Budroe Nearly Wipes Out Before Catching First Wave : Surfing: Despite his ranking, Huntington Beach resident’s planning lapse forces him into qualifying trials at San Clemente meet.

Sometimes, it pays to be a little disorganized. Planning ahead isn’t always the best course. Just ask Noah Budroe.

The Huntington Beach surfer returned from an East Coast promotional tour with a sponsor on the day of the entry deadline for the Body Glove San Clemente Surf meet. He called contest officials, who basically said, “Sorry, tough luck. Want to put your name on the end of the 30-signature alternate list?”

Wednesday morning, the first day of competition at the San Clemente Pier during this sixth stop on the Professional Surfing Assn. of America tour, Budroe learned he would be surfing this week, after all. And surfing a lot. All the way through the qualifying trials, which is an odd route for a guy who is No. 7 in the PSAA rankings and No. 39 on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals world tour.

But Budroe has discovered it’s not a situation without advantages. He came into the meet with $5,525 in PSAA earnings this season and already has picked up another $150 in pocket money thanks to the $75 award to the winner of each heat.

“I got in some good practice and made a little money on the way,” said Budroe, who normally would not have competed until Saturday.

Thursday afternoon, Budroe advanced to today’s fifth round after a second-place finish in a Round 4 heat, which figured to be the most competitive of the day. The drama was gone before it began, however, and then what had been a fairly consistent two-to-three-foot southwest swell disappeared for much of the 20-minute heat.

Two surfers from each four-man heat advance and everyone knew who they would be before the horn sounded. Noel Rahme, of Huntington Beach, apparently missed his flight from the East Coast and amateur Ryan Ragan, of San Francisco, was left pining for his frigid home waters after a stingray, enjoying the 74-degree water off San Clemente, left his mark on Ragan’s right leg and foot when he was “free-surfing” to warm up.

So, with nothing to lose, Budroe’s battle with 18-year-old sensation Kelly Slater was more show time than showdown.

When a set finally arrived, Budroe caught a shoulder-high wave near the pier and pulled off four slashing backside cutbacks. But Slater grabbed the next wave and countered by going airborne over a breaking section and landing under control.

Slater, from Cocoa Beach, Fla., edged Budroe by a half-point on three of the five judges’ cards.

Budroe, who has finished No. 5 in the PSAA rankings the past two years, already has made two finals this season, finishing third and fourth. He learned to ride waves in Hawaii after his parents moved to Sunset Beach, home of the famed North Shore break, on the island of Oahu when he was 1.

Budroe moved to Huntington Beach five years ago, however, forsaking good waves for good business. He wanted to be closer to his clothing-manufacturer sponsor and compete in the California-based PSAA tour.

“Hawaii has the best waves in the world, no doubt, but you’re so far out of touch there,” he said. “Everything’s happening on the Mainland. This is where all the money is. It’s really a struggle to get a sponsor in Hawaii.”

Budroe also discovered he liked the level of competition and the size of the paychecks on the PSAA tour. He won the first PSAA contest he entered, an event in Malibu in 1985, and that was enough to send him home to pack.

“I’ve never finished higher than 17 in an ASP meet, never been able to crack into those top seeds (on the world tour),” he said. “They have other pro contests in Hawaii, but there’s so many good surfers over there and they give like $500 to the winner.”

There’s a check for $5,500 awaiting Sunday’s winner here. And Budroe doesn’t mind paddling out a few extra times with that kind of money at stake.

Surfing Notes

Costa Mesa’s Mike Cruickshank, the PSAA points champion in 1986, competed in a wet-suit hood Thursday. He was trying to protect a recently ruptured eardrum. The hood apparently worked well enough to allow Cruickshank to win his heat to advance to the fifth round. Other Orange County surfers who advanced to today’s competition include Kirk Tice, Joey Zintel, Jeff Deffenbaugh and amateur Mark Austin of Huntington Beach; Jim Pinkerton, Mark Lindblad and Matt Archbold of San Clemente; amateurs Kasey Curtis and Shane Stoneman of San Juan Capistrano; Chris Billy of Dana Point; Brian McNulty of Capistrano Beach; David Giddings of Corona del Mar, and Glen Tilly of Laguna Hills.