WET ‘N’ WILD WITH ROCKIN’ FIG:

Happy New Year everyone, with good health, prosperity and mucho waves to ya!

Just wanna give a little recap of last year’s big stuff. At the start of 2008, the first a.s.p. contest of the year saw San Clemente’s Pat Gudauskas win at Sebastion Inlet Florida to take the ratings lead, which he held for a bit of the season.

Big surf was rolling down the California coastline and San Clemente’s Greg Long caught that massive 80-footer at the Cortez Bank for XXL supremacy. Long then went on to take the win at the big wave break, Mavericks, in some 30-foot plus surf in the chilly waters later in January.

Sad news: Huntington surfer Dane Williams was at the Action Sports Retailer Trade Show in San Diego in January and was found dead in an alley. Still no clues on what happened.

The U.S. Open of Surfing went big time at the Huntington Beach Pier with more than 400,000 spectators checking it out. Local standout Brett Simpson went all the way to the semi finals before losing out in the waning seconds of that heat. He was also voted Orange County’s No. 1 surfer by 1.8 million voters recently.

Oxnard’s Nathaniel Curran went on to win the Open, surfing impressively and making the cut to the world championship tour. The O’Neill Cold Water Classic had some great surf off the point this year at Steamer Lane Santa Cruz. S.C.’s Nat Young took the win over H.B. Pier regular from Seal Beach Chris Waring by a close, quarter of a point in a hotly contested final. Surf City’s Micah Byrne took the overall Macy’s Trifecta Series Award with a semis appearance at the Lane. The Vans Pro in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, saw 8- to 12-foot barrels.

Local surfer Angelo Lozano found the bomb set to win, but Huntington’s Ryan Turner was the man of the event getting the most Sugar Shacks of anyone in his first w.q.s. pro final.

Hot local grom Kainoa Igarashi has been on fire in the NSSA, winning 18 events in all different categories, he’s on pace to set the record of most wins ever in a season.

Big news, the Mavericks contest almost wasn’t gonna happen due to a lack of sponsorship, but it’s on now if there are waves, the waiting period starts January. The Polar Bear plunge usually happens Jan. 1, that water’s mighty cold — 53 degrees for no wet suit.

The Katin Team Challenge comes back to the North Side of the pier this month. And the Nike 6.0 Pro at Lowers has been upped to a six-star contest and so has the Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz, meaning more points and more prize money. Those snow storms left our mountains with more than 4 feet of snow and pushed most base depths to 2 to 5 feet, with packed powder conditions.

That’s it for now see ya, Fig over and out.

RICK FIGNETTI is a 10-time West Coast champion and a longtime KROQ-FM surfologist. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.