Special Events : Surf City Lives Up to Its Name With U.S. Open

The 1995 U.S. Open of Surfing, Aug. 1-6, caps a two-week surfing festival at the Huntington Beach Pier, which transforms into Surf Central beginning Monday, when the 14th annual Op Pro Surfing Championship starts.

Last year, more than 300,000 people visited the festival, which besides the world’s top surfers includes a beach expo that takes up three acres and features surfboard shapers, music, free T-shirts and dozens of booths hawking the latest in beach fashion trends.

Organizers say this year’s expo, Aug. 4-6, will have 100 exhibits including a giant performing stage that Rolling Stone magazine is setting up to bring live rock and pop-oriented bands to the beach.

In addition, Sony is scheduled to bring its Jumbotron, a 12-by-9-foot screen that will feature live feeds of the U.S. Open’s surf heats, allowing expo visitors an opportunity to keep track of the action while they view the exhibits.

The fun starts Monday with the Op Pro, a qualifying contest for the U.S. Open for professional and amateur surfers. The Op Pro will also feature a long-board paddle competition July 28 and a celebrity surf session July 29 featuring Corky Carroll, Robert August, Robert (Wingnut) Weaver, Jerico Poppler, Bill Stewart, Donald Takayama and Herbie Fletcher.

On July 30, female and male partners pair off in a tandem invitational, which combines surfing with choreography and gymnastics.

The following week, the U.S. Open starts with defending champion Shane Beschen of San Clemente out to retain the top spot. The U.S. Open will have an elite field of short- and long-board surfers and bodyboarders competing for $140,000 in overall prize money.

Last year, Beschen held off world champion Kelly Slater of Florida in one of the most dramatic finishes on the West Coast.

Meanwhile, the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame will induct six celebrities onto Main Street’s sidewalk Aug. 3. Each inductee’s name is etched onto a granite rectangle that includes the walk of fame’s surfer logo.

This year’s inductees include Margo Oberg of Hawaii, woman of the year; Phil Edwards of San Clemente, surf pioneer; Tom Curren of France, surf champion; Herbie Fletcher of San Clemente, local hero and long-board expert; John Severson of Hawaii, surf artist, and Jack Hokanson, who established Jack’s Surf Shop in Huntington Beach.