Not Even Surf Is Constant at Op Pro : Surfing: The Huntington Beach event has rocky history, but continues to bring sport into the limelight.

Australia’s Ian Cairns was one of the world’s top professional surfers in the 1970s, although you could never tell by the reaction when he paddles into the lineup these days.

When Cairns goes surfing, he’s often greeted by surfing’s generation gap--an unfriendly crowd of kids and young adults. Most of them aren’t too excited about having an older guy surfing their turf.

“You should listen to some of the things I hear from them,” Cairns said, smiling. “They have no idea who they’re talking to. I was surfing back when they weren’t even born yet.”

Surfers still have a way to go before becoming household names. But Cairns has hope.

The Op Pro championships, which start today at the Huntington Beach Pier, have “opened a window to a group of elite surfers” throughout their 12-year history. Crowds for the final day of past Ops have surpassed 40,000, and most surfers consider it their Wimbledon.

“The Op has meant a lot to surfing,” Cairns said. “There’s a trend now to make contests surfers’ events, to take them to great surf spots like Tavarua, where there are no crowds. But you also have to fill a need, we have a responsibility to bring the sport out to the people. It’s almost like missionary work.”

Australia’s Cheyne Horan, 32, compares today’s young surfers to professional baseball players. Both groups lack knowledge about their sport’s history.

“I could ask some of them 10 names of past greats and they might know who three of them are,” Horan said. “Some of them would say, ‘Who’s David Nuuhiwa?’ You have to explain to them that he’s one of the people who has been instrumental in why we surf the way we do today.”

For the record, Nuuhiwa is a former champion and one of the best to ever ride waves at the Huntington Beach Pier. Horan won the first Op Pro.

Over the years, Horan and Cairns have watched the contest weather the expected and unexpected.

1982: THE BEGINNING

Cairns pictured surfers as performers, with waves serving as their stage. What better place to have a surfing contest than in a theater atmosphere?

He convinced Op officials that a large stage, judges’ stand and grandstands perpendicular to the pier would give the contest a new perspective.

“The idea for the arena atmosphere came to me when I was surfing in a contest in South Africa,” said Cairns, who now helps run the Bud Pro Surfing tour. “The surf was small, and when we finished in the shorebreak, the crowd was close to us. I could hear them screaming and yelling, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to get an audience that was almost interactive?’ ”

Op also added a “priority buoy” to the format, allowing a surfer to gain priority on a wave by swimming around a buoy floating several yards past the break. Surfing traditionalists wondered if the buoy would work, but it soon became standard at pro events.

More than 50,000 fans showed up for the five-day event, which ended with Horan beating South Africa’s Shaun Tomson in the final.

“That final was the ultimate application of theater,” Cairns said. “The scores were announced, and the crowd knew what Shaun needed on the last wave to pass Cheyne. The place was going crazy.

“We had no idea that there was such a built-up demand to see the best surfers. But there was.”

1983: TOM CURREN ARRIVES

The Santa Barbara native quickly turned the Op into his contest. Using aerials, and 360-degree maneuvers, Curren beat Joey Buran in the first matchup of Californians in any ASP final. Curren’s smooth style made him a huge hit with fans, but his introverted nature steered him away from the large crowds at Huntington Beach.

1984: BIG-WAVE MADNESS

A huge swell during the trials produced some big rides as well as danger for competitor Willy Morris. While paddling out, a large wave knocked Morris into the pier, and his leash tangled around a piling. A shaken Morris was helped out of the water.

Curren won his second consecutive Op title, and Frieda Zamba of Flagler Beach, Fla., won the women’s championship, her first of five.

1985: THE BEST EVER?

Australia’s Mark Occhilupo came from behind to beat Curren in what many consider one of the best finals in pro surfing history. It certainly left a huge impression on San Clemente’s Dino Andino, an amateur at the time who watched the finals from the beach.

“Those guys were so impressive,” Andino said. “What they were doing out there that day was light years ahead of what everyone else was doing.”

1986: THE RIOT

Occhilupo won his second Op title, but it was overshadowed by The Riot, which apparently was triggered by two or more men who were trying to remove the bathing suits of two young women behind the Op grandstand.

When officers went to the aid of the women, hundreds of people pelted them with rocks and bottles, raided a lifeguard station and set fire to six police cars. Forty were injured and more than 100 officers were called to stop the disturbance.

Many of the fans watching the finals were unaware of the riot. Contest announcers told fans that an additional heat was needed to determine the winner when, in fact, Occhilupo had already won the best-of-three series. Officials feared that if the event ended during the riot, fans would leave their seats and join the rampage.

1987: THE FAN WITH A HEART

A pigeon fell off the pier during the event, in full view of a stunned crowd. One of the spectators, no doubt an animal lover, dived off the pier to save the drowning bird. His reward? Police arrested him for violating the “No diving from the pier” law.

1989: THE BOARD GAME

Curren, by now a three-time Op champion, cracked a fin off his favorite board while freesurfing north of the pier. He and boardmaker Al Merrick frantically repaired the fin behind the grandstands, and Curren used the board to win his heat. He didn’t get his fourth title, however. Newport Beach’s Richie Collins beat him in the finals.

1991: DOWN UNDER THUNDER

It was a good and bad year for the Australian surfers. Tom Carroll’s rental car, full of wet suits, surfboards and traveler’s checks, was stolen from the parking lot during the competition. Police later found the car, empty, a few miles away.

The same day, Carroll fell victim in the third round to unheralded Pat O’Connell of Laguna Niguel, who had upset second-seeded and former world champion Damien Hardman in the second round.

O’Connell lost in the quarterfinals and placed fifth, his best finish in a world tour contest.

Although O’Connell beat two of the top Australians, the men’s title wound up in the hands of Australia’s Barton Lynch.

Lynch beat Collins in ankle-slapping surf to win his second title.

For Zamba, it was a perfect day. Semi-retired, she set two Op records--winning an unprecedented fifth title, her third in a row. Curren’s three titles still lead the men’s division.

1992: THE QUAKE, THE BANK AND THE RIDE

Perhaps no year was more frustrating for Op Pro organizers than 1992. The surfwear company filed for protection from creditors in the spring, but promised the surfing event would go on as scheduled.

The Op’s prize money dropped to $85,000, $40,000 shy of the required amount to field a world championship event. As a result, the contest switched to a specialty team format, matching five-member teams representing six countries.

Several of the top surfers decided to skip the event, and crowds dropped well below the estimated 40,000 announced by contest organizers. Reconstruction of the nearby pier, wrecked by storms in the mid-1980s, also hurt crowds.

The waves didn’t cooperate either. The junior amateurs enjoyed five-foot conditions from a strong swell early in the week but Team USA beat Australia in one-foot conditions on the final day.

The final day got off to a shaky start, when a 6.5 aftershock following a 7.4 earthquake hit the contest site at about 8 a.m. during the junior amateur semifinals.

1993: THE FUTURE

For the first time since 1987, fans can watch the competition from the pier. Op officials are hoping for record crowds after last year’s disappointing turnout.

The contest scrapped the team-only format, switching back to an individual championship format with a tag-team competition as an added specialty event. Although not part of the world tour, the Op will offer qualifying points and a $60,000 purse, about half of a world-tour contest.

Thirty-nine of the world’s top 44 surfers have entered, and the Op also added a 16-man longboard division late last week.

Among those entered is David Nuuhiwa. After watching Nuuhiwa surf, maybe more of those kids will pass Horan’s Top 10 quiz.