Some tips heading into summer

WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN FIG

The first official day of summer hit last Saturday, with the summer

Solstice marking it’s debut, although it’s been hard to tell with the

weather a bit on the cool, cloudy, misty side. This week we should

get back to some sunshine though, as that high pressure is building.

It looks like it could be a pretty nice weekend at our local Surf

City beaches if it does.

The surf has been pretty darn good even with the bogus weather,

and one day last week the north side of the pier was going Richter.

World Qualifying Series star Timmy Reyes was back in town for the

south swell and got one of the sickest barrels ever seen in

Huntington Beach on about a 10-foot-face, mack-daddy set. He pulled

in and got super deep with only about a foot of the nose of his board

sticking out, then popped out after the disappearing act with the

greatest of ease. Local hot-shot Danny Nichols was seen pulling into

some barreling rights, like Shaun Tomson at Off the Wall getting

piped a few times, and Shawn Ward got some deep ones too, not to

mention a couple huge airs as well. Mike Hoisington got one of the

largest waves cranking a big bottom turn off of it, easily double

overhead, and Micah Byrne was tearing it up too, as were a lot of the

local crew.

I know the groms were stoked in the channel and were cheering the

rides with screams at the top of their lungs on some of the good

ones. Haven’t heard that much chatter in a while.

The pro’s usually know how to handle the big stuff, but for new

groms some water safety tips include:

* If you’re caught in a rip tide, don’t fight it, try to stay calm

and swim parallel to the shore.

* Check for obstacles in the water, like the pier or jetties, and

see which way the current is pushing to avoid them. They usually also

have sharp barnacles on them that can scrape or cut your skin by

barely touching them, so beware.

* Watch out for shallow sand bars, with the swells moving the sand

around, it could be shallower than you think, so avoid diving off

your board, many surfers have had neck injuries form hitting the

bottom head first.

* If you’re not sure of the surrounding conditions, check in with

the lifeguards as they are experienced watermen and can answer most

questions or help out if you are injured.

* At some beach’s they fly flags, green means generally safe

conditions, yellow means proceed with caution and red means there’s

hazardous conditions, so proceed with great risk.

* With the water warming up there could be some of those pesky

sting rays hanging out, shuffle your feet as you head out to try to

avoid contact with them. And keep an eye out for jelly fish too,

avoiding contact will keep you from getting skin rashes.

* Don’t forget the sun block, sun burn is painful and skin cancer

is even worse, so take care now.

Have a great summer and be safe.

I’ll be down at the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. Nationals

this week doing some play by play on the microphone down at Lowers as

the best amateur surfers in the nation will be hanging there Tuesday

through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Another south swell is slated,

so come on down and check it out. See ya there.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an eight-time West Coast champion. You can

reach him at (714) 536-1058.