Ironing things out on tour in France

RICK FIGNETTI

The World Championship Tour’s Quicksilver Pro finally got the surf it

was waiting for, with 8- to 12-foot-plus waves slamming the French

coastline. The contest organizers quickly relocated the event to the

big wave break of La Nord in Hossegor. So, it was big surf, clean,

offshore, epic and looking like Sunset Beach Hawaii.

The two guys ripping through the whole event on different sides of

the draw just so happened to be a couple of Hawaiians, world champ

Andy Irons and his brother Bruce. They met up in the final by virtue

of A.I. beating another Hawaiian powermaster in Sunny Garcia, and

Brucey taking out six-time world champ Kelly Slater in the semis.

Andy took it to his younger brother in the final with some big

carves and some mean turns posting a two-wave score of 17 to win

$30,000 and notch up another victory, plus valuable ratings points.

Bruce, a newcomer to the WCT, had his best performance yet, ripping

heat after heat, and came up with 12 points to finish second. Still,

he showed that with his talent, he could possibly take a world title

down the road in what was the best Euro final ever, by all accounts!

The Brazilians were turning it on, placing equal fifths in the

quarters with veterans Victor Ribas and Peterson Rosa and new guard

Raoni Monteiro, joining Aussie Mick Lowe. San Clemente’s Shane

Beschen made it to round four, as did Trestles winner Joel “Parko”

Parkinson, Aussie Taj Burrow and Oxnard’s Tim Curran. The U.S.’s East

Coast air-buster Cory Lopez won the Expression Session throwing some

big ones, and the rubber man Timmy Curran, doing double duty,

finished second. Next up this week is Mundaca, Spain, where it could

be epic again.

The Rip Curl Pro, the women’s World Championship Tour event, was

held here on the West Coast in Malibu last weekend. Small-scale surf

was seen, but the gals still made the best of it, ripping up what

they had.

Twenty-six year old Hawaiian Megan Abubo dominated the final,

tearing up a right set wave on her last exchange and scoring an 8.5

ride to seal the victory over Brazilian Maria “Tita” Tavares. Abubo’s

ride was the highest scoring wave of the day. She also beat fellow

Hawaiian Rochelle Ballard, who’s currently No. 2 in the world

standings, in the semis.

The win will help Abubo as she tries to solidify her rating toward

the end of the season and re-qualify. Tavares moved from No. 8 in the

standings to No. 4, and she also beat former world champ Australian

Pauline Menczer in a tough semifinal.

Six-time world champ Australian Layne Beachley still has a

mathematical chance at her seventh title if she can win the next two

surf contests in a row. It’s a tall order, but she’s come from behind

before.

With Ballard making the semis, she closes the gap a little, but

No. 1 Sofia Mulanovich of Peru still has a pretty solid lead in the

ratings.

They held some celebrity heats at the Bu, the beach of the

Hollywood stars going all the way back to the “Gidget” days, and also

held a Heal the Bay fundraiser party one night that was pretty

packed.

It looks like fall is finally starting to show with cooler

mornings and offshore a.m. winds, although I was stoked to see some

people making it all the way to October trunking it, no wet suits,

yeah.

That’s it for now, see ya.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an nine-time West Coast champion, has

announced the U.S. Open of Surfing the last 11 years and has been the

KROQ-FM surfologist for the last 18 years, doing morning surf

reports. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at

(714) 536-1058.