They Crave ‘Sickest’ Waves, Endure O.C.’s Sickly Surf

Members of the Assn. of Surfing Professionals used to be required to have a note from their doctor to get out of competing in any World Championship Tour event. Of course nobody wanted to fake an illness when there was a chance to surf the sickest--current surf vernacular for most awesome--waves on earth at places such as Teahupoo in Tahiti and Tavarua in Fiji.

Rocketing off the lip at one of those powerful paradise reef breaks is what these guys live for. Trying to slash through the slush that often accompanies the annual WCT event at Huntington Beach? Well, let’s say the only time anyone mentions the word sick, it’s in reference to the bacteria level in the water.

But with today’s first 8 a.m. heat in the Bluetorch Pro and through the men’s final Sunday afternoon, the world’s best surfers will return from the remote jungles where they wage their battles in relative obscurity and mingle with the mainland folks who buy all those surfboards and shirts and shorts and wetsuits and sandals and watches and sunglasses and myriad other surf-related accessories that make the pros lives as wave wanderlusts possible.

Most understand this and paddle out for their heats on the south side of Huntington Pier with every intention of doing their best to wow the tens of thousands who line the pier and beach, make their sponsors proud of them and even win the darn thing. After all, the ranking points and prize money are the same as other WCT events, even if the waves seldom are.

“The event has been fodder for criticism by the athletes for years,” said Dick Baker, CEO of Irvine’s Ocean Pacific Apparel Corp. a former sponsor of the WCT stop in Surf City, “but it’s a focal point for surfing in North America, it has great history and tradition and the city is very supportive.

“And the most important thing, when you add the U.S. Open [that runs Monday through July 30 at the same site], it’s a high-profile two-week window for the surf industry to reach a much broader audience.”

Pros who fail to grasp this concept usually are quickly enlightened by their sponsors, who tend to be fond of having a couple hundred thousand beach-goers walk by booths full of their wares. And they encourage their spokespeople not to downplay the event’s importance.

But . . .

“The majority of the surfers hate coming to Huntington,” said Hawaii’s Sunny Garcia, currently No. 1 on the WCT rankings. “The waves are small and it’s usually terrible. Me personally, I love it. I love California. I love the people, the crowd lining the pier.

“But the trend now is to go to good locations, so one day there might not be any contest in Huntington. And as far as I’m concerned, that will be a sad day.”

TEARS OF JOY?

Despite his feelings, Garcia may end up spearheading a bid to have the WCT leave Huntington Beach.

Garcia, the recently elected president of the newly formed World Professional Surfers Assn., says one of the reasons the group of ASP members was formed was to have more of a say in “where we want our contests.”

“We decided we were going to stand as one in what’s best for our sport,” he said. “We want to change a bunch of things and unless we stand together as a bloc, we can’t get anything done.”

The members will meet for the first time Monday morning to discuss an agenda, but Garcia said venues and prize money will be tops on the list.

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?

There have been a few epic contests at Huntington Beach, including a three-year stretch in the mid-80s when hurricane-propelled swells slammed into the pier.

In 1985, Hurricane Olaf produced 15-foot waves for a day. In 1986, it was Hurricane Xavier that created six- to 10-foot swells and the waves were a solid six feet in 1987, thanks to Hurricane Hillary.

“I just got here from Jeffrey’s Bay [in Australia], which is one of the best spots in the world, but it wasn’t very good,” said 1999 world champion Mark Occhilupo. “Looking back at the times I’ve surfed here, and I’ve won twice [the 1985 and ’86 Op Pro], the waves were good and there was a huge crowd, which made it all the better.”

So much for the highlights of the last dozen years. The lowlights are too numerous to enumerate. During last summer’s finals, they were measuring the waves in inches instead of feet.

“It’s always nice if the waves come to the party,” Occhilupo said.

BUMPS ON THE HORIZON

Occy may get the right kind of guests.

The prediction for the swell for this week’s Bluetorch Pro and next week’s Panasonic ShockWave U.S. Open is, well, looking up. We’re not talking Pipeline here, but decent waves that Sean Collins, surf forecaster with Surfline in Huntington Beach, describes as “contestable.”

“We’ve got two swells, a local northwest wind swell that will be building [today] and a Southern Hemisphere [south] swell that will start coming through on Thursday,” Collins said. “They’ll combine to give us fun waves in the three-foot range that should build into some five-foot sets for Friday and Saturday with a bit of a drop off on Sunday.”

Two swells are actually better than one, Collins says, because it makes for more peaky conditions, which means waves with shoulders that allow surfers to go left or right and provide time for maneuvers and aerials.

Collins is keeping his eye on a storm below Tahiti that he believes will start producing five- to eight-foot swells by late next week.

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Pro Surfing

* What: Bluetorch Pro, $168,100 World Championship Tour professional surfing event, featuring 48 of the best male and 15 of the top female surfers in the world.

* Where: South side of Huntington Beach Pier

* When: Today through Sunday. Women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (2:15 p.m.) on Saturday; men’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (12:40 p.m.) on Sunday.

* Today’s schedule: 8 a.m.-2:40 p.m.--pro men’s Round 1 (Heats 1-16); 2:40-4:20--pro women’s Round 1 (Heats 1-4).

* Admission: Free.

* Parking: Available at city structure on corner of Main and Olive streets.

* Webcast: Live on www.bluetorch.com

* Information: (949) 215-8000