Surfers Catch Waves, Fans Catch Rays as Pro Tour Visits Ventura

The waves rose and the sun shone Sunday for the finals of a professional surfing competition swinging through Ventura for the first time in four years.

“The sun came out and the surf’s coming up,” an announcer blared through a loudspeaker. “We’re all happy.”

Contestants and onlookers said waters had been flat Wednesday through Friday, the first three days of the competition. And competition promoters said the gray days may have kept crowds from coming out to watch.

But about 1,000 surfers and surfing fans flocked to the beach Sunday to watch their heroes compete in the finals of the $35,000 Body Glove Summer Pro surfing competition, a leg of the Professional Surfing Assn. of America’s Bud Pro Surfing Tour.

“It’s pretty killer,” said 18-year-old Kent Pollock, as he caught sight of the athletes that he has read about in sports magazines and seen on television shows. “I love watching it.”

The five-day event--complete with grandstands, a VIP lounge and a 25-foot-high inflated beer can--concluded Sunday with awards to the top contestants.

Since Wednesday, 160 surfers and 39 bodyboarders--many of them professional athletes with corporate sponsors--competed in this leg of the nationwide tour.

“Most people think of surfing in the ‘60s, back with Gidget, Moondoggie and the Kahuna,” said Ronnie Meistrell, vice president of Meistrell Sports Promotions, which runs the surfing tour. “It’s nothing like that. It’s big time.”

The contest, held in an area known as the Stables, just west of the Ventura Fairgrounds, was the sixth stop on the 1991 tour.

The tour came to Ventura from 1985 to 1987. But promoters decided to skip the locale when wave forecasters told them that the surf quality was lacking during the summer, Meistrell said.

However, after surfing the area himself, Meistrell decided that the forecasters were wrong. He said the tour will return to Ventura next year.

The waves--which one surfer described as “totally hideous”--measured only one to two feet high during the first three days of the competition. By Sunday, a swell from Tahiti was delivering two- to three-footers.

Other matters also clouded this year’s contest, among them the arrest Friday morning of two professional surfers on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl, police said.

But many locals were enthusiastic about the competition, saying it offered inspiration to young surfers.

Amateur Sean Hayes, 19, of Ventura was disqualified in the second heat. But he said the experience was great. “It’s a boost of confidence,” he said.

Vendors hawked ice cream, tacos and sausages as a wave-by-wave commentary filled the air.

A few people sat along the bleachers. Other passersby stopped their bicycles or afternoon walks to gaze at the men riding the waves. Serious viewers clambered down the rocks to sit as close to the beach as possible, watching the four finalists bob in the gray water about 100 yards from the shore, jockeying for position to catch the biggest wave.

As he floated onto a promising swell, Matt Archbold stood up on his board. Known for his “slice” and “cutback” moves, Archbold zigzagged along the wave for about 75 yards, riding gracefully toward shore. Arriving, he shook his shoulder-length blond hair from his face and paddled back out to catch another.

The contest was scored by five judges who rated the surfers on length of ride, hitting the wave at the right spot, wave size and difficulty of maneuvers.

After the half-hour final heat, Archbold, who has already won one contest on the circuit this year, was pronounced the winner.

Archbold, 22, of San Clemente, said he didn’t think that he would be able to compete Sunday because of abdominal pains Saturday evening so severe that he went to the hospital. Doctors said they believed that he was suffering from a hernia.

After picking up $5,550 in prize money, Archbold said he was “stoked” by his win. So, apparently, were his fans.

A crowd gathered around the victor, asking him to sign T-shirts and magazines as he stood on stage and later, as he tried to climb into a car to go home.

Sean Kanter, 17, said he enjoyed seeing the athletes that he has read about.

“I think they’re cool,” he said. “They’re rad. They rip. That’s the bottom line.”