Local Hero

Jeff Deffenbaugh loves that two of professional surfing’s top events, the G-Shock U.S. Open of Surfing and the Op Pro, are coming to Huntington Beach.

But Deffenbaugh, a native of Surf City, also dreads the next two weeks.

“Because this is my home break, there’s a lot of pressure on me to do well,” he said. “I really don’t like to have people put pressure on me. They assume you’re going to do well at home, so you try to live up to those expectations from friends and sponsors. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way, and you let them down.”

Which is one reason Deffenbaugh, 25, decided to get away last week to Chiba, Japan, for a surf contest.

“There was no way I was going to stick around Huntington Beach before the U.S. Open started,” he said. “I had to get away from all the pressure. I had to get away and surf with the guys who are doing the [World Championship] Tour and try to get that feeling again.”

That “feeling” has eluded Deffenbaugh the past two years.

In 1995, he qualified for the U.S. Open with a wild-card berth after reaching the quarterfinals of the Op Pro the previous week.

That year, Deffenbaugh could do no wrong. He won at Virginia Beach to finish second on the Bud Surf Tour, which earned him a spot on the world tour.

In 1996, Deffenbaugh was among surfing’s elite, one of 44 surfers on the world tour. As a rookie, he posted some impressive heat scores and turned a few heads. He finished the year ranked 34th.

Ian Cairns, U.S. Surfing’s executive director, said Deffenbaugh had unlimited potential.

But a rocky two years followed. Deffenbaugh’s relationship with his longtime girlfriend ended. The couple has two children--Justyn,6, and Madison, 2, who spend most of the time with their mother. Deffenbaugh struggled with being a professional surfer and a father.

“I was at the point that I wanted to be home more than I wanted to be on the road,” Deffenbaugh said. “I have two kids. And I feel I need to be with them when they’re growing up. I still want to surf, but it’s more of a job now.”

His ranking dropped and he fell off the tour. He has spent the past 1 1/2 years trying to qualify again.

Sunny Garcia understands Deffenbaugh’s dilemma. Garcia, who is ranked sixth in the world, has three kids--7, 6 and 4 years old.

“I miss my kids a lot when I travel,” Garcia said from his hotel room in Durban, South Africa. “But I want them to have the things that I never had. And though they’re not seeing their dad as much as they like, my career won’t last forever, and I’ll be able to be with them all the time.”

Garcia said he takes his family with him on trips when he can. They will be with him the next two weeks in Huntington Beach. But for six months of the year, he’s on the road, alone.

Deffenbaugh chooses to stay at home more often than not, although it costs him qualifying points. Because of that regaining his status won’t be easy.

“Jeff is a really good technical surfer and he’s very competitive, but he’s not inspired,” Cairns said. “There are people like Kelly Slater and Tom Curren who have all these qualities. So for people like Jeff, they have to compensate for lacking inspiration. That’s what Jeff needs to do. He needs to get focused and get motivated by anger. He needs to regain some of that fire he had when he was younger.”

Deffenbaugh was the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. high school division champion in 1991 and was a two-time most valuable surfer on Huntington Beach High’s surf team, which won state championships in 1990 and 1991.

“I’ve been competing since I was 15,” he said. “I’ve been surfing professionally for six years. I think you can keep up with the young kids coming up, but it depends on how stoked you are and on keeping that high that you get when all you want to do is surf all the time.

“I still love to surf and I’m stoked. It’s just that I want to pick and choose when I want to surf.”

With only two World Qualifying Series events under his belt this year, Deffenbaugh is ranked 197th. Of the more than 700 ranked surfers, only the top two point winners qualify for the 1999 WCT.

Deffenbaugh hopes to regain some lost ground with a good finish at the U.S. Open and qualify for next week’s Op Pro as a wild-card entree.

“I’m not looking at my surfing as trying to requalify for the WCT. If it happens, it happens,” he said. “I’m really happy right now. I’ve been surfing every day, the beach is nice, my surfboard is working nicely and I’ve been close to home and my family. I’m stoked.”

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Surfing Contest

* What: G-Shock U.S. Open of Surfing

* When: Today-Sunday. Surfing begins at 7 a.m. each day and ends at 5 p.m.

* Where: South side of the Huntington Beach Pier, Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street

* Basics: The top men and women of professional surfing will be among the 600 competitors, along with the top men and women bodyboarders and longboarders. This contest is an Assn. of Surfing Professionals six-star world-tour qualifying event and will serve as a qualifying event for the Op Pro, which takes place July 29-Aug. 2 in Huntington Beach.

* Parking: Paid parking in lots by the pier and in the downtown area.

* Information: (714) 366-4584

* Web site: https://www.surflink.com