Top Surfer Andino Leads the Field at Lower Trestles

Dino Andino of San Clemente, the current leader on the Professional Surfing Assn. of America Tour, will be among the 256 surfers competing at the $100,000 Body Glove competition this week at Lower Trestles at Camp Pendleton.

The competition began Tuesday with trial rounds and continues through Sunday.

Andino, who finished second overall on the tour the last two years, leads second-place Charlie Kuhn of Indian Harbor, Fla., 5,350 points to 4,743 in the overall standings. Only three stops remain on the 11-event tour.

Andino is coming off consecutive second-place finishes at the Laguna Sportswear contest at Salt Creek Beach and the Malibu competition in July. He has yet to win a PSAA contest this year.

Besides Andino, other Orange County surfers expected to compete include Matt Archbold (San Clemente), Shane Beschen (San Clemente), Vince De La Pena (Laguna Niguel), Pat O’Connell (Laguna Niguel) and Colby Outlaw (Huntington Beach).

Defending Body Glove champion Christian Fletcher of San Clemente advanced to today’s second round with a victory Tuesday. Also advancing were Craig Etchegoyen of Newport Beach and Nathan Fletcher of San Clemente.

Kelly Slater of Cocoa Beach, Fla., one of the top young surfers on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals world tour, also will be competing. He’s scheduled to surf in today’s third round.

Mike Stewart leads the bodyboarding standings by 668 points over fellow Hawaiian Ben Severson.

The competition will begin each day at 7:30 a.m. The finals for the surfing and bodyboarding divisions are scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Sunday.