San Clemente surfers perform well at U.S. Open of Surfing
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Kade Matson stood on the edge of the sand and the interview area at the U.S. Open of Surfing on Thursday afternoon.
He was waiting for the score of an opponent, which would let the San Clemente native know if he had advanced past the round of 64 in the tournament.
The score from Rafael Barbosa of Brazil came in, and Matson had advanced second out of his heat by a tenth of a point, with a two-wave score of 11.87 compared to 11.77 for Barbosa.
“Yes!” Matson exclaimed, pumping his fist.
“It’s hard, because I didn’t have priority in the end there so I was kind of just watching the heat happen,” he said later. “I just had to see how it goes, but it feels good to go my way ... It was a pretty fast-paced heat, and the waves were hard out there. For everybody to be getting good waves is pretty impressive, honestly.”
Matson stayed alive heading into the weekend, highlighting an excellent day overall for San Clemente surfers.
The Colapinto brothers — Crosby and Griffin — also advanced, as did Taj Lindblad. Cole Houshmand moved through with a strong score of 16.60.
“It’s insane,” Matson said. “Most of my friends are on tour, so to have all of them here, we’re all kind of there for each other, watching each other’s heats and helping each other out. It’s pretty exciting. We did all of our warmups before this event together, so it’s rad.”
In other news, Huntington Beach local Luke Guinaldo was eliminated after finishing third in his heat with a score of 12.13. Guinaldo, 21, was making his first U.S. Open appearance.
Guinaldo held first place early in the heat, but it was eventually won by Joel Vaughan of Australia with a score of 14.43.
“The waves are pretty tricky,” Vaughan said. “There’s a lot of wind and a lot of chop, so I went to the air and got through.”
He complimented Guinaldo’s surfing as well.
“I got to watch him [Wednesday] and he was competing really well,” Vaughan said. “I think he surfs great, and I think he’s got a good career ahead of him.”
Surf City local Kanoa Igarashi, a two-time U.S. Open champion, surfed in the final heat of the day after deadline.
The men’s competition moves on to the round of 32, where Lindblad will be competing against Jake Marshall and Levi Slawson of Encinitas in the first four-man heat. Slawson is the defending U.S. Open champion.
Heat 5 will feature both Matson and Griffin Colapinto.
The women’s competition is at the round of 16, with Bailey Turner of Huntington Beach still alive, along with Eden Walla and Kirra Pinkerton of San Clemente.
