Damien Hobgood

There was thunder down under as they finished up the Assn. of Surfing Professionals' Nova Schin Festival in Brazil in some windy four to six foot plus surf. Aussie Mick Fanning notched up his second win of the year with a blistering front-side attack with an assortment of lip bash and tail-out moves. Fanning pretty much blew Damien Hobgood right out the door with a 18.77 decision out of 20.00. Hobgood, who'd been ripping all of the event, surfed the lefts that were way more wind-blown and difficult to perform on in the final.

The big week of world-class surfing action is over at Lowers as the Boost Mobile Pro of Surfing presented by Hurley finished up last Saturday. And what a week it was, starting with some south west swell action that gave the surfers some fun stuff to work with all week long. Ranging from waist high to a couple feet overhead plus on the "mo bigga" days with rippable longer rights and steeper shorter lefts. Lowers is the kind of wave that's like a skate park where the surfers can bust all the moves — heavy turns, airs, roundos and even more futuristic stuff.

The Figster reporting in from the announcers' booth at the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing. It's been going big-time at the largest surf contest in the world this past week. The action started last Friday and went through the weekend with four different divisions. There were the trials for the men to get in because so many surfers wanted to be in it. Eight got slots to the main event, which started Monday. In the men's, the surfing has been solid. Some standouts were Dane Reynolds, throwing some huge airs but getting knocked out in a tough heat, and a few of the locals making some great runs, such as Shaun Ward and Italian transplant to H.B., Pilurzu Federico.

WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN' FIG Yo ho! ho! And a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ye all from the Figster. I hope you had a great day with family, grinded some big vittles, and maybe even snuck in a surf or a run on the slopes. The storm system from last two weeks finally blew by, but it looks like there's more on the way. The surf was big and kinda torn up for a few days, and the water was a bit on the murky side from the runoff.

RICK FIGNETTI The Assn. of Surfing Professionals' World Championship Tour is off and running again. This time, it's off to Japan -- the house of the rising sun -- for the Quicksilver Pro at Hebara Beach, Chiba from Sept. 1 through 8. There's only six World Championship Tour events left, so it's kinda the midway point of the season. To a recap, the first event in Oz saw Aussie ripper Mick Lowe bustin' straight up's, winning it on the Gold Coast. They went to Bells Beach next for one of the longest running surf contests in history, and it was "Parko" Joel Parkinson blastin' away for the victory.

WET AND WILD WITH ROCKIN FIG It's been going big time on the beach at the Philips Fusion festival, featuring the Honda Element U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O'Neill. The crowd has been turning out in large numbers, watching the nation and the world's best surfers tear up the Huntington surf on the south side of the pier. There has been some southwest pulses pushing in some contestable surf. But the big news flash is that a big southwest swell is forecast for the West Coast at the end of the week, bringing overhead surf at the best southwest facing beaches -- like ours.

The O.C. Titans, a 10-and-under boys' baseball team, will prepare for its new season this weekend. The team is looking to add two more players to its roster, and will hold tryouts from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Huntington Valley Little League. Prospective players must be available for holiday tournaments, the first being the Presidents Day Cup on Feb. 16 to 19 in La Mirada. The O.C. Titans are mostly comprised of all-star players from Huntington Valley and Seaview Little Leagues.

The final showdown of the year went down at legendary Pipeline during the Rip Curl Pipe Masters last week. Mother nature sent some 8- to 12-foot surf to the barrel that breaks over a shallow reef and produces some of the hollowest waves on the planet. The final was a déjà vu duel between the two best surfers of the past five years — Andy Irons and Kelly Slater. Veteran East Coaster Cory Lopez made the heat too, as well as Mr. Casual, Rob Machado. But it was Irons who struck first, with a massive backside deep-tube ride on a left, where he got spit out and hit a big floater, to receive a 9.87 score.

There's been some stormy weather the last couple of weeks along the California coastline. This storm brought us an Arctic blast of freezing air, with lows dropping to the 30s ? not to mention gusty winds, dark clouds in all shapes and sizes, rain squalls and even some hail. The water is iceberg patrol. We're talking mid-50s ? ouch ? with a wind-chill factor to boot. Luckily, spring is just around the corner. It's still summer in Australia, and they just finished the World Championship Tour's Quiksilver Pro in sunny 2- to 3-foot surf at Duranbah on the Gold Coast.