Beschen Comes Away With Surfing Victory in Oceanside

Shane Beschen appeared relaxed going into the final heat of the Body Glove Oceanside surf contest, and even in the water, he was quiet. He seemed content to sit on his board and wait for the waves he wanted.

Beschen sat and listened as Rob Machado, Todd Holland and Kalani Robb took off on a series of smaller waves, scoring fives and a couple sixes on the judge’s 10-point scale. Beschen, a 22-year-old from San Clemente, listened as each surfer’s position was announced, and at each time he was last.

At 30 minutes, the final heat is 10 minutes longer than the earlier heats and surfers score points on the best four waves instead of three.

“I was doing bad in the beginning but I knew I had time to wait for the bigger sets to come in,” Beschen said. “Normally, I don’t even want to take off on a wave unless I’m going to get at least a seven.”

When the set came in, Beschen scored a high six and then added a 9.0 and a couple of eights. Now, with 10 minutes left in the heat, the others had to catch him.

Machado, a Carlsbad native who had the crowd support, recently won the Marui Pro in Japan and is second on the world tour. In the finals, he landed some eight-point waves but could not catch Beschen, who finished first.

Robb, a 17-year-old surfer from Hawaii, made the finals for the first time and finished third. A surfer who leads with his left foot like Machado, Robb has a similar style and quickness.

Holland, who lives in Florida but learned to surf on the North Carolina coast, finished fourth. Until Oceanside, he skipped the events on the national tour and focused on world tour events. His shaper, Gary Linden, lives in Oceanside, and Holland made the trip to pick up new boards as much as to compete.

“This was a great final,” tour director Ian Cairns said. “Shane Beschen will be a world champ; Rob Machado is second right now and will be world champion someday; Todd Holland almost has been champion; and it’s arguable that Kalani Robb, as he develops will be that good, too.”

Cairns also said he was not surprised that Beschen won. “He’s a great competitor. He wants it more (than the others). When he enters a contest, he enters to win.”

Beschen admits his concentration came with experience. “I’ve definitely gone through all the stages of just wanting to get to the quarterfinals and then the semis. Now if I’m entered I want to win.”

A top-16 surfer on the world championship tour, Beschen credits the man-on-man format of that tour with improving his performance on the Bud Surf Tour, the national qualifying tour whose format consists of four-man heats.

“Wave selection is more critical in man-on-man surfing because you either win or lose. You can’t come in second,” Beschen said.

Noah Budroe of Huntington Beach and Richie Collins of Newport Beach advanced to the semifinals, where they lost to Machado and Holland. Chris Brown of Santa Barbara and Tim Curran, 16, from Florida, lost to Beschen and Robb.

Beschen plans to use most of the $4,000 he earned in the Oceanside event to finance a trip to the French territory of Reunion Island, the site of the next world tour event. After that, he plans to return home to compete in the Op Pro and the U.S. Open of Surfing, which run July 26-31 and then Aug. 2-7 in Huntington Beach.

In the Oceanside bodyboarding competition, Brazilian Guilherme Tamega held off eight-time world champion Mike Stewart, Harry Antipala and Lanson Ronquillo to win the final heat.

“This is the first American event I’ve won,” Tamega said. “I’m accustomed to these conditions though because it is like the beach break at home in Brazil.”

Stewart, who splits his time between Hawaii and Anaheim, was disappointed in the outcome. “I just couldn’t get any good open waves.”

Unfortunately the biggest set came in just as the bodyboarding final was ending. Conditions remained strong through the five-minute break before the surfers took the water for their final, faded at the beginning of their heat and returned for the final minutes of the contest.