SURFING / OP PRO CHAMPIONSHIPS : Deffenbaugh Gets Wiped Out by Last Waves of Heat

With 90 seconds left in his heat, Huntington Beach’s Jeff Deffenbaugh was sitting comfortably in second place, ready to advance to the second round of the Op Pro surfing championships.

A few minutes later, he packed his surfboard and left the Huntington Beach Pier with a fourth-place finish.

La Jolla’s Bryan Jennings and Huntington Beach’s Kirk Tice overcame Deffenbaugh and Newport Beach’s Troy Eckert with solid scores on small waves during the final seconds of their main event first-round heat Tuesday.

Jennings won the heat with a score of 22.17. He advances to today’s second round with Tice, who rallied from fourth on his last wave to finish second with 21.5 points.

Meanwhile, Eckert, who led the heat with 90 seconds left, and Deffenbaugh were left to ponder what happened.

“The only thing I can think of right now is that a heat isn’t over until it’s over,” said Deffenbaugh, who’s ranked 34th in the world qualifying series. “Anything can happen in the final minute, and it did.”

Jennings scored a 6.17 on his final wave, his best score of the heat, to take the lead. Tice scored a 4.0 on his last wave, which erased a 3.93 as one of his four scoring waves.

“I didn’t think that last wave was enough,” Tice said. “I just thought I would at least show people I knew how to surf (by catching the last wave), even if I didn’t advance.”

The score moved Tice into a second-place tie with Eckert, but Tice advanced because he outscored Eckert, 17.5 to 16.83, based on a three-best wave tiebreaker. Deffenbaugh finished fourth at 20.69

Deffenbaugh said he struggled in the small two- and three-foot waves in his heat.

“I just wasn’t in the right position at the right time,” he said. “I was waiting for waves to come, and they didn’t.

“The waves were small and hard to ride. Anyone could catch a set wave and get a good score.”

Tice’s victory was revenge after losing to Deffenbaugh in the finals of the Katin championships last April at the north side of the pier. Deffenbaugh won that event, Jennings was second and Tice a distant fourth.

“It felt good to beat Deffenbaugh,” Tice said.

Tice was one of only six Orange County surfers who advanced out of the first round. Joining him in the second round will be Laguna Niguel’s Jason Haughey, Huntington Beach’s Mark Moreno and Noah Budroe, Laguna Beach’s Branden Faber and Mission Viejo’s Donovan Frankenreiter.

Among the surfers eliminated were Huntington Beach’s Craig Bechtloff, South Laguna’s Dan Kennedy, Laguna Beach’s Hans Hagen, Newport Beach’s Bobby Lockhart and Chris Drummy of San Juan Capistrano.

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International pastimes: Brazilian surfers continue to dominate Huntington’s beach break, which is similar to the waves they ride back home.

Six of nine Brazilian surfers entered in the main event first round advanced Tuesday.

Brazil’s Marcio Okumura had the best heat of the day, scoring a 29.99. Brazilians also had the top three wave scores of the day--Rodrigo Dornelles (9.0), Okumura (8.83) and Eduardo Fernandes (8.67).

Five of 12 Australians entered advanced, two of seven Hawaiians and six of 12 county entries.

Hawaii’s Kalani Robb, who has qualified for the Op Junior finals, finished third and was eliminated in the main event first round.

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Surf report: According to Surfline-Wavetrak, a new South swell from a storm off Tahiti last week will likely arrive in Huntington Beach late Saturday, after the finals. Shoulder- to head-high waves, with some larger sets, should continue through Saturday, with fairly decent shape from a wind swell.

Op Notes

Competition resumes at 7 a.m. today with 16 second-round men’s heats, followed by five third-round heats moved up from Thursday. The long-awaited matchup between world-champion Kelly Slater and 1989 Op winner Richie Collins will be the final third-round heat, which is expected to start about 2:40 p.m.

Other surfers expected to compete are Cardiff’s Rob Machado, San Clemente’s Matt Archbold, Hawaii’s Derek Ho, San Clemente’s Mike Parsons, Costa Mesa’s Todd Miller, Australia’s Cheyne Horan, Laguna Niguel’s Vince De La Pena and Capistrano Beach’s Terence McNulty.

The tag-team competition starts at 3 p.m. today, following the men’s third round. All six teams will be competing in the one-hour heat.