Surfing Contest Opens on Peaceful Note

This week, Matt Karl has the best job in Orange County, by his standards.

Usually, the 23-year-old USC student spends Aug. 3 as he does most other summer days: atop the main lifeguard tower on the Huntington Beach Pier watching what probably is the busiest stretch of beach in Orange County. There were more than 100 rescues there Sunday.

But late Monday morning, Karl was leaning back on a tall stool, feet up on the sill of the tower’s huge panoramic windows, watching the best of the world’s surfers slide by as if for his entertainment only.

It was opening day of the Ocean Pacific Pro Surfing Championship, and Karl had absolutely the best seat in the house.

The stretch of beach that usually is Karl’s main worry--the section just southeast of the pier--is off limits to swimmers during the six-day competition. During those days, Karl is expected to watch the competition closely on the slight chance that one of the expert surfers might need assistance. One hit a pier piling two years ago.

Karl is not complaining. “This is definitely my sport,” said Karl, himself a surfer. “It just, I don’t know, seems like a natural thing to do. It’s just you and the wave. No teammates. Lots of speed and no engine. There’s so much energy in the ocean, so much power, and it’s fun to think you can be in control for a little while.”

This is not entirely a paid vacation for Karl. As a senior lifeguard, Karl shows up for work at sunrise. Before the other lifeguard towers open at 9 or 10 a.m., he is responsible for watching 3.3 miles of beach and surf, from Beach Boulevard to the cliffs south of Bolsa Chica. To help, he has a pair of binoculars so large that they are mounted on a TV camera dolly.

But when the towers open, Karl can relax and concentrate more on his own area.

It was a “decent” opening-day crowd for the annual event Monday, Karl said--about like last year’s. Turnout was sparse in the grandstands erected on the pier and the beach, and there was plenty of room on the sand as well. The crowd, estimated at 8,000, was relaxed and trouble free.

“There were no problems on the beach today,” said Sgt. Jerry Evans of the Huntington Beach police. “Everyone had a grand old time.”

Glenn Wilk, a spokesman for the contest, said: “We finished on time and everything went smoothly,” he said.

Still, Karl said, “the problem we had last year kind of puts everybody on edge.”

Last year, a riot broke out on Aug. 31, the final day of the competition, resulting in 40 people being injured, at least 30 arrested, five police and lifeguard vehicles destroyed or damaged and a lifeguard station looted.

Karl, off duty at the time, was on a lifeguard tower within sight of the riot. “It was just black smoke and flames (from burning vehicles). From that tower, I could have walked to where the riot was on the heads of the people, they were so packed on the beach. At the last part (of the competition), there’s just no sand left to stand on. People stand in the water under the pier.”

This year, the event was scheduled three weeks earlier to avoid the Labor Day weekend mobs. Police have added more officers to patrol the beach. They were evident Monday as they rode their three-wheeled cycles over the sand.

Some of the lifeguards must work harder, too, Karl said. An extra lifeguard is on the beach to make sure that swimmers stay out of the competition area, and another is on the judging stand acting as liaison with the promoters.

And then there is Karl in his breeze-cooled tower observation room. “This,” he said, “is what seniority gets you.”

Monday’s competition consisted of elimination heats among California surfers, both professional and amateur.

Crowds are expected to increase as the finals among the top surfers approach. The largest crowds are expected Friday for the semifinal surfing competitions and the finals of the beauty contest, and Saturday, for the surfing finals.

“Come Friday, you won’t find a place to stand out there,” Karl predicted.