San Clemente Surfer Can’t Catch Plane Out of Mexico and Misses His Heat : Surfing: Shane Beschen’s quest for the PSAA tour title is dealt a serious setback.

It was a dark day for some of the home boys at the Body Glove San Clemente Surf meet. Sixteen surfers gained a spot in today’s quarterfinals during Saturday’s competition, but a no-show raised more eyebrows than any of the show-offs who were trying to make the most of a weak one- to two-foot southwest swell.

San Clemente’s Shane Beschen, ranked No. 3 on the Professional Surfers Assn. of America tour, could not get a plane out of Mexico in time to make his morning heat. He had been mixing business and pleasure during a photo session and surfing vacation in Isle de Natividad.

“I know Shane is fuming,” said Jim Hogan, another San Clemente surfer who is a top-ranked PSAA pro and longtime friend of Beschen’s. “But when you go to Mexico, you have to be aware of the potential travel problems. It’s really unfortunate, though. A real bummer.”

Beschen, who gets zero points as a no-show, figures to take a free-fall in the PSAA rankings and his quest for the tour title has been dealt a serious setback.

Hogan also knows all about difficult blows and shattered dreams, however. He re-injured a knee in his first heat during the PSAA meet June 23 in Oceanside and is now No. 8 in the rankings . . . and will probably slip lower. The injury required surgery--the second procedure on the same knee--and now he’s just hoping to be ready for the Aug. 8-12 PSAA stop at Salt Creek in Laguna Niguel.

Dino Andino, the sole remaining member of the trio that has become known as the “San Clemente Mafia,” kept the hometown crowd’s hopes alive by unanimously winning his heat and advancing to the quarterfinals.

“I felt like I was going pretty slow out there today, but I guess I got a couple of good waves,” Andino said. “Hopefully, we’ll get a little better swell (today).”

Dana Point’s Chris Billy also lamented the lack of swell after winning his heat to advance. “It’s pretty hard to recognize what’s a good wave,” he said. “It’s mainly just a bunch of ripples out there.”

Hogan, of course, would have been grateful to be among the select group taking on the late-afternoon slop on the north side of the San Clemente Pier.

He underwent surgery to repair cartilage damage after the final PSAA event of 1989, but the knee “popped out” during the first PSAA contest of 1990 in Puerto Rico. He manipulated the knee back into place and somehow managed to finish second to Newport Beach’s Richie Collins in the meet.

Hogan walked down and put his jersey in the water Saturday morning as his heat paddled out, which meant he earned $100 and, much more importantly, 282 points, for participating. Beschen, who won the PSAA Bolsa Chica meet in May, was to be a favorite here this week. One thousand points goes to the winner.

“You want to know how crucial those 282 points are?” Hogan said. “If this meet were in Florida, I’d have flown out there just to touch the water. Last year, Mike Lambresi won the title by four points. Four points.”

Surfing Notes

The much-anticipated Heat No. 8 during the morning’s first round of the main event lived up to the hype. Florida teen-ager Kelly Slater pulled off the big maneuvers again and bested veterans Noah Budroe of Huntington Beach and Chris Brown of Santa Barbara. In the battle for second, Brown, the PSAA’s top-ranked surfer, edged Budroe, ranked seventh, to advance. Two judges had Brown second and Budroe third, two had Budroe second and Brown third and one had them tied for second. Budroe clearly had a more consistent session, but only the best four of 10 waves are judged. The tiebreaker system compares the best three rides and Brown, who had two spectacular waves early in the heat, got the nod. A red-eyed Budroe looked over the tally sheets, added up the numbers again and shook his head in disbelief. “It’s cool, man,” he said, looking toward the judges’ tower as he walked away. Slater took second place in the second round of the main event and advanced to the quarterfinals. Brown was eliminated.

Other Orange County surfers advancing to the quarterfinals were Pat O’Connell and Vince de la Pena of Laguna Niguel; Brian and Terence McNulty of Capistrano Beach; Bryan Pottger of Fountain Valley, and Matt Archbold of San Clemente.

Jim Hogan hasn’t wasted much time while rehabilitating his knee. When he’s not undergoing therapy, he takes long walks in the sand and in the water. And when he’s not working on improving the strength of his knee, he’s watching videotapes of his surfing or attending contests to observe his opponents.