Longboard

Huntington Beach's Kim Hamrock turned back all comers to win the Kuini Division title at the 2004 Wild Women Waterday competition. The sixth annual event, which attracted women from across the state, was held at the Huntington Beach Pier. Hamrock, an 11-time U.S. women's longboard champion, dominated the Kuini Division where competitors ranged in age from 35 to 45. She also entered the Kuini Division shortboard competition and finished second to Stephanie Hoffman of La Jolla.

The Sunset League All-Star surfing championships were held Dec. 10 at the Huntington Beach Pier. The end-of-the-season event featured athletes from Edison, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Marina and was held in glassy, waist-high to shoulder-high right and left peelers at the pier. Edison, under Coach Zoran Forgiarini, captured the league championship. ? MVPs ?Men?s Shortboard: Christian Saenz (Huntington Beach) ?Women?s Shortboard: Anise Guzman (Edison)

The Dwyer Middle School surf team won the National Scholastic Surf Assn.'s interscholastic national competition at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point. Twelve middle schools from across the nation were invited to compete, including teams from Hawaii and Florida, in the two-day event. Dwyer entered two teams in the competition held in 2- to 3-foot, fair conditions. The Jr. Oilers showed their depth and determination and edged Bernice Ayers of San Clemente to win the national title.

The SIMA Surfing America USA Championships have concluded after a straight week of heavy-duty competition at the Huntington Beach Pier. It started last week with a combo swell out of the northwest and southwest ? 4- to 6-foot with 8-foot-plus sets and offshore winds. The waves slowly dropped the rest of the week but were still rippable and had mostly glassy conditions. The U.S. Championships saw computer scoring; four-man, 20-minute heats, and Qualifying Series? judges. There were tons of different age brackets starting with the boys?

It's almost time for the big show to hit the shores of Surf City. The Assn. of Surfing Professionals' six-star, $175,000 Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O'Neill is scheduled to kick off July 20. The U.S. Open will feature the best men, women and juniors from around the world in short and longboard competition. Some big guns are slated to compete: former world champ C.J Hobgood; brother Damien Hobgood (who's No. 2 in the world); East Coast transplant and former winner Cory Lopez; San Clemente's air blaster Chris Ward; last year's defending champ Rob Machado; and Hawaiian rippers Freddy Boy Patacchia and Bruce Irons.

FRIDAY "The Many Faces of Buddha" exhibit will be showing at the Fine Art Gallery at Golden West College through April 12. The exhibit is free. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Information: (714) 895-8361. SATURDAY The third annual Huntington Beach Restaurant Olympics will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 16 at Pier Plaza, Pacific Coast Highway and Main Street. The free event includes a waiter/waitress relay, table setting for time and perfection, clean water relay, longboard sand surfing race and birthday song.

There was a little bit of a break in the surf scene, as most people took a relaxing Memorial Day weekend off. The weather was quite typical of this time of year, with the morning cloud layer hanging the first half of the day, but quite nice with sunny skies later on. There was a small remanence of the southwest and west swell combo lingering that finally came to, pretty much, a close. Lots of beach goers hit the sands at our Surf City beaches, which were packed.

The Huntington Beach Surf Series started its first event of the year with some pretty epic 3- to 6-foot surf, setting up some big ripping down at the Huntington Pier. The weather was pretty nice, too, with some overcast mornings giving way to sunny skies. Not only did former Assn. of Surfing Professionals championship tour ripper and current contest director Jeff Deffenbaugh score some great surf, but the ante was upped this year with computer scoring and $40 for heat winners in the pro-am division.

Zoran Forgiarini says it possibly is a first. The Edison High surf coach said he can?t remember a past Charger team winning a league championship. What happened on Dec. 4, however, is now etched in his memory bank. The Chargers captured the Sunset League championship by defeating 17-time national champion Huntington Beach, 89-79, at Edison?s home break, the Santa Ana River Jetties in Newport Beach. Forgiarini said the triumph came just a few weeks after the Chargers scored another first ?

