Huntington Beach Hopes to Ride Op Pro’s Wave

Put away the tide charts and get out the board wax, because the granddaddy of mainland U.S. surfing contests, the Op Pro competition in Huntington Beach, kicks off Tuesday morning at 6:30.

The six-day event, which ends with finals on Sunday, is expected to attract more than 200 competitors and thousands of surfing enthusiasts to the city’s famed pier.

“Surfing is a big part of what Huntington Beach is, and we do have a reputation as the surfing capital of the United States. We’re hoping to have a good, problem-free Op contest,” Mayor John Erskine said.

For the city, hosting the event, which includes the Miss Op bikini contest at 10:30 a.m. on Friday with the finals at the same time Saturday, has become a municipal ritual and another opportunity to stamp the city’s credentials as the nation’s Surf City, USA.

“Revenue is not the key issue for holding an event of this size,” said Max Bowman, Huntington Beach community services director.

The city, Bowman said, views the event as a public service, not only as a recreational activity for the city’s 185,000 residents, but for the general public.

“A contest of this size not only gives our residents something to do, but it promotes the city, the city’s businesses and improves our qualify of life. It’s a positive impact,” he said.

Although no surveys were available, revenue from the influx of spectators--in 1986 an estimated 100,000 reportedly saw the finals--is “sizable,” Bowman said.

Beach concessionaires and local restaurants near the pier all do a brisk business during the event.

The venue, an old, damaged pier that has been home to surfboarding contests since the late 1950s, has long been popular for its consistent wave faces on the pier’s south side, which break left to right with a perfect southwest swell.

But this year is different.

The 74-year-old Huntington Beach Pier has been closed indefinitely, declared structurally unsafe after its years of exposure to sea and salt air and its battering by many Pacific storms, the latest on Jan. 18.

“It’s a sad sort of coincidence that we lost access to the pier right before the Op Pro. But fortunately, the city allowed us access on the pier for the media covering the contest,” said Daniel McCue, whose firm is handling public relations for Ocean Pacific Sunwear Ltd., the contest’s sponsor.

Organizers estimate that at least 5,000 viewing spots were lost due to closure of the pier. However, spectators will be able to sit, free of charge, in bleachers holding about 15,000 seats.

To accommodate the public, McCue said, an additional 3,000 seats will be constructed on the south side of the pier.

He did warn that those people expecting good seats should arrive early.

“Hey, it’s like the Rose Bowl Parade, so the earlier the better. For Saturday and Sunday, you’re looking at events that start at 7 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

National television coverage of the event will be handled by ESPN. Also covering it will be local broadcasting stations and other news media, McCue said.

Once again, television cameras will roll to capture the event and popular surfing stars, such as Tom Curren of Santa Barbara, Tom Carroll of Australia, Kim Mearig of Carpinteria and Wendy Botha, a South African who recently changed citizenship to Australia. First-place winners will earn about $12,000.

This year’s top male surfers, in addition to Carroll, include Damien Hardman, 1988 world champion; Gary Elkerton, a runner-up in the world championship; Barton Lynch, last year’s Op Pro winner, and Martin Potter, originally from South Africa and now living in Great Britain.

Curren, world champion in 1985 and ’86 and the only American among the top six male contestants, will see whether he can wrestle the Op championship from the Australians and South Africans.

Australians Rule

“The Australians have run the show in surfing’s professional ranks ever since we started having pro contests,” said Matt Warshaw, managing editor for Surfer Magazine in San Juan Capistrano.

“It will also be interesting to see how Tom Carroll, who still is generally regarded as the best surfer in the world, will do in this contest,” Warshaw said.

Organizers say that those in search of dark-horse contestants to cheer for should come early for the Tuesday and Wednesday heats.

Last year’s surprise was Sonny Garcia, a Hawaiian professional who was unseeded yet who survived more than a dozen heats before he was defeated in the finals.

With 24 heats for non-seeded trialists, on Tuesday, then more heats through the week, contestants who survive to enter Sunday’s finals “are literally spent and exhausted,” McCue said.

Latest Maneuvers

For thousands of enthusiasts, the contest means an opportunity to watch world-class surfing and see the latest in wave maneuvers. A major surf contest allows weekend surfers to see how “floaters” and “aerials,”--the stuff usually seen only in surf videos--are performed.

An aerial is an extended version of the “off-the-lip” move, with a surfer turning 180 degrees in midair before settling back on the wave.

A floater is performed when a surfer blasts off the lip and whips his board shoreward and rides the breaking wave as it cascades down.

This year, one thing is certain: Contest organizers, the city and police agree they do not want a repeat of the 1986 Sunday surf finals, which erupted into a riot.

“We like to say it was a beach disturbance,” Bowman insisted. “Riot is a very strong word.”

Youths on a Rampage

In fact, the mere mention of that day puts a grimace on the faces of city staff and police officials.

Hundreds of youths went on a rampage, pelting police officers with rocks and bottles, and overturning and burning police vehicles. At least 12 people were injured, including five Huntington Beach officers and a county sheriff’s deputy.

After the 1986 debacle, an ad hoc city committee recommended that only the surfing event and popular Miss Op bikini contest take place the last week in August rather than Labor Day weekend.

Deployment of police will be geared for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with at least 15 officers on foot and in 4-wheel-drive and all-terrain vehicles, said Huntington Beach Police Lt. Michael Biggs, who is in charge of special events.

“As the contests progress toward the end of the week, we’ll have a few more people deployed,” Biggs said.

In addition, contest organizers are providing 30 additional security people to monitor the VIP area and judging area and help protect competitors as they enter and leave the water.

Police will cite people who are drinking alcohol in public, drunk in public or in possession of drugs, he said.