Mid-summer is always packed full of beach and surf related activities going on, and this year is absolutely zero exception.
Take this past weekend as an example.
I was sitting at the Sugar Shack in downtown Huntington Beach happily sipping my coffee and preparing to inhale some really good bacon and eggs on Friday morning, and I was kinda trying to plan out what I would be doing over the weekend.
It was the day of the Surfers’ Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Next, I had an art showing along with the great surf art legend Wade Koniakowsky. That was gonna take a big chunk outta Saturday.
I don’t really consider myself as doing “surf art,” as it is perceived. I am more into “wave art.” I paint waves and stick all kinds of different scenes around them. Waves as I would like to ride them, no closed-out shorebreaks. Lots of perfect peelers. But anyway, we had an art showing on Saturday afternoon.
Also on the agenda was the opening of the U.S. Open of Surfing going on at the Huntington Beach Pier. The big summer surfing event in Orange County that continues through Sunday.
Great surfers from all over the world are on hand to compete in one of the largest events on the planet. And along with the surfing competition, there is a whole slew of other stuff packed into the week on the beach there. It’s like a little “surf city” comes to the big Surf City. (If you don’t know it, Dean Torrance himself lives in Huntington Beach, the dude who wrote the hit song, “Surf City.”)
In short, it’s a big week in Huntington Beach.
Also going on was the Olympic surfing event. But it was not held in Paris with the rest of the games, it was held in Tahiti. There is good surf in France, so I am not totally positive why they had it in Tahiti, other than the fact that it’s French and has probably the most spectacular surf spot on Earth there. Not only is it spectacular, but it’s also mega dangerous. Like life and death dangerous, with any kind of size on it.
Related links
Corky: Three more to be added to the Surfers’ Hall of Fame
Surfing Walk of Fame marks 30 years with stories, memories shared
Heading to the US Open of Surfing? Let us guide you with 13 things you can do
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My original reaction when I heard it was going there was that many of the countries that have surfing teams do not have surfers who might be qualified to ride that spot. Somebody was gonna get seriously hurt. But then when I saw the lineup of countries included, there were none of those less experienced countries involved. The Norwegian surf team was not represented in this one. (No offense to Norway meant).
The bummer was that you couldn’t watch it unless you subscribed to one of those channels. Thankfully I got to see some of it at my pal Joel Saltzman’s house. It was amazing to watch too, the part I saw anyway. I am looking at guys getting rides that would be better than I ever got and only getting threes (on a zero to 10 scale).
My favorite part was the guys coming flying out of spitting tunnels and waving their arms like the heavens had just opened. One guy held up his hands signaling the judges that his ride should be scored a 10. I like that. Just call out your own score. I would be giving myself 10s all day long. Awhoooo.
Also going on is the showing of a very entertaining surf-related movie at local theaters titled “Water Brother, the Sid Abbruzzi Story.” This is really a cool film. It’s not really related to Orange County so much, but it is relative to the surfing and skateboarding world at large.
Sid is one of “those” dudes who are just in a different zone than most. His contributions and presence are amazing. He was the owner of the legendary surf shop, Water Brothers, in New England, and that is sort of his area. But it goes well beyond that, so I highly recommend you check it out if you are a surfing and/or skateboarding fan like I am.
Just another fun-filled summer in the O.C.
Related Articles
Corky: Get a look at some of surfing’s best
Corky: Remembering Ilima Kalama before his Surfer’s Hall of Fame induction
Corky: Surviving another summer at the beach
Corky: Schooling others about the stoke of surfing
Corky: Three more to be added to the Surfers’ Hall of Fame
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