Pier pumpin’ for series

RICK FIGNETTI

The Huntington Beach Pro Am surf series held its third event of the

season on the south side of the Huntington Pier over the weekend.

Semi-overcast skies prevailed, but there was a combo swell outta the

southwest and west that pumped up the surf action.

The local contingency did quite well, starting with the pros as

Surf City’s Micah Byrne was tearing it up to take first place. Byrne

picked up $1,500 with the close win over Hawaiian and former U.S.

champ Jessie Merle Jones.

In the men’s final, H.B.’s Chris Broman was on fire in taking the

victory, and Seal Beach’s Chas Chidester won the juniors with some

action-packed moves. In masters, Jason Russo caught some nice ones to

place first, and in the super men division, Phil Lockman was slashin’

away for the win. Longboarder Kelly Kraushaar was doing the fancy

footwork and claimed his division, while H.B.H.S. ripper Sara Taylor

won the women’s.

A heartfelt moment was the break at 11:30 on Saturday, before the

Mike Morgan paddle out. There were some touching speeches made by

good friends: Scott Waring, a former national teammate of his from

way back; Peter “P.T.” Townend, a former world surfing champ; Barry

Deffenbaugh, a great Hunting- ton surfer-shaper; Mike “M.D.” Downey,

another top-notch announcer and former resident, and even Rep. Dana

Rohra- bacher, who had some really nice things to say about Mike.

Then it was the hugest paddle out I’ve ever seen: 400-500 surfers

in the water and the pier lined with all his friends paying their

last respects. The “Morganator” will be greatly missed, but never

forgotten.

The next H.B. Surf Series contest is scheduled for Aug. 13-14 at

Golden West Street.

Over in Fiji, the championship tour finished the Globe Pro at

Restaurants on Tavarua in epic 6 to 10-foot wedgy barreling lefts.

Make it two in a row for six-time, 33-year-old world champ Kelly

Slater who scored a big-time 19.33 points out of a possible 20 for

the win in the prestigious final. Slates took out fellow Floridian

C.J. Hobgood quite convincingly in the final, Hawaiian Freddy Boy

Pattachia in the semis and Aussie ripper Dean Morrison in the

quarters.

The win puts Slater back in first place in the current ratings and

he could be vying for his seventh world title, which would be pretty

remarkable. C.J. took out Hawaiian Bruce Irons in the semis -- in a

tight barrel-riding contest. The U.S.A.’s Corey Lopez lost in the

quarters after some great rounds.

Bad news for the longboard pros. The world championships scheduled

for Biarritz, France, have been called off. It was supposed to be in

the middle of July, but now the next world championships will be in

2006.

Speaking of France, I saw former world longboard champ, Joey “the

Hawk” Hawkins from H.B., who won his title there a few years back, at

the 100-year H.B.H.S. sports banquet at the Hilton. Hawkins was

hangin’ with none other than “Tony G” Gonzales, the pro football star

from the Kansas City Chiefs, and yours truly, the Figster. See ya ...

* RICK FIGNETTI is a nine-time West Coast champion. You can reach

him at (714) 536-1058.