Spanning the globe

Don’t be surprised if you hear a few foreign accents around the Huntington Beach Pier this weekend. They’ll belong to a few surfers.

Running through Oct. 22, the International Surfing Assn. 2006 Lost Energy Drink World Surfing Games is landing on American soil for the first time.

Held every two years, the championships, considered the Olympics of surfing, brings together longboarders, shortboarders and bodyboarders from more than 30 countries.

The event begins with the Parade of Nations at 2 p.m. Saturday, during which teams will march down the pier, clothed in national colors and carrying their country’s flag. After the parade, each team will pour one bag of sand brought from their own country into a single acrylic box.

The sands will come from 34 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Venezuela and Switzerland.

That’s seven more teams that participated than last time, said Mike Gerard, president of Surfing America, the governing body of surf events in the U.S.

Gerard was involved in bringing much of the event together this year and making it a pride-filled time for Americans.

“Obviously we are honored to be the host country,” Gerard said.

The U.S. team of 10 riders includes one longboarder and three bodyboarders.

Actual competition commences on Sunday, and many are excited for the chance for the U.S. team to regain face after a disappointing competition in the association’s last games.

“I think the team in general got complacent,” coach Peter “PT” Townend said in an interview this summer.

In 2004 in Ecuador, the U.S. team came in 19th place, behind even Switzerland.

That’s how bad it was, Gerard said.

“This year we’re taking a completely dysfunctional program and bringing it all together to do the right thing and for the right reasons.” Gerard said.

Much of bringing it all together rests in the teammates chosen for the task, and the roster looks like it might provide such a hope.

C.J. and Damien Hobgood of Satellite Beach, Fla.; Pat O’Connell of Laguna Niguel; Chris Ward, Tara Parsons and Collin McPhillips of San Clemente; Jeremy Wright of Long Beach; Courtney Conlogue of Santa Ana; Julian Christian of Carlsbad; and Brad Mebust of Huntington Beach are the 10 U.S. names to keep watch over in these games.

Conlogue took home the title in July at the Surfing America USA Championships held in Oceanside.

Mebust, the lone Huntington Beach resident in the bunch, won second place in March at the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. state championships at the surfing spot Church’s in San Clemente.

“It’s been a personal mission to do my part by getting all the associations together,” Gerard said, although he will not take all the credit.

“It’s been a lot of hard work it’s been a lot of fun, to see everyone come together as a collective unit,” he said.