Ward Young, but Worldly and Moves Like a Pro, Too

It’s hard to believe Chris Ward is only 17.

Sitting on the bleachers after winning his heats Monday in the AirTouch Pro Surfing Championships, Ward seemed more like a veteran than a teenager from San Clemente.

“I’ve surfed a lot of places in the world,” said Ward, as he calmly watched the surf break on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. “And the one thing I’ve learned is that you have to be prepared for whatever the conditions might be.”

Ward, along with the other 55 surfers who were competing in the junior division of the AirTouch Pro, seemed unfazed by the less-than-ideal conditions on the first day of competition.

“You can’t make excuses,” Ward said. “You have to make sure you have the right equipment, know the conditions and surf your best.”

His lips formed a faint smile, Ward stared straight ahead at the ocean when told a lot of people think he’ll go far in this contest.

“Really? Oh, wow,” he said.

Ward, who recently returned from a surfing excursion to France and South Africa, won both his heats to advance to the quarterfinals, which begin Sunday. He scored 16.43 in his final heat and recorded the highest wave score of the heat with a 6.1.

Joining Ward in the quarterfinals are county surfers Troy Tecklenburg and Travis Potter of Seal Beach, Jesse Evans of Huntington Beach and Bryan Shelton of San Clemente.

Tecklenburg, 18, who was eliminated in the first round last year, had to surf three heats to advance to the quarterfinals.

Because of the mushy conditions early in the day, Tecklenburg said he was having trouble connecting his waves because his board seemed too heavy in the water.

“I went home after my first heat and picked up my fish [surfboard] and that made all the difference,” Tecklenburg said.

Because the fish surfboard is wider and lighter, Tecklenburg didn’t have to work so hard when he tried to surf from one wave into another wave as it was forming.

“I’ve had this really bad chest cold this past week. So when I was working hard the first heat I could really feel it,” he said.

Tecklenburg, a graduate of Los Alamitos High, is a member of the U.S. national surf team. He said he was particularly happy with his performance because he usually builds on his surfing as the contest goes on.

“I’m already farther than I was last year, so who knows, I might make it into the semis.”

Compared to last week, when a storm off Tahiti produced eight- to 10-foot surf in parts of Orange County, Monday’s waves were not nearly the same magnitude. However, with some remnants of last week’s south swell still creating some good sets, an occasional six-footer did make its way to shore.

Other surfers who had good heats were Andy and Bruce Irons of Hawaii. Both Irons brothers won their heats to advance.

“Those guys are just very good,” Ward said. “They are very tough in competition and they never give up.”

Also expected to be a strong contenders are C.J. and Damien Hobgood of Satellite Beach, Fla.

“This isn’t going to be easy,” Tecklenburg said. “There’s still 16 very good surfers in the quarterfinals. And then we still have semifinals.”

Today, rounds one and two begin in the men’s trials followed by the first and second rounds of the Wahine women’s trials.

Notes

For the first time since the junior division was added in this contest, organizers had to stage dual heats for the first two rounds. Because of the record number of competitors, the first two rounds had to be staged together, said Mike Kingsbury, media director of the tournament. “If we would have staged them like normal, it would have taken us into the evening,” he said.

At one point, the fog became so thick during the early heats that competition had to be postponed until the judges could see the surfers.