Del Taco offers tasty series waves

Wet and Wild with Rockin’ Fig

The beaches have been the place to be, especially with sizzling

temperatures in the 90s inland. The perfect solution has been to take

a refreshing dip in the ocean. That has been bringing the crowds down

to Surf City.

With a mixture of fun south swells and water temps in the upper

60s, things couldn’t be better, and that set up the Del Taco H.B. Pro

Junior Surf Series with ideal conditions.

Our local surfers went huge in the event, starting with a one-two

combo in the Pro Juniors by the two former Huntington Beach High

School team captains, Brad Ettinger and Shaun Ward. Ettinger surfed

clean as he worked his waves through the reform, completing the

finishing maneuvers, and at 18 was the youngest to take a win. Ward

had some good exchanges and pulled into second.

Finishing in third and fourth were San Clemente’s Matt King and

Patrick Gudauskas.

In the Macho Air show final, Huntington Beach’s Brandon Guilmette

busted a big air on his first wave and pulled a 7.0 score to take an

early lead and the eventual win over Ventura’s Adam Virs.

Former world champ, stylemaster Joey Hawkins was in top form to

take the longboarding.

It was a big battle in the master blaster division with Mark

Austin taking it over Jason Haughey in a close one.

In the men’s division, Huntington Beach lifeguard Greg Eisele took

first-place honors, ripping big time.

In juniors, pier rat shredder Chase Newsome had the moves to

capture the win and Newport Beach’s Andrew Doheny won super groms.

The World Quality Series points-rated Elmore Toyota tour was down

south at Imperial Beach right by the border last weekend, getting

some fun 2- to 4-foot surf. Solana’s Jeremy Sommerville won it,

pocketing $2,500 with some impressive surfing, while Newport’s David

Giddings got second. Seal Beach ripper Ryan Simmons was third and

Hawaii’s Shawn Sutton fourth. Huntington Beach’s Jeff Deffenbaugh and

Danny Nichols lost out in the quarter finals after having some good

heats.

The next event will be in Huntington from Aug. 16-18 at Golden

West Street.

Don’t forget the Professional Surfing Tour of America is coming to

town this week with the Havaianas Pro. Rumor is, former three-time

world champ Tom Curren’s in it, plus other shredders like Simmons,

the points leader; former U.S. champ Dino Andino; and the Huntington

underground shredders too.

Huntington Beach’s surfing basketball coach Rudy Baker, who’s been

coaching over at Corona Del Mar High, is running his annual

basketball tournament this week. He’s claiming some big schools are

in it -- Huntington Beach, Woodbridge and Mater Dei high schools --

and they’ve got some hoopsters that get wet, too. Should be some

great action.

That’s it for now, Fig, over and out.

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

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

KROQ-FM 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.