Deffenbaugh Aims for Next Level
After two weeks of pleasure surfing in Hawaii, Jeff Deffenbaugh returned to Orange County in time to pack his bags again and head north for last week’s start of the U.S. Bud Tour in the chilly waters off Santa Cruz.
The 20-year-old Huntington Beach resident placed fourth on the pro tour last year and has a strong shot at a 1994 Bud Tour crown, said Rockin’ Fig. In Santa Cruz, Deffenbaugh beat Hawaiian Sunny Garcia in the first heat and placed first in the quarterfinals. But he was stopped by Richie Collins of Newport Beach and Joey Jenkins of North Hollywood from making the finals.
Said Fig: He had a real prestigious high school career and paid his dues in amateur surfing. He was on the world amateur team that went to Japan, and it seems like all those surfers, including Pat O’Connell and Kelly Slater, are getting hot as pros.
Deffenbaugh is the latest among a talented crew of amateur surfers to come out of Huntington Beach High School. He won the Sunset League individual championship and led the Oilers to a 10-0 record in 1991. He turned pro after a second-place finish at the 1991 Op Junior amateur contest and joined the U.S. pro tour full time in 1992, the year he graduated.
Deffenbaugh and his older brother, Barry, 22, anchored Huntington High’s national championship squad. It has only taken him a couple of years on the Bud Tour to find himself in the Top 5.
We asked Deffenbaugh, also known as JD, what he thought of this year’s tour.
“The tour is definitely getting stronger,” he said. “There’s a lot more guys coming from the ASP (Assn. of Surfing Professionals) tour and picking off contests they want to on the Bud Tour. We also have guys who want to make it on the qualifying tour and who want to make it on the world tour, and that definitely brings the level of competition up.”
“They’re not going to be satisfied with just letting me paddle around them during heats looking for waves,” he said, adding that he’d be pleased to make the Top 4 again. But he isn’t stopping there: “My goal is to be the Bud Tour winner.”
Deffenbaugh has never taken a first place on the tour, but he finished strong at the end of last season with a second place at the Bud tour’s contest in Ventura.
Do you get nervous when you hear people saying you’re a contender for the tour’s title?
“Naw, it doesn’t make me nervous at all,” JD said. “It gives me more confidence that people believe that I’m at their level of surfing.”
Deffenbaugh handles the fame well, Figgy said.
He doesn’t walk around with a big attitude. It just looks like he’s having fun when he’s surfing in a heat. As far as style, he’s quick and snappy and he can go vertical, too. And he can surf in small and big waves.
Deffenbaugh enjoys travel and surfing in Hawaii. But he also is happy just surfing near Huntington’s pier with his brother and friends.
Deffenbaugh said he has few heroes and has developed his surfing style by taking “bits and pieces off of other people.”
“I try to fit several different styles of people surfing and use what can fit for me,” he said.
His best fan? His 2-year-old son, Justin. Then, his mom, Becky, who as a single parent, like Jeff, spent hours driving him and Barry to surfing meets.
“My mom was and is a big influence on whatever we do. She was always there to take us to our contests and would video us when she could.”
Didn’t Barry lose a video camera recently when a rogue 25-foot Todos Santos wave flipped an inflatable boat he was in?
“Yup, that was Barry,” Deffenbaugh said. “It was my mom’s brand-new camera. The only thing Barry held on to were the keys to the car.”
Contests: Australian Todd Prestage won $4,000 at the Billabong contest in Santa Cruz. Prestage was ahead of Chris Brown, Collins and Jenkins. O.C. pro long-boarders had a better showing at Santa Cruz: Joey Hawkins of Huntington Beach took second; Jeff Krammer and Josh Baxter, both of San Clemente, were third and fourth, respectively. Ted Robinson of Manhattan Beach was first.
TV: Jim Trenton of Newport Beach, also known as TV’s Poor Man from Fox’s Channel 11, taped local surfers paddling out in the rain at Huntington Beach last week. Then he visited the Sugar Shack cafe on Main Street, which had 11-cent breakfasts as one of Poor Man’s extra-value deals.