Joe Surf: Simpson’s tour bid falls short at Oahu

Brett Simpson’s six-year run on the World Surf League’s World Championship Tour — the highest-level surfing competition on Earth — likely is over for now.

Simpson, a Huntington Beach High School graduate, began the final contest of the season ranked 26th in the world, needing to score well enough to jump to No. 22 or better to qualify for next year’s tour.

Simpson, however, was eliminated in Round 2 of the Billabong Pipe Masters on the North Shore of Oahu, all but ensuring a season on the Qualifying Series tour next year. Two wild cards are selected for the championship tour, but it’s not likely Simpson will be chosen.

Simpson had some hope going into the contest at Pipeline – a third-place finish in Portugal in the previous contest boosted both his confidence and his place in the rankings.

But he found himself in a tough Round 1 heat against Hawaii’s John John Florence and Santa Cruz’s Nat Young. The waves were hard to come by for Simpson, whose top two waves scored only a 1.00 and 0.50. Florence won the heat, propelled by an 8.33 on his second scoring wave.

Losing the Round 1 heat put both Young and Simpson in the elimination Round 2 heat. Simpson was matched against Australia’s Taj Burrow, needing to win or his season would be over.

Simpson started the heat well, scoring a 7.00 for an early lead. But Burrow put up an 8.77 on his second scoring wave to eliminate Simpson, 13.77 to 11.20.

Simpson, though disappointed, is determined to get back at it next year. And he has his priorities straight. After being eliminated, he posted a picture on Instagram and Facebook that showed him and his 2-year-old daughter on the shore with the words, “The Best Times.”

*

World champion to be crowned soon

When the Pipe Masters began last week, six surfers had a chance to win the world championship: three Australians, Mick Fanning, Owen Wright and Julian Wilson; and three Brazilians, Adriano de Souza, Felipe Toledo and defending champion Gabriel Medina.

Wright was eliminated the day before the contest began. A wipeout while surfing in rough conditions resulted in a severe concussion that forced him to withdraw.

As of Tuesday, the five others were still in it, getting ready for Round 3 heats, conditions permitting.

*

World record set for largest surf lesson

Huntington Beach was home to a Guinness world record in June when 66 surfers rode one surfboard on the south side of the pier.

But Down Under in Australia, another world record was set recently, maybe one that H.B. can break.

At a fundraising event for One Wave, a surfing community nonprofit that raises awareness of mental-health issues, the Aussies set a Guinness record for world’s largest surf lesson, with 320 wannabe surfers dressed in red Santa suits at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

*

‘Localism’ around the world

The website grindtv.com listed the five most fiercely “protected” surf breaks in the world, and two of them are in Southern California.

“Localism” is when local surfers keep outsiders from surfing their home break. They will slash tires, throw rocks or beat up a nonlocal who wants to paddle out.

The two SoCal spots are Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes and Silver Strand in Oxnard.

The spots outside Southern California are Pipeline in Hawaii, Mundaka, Basque County in Spain and El Quemao in the Canary Islands.