Curran rides way to surfing title

Nathaniel Curran didn’t wait for conditions to improve Sunday at the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing. He grabbed an early lead in the two-man final and held on to defeat Frenchman Tim Boal, 11.66-10.70, in sparse two-to-three-foot surf alongside the Huntington Beach pier.

“The final was kind of a bummer, the waves didn’t come in,” Curran said. “I kind of knew that in the beginning, that the tide was coming up, getting really high, and I wanted a quick start.”

The victory earned Curran $15,000 and moved him from No. 4 in the World Qualifying Series standings to No. 1. The top 16 at the end of the season qualify for the World Championship Tour, of which Curran’s brother, Timmy, was a longtime member. Curran hopes the result will finally separate himself from his brother’s accomplishments.

“Everyone thinks I’m Timmy, everyone calls me Timmy, it’s just non-stop,” Curran said. “That’s why I cut my hair.”

Heading into the event, Curran’s best results this season were semifinal appearances at the season-opening O’Neill SI Pro at Sebastian Inlet, Fla., and the Billabong Surf ECO Festival in Brazil, both five-star events.

“I just have an amazing board and I’ve been surfing slop like this at home,” Curran said. “I was pretty prepared and confident.”

Hometown favorite Brett Simpson of Huntington Beach had his run end in a semifinal against Boal. Needing a wave score of 6.78 to move ahead of Simpson, Boal passed up two head-high waves and took off on a waist-high wave with about 25 seconds remaining in the heat, pulled off two turns on the outside and another snap off the lip on the inside, earning a score of 6.83 to win the heat.

An obviously frustrated Simpson took off his jersey and immediately left the competitors area, shouting at the judges as he walked by their booth. Simpson said he didn’t see Boal’s final ride, but watched him take off on the wave and wasn’t impressed.

“I thought it was a one-foot wave,” he said.

Still, it was a successful week for Simpson, the son of former Los Angeles Rams defensive back Bill Simpson. His third-place finish moved him from No. 15 on the WQS to No. 7. Simpson, 23, also finished second in a qualifying heat for the Boost Mobile Pro at Lower Trestles in San Clemente in September, opening the door for his first appearance at a WCT event. In the other semifinal, Gabe Kling of St. Augustine, Fla., lost to Curran, but he was considerably happier than Simpson.

Kling, who spent last season on the WCT but failed to re-qualify, was sidelined for two months earlier this season because of pneumonia and then injured a knee shortly after regaining his health, limiting him to five events heading into the U.S. Open.

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dan.arritt@latimes.com