Surf champions crowned at Huntington Beach contest
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You never know if you’re watching a future world champion.
For 40 years, the National Scholastic Surfing Association has been crowning young surf champs, including many who continue on to fulfill their dreams of becoming the best of the best.
On Tuesday, July 3, a handful of surfers claimed NSSA national championship titles, hoisted up in victory from the water’s edge to the sand by friends and family in Huntington Beach, just south of the pier.
Summer-like conditions showed up for finals day: plenty of waves in the 2- to 4-foot range, sunny skies and warm water.
The national championships ran over eight days, with plenty of swell throughout the event. The first week is dedicated to the “Explorer” division, which allows anyone that has earned enough points in rankings at regional contest stops through the year to compete. The “Open” is the NSSA’s premier division and only is open to students who maintain a 2.0 GPA and higher.
Rick “Rockin Fig” Fignetti first competed in 1978, the year NSSA launched. He’s only missed a few years in the past four decades, and this year came in second in the “Duke” 55 and older Explorer division. His first year, at age 21, he reached the finals, finishing fourth.
“It felt nice to make the 40th year and make the finals again,” said Fignetti, now 61. “It’s been a long run, I’ve been pretty stoked.”
He’s also been the contest announcer for nearly 30 years, watching stand-outs such as Andy and Bruce Irons and Kelly Slater, and more recently the likes of Kolohe Andino, start their careers and continue as pro surfers.
And he said he has no doubt, with the talent displayed in the water this week in Huntington, that there’s a world champion in this crop of young competitors.
“The level of surfing was through the roof,” he said. “People weren’t laying down, they were going for it in all the age brackets.”
This year was especially loaded with local talent.
San Clemente’s Hayden Rodgers pulled off a trifecta — winning the Open Boys, Explorer Menehune and Junior Airshow divisions. Fellow San Clemente surfer Kade Matson earned a National Open Juniors Championship.
Hawaiian Robert Grilho broke a record set by San Clemente’s Andino as the youngest surfer to win the prestigious National Open Mens title, at just 15 years and 3 months.
On the women’s side, fellow Hawaiian Gabriela Bryan earned the National Open Womens title over San Clemente’s Samantha Sibley.
Also earning NSSA National Open titles were: Tiger Abubo (Open Mini Groms); Luana Silva (Open Girls); Caitlin Simmers (Open Super Girls); Mack Landry (Longboard); and Nick Marshall (Airshow).
For more, go to ssa.org.