Surf Tour Returning to Huntington Beach

After a two-year absence, the Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ world championship tour will return to the Huntington Beach Pier in the summer of 1994.

ASP tour officials have added the $130,000 U.S. Open of Surfing for July 28-Aug. 7 of its 1994 schedule. The event will be at the south side of the pier, the same site of the Op Pro, which is now a world qualifying event in late June.

The U.S. Open field will include more than 220 participants, beginning with a three-day qualifying event. The top four finishers advance to the world tour event that follows.

The contest is organized by Prime Ticket Properties, part of the Prime Ticket sports television network.

Prime Ticket, which has televised the Bud Pro tour for the last four years as well as the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ beach tour, will show the U.S. Open on a delayed basis.

Don Meek, director of sports marketing with Prime Ticket, said the organization has received preliminary permission from the city of Huntington Beach to hold the event. He added that several details still needed to be worked out with city officials.

It will be the first world tour event on the U.S. mainland since the July 1991 Op Pro at the pier.

Meek said Prime Ticket officials began organizing an event last summer, when the Op Pro dropped from the world tour and switched to a specialty team event.

Op had filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 last summer and offered an $85,000 purse, $40,000 shy of the amount required for a world-tour contest. The Op Pro changed to a qualifying event this year and offers a $60,000 purse.

Meek said the U.S. Open will fill more than just a void in the local surfing scene.

“We’ve done a terrible job of educating the public about surfing in the past,” he said. “We hope we can change that with this contest.”

Meek said contest organizers hope to establish a carnival-like atmosphere at the competition site with luxury boxes for sponsors and several exhibitors such as board-shapers and wetsuit manufacturers to entertain, and educate, the fans.

“It’s similar to what the NFL has done with the ‘NFL Experience’ ” he said. “This will be the ‘ASP Experience’ ”

Meek said the network also will incorporate several features and graphics into its telecast to explain moves and scoring criteria.

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Op Pro officials have received commitments from several of the world’s top surfers, including defending world champion Kelly Slater, Seal Beach native Marty Thomas, Hawaii’s Sunny Garcia, Brazil’s Flavio Padaratz, Australia’s Barton Lynch, Todd Holland of Cocoa Beach, Fla., Newport Beach’s Richie Collins and San Clemente’s Mike Parsons, the 1991 U.S. champion.

A field of 224 surfers, many of them local trialists, is expected for the event.

The women’s competition will be an ASP specialty pro-am event, and many of the top-ranked surfers are expected to miss it. The event offers a $7,500 purse and is expected to include Huntington Beach’s Nea Post, former Huntington Beach resident Lisa Andersen and former U.S. amateur champion Janice Aragon.

Tim Buechler of Titusville, Fla., will be back to defend his Op Junior amateur title. The 48-surfer field also will include San Clemente’s Josh Vesque and Chris Drummy of San Juan Capistrano.

Five-member teams from the United States, Japan, Brazil, Australia and Europe-Africa will compete for a $14,000 purse in an international tag-team tournament similar to the one Op experimented with last summer. Teams will be chosen prior to the event based on ASP rankings.

Team USA, which featured Holland, Slater, Collins, Parsons and Alisa Schwarzstein, beat Team Australia in last year’s finals.

The Op Pro Schedule

Sunday, June 27--6:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.--First three rounds of Op Junior amateurs, 1:30 p.m.-2:50 p.m.--Women’s first round, 2:50 p.m.-3:30 p.m.--Op Junior fourth round, 3:30 p.m.-4:50 p.m.--Women’s second round; Monday, June 28--7 a.m.-5:40 p.m.--Men’s first- and second-round trials; Tuesday, June 29--7 a.m.-12:20 p.m.--Completion of men’s second-round trials, 12:20 p.m.-3 p.m.--Men’s main event first round; Wednesday, June 30--7 a.m.-9:40 a.m.--Completion of men’s main event first round, 9:40 a.m.-3 p.m.--Men’s second round, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.--Tag team first round; Thursday, July 1--7 a.m.-3 p.m.--Men’s third and fourth rounds, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.--Tag team second round; Friday, July 2--8 a.m.-9:20 a.m.--Men’s fifth round, 9:20 a.m.-10:20 a.m.--Tag team third round, 10:20 a.m.-11:20 a.m.--First round of Miss Op sports model contest, 11:20 a.m.-12:20 p.m.--Dory boat races; Saturday, July 3--8 a.m.-9 a.m.--Women’s semifinals, 9 a.m.-10 a.m.--Men’s semifinals, 10 a.m.-11 a.m.--Miss Op sports model finals, 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m.--Women’s final, 11:30-noon--Men’s final, Noon-12:30 p.m.--Op Junior final, 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m.--Tag team final, 1:30 p.m.-2 p.m.--Awards presentation.

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Beach volleyball: San Clemente’s Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes of Pacific Palisades tied an Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ record with 13 consecutive victories last season, a streak that ended at the Seal Beach Open.

And they’re at four and counting so far this season.

Kiraly and Steffes, top-seeded for this weekend’s tournament in Philadelphia, have won seven of 10 tournaments, six of the past seven and the past four in a row--Ft. Worth, Tex., San Diego, Boulder, Colo., and Cleveland. They’ve made the finals of every tournament but one--May 8-9 at San Antonio, Tex., where they started last year’s winning streak.

If Kiraly and Steffes keep their current pace, they could tie the record of 13 at Seal Beach. There are 11 stops remaining on the tour.

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Kiraly and Steffes aren’t the only players tearing up the beach. San Diego’s Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan of Santa Monica have won five of six tournaments on the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour. They take a two-tournament winning streak into this weekend’s event at Hermosa Beach.

Beach Notes

The Newport Beach Parks, Beaches and Recreation Department will conduct several beach volleyball camps this summer with pro stars such as Janice Opalinski Harrer and Scott Friederichsen. The four-day camps are for beginners and advanced players ages 12-18. For more information, call 714-644-3151. . . . The Central Coast surf and fun camps are scheduled for July 25-29, Aug. 1-5 and Aug. 15-19 near Pismo Beach and Atascadero. For information contact Sky Jumpers at 805-466-8119.