Tony Bartovich of Huntington Beach took first place in the Open Longboard division to lead a contingent of local athletes at the fifth event of the National Scholastic Surfing Assn.'s Southwest Conference Open Season. Bartovich posted an 8.84 total score to place ahead of runner-up Dane Petersen (6.30) of Trabuco Canyon at 54th Street in Newport Beach. Other finishes by Huntington athletes included: Jack Boyes (third, Open Mens), Dylan Aragon (third, Open Juniors) and Jake Saenz (second, Airshow)

The Sunset League All-Star surfing championships were held Dec. 10 at the Huntington Beach Pier. The end-of-the-season event featured athletes from Edison, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach and Marina and was held in glassy, waist-high to shoulder-high right and left peelers at the pier. Edison, under Coach Zoran Forgiarini, captured the league championship. ? MVPs ?Men?s Shortboard: Christian Saenz (Huntington Beach) ?Women?s Shortboard: Anise Guzman (Edison)

Zoran Forgiarini says it possibly is a first. The Edison High surf coach said he can?t remember a past Charger team winning a league championship. What happened on Dec. 4, however, is now etched in his memory bank. The Chargers captured the Sunset League championship by defeating 17-time national champion Huntington Beach, 89-79, at Edison?s home break, the Santa Ana River Jetties in Newport Beach. Forgiarini said the triumph came just a few weeks after the Chargers scored another first ?

The SIMA Surfing America USA Championships have concluded after a straight week of heavy-duty competition at the Huntington Beach Pier. It started last week with a combo swell out of the northwest and southwest ? 4- to 6-foot with 8-foot-plus sets and offshore winds. The waves slowly dropped the rest of the week but were still rippable and had mostly glassy conditions. The U.S. Championships saw computer scoring; four-man, 20-minute heats, and Qualifying Series? judges. There were tons of different age brackets starting with the boys?

It's almost time for the big show to hit the shores of Surf City. The Assn. of Surfing Professionals' six-star, $175,000 Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O'Neill is scheduled to kick off July 20. The U.S. Open will feature the best men, women and juniors from around the world in short and longboard competition. Some big guns are slated to compete: former world champ C.J Hobgood; brother Damien Hobgood (who's No. 2 in the world); East Coast transplant and former winner Cory Lopez; San Clemente's air blaster Chris Ward; last year's defending champ Rob Machado; and Hawaiian rippers Freddy Boy Patacchia and Bruce Irons.

The Huntington Beach Surf Series started its first event of the year with some pretty epic 3- to 6-foot surf, setting up some big ripping down at the Huntington Pier. The weather was pretty nice, too, with some overcast mornings giving way to sunny skies. Not only did former Assn. of Surfing Professionals championship tour ripper and current contest director Jeff Deffenbaugh score some great surf, but the ante was upped this year with computer scoring and $40 for heat winners in the pro-am division.

A long-dormant surfing event returns to Huntington Beach this weekend, bigger than even its organizers expected. Pro and amateur surfers on vintage-style longboards will ride tandem, compete in noseriding and freestyle in front of spectators over three days for a weekend of classic surfing. The Surf City USA Longboard Pro-Am is expected to bring 30 international surf clubs to participate in the event, said Gary Sahagen, chairman of the Huntington Beach Longboard Crew, the event's organizer.

Huntington Beach is hosting the first Surf City U.S.A. Longboard Pro-Am this week, featuring the Guy Takayama Pro Noseriding Series and the International Tandem Surfing Assn. World Tandem Tour as well. Organizers hope to make it an annual event. The Huntington Beach Pier will be the site of the competition, which starts on Friday and goes till Sunday's finals. The pros who will start on Friday include big names like: king of the noseriders Josh Baxter; last year's U.S. Open winner Dodger Kremel; three-time world champ Colin McPhillips; Huntington Beach's Josh Mohr, a several-time U.S. Open finalist; the stylist Taylor Jensen; and hot locals Rocky McKinnon, Justin Hugron and Kelly Kraushaar.

This Sunday, before the chips and dip make their way to the coffee table and people gather in front of the television to watch huge guys pound each other flat on the football field, a group of surfers will hit the waves. The early start's not so unusual in Huntington Beach, where hundreds of wave riders are usually already in the water in the morning, but this is Super Bowl Sunday, and these surfers want to keep a tradition alive — to paddle out and around the pier before anyone else.