HUNTINGTON BEACH : Local Officials Criticize Surf Contest

The Op Pro Surfing Championships, a fixture in Huntington Beach for 11 summers, came under criticism Friday for shifting in recent years from individual to team competition, leading to a decline in attendance and a lack of international surfing stars.

Paul Cook, chairman of the Downtown Chamber Committee, said he will push to form a committee to press the city and Op to take steps to restore the tournament to a major international level. Op has one year left on a three-year contract with the city to sponsor the event.

Cook also said the tournament should be scheduled to coincide with a citywide Pierfest celebration in late summer when waves supposedly are better. He said the tournament should be timed with other events, such as kayak and dory racing, “and be a big old beach event.”

Joe Adams, tournament director for Ocean Pacific Sunwear Ltd. of Tustin, acknowledged that crowds have been down recently. The unfinished pier curtailed turnout, he said. And this year, the day of the finals June 28, two big earthquakes struck in Southern California and helped erode attendance.

Adams said next year’s tournament will feature a combination of team and individual competition.

Steve Bone, chairman of the board of the Chamber of Commerce, said local officials have a great deal of respect for tournament sponsors but are “frustrated by the control of Op and the international surfing circuit.”

Local officials would like to have more voice in the schedule and format, two factors that haven’t been conducive to a good turnout in recent years, he said.

“We have the world’s best beach and the world’s best surf. We deserve the world’s best competition,” he said.

Bone said he believes that it would help if Op and the Assn. of Surfing Professionals would select one week in the summer for the championships and not vary the event from year to year.

Adams said Ocean Pacific Sunwear currently gives $85,000 in prizes and that anything more than that is not economically feasible.

This summer’s event drew top television ratings, he noted.