Surfing Judges Worked to Keep Fans From Riot

The judges at the Op Pro Surfing Championships in Huntington Beach apparently pulled a fast but wise one on the fans watching the contest in an effort to save them from the violence that erupted behind the viewing stands Sunday.

There were approximately 20,000 spectators watching surfing finalists Mark Occhilupo and Glen Winton battle it out for first place when the judges told the crowd that an additional heat was needed to determine the champion of the world-class event.

In fact, Occhilupo had won the first two of the best-of-three heats hands down, making him the winner.

“It was sometime during the second heat that it became apparent there was a significant disturbance behind the stands and at the lifeguard station,” said Jerry Crosby, the executive vice president of Ocean Pacific Sun Wear, the contest’s sponsor. “We announced instead that Occhilupo had lost the second heat because we saw an inevitable complication in that if we had announced the conclusion of the event, our spectators would have been released from their seats and into the crowd that was breeding the disturbance.”

What surfing, police and city officials were trying to save the spectators from was an escalating rampage that is being called the worst riot in Orange County history.

Hundreds of youths pelted police officers with rocks and bottles, storming a lifeguard station and setting fire to six overturned police vehicles.

Started Behind Bleachers

The riot erupted about 2 p.m. behind the bleachers being used for the final day of the surfing championships. Police estimate that there were about 100,000 people at the beach. About 156 officers from law enforcement agencies throughout Orange County came to the aid of the 20 Huntington Beach police officers who were on duty but overwhelmed by the violence.

Witnesses said the melee had nothing to do with the contest but instead was triggered by two or more men behind the bleachers who were trying to take off the bikinis of two young women. When police tried to help the women, a bottle was hurled at one, and the situation just escalated, police said.

At some point during the disturbance, Ian Cairns, the executive director of the Assn. of Surfing Professionals, suggested that the judges announce that Winton had won the second of the heats and that a third contest be contrived to keep the people in the stands.

Crosby said police, city and surfing officials on hand agreed to the scheme and approached the two surfers.

“We told the two surfers exactly what we were doing, and they willingly went into the water and began a third heat,” Crosby said.

The judges then, “as slowly as we could,” made an orderly presentation of checks and trophies before releasing the fans from the stands, Crosby said.

Dan McCue, Ocean Pacific public relations representative, said the group also announced that a skateboard performance would be restarted, a further attempt to draw attention away from the chaotic scene.

“Our effort was to save our fans the misfortune of being confused with people who were there not to watch the surfing,” Crosby said. “We tried to prolong the mingling of the crowd to allow the police to push the rioters past our site before our people were asked to leave.

“In spite of all that was going on around us, we were able to maintain security in our contest site with reasonable ease. We think the riot could have been worse, a more complicated situation.”