Ballard Stays on Straight and Narrow

It’s understandable if Hawaii’s Rochelle Ballard was nervous for her first heat in Round 3 at the Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ U.S. Open Wednesday at Huntington Beach. In fact, Ballard said she was downright paranoid.

That’s because last week at Huntington Beach in the World Championship Tour event, Ballard was eliminated in the round of 16 after an interference call against her effectively cost her any chance of advancing.

“I just kept looking around to make sure,” Ballard said of Wednesday’s heat in the World Qualifying Series event. “But the girls were great and everyone was watching out for each other. They knew what happened to me last week, so it was like everyone said, ‘Let’s just go surf.’ ”

And Ballard surfed well, scoring a 7.50 on her first wave before comfortably advancing to the quarterfinals along with Australia’s Neridah Falconer out of their heat.

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Australia’s Layne Beachley, who won last week’s elleven Pro at Huntington Beach, understands Ballard’s fears. So what’s Beachley’s solution to avoid conflict and possible interference infractions with the four-surfer heat format for the U.S. Open?

She just avoids everyone.

“There’s a lot of jostling and I’d prefer to stay away from all of that hassling,” said Beachley, the two-time defending WCT champion. “Fortunately, it’s a big enough playground out there. I just like to surf.”

Beachley advanced with fellow Australian Prue Jefferies out of her heat to today’s quarterfinals.

Others advancing included defending U.S. Open champion Keala Kennelly of Hawaii, Megan Abubo of Hawaii, Tita Tavares of Brazil and Australia’s Pauline Menczer, the former world champion. Menczer had the day’s best wave score with a 9.00.

Notables who were eliminated included Australia’s Serena Brooke, who was the second-ranked surfer on the WCT last season, Laguna Beach’s Alisa Cairns and Seal Beach’s Jodie Nelson.

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International Women’s Surfing announced its formation Wednesday at Huntington Beach, to help “guide the growth” of the sport, with one of its first objectives to create events apart from the ASP men’s WCT.

In a press release, IWS stated it wants to showcase women’s pro surfing by creating a schedule of women-only events beginning in 2001, with a schedule completed by September. IWS will work in conjunction with ASP, to develop a tour comprised of approximately two-thirds women’s-only events and one-third existing joint ASP events with the men.

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Jeff Deffenbaugh was one of the Orange County surfers who advanced to today’s round of 128. The former touring pro had one of the day’s best scores with 17.25 points to win his heat.

“I’ve spent six weeks getting ready for this event, mentally and physically,” said Deffenbaugh, 27, who grew up in Huntington Beach. “I’ve been here before, and I’ve done this for years, so now it’s just a matter of going out and getting the right waves.”

Others advancing included Brad Gerlach and Wyatt Simmons, both of Huntington Beach, and San Clemente’s Dino Andino, Chris Drummy and Gavin Beschen.

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Winners in Round 3 of Wednesday’s Junior Pro U.S. Open included Mission Viejo’s Matt King, Laguna Beach’s Mike Todd, and San Clemente’s Chris Baiata and Dane Reynolds.

The winners advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals, which begin at 1:40 p.m.

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Ian Cairns, the founder of the Assn. of Surfing Professionals, was forced to resign his non-paying job as director of ASP North America after 18 years because of a perceived conflict of interest with his duties as vice president for Bluetorch.

Cairns will continue to run the Bluetorch Pro WCT event--if there still is one--and the U.S. Open (a World Qualifying Series event) in Huntington Beach. He will also remain a member of the ASP executive board.

“This was a labor of love for me and Alisa,” said Cairns, a former world champion, whose wife, Alisa, was ranked as high as No. 4 in the world while also acting as unofficial travel agent and counselor for many of the newer surfers on the tour. “We clearly remember the wonderful times we had as athletes traveling the tour and all we learned from it. Really, we’re just surfers trying to help the sport grow.

“We’ve put a lot of years into the ASP, and even subsidized it by reaching into our own pockets when we had to. If they want to believe that we have conflicted interests, then they can have it.”

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Times correspondent John Weyler contributed to this story.

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Professional Surfing

* What: $300,000 action sports festival features men’s surfing with the $100,000 U.S. Open of Surfing, women’s surfing with the $25,000 U.S. Open of Women, plus juniors’ surfing, longboarding, bodyboarding, BMX biking, skateboarding, in-line skating, a beach exposition and outdoor concerts. Wakeboarding and freestyle motocross will take place at Lake Elsinore.

* Where: South side of Huntington Beach Pier

* When: Today through Sunday. Women’s semifinals, final (1:50 p.m.) on Saturday; men’s quarterfinals, semifinals and final (1 p.m.) on Sunday.

* Today’s schedule: 7 a.m.-12:20 p.m.--men’s surfing, Round of 128, Heats 1-16; 12:20-5:40--men’s surfing, Round 96, Heats 1-16.

* Admission: Free.

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

* Webcast: Live on www.bluetorch.com

* Information: (949)

215-8000