Wet and Wild with Rockin’ Fig

Rick Fignetti

The spring fling has come and gone for the groms. One week out of

school and now it’s back to the books, but next up is summer. It was a

chilly break for us all, as skies along the coastline were pretty cloudy

lots of those days. The water is still freezing when usually by now we

would be busting out those spring suits. They say El Nino is coming, but

it looks like it got here early with wintry conditions, although that

year I remember summer had water temps in the 70s for weeks. A couple fun

days of small surf at the end of last week were found, right here in

Huntington Beach on the south side sand bars with that little southwest

and some west swells trickling in. We just can’t seem to get any swells

consistently hangin’ out.

Suntan skiing and boarding at our local mountain resorts areprobably

down to the last week for you skiers and boarders. Most have shut down

with the warm air temps, it’s been up to the 60s, with spring-like

conditions. In Big Bear, Bear Mountain and Snow Summit they still have

one to two and half foot bases, with some thin spots starting to show.

Snow Valley and Mountain High are closed for the remainder of the season.

Farther away, Mammoth Mountain still has a five to seven foot base with

great coverage, all terrain still open and should keep going until June.

Over in Australia they just finished up the second world championship

tour event of the season, the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Victoria. It

was worth big money, $250,000 in all.

The Rip Curl Pro has run an incredible 30 years,the longest running

pro contest in Australian history and will definitely play a roll in

deciding this year’s world champ. Former winners include; former

mega-time world champ Mark Richards who won it four times, Hawaiian

shredmaster Sunny Garcia three times, the tri fin inventor Simon

Anderson, the U.S’s style master Tom Curren and power goofy footer Tom

Carrol two times.

Not to forget Slates and even Newport Beach’s Ritchie Collins back in

1992, taking top honors. Last year Aussie upstart Mick Fanning blasted

his way to first as a wild card and opened some eyes with his radical

style of surfing.

So in 2002, in good 2- to 4-foot surf, it’s Hawaiian Andy Irons

busting the moves to win the final and the $30,000 purse. The win puts

Irons first in the standings as the World Champion Tour heads to

Teahupoo, Tahiti for the Billabong Pro next. In second was the veteran

Sunny Garcia putting up yet another great performance at Bell’s. Equal

thirds Aussies Danny Wills and Occy. World champ C.J. Hobgood finished

equal ninth, while U.S. surfers Taylor Knox and Corey Lopez were equal

17. Kelly Slater pulled out of the event because of a family illness on

the East Coast. I hope all is well there. And that pretty much wraps it

up for now. Keep your fingers crossed for waves. Fig over and out.

* RICK FIGNETTI is a six-time West Coast champion, has announced the

U.S. Open of Surfing the last eight years and has been the KROQ-FM

(106.7) surfologist for the last 15 years where he’s done morning surf

reports. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at (714)

536-1058.