Crowd swells

Mike Sciacca

To gain true perspective of the sea of spectators who crammed the

Huntington Beach Pier and its south side on Sunday, you needed to be

in the water, looking inland.

That’s the “incredible” view U.S. Open of Surfing winner Cory

Lopez said he had on the final day of the $225,000 Philips Fusion, an

action sports, technology and music festival that was winding down

from a busy and jam-packed nine-day stay at the beach.

“It was an amazing sight,” Lopez said, describing the sensation he

felt as he looked toward shore and the pier while he surfed the men’s

final of the $125,000 Honda Element U.S. Open of Surfing presented by

O’Neill.

Lopez went on to win the U.S. Open men’s title.

“When you’re on the sand, you get the feeling that there are a lot

of people out here,” he said. “But, out there in the water, looking

back, you gain a really great perspective of the magnitude of people

here. It was just incredible. I’ve never surfed in front of a crowd

this large.”

The estimated 85,000 on hand for the final is a world-record crowd

for a surfing event, event organizers said.

The 26-year-old Lopez, who hails from Indian Rocks Beach, Fla.,

was intoxicated by the crowd’s cheers and fueled by the fanfare.

He grabbed the crowd’s attention early on in the men’s 30-minute

final heat and didn’t let go.

He etched a heat-best score of 8.83 on his first ride, doing a

floater on a 6-foot wave and concluding with two vertical snaps.

Australian Taj Burrow posed a minor challenge, but just couldn’t

get the wave to catch up to Lopez, who never looked back after that

first wave and conquered his first U.S. Open championship.

Lopez survived a men’s final four that also consisted of 1998 U.S.

Open and reigning world champion Andy Irons of Hawaii, Burrow and

first-time U.S. Open finalist Bobby Martinez of Santa Barbara.

Lopez won with 16.60 points, despite entering the final, he said,

“a bit tired from having to surf so many heats today.”

Burrow was second, with 15.17 points, Irons was third, with 10.94,

and Martinez placed fourth, with 7.83 points.

Five years ago, Lopez’s older brother, Shea, won the U.S. Open

men’s title.

“I felt really good from the start -- and I felt even better after

that first wave,” said Lopez, who collected a cool $15,000 first

place paycheck. “I’m just stoked to win such a major event in front

of so many, many people. This was a great showcase for surfing.”

It was a perfect setting for the final day of Philips Fusion, with

temperatures in the 80s and clear skies above.

There was some rolling thunder heard throughout the afternoon, but

it came from the pounding of 10,000 O’Neill-branded “thunder sticks,”

which were used by many of the spectators.

The thunder sticks could be heard loudly when Martinez, in the

last 10 seconds of his third and final qualifying heat of the day,

clinched a spot in the men’s final.

“I’m beyond thrilled,” said Martinez, who qualified for his first

final in a six-star rated event. “It’s so hard to explain how great

it is to make the finals.”

The 21-year-old suffered a broken shoulder last year and missed

the 2002 U.S. Open.

“This is just a great way to come back, to surf so well at this

event in front of family, friends and my girlfriend,” he said.

“There’s just so much excitement here in Huntington.”

As the final horn sounded ending the 30-minute heat, Lopez, in the

water near the mid-pier mark, raised his arms in triumph and accepted

congratulations from Irons. “This is my first U.S. Open victory and

it’s definitely something that I’ll always remember,” Lopez said.

Before the men’s final, Hawaii’s Kekoa Bacalso repeated his

triumph of 2002 by winning his second consecutive $10,000 Lost Pro

Junior.

Saturday’s women’s final saw Australian Chelsea Georgeson, 19,

score her first major World Qualifying Series victory in the United

States by winning the Honda Element U.S. Open of Women presented by

O’Neill.

Georgeson beat out Pauline Menczer, two-time defending champion

and fellow countrywoman, second-place finisher, to claim the top

prize of $6,000.

The O’Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding title went to Imperial

Beach’s Taylor Jensen, who edged out San Clemente’s Colin McPhillips

for first place.

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at [email protected].