Honda US Open of Surfing (2008)

Huntington Beach, CA. The south swell continued into the week of the Open. The final 3 days were pretty killer. It's so impressive to see close out set waves get ripped to pieces by these guys and girls, men and women. Not to come off as chauvanistic, but the women are ripping like the guys. The talent in women's surfing is insane now. The O'Neill junior pro semis and finals were basically an all out expression session. These kids go for broke quite a bit more than their older male counterparts. Maybe that's just typical of the next generation of pros, or the way kids, in all aspects of life, are a bit more expressive than adults.

The whole festival part I can pretty much do without as so many of the displays have nothing at all to do with surfing. However, it was good to see bands other than mickey avalon and ozomatli, for once. I did miss the never-ending free flow of Lost energy drinks that occurred in 2007. New were redbull vending machines everywhere, including in the sand, at the typical gouge rate of $2.50 a can. There were crap loads of free branded beach umbrellas (o'neill, con zipper, spy, skull candy, and others) for the dedicated folks who actually spent most of their time watching the surfing. G211.com had their stuff together, especially with their web site. The heat sheets, stats, and results were all online and up-to-date in record time (thanks, in great part, to the efforts and technology by the BeachByte.com) Last year, in 2007, the online presence of the US Open was a travesty. Walking through the festival part of the US Open makes me really appreciate that there are the big-ass bleachers between the festival mayhem and the surfing.

Overall, the surfing was great, and the good surf didn't hurt. I think my favorite heat, aside from the pro junior semis and final, was the Boost Mobile Pro Shootout final. If you saw the Boost Pro last year at lowers, this was just like it (sans Slater). Full of airs and air-360s. I've got to admit, my heart broke at the end of the Tim Boal/Brett Simpson men's semifinal heat. Brett had it locked and loaded, then Tim executed a sweet final ride that gave him a .07 lead. Tim did get a sweet ride, but it would have been nice to see local-fav Brett move on to compete with other near-local fav Nate Curran. Then, sadly, the men's final was a real dud. By then the wind was probably blowing 15 knots, the tide was high and the surf went flat. Tim Boal (FRA) and Nathaniel Curran (USA) didn't have much to battle it out on, making it the longest 25 minutes during the week. Only a few waves caught by each finalist, no spectacular moves, and the judges scoring computer took a dump mid heat. When all was said and done, Nathaniel took it, but I've never witnessed such a quiet, and honestly boring, final. That being said, I'm impressed by all the competitors every year, and I never take for granted that the largest surf contest in the world is in my backyard. See some video clips here.