Tavares Calmly Takes Wahine Title

Brazil’s Tita Tavares was scared and nervous before she caught her first wave in the Wahine’s championship final of the U.S. Open of Surfing Saturday.

But when a wave rolled through early in the heat on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, Tavares made her move and carved the wave with precision cutbacks to score 8.0.

“When I caught that wave, I calmed down and was able to focus on my heat,” said Tavares through a translator. “From then on, I just tried hard to keep my lead and win.”

This is Tavares’ first major victory of the season and qualifies her for this week’s Op Pro.

Her translators George and Guilherme Herdy said Tavares was “amarradao.”

“That’s stoked, in Portuguese,” George Herdy said, as Tavares smiled, nodding her head.

Tavares beat three Australians. Yvonne Rogencamp took second, Serena Brooke was third and Haley Tasker fourth.

Rochelle Ballard, the defending champion, failed to advance out of the semifinals.

La Jolla’s Joel Tudor defended his title in the longboard division.

Tudor, who Thursday became the youngest inductee on the Surfing Walk of Fame, made the most of the blown-out conditions that prevailed during the afternoon championship final.

“Conditions aren’t really a factor,” said Tudor, who has won four of the last five U.S. Open longboard titles. “This is longboarding. We’re used to surfing crappy conditions.”

Tudor held the lead throughout the heat, but Colin McPhillips of San Clemente gave him a scare when a wave rolled in with seconds remaining. McPhillips, who was trailing Tudor by two points, is the only one to beat Tudor at the U.S. Open.

Said Tudor: “It’s been the wrath of Colin for me this year. He wins some, I win some. So when I saw Colin paddling for that last wave, I thought, ‘Oh God, he’s going to get me.’ But lucky for me he wasn’t able to catch it.”

McPhillips finished second. Carlsbad’s Steven Slater, the younger brother of Kelly Slater, was third and Derek Constable of Australia was fourth.

The men’s open quarterfinal dream heat between three-time world champion Tom Curren and Mark Occhilupo of Australia will not happen. Curren advanced Saturday but Occhilupo didn’t.

Curren, 34, whose heat was first, won his third-round heat and posted one of the day’s top wave scores (9.0).

“There wasn’t much out there today,” Curren said. “I was just lucky to get a few good waves and advance.”

Last year, Curren was eliminated in the third round.

“I feel really good to get past this. But I think the crucial heat for me was Friday, when I got that 8.50 in the last minute. I thought I was done for.”

Curren didn’t sound choked up about missing a chance to surf against his old friend and rival Occhilupo.

“I don’t know if I would like to face him at this point,” Curren said. “He’s a great surfer and I know he would have been tough.”

Occhilupo, ranked third on the World Championship Tour, would have loved to cross boards with Curren.

“It would have been fun to go up against Tom in the quarterfinals,” said Occhilupo, 32. “I was just caught short on the waves. But there’s next week, and hopefully we’ll meet in the Op Pro.”

Orange County surfers Pat O’Connell and Shane Beschen advanced Saturday. Beschen, ranked second on the WCT, breezed through his heat, but O’Connell struggled.

“There was nothing out there to catch,” O’Connell said. “I was getting a little worried but I was fortunate to get something to get through. But tomorrow’s another day, and that’s when the contest really begins.”

Jeff Deffenbaugh of Huntington Beach, who was in O’Connell’s heat, was called for interference along with Marty Thomas of Cardiff-by-the-Sea and was unable to make up ground to advance. However, Deffenbaugh still was able to secure a wild-card spot for next week’s Op Pro.

Only two surfers are selected as wild cards. Deffenbaugh’s third-round heat score was high enough to give him one of the spots.

The other will go to Asher Nolan of Atlantic Beach, Fla., who took second in Beschen’s heat to advance to the quarterfinals.

Nolan, 19, who has surfed 11 heats since Monday, is also alive in the Op Pro Junior, where he has also advanced to the quarterfinals. Nolan was completely surprised that he qualified for the Op Pro.

“I was coming out [of the water] when they told me,” Nolan said. “I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea I would get this far. I was just planning to get a little more experience in my surfing, not making it as a wild card.

RESULTS

Wahine Division

Final--1. Tita Tavares (Brazil); 2. Yvone Rogencamp (Australia); 3. Serena Brooke (Australia); 4. Haley Tasker (Australia).

Semifinals--Heat 1--1. Brooke; 2. Tavares; 3. Layne Beachley (Australia); 4. Megan Abubo (Hawaii). Heat 2--1. Rogencamp; 2. Tasker; 3. Rochelle Ballard (Hawaii); 4. Prue Jeffries (Australia).

Quarterfinals--Heat 1--1. Abubo; 2. Brooke; 3. Melanie Bartels (Hawaii); 4. Kate Skarratt (Australia). Heat 2--1. Tavares; 2. Beachley; 3. Keala Kennelly (Hawaii); 4. Kim Woodridge (Australia). Heat 3--1. Jeffries; 2. Rogencamp; 3. Pauline Menczer (Australia); 4. Julie Moris (Australia). Heat 4--1. Tasker; 2. Ballard; 3. Sandie Ryan (Australia); 4. Trudy Todd (Australia).

Longboard

Final--1. Joel Tudor (La Jolla); 2. Colin McPhillips (San Clemente); 3. Steven Slater (Carlsbad); 4. Derek Constable (Australia).

Semifinals--Heat 1--1. Tudor; 2. Constable; 3. Josh Baxter (San Clemente); 4. Jye Byrnes (Australia). Heat 2--1. McPhillips; 2. Slater; 3. Pete Johnson (Cardiff); 4. Derek Erickson (Dana Point).

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Surfing Contest

* What: U.S. Open of Surfing

* When: Today. Surfing begins at 8 a.m.

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

* Today’s schedule: 8 a.m.--Op Junior quarterfinals; 9:20--men’s main quarterfinals; 10:40--Op Junior semifinals; 11:20--Bodyboard semifinals. noon--G-Shock air show; 12:20 p.m.--Men’s main semifinals; 1--Bodyboard finals; 1:30--Op Junior finals; 2--Men’s open finals.

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

* Information: (714) 366-4584

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