A local stop in tour of exotic locales

Locals have stashed their boards and become spectators.

Hikers, bikers and beachgoers happening upon the billowing white tents and mass of humanity are pausing to watch, if only out of curiosity.

After all, it’s not often that all of the world’s top-ranked surfers gather for a major competition in Southern California.

It happens only once a year, in fact, during the Boost Mobile Pro, which is in progress through Saturday at Lower Trestles, a remote, jutting stretch of cobbled coastline south of San Clemente.

For some athletes, it’s a homecoming. For those from other countries, it’s a vacation with work tossed in -- if you consider surfing work.

Because of the events in the Foster’s ASP World Tour, during which the sun always shines and the waves are awesome, their endless summer crossing the globe is both a way of life and a livelihood.

“Fiji is absolute paradise,” Bede Durbidge, last year’s Boost winner, says of his favorite tour stop, which fell from this year’s schedule but is back next year. “The people are nice, the fishing is amazing and the surf is great.

“It’s like going on holiday, but you get to surf an event, so it’s really cool.”

This year’s slate includes two events in Australia and one each in Tahiti, Chile, South Africa, San Clemente, France, Spain, Brazil and Hawaii.

Surprisingly, though San Clemente is hardly exotic, the Trestles event is a favorite of many.

“Because it’s like the most bashable wave on Earth, when the south swell comes,” explains Ventura’s Dane Reynolds, a wild-card entry who has qualified for next year’s World Tour and on Thursday knocked out top-ranked Mick Fanning.

Durbidge adds: “It has cool people and a fast kind of lifestyle, a lot different than home.”

Obviously, the Australian has not spent much time driving the traffic-filled freeways.

But he is back and was ripping until he lost in the third round to Brazil’s Neco Padaratz, who is trying to improve on a No. 40 world ranking.

The tour roster boasts 45 athletes, all of whom rose through the grueling World Qualifying Series tour. And they’re a dynamic bunch, none more so than Kelly Slater, the undisputed king of surfing.

Slater, 35, has eight world titles -- more than twice as many as anyone else in the ASP’s 31-year history -- and a seven-figure annual payday from Quiksilver.

With nothing more to prove, he’ll retire after this year or next -- “At some point the fire burns out,” he says -- but the surf wear giant reportedly has offered a $10-million bonus if he wins a 10th title.

“I haven’t seen that figure on paper,” the surfer from Cocoa Beach, Fla., says. “There’s a figure, but it’s not as high as the one people are talking about.”

Perched prominently atop the list of “the next Kelly Slater” candidates is South Africa’s Jordy Smith, 19, another wild card who dominated this year’s qualifying circuit and this week took down fifth-ranked Joel Parkinson and third-ranked Andy Irons.

Says Surfing magazine editor Evan Slater: “Jordy Smith is like Ivan Drago in ‘Rocky IV.’ He came out of nowhere, is tall and chiseled and seemingly unstoppable.”

While next year’s roster will get a boost from rookies Smith and Reynolds, it will lack two of its most colorful characters.

Mark Occhilupo, 41, an iconic figure since 1983 when he burst onto the scene as a brash 15-year-old and redefined power surfing, probably will not requalify. And Sunny Garcia, 37, who rose from poverty and a fatherless upbringing on Oahu’s gritty west side to become larger than life and claim a world title in 2000, is attempting a comeback after spending three months in prison for tax evasion. But few expect the combustive Garcia, who was bounced in the second round as a wild card, to last on a qualifying tour rife with progressive young surfers.

Helping to fill that gap is Bobby Martinez, who found surfing to be a refuge from the violent gang activity surrounding his home on Santa Barbara’s rugged west side.

True to his roots, Martinez, last year’s rookie of the year but a round-three loser, still lives in that neighborhood, a few blocks from where his cousin was stabbed to death.

He’s amiable but despises the spotlight so he does not like competing at Trestles, where he dominated as an amateur.

“Fiji is my favorite because there’s nobody there to bug you,” he says. “You’re on your own island [Tavarua] with just the people who are there to compete. You’re kind of away from everybody and everything, which is nice.”

Then there’s Chris Ward, known simply as Wardo. He lives across the freeway from Trestles and thoroughly enjoys the home-water advantage.

“Just to be home for a couple months feels good,” says Ward, who advanced to round four. “It’s great to have the contest here before I’ll have to leave again. Its one of the best waves on tour.

“There is a lot that professional surfers have to offer here with all the different tricks and carves. I’m just stoked to be one of the guys in the next round.”

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pete.thomas@latimes.com