Holiday season in the surf

RICK FIGNETTI

Let’s start this column off with a Merry Christmas to everyone, no

doubt kicking back with the day off, ready to meet with the family

and friends later.

If you’re lucky, you might be able to sneak in a little session in

the water before all the festivities. Don’t eat too much or that

surfboard won’t be floating you as well as it used to. Or, on the

other hand, the workout training to work those calories off might not

start until next year. I’ll take that excuse.

Big news -- flash bulletin from Hawaii on the North Shore. A storm

went by, slamming the islands with some bad weather, rain and north

winds. After it passed, it cleaned up a bit, not quite as epic as it

could have been. Still, there was a lot of sand in the reef and still

some leftover winds, but there’s some surf.

The finals for the XBox Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters were held in

some contestable 6-foot-plus barreling waves. The race for the world

title went all the way down to the last heat of the year. Making it

two titles in a row, coming from behind, was Hawaiian Andy Irons.

Irons stepped up at Pipe, getting some of the top scores of the

event, even busting his board in the quarterfinals. With glass

peeling off the bottom of his board, he continued on.

In the finals, A.I. posted an 8.33 score with a cover-up, and

buckled another surfboard while caught inside on a set, but he didn’t

panic, got another stick and continued on his victory run. Irons was

the Pipe winner, the Triple Crown winner and the overall points

winner all in one day.

Finishing second was Aussie Joel Parkinson, who was ripping too.

Halfway through the heat, “Parko” went on a wave he didn’t make that

peeled perfectly, which may have been one of the keys to A.I.’s win.

Florida’s Kelly Slater would have been in position for a possible

10-point, perfect-scoring wave, but he had to let it go and ended up

fourth in the final -- a little out of sync.

Australian Phil MacDonald finished up a solid third. Equal fifth

were Bruce Irons, who qualified for the Championship Tour next

season, and Aussie Luke Hitchings. Equal seventh were Hawaiian power

master Pancho Sullivan, a wildcard, and Florida’s Corey Lopez. World

champ Irons got a beer shower from the Kauai boys in front of the

Volcom house after his huge win, just before the awards ceremony.

Final year end standings on the World Championship Tour: First,

Irons, 8,964 points; second, six-time world champ Slater with 8,544

points; third, Aussie Taj Burrow; fourth, Aussie Mick Fanning; fifth,

Parkinson; sixth, Aussie Kieren Perrow; seventh, Carlsbad’s Taylor

Knox; eighth, Aussie Michael Lowe; ninth, Lopez; 10th, Aussie Dean

Morrison; 11th, Aussie Jake Paterson; 12th, Floridian Shea Lopez;

13th, MacDonald; 14th, Florida’s Damien Hobgood; 15th, Aussie Danny

Wills; 16th, Aussie “Occy” Mark Occhilupo.

Other USA notables: 19th, Floridian C.J. Hobgood; 20th, Hawaiian

Kalani Robb; 35th, Laguna Beach’s Pat O’Connell; 43rd, Hawaiian Sunny

Garcia; and 44th, Oxnard’s Timmy Curran.

The parents and family of a Surf City local surfer who passed

away, “Johnny Lee Smith,” would like to express thanks to all those

who attended the paddle out at the pier. Mahalo, and we’ll miss him!

God Bless and see ya next year. 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.