Huntington Beach Shane Beschen doesn’t need the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing. He’s retired, has a family, and has little to prove in competitive surfing.

Maybe that was all the former No. 3 surfer in the world needed to be as free and loose as he was Monday morning in the men’s round of 192. He has surfed the event numerous times and reached the final. He knows how fickle the waves at the pier can be and what a long time it is from Monday to Sunday.

The San Clemente surfer took advantage of clean, slightly overhead conditions in the morning to fly to an easy 16.00-11.33 victory over Huntington Beach’s Brad Ettinger.

Beschen was in charge before he got a 7.6 slicing along the lip of a right to seal the victory. Smiling afterward, he imparted some wisdom about winning at the pier.

“Everybody surfs good in this contest,” he said. “Just a matter of doing your thing and getting two good waves. It’s a little bit of positioning and a little bit of luck and don’t fall when you get a good one.”

Beschen said he relaxed after getting the solid lead.

“In conditions like this, (if you get) a seven or an eight you’re probably going to get through,” he said. “After I got my 7.6, I knew it was over.”

Despite a distant second, Ettinger advanced and was pleased with his start.

“I’ve been doing this contest for seven years and the waves have never been this good,” Ettinger said about hanging in to find the wave that got him through. “I kept telling myself the heat’s not over.”

Later in the day, Australian Julian Wilson continued his hot streak here with his 12th consecutive heat advance. He had won 11 in a row dating to the Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure event earlier this month, and he won all his heats in the junior boys contest over the weekend before finishing second and advanced behind Nils Schweizer, 11.00-9.60.

In today’s men’s round of 144, Timmy Reyes faces Chad Compton in Heat 4, it’s Ettinger vs. Eric Geiselman in Heat 6, and Beschen vs. Mike Losness and 2003 U.S. Open winner Cory Lopez in Heat 9.

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