Surf’s up at U.S. Open in Huntington Beach
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Six-to-eight foot swells greeted competitors at the U.S. Open of Surfing on Wednesday, and that was a welcome sight on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.
Huntington Beach resident Bailey Turner was able to hear the welcome sound of cheers from friends and family.
“When I was coming in on my stomach from the pier, I could hear everybody on the pier screaming,” she confirmed.
The 17-year-old advanced in second place in her women’s round of 32 heat with a score of 9.80, just as she had done in the round of 48 of the Challenger Series event on Tuesday. Erin Brooks of Canada won the heat with a two-wave score of 14.00.
Turner, who won the Jack’s Surfboards Pro competition at the same spot in April, will compete against Francisca Veselko of Portugal in the round of 16 as bracket competition begins.
“It’s really good,” Turner said of the pumping conditions, courtesy of Hurricane Genevieve. “I mean, there’s some really good waves, so it’s super-fun. I feel like, the U.S. Open, everybody knows it for being small and pretty grindy. It’s fun to have waves, so everybody gets to show their surfing.”
Sophie McCullough of Australia (15.77), Eden Walla (14.26) and Kirra Pinkerton (14.03) had the highest women’s scores of the day. Walla and Pinkerton are both from San Clemente.
On the men’s side, Keijiro Nishi of Japan was in good spirits after winning his mid-afternoon round of 80 heat with a score of 12.23, outdueling Caleb Tancred of Australia (12.04), who also advanced.
Nishi has a fun personality and spiky red hair to match his red surfboard. As he gave interviews, one of his many supporters waved a large Japanese flag in the background.
“So many Japanese living here,” Nishi said with a smile. “I’m just so happy to make a heat. I just do my best this competition … Good [waves] for me. I like these conditions just fine.”
Jett Schilling of San Clemente narrowly missed advancing. Luke Guinaldo of Huntington Beach, making his U.S. Open debut, was set to open with his round of 80 heat late Wednesday afternoon.
Thursday’s round of 64 will include Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi, a two-time U.S. Open champion, in the final heat — heat No. 16.
Avalon Gall of Laguna Beach and Tommy Coleman of San Clemente were crowned the event’s longboard champions on Tuesday. It was the second straight U.S. Open longboard title for Gall.
