Machado Prevails on His Final Wave

Maybe Rob Machado should break his hand more often, an idea he didn’t exactly disagree with on Sunday.

In his first tournament since cracking his left hand in May, Machado won the U.S. Open of Surfing with last-minute aplomb, conquering his final wave and striding past Marcelo Nunes to cap a near-perfect week at Huntington Beach.

Machado made the most of so-so surfing conditions all week, scoring the only 10 of the tournament on Saturday and excelling throughout Sunday, including his 10th and last wave of the championship heat.

He needed a 7.12 to pass Nunes and carved back into a three-foot swell twice with powerful moves before wiping out. The judges liked what they saw. Machado got a 7.23 and defeated Nunes 22.96 to 22.84.

When he came ashore, he was greeted by a throng of spectators and carried off on the shoulders of one of his friends . . . or maybe not.

“That guy was a mystery man,” Machado said, shrugging his shoulders as if the weight of the world was just lifted off them. After all, he hadn’t been able to golf, surf or play guitar--three of his loves in life--while his hand was recuperating.

“I was lost,” said Machado, who injured the hand in a collision with a friend while horsing around in two-foot waves in Encinitas, near his home in Cardiff.

Machado wore a cast for six weeks and required an additional two weeks of rehab, but the results coming off the layoff made him feel like joking.

“In the off-season, maybe I’ll smack my hand against the wall and break something,” he said.

Machado won the U.S. Open for the first time since 1995, the second year of the contest. That time, he defeated Kelly Slater, this time it was Nunes, a risk-taking 21-year-old from Natal, Brazil.

The supports that hold up the Huntington Beach Pier are made of cement, not sponge, which could have changed Nunes’ day.

On the fifth wave of the semifinals, Nunes careened toward the pier, carving in and out of the supports, going around one of them with a sharp turn that could have caused problems had it failed.

“I saw the [supports], but I felt like I needed the wave,” Nunes said. “Maybe if I didn’t connect with the wave, I didn’t get the points.”

The judges gave him an 8.17, enough to move him into the championship.

Nunes pulled ahead of Machado with three minutes left in the 30-minute championship, reeling off a solid 7.17. Although the lead barely lasted a minute, Nunes was undaunted.

He said he’ll use the $5,000 second-place money (Machado won $10,000) as part of a down payment on a house in Brazil.

“I needed this money,” Nunes said.

The day wasn’t so bright for reigning world champion Sunny Garcia, eliminated in the quarterfinals because of an interference call.

Garcia, the defending U.S. Open champion, was called for paddle blocking Pat O’Connell on a superior left hander.

Garcia, who only took two waves in the fifth round Saturday, disagreed with the judges and said he was simply trying to make the most out of average waves.

“I’m trying to get more wave time under my belt and this happens.” Garcia said. “It’s unfortunate.”