FIG:Paddle against plastic pollution

Surf City's Tom Jones started his stand-up paddleboard trek down the California coastline last Tuesday to raise awareness of the pollution problem of plastic. They say 5.76 million tons of plastic debris is in the ocean right now. And it's sad to see wildlife that have died or injured themselves because of it.

Jones started right at the Oregon border, under ideal conditions, with sunny skies, hardly any swell or wind, going the first seven miles heading toward Crescent City. The water wasn't too cold, 56 degrees for that far up north. He was wearing 5 mm booties, surf trunks, a rash guard with a flotation device on top of it and a helmet.

Other instruments he carried on board are an air horn, compass, knife, a whistle, and other emergency gear. Starting the run with him was legendary surfer Mickey Muñoz on a 14-foot paddleboard, along with another H.B. resident Danny Misken on a Jet Ski and surfer/shaper from the area Rinn Noll on watercraft, son of legendary big-wave rider Greg Noll.

The crew also had a spotter on the beach, Zolton Torkos from Santa Cruz, who also shares watercraft duties. But for the first leg of the journey is following the progress on the beach: a lot of preparation, charting the rocks, reefs, currents, wind and tides along that coastal stretch were done beforehand.

Other notable surfers that will join Jones at different stretches of the coast are big-wave standout Laird Hamilton, pro surfer Rob Machado, and women's surfing icon Jericho Poppler.

Jones has a website where you can check out the progress and make a donation at www.californiapaddle.com.

The women's' Boardfest '07 is coming up September 1 to 3 at the south side of the Huntington Beach pier. Women's surfing, skating, and snowboarding will be going big-time. Plus there will be booths, surf clinics, fun activities, live music, and other forms of entertainment going down, right on the sand behind the event.

Top pros are entered, like Redondo's Holly Beck, Newport Beach's Erica Hosseini, and fresh from her semifinal appearance at the U.S. Open is Courtney Conlogue. And longboard rippers will be there too, including numerous-time winner Summer Romero of San Diego, and Ventura's Mary Osborne, to name a few.

Coming up this weekend is the third H.B. Surf Series surf contest of the summer at Ninth Street. All ages, plus the pro division will be surfing it out Saturday and Sunday. Should be some stiff competition with all the hot local talent entered.

Also the Western Surfing Assn. kicks of its 2007-'08 season opener down at trails in San Clemente this weekend. Good luck.

That's it for now. Fig over and out.