Randazzo Can’t Be Slowed

Dean Randazzo woke up Wednesday morning fighting jet lag--he had been surfing in South Africa just 40 hours earlier--but determined to make a splash on the first day of the Huntington Beach Bluetorch Pro.

Instead, the San Diego resident and other top Southern California surfers struggled against mushy, inconsistent, 2- to 3-foot waves made worse by the onset of a red tide.

Randazzo, perhaps the hottest surfer on the West Coast, finished second to tournament favorite Sunny Garcia from Hawaii in the eighth heat. Randazzo goes off today at 8:40 a.m. in the first heat of the second round against Australian Luke Egan. Garcia’s victory moved him to Friday’s third round.

“It was a little disappointing out there. The water was so filthy,” Randazzo said. “The waves were too slow. I was OK but not overly impressive. I was a little tired from the trip back from South Africa.”

He also sported a cut lip from that trip, the result of being smacked in the face by his board when he lost his footing on a wave four times the size of those seen Wednesday.

But then, Randazzo, 30, has known adversity. A New Jersey native, he only recently began to attract interest from West Coast sponsors. Known for pushing his turns to the limit, he qualified for this event by earning a wild-card bid with a second-place finish at the Defcon IV competition at Lower Trestles in May.

Last month, he finished third in a battle with some of Australia’s best surfers at a tournament in Indonesia, despite suffering an injured back when he hit the reef after his board was snapped in half on a wipeout.

“I’ve had perseverance,” he said. “I never gave up. Coming from New Jersey, I think a lot of the sponsors here didn’t want to deal with me. It’s been a tough road.”

So tough that Randazzo, who made his first, brief appearance on the World Championship Tour in 1995, had to fund his surfing safaris by working at a pizza parlor.

“He’s had a hard time making a go of it,” former pro surfer Scott Daley said. “Part of that is that he’s always been such an insane surfer with big top turns and big off-the-lip moves. He never found a place with big sponsors.”

Big moves were impossible in Wednesday’s mushy conditions, though Randazzo tried some.

“I think I’m going to come out and surf here tonight when the competition is over and then get a lot of rest and hopefully do better [today],” he said.

Florida native Cory Lopez, a part-time San Clemente resident, finished second in his heat, and Shea Lopez of San Clemente, ranked No. 13 in the world last year by the Assn. of Surfing Professionals, was third in his heat, as were Shane Beschen of San Clemente and Pat O’Connell of Laguna Niguel.

No one was eliminated Wednesday. Winners advance to Friday’s third round. All others were seeded into today’s heats. The finals are Sunday.

Rob Machado of Cardiff, surfing the last waves of the day before an on-shore breeze and Northwest swell began to make conditions more difficult, got the best score of the day. A heat ahead of Randazzo and Garcia, he earned 23.00 points.

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Pro Surfing

* What: Bluetorch Pro, $168,100 World Championship Tour professional surfing event, featuring 48 of the best male and 15 of the top female surfers in the world.

* Where: South side of Huntington Beach Pier

* When: Today through Sunday. Women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (2:15 p.m.) on Saturday; men’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (12:40 p.m.) on Sunday.

* Today’s schedule: 7 a.m.-8:40--pro women’s Round 1 (Heats 5-8); 8:40-3:20 p.m.--pro men’s Round 2 (Heats 1-16); 3:20-5--pro women’s Round 2 (Heats 1-4).

* Admission: Free.

* Parking: Available at city structure on corner of Main and Olive streets.

* Webcast: Live on www.bluetorch.com

* Information: (949) 215-8000