The Pressure Is Higher at Lower Trestles Event

Surfing has become a big-time sport with athletes who are under immense pressure to do well.

That’s especially evident at the $280,000 Boost Mobile Pro, which concludes today at Lower Trestles in San Clemente.

It’s the only World Championship Tour event on the United States mainland and the surfwear companies that pay the athletes’ salaries -- Quiksilver, Billabong USA, Hurley and Reef, to name a few -- are headquartered nearby.

“Every company that you can think of that’s on the surfing map is here,” said Fred Patacchia, a Quiksilver rider from Hawaii. “They have their [brass] down here and they don’t always get to see their riders surf.”

The major surfing magazines are also located nearby. Their shooters line the rocky beach and snap furiously during each ride.

Photos play an integral role from a marketing standpoint. Primary sponsors get prime real estate on a surfboard: the nose section. Lesser sponsors get less prominent decal locations.

Making the Trestles event more of a showcase is the wave itself. It’s not as hollow as those at venues in Tahiti, Fiji and Hawaii, or as heavy as those in Australia or South Africa. But with its long, soft shoulder, the legendary point break has some of the most high-performance waves on the tour.

“Out here it’s all about the airs and the tail-slides and the futuristic moves,” Patacchia said. “And that’s why so many of us like surfing here, because you can really show off what you can do.”

Added Chris Ward, a San Clemente resident who grew up surfing Trestles: “You can do different types of maneuvers: five different types of off-the-lips, three different types of cutbacks. You can just go on and on.”

So, after 16 heats to complete the third round in four- to six-foot waves Friday, who’s moving forward and looking like a winner?

Not Patacchia. He was routed by Australian Mark Occhilupo, at 40 the oldest performer on the WCT. “It’s difficult to surf against one of your heroes and I learned that the hard way,” Patacchia said.

Ward, ranked No. 31 and in dire need of a good result to help his bid to requalify for next year’s WCT, edged Carlsbad’s Taylor Knox (No. 5).

The surfer to beat, however, is Quiksilver’s superstar, Kelly Slater, the seven-time and reigning world champion, who won this event last year.

Slater, 34, the Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ WCT points leader, easily got by Australian Troy Brooks, and today will face rookie Shaun Cansdell.

“He’s a nice kid. Both of them are,” said Slater, of Cocoa Beach, Fla. “It’s a bummer to go against someone you like. It’s much better to go against someone you don’t like too much, but most of us are pretty good friends.”

Among other top surfers advancing were Andy Irons (No. 3), Taj Burrow (No. 2), Mick Fanning (No. 8) and Timmy Reyes (No. 9). Bobby Martinez (No. 4) was upset by Brazil’s Victor Ribas (No. 34).

Reyes, a Huntington Beach resident in his second year on the WCT, is the highest-ranked Southland representative still in the contest.

His first opponent today -- the event will run through completion with the final scheduled for 3:45 p.m. -- is Australia’s Joel Parkinson, who is ranked seventh and won this event in 2004.

That Reyes has made it this far is remarkable because of a nagging hip injury that has made it difficult to walk.

“With the muscles wrapped around my hip so tight, it’s kind of like a really wound-up rubber band,” he said.

“But I’ll surf through any pain I have to surf through. I’ve surfed with a broken ankle before, so this isn’t going to stop me.”

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pete.thomas@latimes.com