Deffenbaugh, Hulse Hold Edge on Oceanside Waves

Six San Diego area surfers survived their heats and Jeff Deffenbaugh of Huntington Beach and George Hulse of San Juan Capistrano proved to be the hottest riders during the second day of qualifying rides in the $22,000 Nissan Open at the Municipal Pier Thursday.

Deffenbaugh and Hulse both averaged eight out of a possible 10 points in each of their top four rides, giving them 32 points out of a possible 40 for the day in the Bud Pro Surfing Tour event, which continues through Sunday.

Justin Poston of La Jolla, Jeremy Sommerville of Del Mar, Chuy Reyna of Oceanside and Doug Silva of Solana Beach were heat winners. Seth Elmer and Danny Hayward of Oceanside, who surfed in the same heat as Deffenbaugh, each finished second and advanced to today’s final round of trials. The main event starts in the afternoon.

Four of the county’s most highly touted surfers won’t take to the water until Saturday. Rob Machado of Cardiff, now second on the tour in points (3,250) and earnings ($10,925) on the Bud Pro Tour, will surf for the first time in the main event at 11:30 a.m. Taylor Knox (Carlsbad) and Mike Lambresi (Carlsbad) will surf at 7 a.m., and Colin Smith (Cardiff) will go off at 11 a.m.

The competition resumes today at 8 a.m.