Dawn till dusk at Trail Six

RICK FIGNETTI

The first event of the Western Surfing Assn.’s 2005-06 season was

held Aug. 7 down at Trail Six at San Onofre. The turnout was good, as

the beach was packed and the heats went dawn till dusk.

The surf was on the small-scale side, in the 1- to 2-foot range,

which made it tough on the competitors to find a good set or a wave

to transfer to the next round. The art of small wave surfing was

definitely on.

The new season brought some of the Huntington crew out and a few

reached the finals.

In the girls’ longboard 12-and-under division, Paige Ortiz -- part

of the HB Wahine team -- placed fifth with some nice rides. In the

girls’ 17-and-under, Huntington’s Jenna Balestar -- daughter of

legendary shaper Tom Balestar -- finished third with some good rides,

and fellow Surf City resident Nicole Jenderko placed fifth.

In women’s 18-and-under longboard, first place went to Kana

Keohokapu, who’s been surfing around town lately; and Newport’s

Adelle Ricci finished second with some fancy footwork.

Tess Lustbaum finished fifth in the open women’s short board

competition, slashin’ it up.

The waves weren’t that small to Jessie Steelman, who placed first

in the boys’ 13-and-under bracket, bustin’ some moves.

In the masters short board competition, Japanese transplant Yusuke

Sahara placed fourth. He also took fourth in the open men’s division

too.

In the seniors, a pumped up H.B. crew of Troy Bertrand, James Webb

and Jeff Combs took a two, three, four, sweep of the division.

Big Pat Schlick was in the groove in the grand masters division

and came up with the victory, and the Figster came in a close second.

And in the legends division, top dog Gilbert Perea won again, and

Newport’s Daryl Halvorson -- the prime time photographer -- was

second.

Next up is Seaside Reef in Encinitas for event two on Sept. 11.

The H.B. Pro Am Surf Series finished the year off at Golden West

Street last weekend in some fun 2- to 3-foot-plus surf.

In the big time pro division final, Capistrano’s Chris Drummy put

in a solid performance to win it and $1,000 in prize money. Seal

Beach’s up-and-coming Chris Waring pulled into second with some

action packed moves. Jay “the Larsonator” Larson was third and shaper

Ryan Sakal rounded out the top four.

Some of the winners of the other divisions included: Zach Plopper

bashin’ the lip in men’s; Tyler Newton going off in juniors; Jeff

Schones won the boys’; Ian Crane won it in the groms.

Masters was won by Bill Seitz, who was getting some good ones

connecting through. Super men’s was dominated by “Fast” Eddie Flores.

The longboards was taken by Scotty Stopnik, with some toes on the

nose moves. The women’s division was won by Courtney Conlogue, who

won the overall 2005 series too. Congrats!

Finally, a swell. The smallest summer that I can remember,

surf-wise, in the last couple years finally got some waves earlier

this week outta the southwest. Locally, the lines started to show

Tuesday, with Wednesday clocking in with some overhead sets. Nice.

We did have a small hurricane off the tip of Baja and picked up a

little tropical swell from that last weekend. But the big mack attack

storm hasn’t hit yet.

The pesky old red tide that comes and goes has still been hanging

out this week, and the water has finally warmed up again to the mid-

to upper 60s.

It’s the last couple weeks before the colleges and high schools go

back to school, as summer is winding down.

That’s it for now, see ya. Fig over and out.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an nine-time West Coast champion, has

announced the U.S. Open of Surfing the last 12 years and has been the

KROQ-FM surfologist for the last 18 years, doing morning surf

reports. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at

(714) 536-1058.