World champ crowned

RICK FIGNETTI

We have a new world longboard champ as the $50,000 Oxbow Pro Long

Board championship finals were held down at Ragland, New Zealand last

week.

Two former world champs battled it out in 4- to 5-foot surf

conditions that got a little bumpy by the end.

Australian Beau Young made it his second Assn. of Surfing

Professionals title, picking up $7,000 with the win over California’s

style-master Joel Tudor.

Young came into the event rated No. 6 and left rated numero uno.

To make the event even more special, Beau, with his dad on hand,

the legendary, Nat Young, a four-time world longboard champ himself,

gave his dad a birthday present, another title for the family!

Tudor, who won in 1998, was rated No. 2 coming into the last event

of the season. He had some of the highest point totals for the

surfing contest, busting some nine point rides through some of the

rounds and looked like the clear favorite.

Tudor picked up a check for $3,500 and soundly took out

up-and-coming South African Mathew Moir in the semis.

San Juan Capistrano’s Colin McPhillips, a three-time world champ

and last year’s defending champ, lost to a charged-up Young in the

semis and finished third overall.

And young gun, from Imperial Beach, 19-year-old Tayler Jensen, who

shocked the world with his win at Biarritz, France in the first event

of the season, lost to Tudor in round four, and was leading the

standings until the final rounds.

That’s it for ASP world tour longboarding action till 2004.

The ASP for the short boards is over on Hawaii’s North Shore, but

the surf’s been small and windy and the Vans Hawaiian Pro at Haliewa

has been on hold.

The waiting period is Nov. 12-23, but there is a rumor of a pretty

decent northwest swell rolling in soon.

While the smallness has been happening, there was a birthday bash

at the Volcom house for Bruce Irons, who looks like he’ll be joining

his brother, world champ Andy Irons, on the World Championship Tour

next season.

And Huntington Beach early punk rock band TSOL played the jamming

gig. That went off by all accounts. Some of the members of the band

surf, too, so they’re stoked to get some barrels in warm water.

The surf related-television show Boarding House is filming again

in Hawaii and it looks like big wave rider and team Hui member Makua

Rothman is scheduled to get some air time along with the cast of

regulars. TV. ratings went through the roof for the new surf series

last year nationwide as surfing is hitting the main stream.

Also “A.I.,” sometimes known as Andy Irons, stopped by the

hospital to see the young surfing ripper Bethany Hamilton, the girl

who had her arm bit off by the tiger shark a couple weeks ago. She’s

doing better and is one of the toughest gals on the planet, Irons

said.

They did catch a 15-foot tiger by Tunnels, thought to be the

culprit in the attack.

There were some mean barrels here in Huntington Beach first part

of the week in that overhead southwest-northwest combo swell. Didn’t

I see you get a deep one?

Fig over and out.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an eight-time West Coast champion, has

announced the U.S. Open of Surfing the last nine years and has been

the KROQ-FM surfologist for the last 17 years, doing morning surf

reports. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at

(714) 536-1058.