Joe Surf: Brett Simpson has plenty of incentive at final tour event

The final contest in the men’s World Surf League World Championship Tour gets underway this week at Pipeline off the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii, and six surfers have a chance to win the world title.

One of them, though, is not Brett Simpson.

But the Huntington Beach surfer still has a lot riding on the contest — qualifying for next year’s WCT. To qualify, Simpson, who has been on the tour since 2010, needs to finish the season in the top 22 or receive a wild-card entry. He currently is No. 26.

It’s going to take an outstanding performance for Simpson to move up four spots, but he has some momentum heading into the ultimate surf contest. He reached the semifinals and finished an equal third at the most recent WCT contest in Portugal, giving him a boost of confidence in what otherwise has been a difficult season for him.

However, that contest finished more than a month ago, so whether Simpson has maintained that positive feeling won’t be known for sure until he paddles out into some of the most intimidating waves in the world at Pipe.

Simpson spent most of his downtime in Huntington Beach, getting ready for the contest by resting and getting stronger both physically and mentally.

“I’m feeling pretty good physically,” Simpson said from Hawaii. “I had some time to rest, regroup and work on some things physically that were bothering me and find ways to try to make them better for the future. Mentally, I’m just trying to simplify things, not worrying about anything. Just surf some fun waves and hang with my family.”

Simpson will not have the chance to ease into the competition. His Round 1 heat finds him against two of the best surfers in the world in Santa Cruz’s Nat Young and Hawaii’s John John Florence.

“Definitely a doozy of a heat,” Simpson said. “Sometimes the harder they are, it’s easier to relax and go for it, and I feel that’s when I’m most dangerous. So I will have that underdog excitement and try to find some good barrels.”

And there will be some big ones.

“A lot of swell on the way,” Simpson said. “There have been a few waves of late, a bit on the sketchy side, as we nearly lost our good friend Evan Geiselman the other day. Thank God he is still with us.”

A few days ago, Geiselman, who has been close to qualifying for the WCT in recent years, dropped into a barrel and didn’t come out of it. He was slammed into a reef and knocked unconscious.

Fortunately, professional bodyboarder Andre Botha noticed what happened and got to Geiselman, lifting his head out of the water and attempting CPR. Eventually, lifeguards came and helped get Geiselman out of the water.

Initially, Geiselman was in critical condition, but he has improved enough to tweet a thank you to those who expressed care and support: “Can’t thank everyone enough for the love and support! I’m feeling a lot better. It’s overwhelming; love you all and thank you.”

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Conlogue finishes No. 2 in the world

Santa Ana’s Courtney Conlogue came up short in her quest to become the first Orange County surfer to win a women’s world title in nearly 50 years. But she had an incredible season, bouncing back from a severe ankle injury last season to finish No. 2 in the world behind champion Carissa Moore of Hawaii.

Conlogue went into the Target Maui Pro, the final contest on the women’s tour, ranked second and had to beat Moore to claim the world crown. However, she was beaten by Hawaii’s Coco Ho in Round 4 and was eliminated, placing equal ninth in the competition.

Meanwhile, Moore won the contest, scoring an insane 19.50 two-wave score in the final heat against Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons.

JOE HAAKENSON is a Huntington Beach-based sports writer and editor. He may be reached at joe@juvecreative.com.