South Coast Surf Meet : Laguna Beach’s Booth Rides Waves to Win; Lambresi Is Second

Jeff Booth of Laguna Beach used his mastery of Salt Creek beach in Laguna Niguel to take the $4,000 first prize in the $15,000 South Coast Surf Classic Sunday.

Booth, 18, who is currently second in the Professional Surfing Assn. of America’s overall standings with 3,499 points, maneuvered his way through a series of short but crisp waves to pull out the victory.

Mike Lambresi of Carlsbad, the defending PSAA champion and current points leader with 3,950 points, came in second and received $2,000. Paul Barr, also of Carlsbad, finished third and Jim Hogan of San Clemente was fourth.

Barr received $1,000, Hogan earned $710.

“I pretty much had my maneuvers set in my mind before going into the finals,” Booth said. “I wanted to get off to a good early start, not to panic and to get into the rhythm of catching waves early on. That’s been a strategy that has worked for me in the past, and I just stuck to that today.”

Booth, who said he often surfs at Salt Creek, and Barr, reached the finals by defeating John Parmenter of Huntington Beach and Brian McNulty of Capistrano Beach in one semifinal heat.

Lambresi and Hogan advanced by defeating Richie Rudolph of Cocoa Beach, Fla., and Kirk Tice of Huntington Beach in the other semifinal heat.

In the bodyboarding event, defending PSAA champion Mike Stewart of Kona, Hawaii rolled and spun his way to victory.

Keith Sesaki of Honolulu finished second and Ben Severson, of Honolulu, came in third. Ron Ziebell of Long Beach was fourth.

Stewart, who scored his fifth victory of the season, earned $1,200. Sesaki, the 1986 PSAA bodyboarding champion, got $610 and Severson earned $300 for finishing third.

“The waves seemed to lose a lot of size as the day progressed,” Stewart said. “It was a case where you had to hop on the waves at the right place at the right time.”