Surfing Finals Set for Today at Salt Creek

The South Coast surfing contest finals will be held today at Salt Creek County Beach in Laguna Niguel. The event is the fifth leg of the U.S. Pro surfing tour.

Surfing will start at 7 a.m., with the finals scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. The body boarding competition will start at 7:30 a.m., and its finals are scheduled for 2 p.m.

The competition, which began Friday, has featured several upsets in the surfing and body board divisions.

Scott Farnsworth of Huntington Beach, who has been ranked among the top 30 surfers this year, was eliminated in the third round. Newport Beach’s Todd Miller, who finished second at the recent Wild River surfing competition, was eliminated in the fourth round.

In body boarding, the current world amateur champion, Chris Cunningham of Huntington Beach, lost in the first heat.

John Parmenter, Kolby Outlaw, Kirk Tice, Bud Llamas and Craig Comen from Huntington Beach and Steve Ward, Andy Fomenko, Brandon Sabor, Dino Andino and Jim Hogan from San Clemente advanced to today’s surfing quarterfinals. Chris Mauro and Jeff Booth of Laguna Beach, Mike Cruickshank of Dana Point and Brian McNulty of Capistrano Beach advanced as well.

The body board quarterfinals, which start at 10 a.m. today, will include J.P. Patterson and Bill Hebner of Huntington Beach, Tom Prince of San Clemente and Joe Oscar of Fountain Valley.