Huntington High Is a Winner; So Is the Clean, New Image

Living on the West Coast, it’s easy to take some things for granted, such as the blue Pacific at our doorstep and its potential impact on Orange County’s younger population.

While students in land-locked schools must content themselves with the basics (football, basketball, baseball), California students have another option.

In California, you can join a surf team, Fig said, adding that the match-ups can be as exciting as any in the above-mentioned sports.

Andy Verdone, 34, has coached the Huntington Beach High School surf team for seven years. Two weeks ago, Fig said, Verdone and his team pulled off a victory at one of the biggest showdowns on the coast between Huntington and Edison High School.

Both were undefeated. The stage was Huntington’s Pier, on the southside, and the surf was small, about one to three feet. But it was an easy victory for HB, winning 80 to 36.

Edison-HB heat winners included Jimmy Zimmerman, Andy Hobson, Billy Oswald, Wyatt Simmons and Shannon Henry (all from Huntington). Edison’s Erin Bailey won the girls’ heat.

But the matchup, Fig said, also featured more than just a Sunset League meet win for HB, which is on its way toward its second national championship. Edison’s coach is Jon Rothrock, who in 1978-79 helped found the National Scholastic Surfing Assn., known as the NSSA. It’s the umbrella for high school surf teams and has grown to include school teams from Hawaii, California and the Gulf and East coasts.

Figgy also had another reason for bringing up the surf teams.

Huntington’s Zimmerman, a 17-year-old student and surf team member, was recently selected the school’s homecoming king. It’s the first time a surfer has been chosen for that at Huntington.

According to Verdone, Zimmerman symbolizes surfing’s future. He’s popular, intelligent and he’s a young man who doesn’t drink alcohol or smoke.

“There’s that old image of surfers,” Verdone said, referring to the stereotype that includes kooks, druggies and outlaws. “You know, the Jeff Spicolis (from the movie ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High.’) But those kind of kids don’t survive in our program. Zimmerman has a 4.0 G.P.A., and he’s setting a stage for the next generation of surfers.”

Instead, coaches like Rothrock and Verdone pick from the creme de la creme. Some are dual sport people who also compete in soccer, baseball and other sports.

“These are athletes, and some used to be in gymnastics,” Verdone said. “They have good balance, low center of gravity and good endurance. It’s tough, because in the 15 minutes they have in each heat during competition, they must put together their top three waves and score the best out of a 10-point system.”

Figgy, a Huntington Beach High alumnus and former member of its surf team, recalled the tough 6 a.m. drills.

They used to make us paddle around the pier and do wind sprints on the beach. You’re doing it for time and to beat your teammates. When I was a member of the NSSA’s National Team, I can remember coaches Peter Townend and Ian Cairns during a competition in Panama. They saw a point a mile down the beach, and said, “OK, guys, this is what we’re going to do.” And, we’d have a paddle race down to that point. It hurt, but it got you in shape.

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Tribute: Fig had a special thanks to surfers who helped evacuate victims from last week’s fires up at County Line and in Laguna Beach. And in the Only-in-California Dept.: CBS aired a short segment of two helicopters dipping their water buckets while two surfers worked a nice Laguna right.

Contests: U.S. Bud Surf Tour Championships are in Ventura this weekend (Nov. 3-7), and Cardiff’s Rob Machado will be to trying to protect his No. 1 ranking. Taylor Knox of Carlsbad is ranked second.

Ooooops: Apologies to Bill Sharp, a noted knee boarder at the Wedge in Newport Beach. I referred to him as a “body boarder” in a story and his mates ragged him. Sharp called and said, “Here on the coast, you gotta watch out what you call people. I’m a knee boarder. I don’t ride a Boogie board.”

Birthdays: The Figster turned another year old on Monday (Nov.1), but he refused to confirm the candle count. I guess that puts him in the gray-haired grommet division now.

Forecast: Surfline/Wavetrak says our swell outlook will improve slightly toward the week’s end. Waves will remain small, but Sean Collins sees some fun at top spots.