Kicking off the fall surf season

The autumnal equinox occured last Thursday, marking the official

start of fall, a pretty good time for surfing along our coastline.

In fact, the National Scholastic Surfing Assn.’s Explorer season

kicked off right here in Surf City just a couple weekends ago at

Ninth Street -- or as the locals refer to it, Taco Bell Reef.

Some of our H.B. residents had some pretty good showings. In the

hotly contested juniors division, Allan Kincade, a product of

Huntington Beach High, took his first-ever win -- scoring an

impressive 8.5 wave in the final -- with fellow teammate and shredder

Logan Strook finishing fifth. San Clemente’s Kolohe Andino, a young

gun with talent, took menehunes -- that’s 12-and-under -- and won the

boys’ 13-14 too, with Newport’s Andrew Doheny placing a close third

in the 13-14 division.

H.B.’s Jenna Balestar, daughter of legendary shaper “Big Tom,”

ripped to first place in the women’s division, with Huntington’s

Sara Taylor taking fifth and Emily Hagen finishing sixth. And among

the gals, Shanae Driessen came in fifth in another close one.

Down south in Newport Beach last week at the Assn. of Surfing

Professionals’ World Qualifying Series OP Newport Classic at 56th

Street, they had some insane head-high to overhead surf, and there

was some big-time ripping going on.

In the pro final, Oxnard’s Nathaniel “Nate Dog” Curran was going

off, slashing away on his backhand and pulling some big scores to win

the first place purse of $5,000. H.B.’s air bustin’ Brett Simpson

closed the gap, finishing second place in the final. Those two are in

the top 30 in the tough World Qualifying Series standings and will be

heading to South America to try to make the big-time World

Championship Tour next season.

In third was East Coaster Asher Nolan, who had some deep barrels

out there. Rounding out the top four was Hawaiian ripper Hank “G-Man”

Gaskell.

In the Surf Shop Challenge, Jack’s took top honors with the hot

surfing of San Clemente’s Tanner Gudauskas and Huntington ripper

Chris Schiavone.

In the women’s, Hawaiian Melanie Bartels couldn’t be stopped.

Bartels dominated the semis and quarters and looked good after coming

back from a broken wrist, which kept her out of action nearly a

month. She also requalified for the World Championship Tour with the

win. In second was Kyla Langen, followed by Diana Mattison and

Darlene Conolly.

The women’s World Championship Tour is at Malibu next week, and

all the top gals will be there.

Over in France at the Quiksilver Pro in Hossegor on the World

Championship Tour, they’ve had big surf in the 8- to 10-foot range -- steep, hollow and barreling.

There were some big upsets as New Zealand’s Maz Quinn took out

Aussie Trent Munro, and Reunion Island’s 17-year-old Jeremy Flores

defeated Australian Mick Fanning. Sad news, as both Aussie surfers

are now mathematically eliminated from the world title race.

Wild card Californian Dane Reynolds is still rolling, as is

six-time world champ Kelly Slater -- in search of numero seven -- and

current world champ Andy Irons. Slates will face Flores next in round

three, and if he wins the whole event, that’s it. He’ll seal the deal

-- title No. 7 -- even with Brazil and Hawaii left.

Did I hear hockey star Jeremy Roenick of the Kings is going to be

taking surfing lessons? That’s right!

And 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.