Surf Tour Returning to Huntington Beach

Although the Assn. of Surfing Professionals has added a Southern California event to its 1994 schedule, it won’t be the Op Pro, which is entering its 13th year at the Huntington Beach Pier.

Instead, the $130,000 U.S. Open of Surfing, scheduled Aug. 2-7 at the Huntington Beach Pier, will become the focal point of Southern California surfing scene.

It’s the first world tour event on the U.S. mainland since the Op Pro dropped off the tour in 1991 for financial reasons.

The Op Pro, which continued the last two years as a team and qualifying event, is scheduled July 27-31 at the pier. It will feature men’s, women’s, longboarding and junior amateur divisions, but will serve only as a qualifying event for the U.S. Open and the world tour.

The ASP formally sanctioned the U.S. Open at its winter meetings in late December. The contest is organized by Prime Ticket event properties, part of the Prime Ticket sports television network.

The U.S. Open’s $130,000 purse meets the minimum required by the ASP for a world-tour event. The men’s division offers $105,000 in prize money, and the women will compete for a $25,000 purse.

Don Meek, vice president of event properties for Prime Ticket, said the contest will include divisions for longboarding and bodyboarding, as well as jet-ski and lifeguard exhibitions.

The U.S. Open also will charge for grandstand seating in a U-shaped, 7,500-seat arena. Meek said Huntington Beach city officials gave the contest permission to charge for seating, similar to the way the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ beach tour did at last summer’s Seal Beach tournament.

“It will be a modest price,” Meek said. “Something like $5 a day or $12 for a three-day pass. There will still be free seating on the beach.”

Other ideas in the works include:

--Installation of 50 to 80 exposition booths behind the stadium for surfboard shapers, clothing companies and other surfing businesses to showcase their products.

--Big-screen televisions near the pier to show replays and scores.

--An Aug. 4 fund-raiser for the Surfrider Foundation at Newport Beach’s Hard Rock Cafe.

Meek said contest officials are negotiating with the city for permits allowing acoustic bands to play on a stage near the surfing venue for the final three days of the contest.

The bands could raise some concern about security among city officials, who have carefully monitored permits for beach events since the riot at the 1986 Op Pro.

“There will be no rock bands,” Meek said. “We certainly do not want anything that will start any trouble. Our goal is to make it a great surfing event.”

Prime Ticket’s contest comes at a difficult time for pro surfing and the surfwear industry. Surfing interest in the United States has declined the last two years, and events in Santa Cruz and Oceanside dropped off the world tour along with the Op Pro.

The Op had been part of the world tour for 10 years, but switched to an international team format in 1992 after falling $40,000 shy of the $125,000 minimum purse required for an ASP individual championship event. The change came at a difficult time for Op, which began reorganizing in May 1992 after filing for protection from creditors.

The surfwear company also moved the contest from its traditional late July date to the late June schedule in 1992. But the Op returned to the individual championships last summer as a qualifying event for the world tour.

Estimated crowds of 20,000 watched the finals the past two years, about half of some of the estimated crowds in the mid- and late 1980s, when the sport’s popularity was at its peak.

Meek said the “timing is perfect” for a major surfing event in Southern California. Coca-Cola has taken over sponsorship of the world tour, the first mainstream company to do so, and participation in beach sports is on the increase, Meek said.

“We’re ready to see a renaissance in surfing,” he said. “If you track the sale of longboards and bodyboards, you’ll see that the young and old are getting involved in the sport.

“People are coming back to the beach lifestyle. Look at success of the pro beach volleyball tour.”

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Add surfing: The ASP’s World Championship Tour features 11 men’s contests and 13 women’s contests for 1994.

Men: March 31-April 6--Rip Curl Pro at Bell’s Beach, Australia; May 25-29--Marui Pro at Chiba, Japan; July 6-10--Reunion Pro at Reunion Island, South Africa; Aug. 2-7--U.S. Open at Huntington Beach Pier; Aug. 17-21--Lacanau Pro at Lacanau, France; Aug. 24-28--Rip Curl Pro Landes at Landes, France; Aug. 31-Sept. 6--Quiksilver Surfmasters at Biarritz, France; Oct. 19-23--Alternativa Surf at Rio de Janeiro; Nov. 23-30--Billabong Pro at North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii; Dec. 1-9--Chiemsee Pipeline Masters at Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii; Dec. 12-20--Coke Classic at Sydney, Australia. Note: The Billabong Pro and Pipeline Masters’ dates are tentative.

Women: March 9-13--Women’s Masters at Margaret River, Australia; March 31-April 3--Quit Classic at Bell’s Beach, Australia; May 25-28--Marui Pro at Chiba, Japan; July 6-9--Reunion Pro at Reunion Island, South Africa; July 13-17--Gunston 500 at Durban, South Africa; Aug. 2-7--U.S. Open at Huntington Beach Pier; Aug. 17-20--Lacanau Pro at Lacanau, France; Aug. 24-27--Rip Curl Pro Landes at Landes, France; Aug. 31-Sept. 3--Roxy Quiksilver Surfmasters at Biarritz, France; Oct. 19-22--Alternativa Surf at Rio de Janeiro; Nov. 15-22--Hawaiian Pro at North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii; Nov. 23-30--Billabong Pro at North Shore; Dec. 12-20--Diet Coke Classic at Sydney, Australia. Note: The Hawaiian Pro and Billabong Pro dates are tentative.

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Last add surfing: The Bud Pro surfing tour schedule includes two Orange County contests this year--at Huntington Beach (May 11-15) and the Body Glove Surfbout at Lower Trestles (Sept. 12-18). The Bud Pro tour serves as a qualifying series for the World Championship Tour.

The schedule: Feb. 9-13--The Billabong at Santa Cruz; March 2-6--at Seaside, Calif.; April 20-24--at Pismo Beach; May 11-15--at Huntington Beach; June 8-12--The Life’s a Beach contest at Oceanside; June 21-26--The Town and Country contest at Ala Moana, Hawaii; July 19-24--at Malibu; Aug. 25-28--East Coast Surfing Championships at Virginia Beach, Va.; Sept. 12-18--Body Glove Surfbout at Lower Trestles; Oct. 5-9--at San Francisco; Oct. 24-29--Bud surf championships at Makaha, Hawaii

Beach Notes

Carlos Briceno, a former Fountain Valley High standout and a member of the U.S. national volleyball team, will participate in the World Beach Volleyball Invitational, Monday through Saturday in Miami. Briceno will team with Jeff Williams of Santa Monica in the two-player tournament, which features teams from Brazil, Australia, Austria, France, Italy and Norway. Laguna Beach’s Rudy Dvorak, who plays on the AVP tour, will team with Roger Clark of Pacific Palisades in the tournament. . . . The Assn. of Volleyball Professionals’ beach tour, which stops annually at Seal Beach, won’t have its schedule finished until early February. The tour traditionally kicks off in Honolulu in conjunction with the NFL Pro Bowl.