterfinals when he was outscored, 15.66 to 10.53, by Curran.

Simpson won his quarterfinal heat, beating Eric Geiselman (USA), 14.00 to 11.76.

That win set up a showdown with Boal in one of two semifinal heats.

“It’s awesome to have three locals go that far,” Simpson said. “You expect it from Timmy because he’s one of the best surfers in the world. For Chris, though, it’s amazing. He doesn’t have a lot of experience as the rest of these guys, so this is a great breakthrough for him.”

Also Sunday, Tanner Gudauskas of San Clemente won the Junior Pro and Taylor Jensen (Encinitas) won the U.S. Open of Longboarding.

On Saturday, the two women’s titles were decided, as 14-year-old Malia Manuel of Hawaii became the youngest U.S. Open champion by winning the Women’s U.S. Open crown. She defeated fellow Hawaiian Coco Ho.

But Ho still had plenty of reason to celebrate Saturday: prior to competing for the Women’s U.S. Open title, she won the Supergirl Junior Pro title. In that final four-person heat was Courtney Conlogue of Santa Ana.

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