Wet ‘N’ Wild with Rockin’ Fig:

At the end of January, they held the Kneeboard Surfing USA Open Championship at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. The surf was pumping that weekend with 3- to 6-foot plus good-shaped rights and lefts breaking out the back and reforming in.

A pretty decent-sized crowd of spectators and contestants was on the beach hooting and cheering for all the good rides, making it a festive atmosphere.

In the big-time open division, which featured some veteran rippers, Bill Lerner from Black’s Beach caught the bombs for the win. But Huntington Beach local Mike Butler was leading the final most of the way with the high-scoring wave, where he threw a huge roundhouse cut back and a couple big hits, but couldn’t back it up with a solid second score and ended up placing third.

In the triple-A division, Surf City’s Greg Shewman had the right moves for the victory, powering some turns.

This was an important event for the kneeboard association, as big points were allocated for the higher placings, which will rank competitors for possible U.S. team slots for the Phillip Island, Australia Kneeboard Surfing World Titles from March 19 to 26, 2011.

“Big Tony” Alvarez orchestrated a party at Duke’s restaurant afterward with raffles and prizes.

The new hot surf line Bolsa Clothing donated a lot of the killer giveaways. Butler was stoked after the event, and he thinks he might have a slot for Phillip Island.

Speaking of Australia, in the land Down Under it’s the start of the ASP World Tour at the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks. In the first round, Huntington’s Brett Simpson blew it up with a win over Dane Reynolds and Roy Powers, moving into Round 3. Nine-time world champ Kelly Slater had the highest scores of the round, almost averaging nines a wave. World champ Mick Fanning won easily, as did Gold Coast local Joel Parkinson and rookie Owen Wright. Losing in Round 1 but winning Round 2 heats were the U.S.’s Bobby Martinez, C.J. Hobgood and Reynolds, Aussie Taj Burrow and South African Jordy Smith. More results next week.

In the women’s Roxy Pro, also at Snapper and looking good thus far, were world champ Stephanie Gilmore, scoring eights a wave with ease and Aussie Sally Fitzgibbons, Hawaiian Coco Ho and France’s Lee Ann Curren all ripping, too. Four-time world champ from Huntington Beach Lisa Andersen is doing a great job on the play-by-play for the Internet for the event.

Another big week for waves here again. Sunday was macking 15-foot and gnarly. Monday had some 8-foot sets and was going off at the pier, too.

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.