Op Pro Surfing Championship : Hurricane Hector Could Provide Big Waves for Big-Business Meet

Hurricane Hector is making waves off the coast of Mexico this week, which may mean good news for the Op Pro Surfing Championship at Huntington Beach.

The expected south swell will be good for the surfers, good for the fans and good for business.

Business?

“It’s true,” said Todd Hamilton, the 1987 Assn. of Surfing Professionals rookie of the year. “Surfing is becoming a professional sport. People think of us as beach bums, but that’s not the way it is. They think it’s all glamour and spending all day at the beach, but it’s not. We’re in a very competitive business.

“I think the tour is where pro tennis was 20 years ago. The money’s getting better, more sponsors are signing on, TV is more interested in us. And this event has played a big part. I think of it as the Wimbledon of surfing.”

The seventh annual championship is billed as the premier event on the ASP tour. A mandatory stop for the top 30 pros, the Huntington Beach event attracts a field of more than 200 and crowds in excess of 25,000. It also carries a purse of $70,000. The main event starts at 7 this morning at the Huntington Beach Pier and culminates in men’s and women’s finals on Sunday.

The men’s field includes two-time world champion Tom Curren, defending Op champion Barton Lynch and defending world champion Damien Hardman. The women’s field includes defending Op champion Wendy Botha and two-time Op champion Frieda Zamba.

Yet because it is an open event, there is a tinge of mystery to the Op. Some brash new amateur could ride a crest to the finals and leave the veterans in his wake, as Hamilton did just two years ago.

A Cocoa Beach, Fla., native who began surfing at age 9, Hamilton trained with a group at Huntington Beach in the summers of his teen-age years. He dreamed that someday he could compete in the Op contest.

“Mostly fantasy, I thought,” he said. But he entered the field in 1986 and, after finishing 17th, turned pro--all before his 18th birthday.

“The Op will always be special to me because it kind of got me on my way,” Hamilton said. “I finished ninth last year, and this year I want to finish in the top five. Of course, I’ll be trying to win. Everyone does.”

At 19, Hamilton is considered to be one of the rising stars of the ASP tour. He finished 27th in money last year, pocketing $11,000. But the real money comes from endorsements. Hamilton is a member of Team Op, which includes Curren, former National Scholastic Surfing Assn. champion Chris Billy and former ASP women’s champion Kim Mearig.

“I would say I came along at the right time as far as the money is concerned,” said Hamilton. “It’s a good way to make a living. I get to travel around the world, making money doing what I love.”

This year’s tour began in Japan and made stops in Florida, New Jersey, Hawaii, South Africa and Brazil before coming to Huntington Beach. The travel can be a pretty heady experience when you’re young, Hamilton said. But when the surf’s up, it’s all business.

“It’s still a matter of who catches the best waves and does the most with them,” Hamilton said. “You’ve got to be on your toes.”