Foreign Surfers Arriving in Waves : Tourism: No other location in the world is quite the mecca for devotees of the sport, thanks in part to equipment makers and the local lifestyle.

The three Japanese surfers who walked into Jack’s Surfboards didn’t bat an eyelash at the $360 price tags for new surfboards.

They just pointed to a dozen shiny new boards displayed on a rack and, without haggling over prices, told the salesman, “We want that one, that one and that one.”

Traveler’s checks were hurriedly signed for the amount, which, with tax, came to $1,150. That business finished, they then asked, “Which way is Trestles?”

“They always say they want to go to Trestles,” said store manager Shawn Shehadeh, who drew the visitors a map and sent them on their way down Pacific Coast Highway.

Once a rare sight, today hundreds of Japanese, Australian and Brazilian surfers and other surfing travelers make a point of visiting Orange County each year, according to surf shop owners and industry experts. Many are not leaving.

“To the foreign traveler, California is a paradise. But aside from surfing, a lot of them come here because of the lifestyle,” said Thomas K. Brimer, owner of the Frog House surf shop in Newport Beach.

Orange County, more than any other location in the world, is a surfing mecca. More surfboard makers and more manufacturers and distributors of surfing apparel, wet suits, body boards and related water equipment are in Orange County than anywhere else.

“I think California is the most modern of all the surfing places in the world,” said Emerilson (Gio) Gil Emerin, 21, who left his native Brazil and has been in Huntington Beach for a year. “It’s got the best equipment in the world, the surf here is good, it’s got the best girls, and the best people.

“You walk in a surf shop in Brazil, and you find maybe one or two different kinds of wet suits. Here, you get 10 kinds of wet suits and 10 different manufacturers,” Gil Emerin said.

The Japanese arrive hoping to turn a small profit from their California trips. Like eager traders eyeing pork bellies, the Japanese buy surfboards low and sell high, taking advantage of a phenomenal demand in Japan for U.S.-made boards.

With gasoline at $3.82 a gallon, other petroleum-based products such as surfboards are exorbitantly expensive in Japan. In addition, having few surfboard shapers--people who sand and shape a surfboard blank into the finished product--means that California-made boards sell for $800 to $1,000.

“In Japan,” said Tokyo-born Takayuki Wakita, 18, who is staying in San Clemente for two months, Japanese-made “surfboards sell for $700. Everything is expensive and everybody wants an American-made surfboard.”

The Japanese come with tons of money. They are well-versed on surfing and surfing lore, although they have trouble pronouncing the surf spots, and they “try and buy anything” related to surfing, Shehadeh said.

“They buy an off-the-rack board for $360, use it for two months while they’re visiting here, then sell it in Japan for $800, and it helps pay for their trip,” Shehadeh explained, adding: “They’re willing to pay for the big names with big bucks.”

Current favorite surfboard models among the Japanese include those by Channel Islands Surfboards of Santa Barbara. The board’s popularity stems in part from several visits to Japan by Channel Islands Surfboard owner Al Merrick and by Tom Curren, one of the world’s most popular professional surfers, who is sponsored by Channel Islands.

To the Japanese, surfing in Orange County is a serious business. But to the Brazilians, Orange County is a fun place to party. For the Australians, it’s a combination of everything. Cultural perspectives can often get ruffled, said Brazilian Gil Emerin, who told a story about the time he took a girlfriend to Huntington Beach late at night.

“I was sitting on the beach around midnight and all of a sudden we hear this loud voice saying: ‘The beach is now closed. Go home!’ I said, ‘What do you mean, the beach is closed?’

“Then a Jeep pulls up and this cop tells us again, ‘The beach is closed. You have to leave.’ I argued. I mean, who can close a beach? In Brazil, our beaches are open . . . all the time. Only God can close a beach.”

For surfer Robert Bogie from Bell’s Beach, Australia, his native land’s rural coastline and natural beauty beats California’s, he said.

“But in California, it has a certain je ne sais quoi (I don’t know), a certain little something extra,” Bogie said.

Bogie, a 27-year-old accountant, landed at Los Angeles International Airport six weeks ago. Typical of most surf travelers, he didn’t know anyone and had no place to stay.

“I stayed overnight on the beach in Santa Monica with the homeless people. The next day I hitched a ride to a surf shop at Zuma Beach. I bought a board, surfed and met two women from Perth and West Germany. A week later, we drove down to Newport Beach, and we’ve been sharing expenses ever since,” Bogie said.

Bogie has surfed in Portugal, Bali and Hawaii. But when he first visited Orange County three years ago, he remembered what it was like to see the pier at Huntington Beach for the first time.

“It has a reputation because it was featured in some of the (surfing) magazines. I think that the Huntington Beach Pier, in regards to the California surf scene, represents a certain amount of nostalgia, and it’s that nostalgia you feel while sitting on the pier with the wind on your face and the sun shining on you. It’s a buzz to realize that all the world champions of surfing surfed here.”