Booth’s Patience Pays With Trestles Victory : Surfing: Favorite from Laguna Beach waits for the right waves that help him come from behind to win Surfbout.

Before Jeff Booth paddled out for the championship heat at Lower Trestles Sunday, the Laguna Beach surfer had the crowd convinced he would win easily.

But 20 minutes into the 30-minute heat, Booth trailed Mike Parsons of San Clemente and Todd Prestage of Oceanside and needed 6.50 points to move into first place.

In that last 10 minutes, Parsons, Prestage and Shane Dorian of Holualoa, Hawaii, were catching everything that rolled through. But Booth waited patiently, looking for one good swell that would give him a good wave.

Booth got one, then another. And after five minutes, he had moved into first place where he stayed to win the Body Glove Surfbout.

“I’m so stoked,” Booth said. “I thought I was behind, but I find out I won. I can’t believe it.”

Booth, 27, finished with 29.57 points followed by Prestage (29.02), Parsons (27.10) and Dorian (18.26).

“I was very focused for Trestles,” said Booth, who is ranked fourth in the world. “And the waves were so good all week. You could wait and be picky. I guess it paid off.”

Though Lower Trestles is known for its long right break, there also were some good left breaks that many of the surfers used to their advantage. The left break worked well for Booth, a left-footer, who scored one of the best rides of the day with an 8.0.

“I had some good lefts in my semifinal heat,” Booth said. “I like to go left, and when they are this good, I’ll take it.”

Jeff Deffenbaugh and Cory Lopez of San Clemente were eliminated in the semifinals and Shane Beschen, also of San Clemente, failed to advance out of the quarterfinals.

In women’s surfing, Rochelle Ballard of Kauai, Hawaii, led throughout the championship heat.

Ballard, who had a disappointing finish at last month’s U.S. Open, was confident in the 6- to 7-foot surf, scoring high marks on almost every wave she caught. Ballard finished with 31.54 points.

World champion Lisa Andersen of Ormond Beach, Fla., who was last through most of the heat, came on strong in the last few minutes. However, neither she, Patricia Rossi of Tahiti nor Alisa Schwarzstein of Laguna Beach could catch Ballard.

“Confidence is 60% of surfing, so after my poor performance at the U.S. Open, my confidence was way down,” Ballard said. “But after France [in August], where I did very well, my confidence came back. And I felt very confident before the final heat.”

Ballard finished five points ahead of Andersen.

“I didn’t put any pressure on myself,” Ballard said. “I love to surf Trestles, so I came out here to have some fun. I wasn’t worried about winning. But I won, and I’m stoked.”

In longboarding, Israel Paskowitz of San Clemente needed only four waves to win.

“It’s going to take style and solid surfing, like in the old days,” Paskowitz said before entering the water before the championship heat.

And it was style that won it for Paskowitz, who pulled some amazing nose rides on his 9-foot 6-inch board on Trestles’ long rights, and in some cases, lefts, to score 31.87 points.

Josh Baxter of San Clemente was second (30.02), followed by Josh Mohr of San Clemente (25.77) and U.S. Open champion Joel Tudor of Cardiff (23.44).

In bodyboarding, Mike Stewart of Hawaii dominated the final with 33.33 points. Lanson Ronquillo finished second with 27.44, followed by Brian Wise of San Clemente (26.19) and Guilherme Tamega (14.16).