Ten years of watching surfers will lead you to conclusions.

One of them is that Orange County is loaded with good surfers. I mean really fine, world class surfers. Another is that they don’t get enough recognition for simply being athletes. They might sell a lot of boardshorts or look great in the magazines or might even be called artists. But virtually none of them are given enough credit for what they accomplish physically in the water.

Hence, my very first shout out to the top male and female surfing athlete in this county, the Orange County Surfer of the Year award. Yes, I realize the year’s not over yet, but close enough for me to make my choice.

I also want to hear your choices. You can vote online for the readers choice for men’s surfer beginning Friday. Your winners and mine will receive their award at a banquet at Nalu’s Island Grill in Irvine in December.

And without further ado, here’s my picks: Greg Long and Courtney Conlogue. You’ve probably seen me put out a lot of ink about these two. They deserve it. Each is an excellent athlete with the results to show for it.

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Santa Cruz local Nat Young won the 2008 O’Neill Cold Water Classic Sunday at Steamer Lane.

In very good four-to-six-foot conditions at his home break, Young edged Seal Beach’s Chris Waring and Hawaiians Granger Larsen and Sean Moody in a nail biter where Larsen caught the last wave with just seconds left in the final, but didn’t get the score he needed to overtake Young.

Huntington Beach’s Micah Byrne reached the semis and took home an extra $10,000 for winning the Macy’s California Trifecta Surf Series. The Cold Water Classic was the final event in the series.

Florida’s Asher Nolan was second in the series and San Clemente’s Nate Yeomans, who didn’t even compete at Steamer Lane was third, due to strong performances at the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro and the Oakley Newport Beach Pro.

Also, Brazilian transplant Bruno Rodrigues of Huntington Beach finished third in the Oakley Pro Junior ASP North American Championships.

Greg Long had another great summer in South Africa.

He spends every summer in the southern hemisphere and while he was there this year he finished second in the 2008 Red Bull Big Wave Africa to good friend and rival Grant “Twiggy” Baker. But didn’t leave empty handed, he also caught a massive barrel that is a sure XXL award candidate.

He chatted with the Register about his summer holiday and the barrel ride. Here’s Greg in his own words.

Q: What kind of expectations did you have going back to S. Africa this summer. I mean, you’ve had a really good year, and you got to go back with stickers on your board for the first time in a while.

Greg: I look forward to coming to South Africa every year.  This was my eighth year in a row, and each time I have spent anywhere from 2-3 months.  It is really starting to feel like a second home for me.  

From a surfing standpoint I was more excited and motivated than ever.  I had been out of the water recovering from a broken foot, ear surgery, and a torn hamstring the three months prior. I came to Cape Town before the winter had really kicked into gear this year in order to regain my focus and start working my way back into the surfing groove. 

My first three weeks here the waves were very small which was a blessing in disguise.  I spent the downtime training extensively while making sure all my equipment was dialed. My first session back in the water came about during my second week and I felt so rejuvenated…like a little kid again.  Having just signed a new contract with Billabong gave me even more motivation to get back in the water and charging again.  During the height of winter down here the question isn’t if you are going to get a big swell, but when.  After my first few weeks I had rebuilt my strength and confidence and was ready to go.

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The U.S.A. Surf Team beat their own expectations and used strong surfing to a silver medal finish Sunday at the 2008 ISA World Surfing Games in Portugal.

It was the highest finish of a U.S. team in the games since 1996 and a giant shot in the arm for a program struggling to rebuild itself.

Australia won its third consecutive team gold by a wide point margin, but the U.S. team finished well ahead of bronze-winning Brazil and copper-winning France. The U.S. was led by Florida’s C.J. Hobgood, and San Diego County’s Lauren Sweeney and Taylor Jensen, who all won individual medals.

The 2001 world champ Hobgood outsurfed three Aussies, two of which are fellow World Championship Tour members, to win the gold in the men’s shortboard. Though he started the day with a scare, getting knocked into the repercharge final, he bounced back to beat Australia’s Heath Joske, 15.80-15.66.

Joske got off to early lead but Hobgood crept back in 10 minutes later. He took the lead for good moments later on a righthander and put it away with a 7.20. Hobgood went on defense and sat on Joske the remaining three minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

The ISA World Surfing Games were postponed today due to small swell and high tide.

The contest director decided to use an available lay day for the games on what would have been day 4. The next call will be made early Thursday morning.
 
The U.S. team will have to wait another day for their next heats at Costa de Caparica, Portugal.

The U.S. Surfing team are keeping their hopes high and expectations low with their admittedly makeshift bunch for the 2008 World Surfing Games.

On one hand, head coach Joey Buran’s juniors team was building momentum after returning to the medal podium at the World Junior Surfing Championships, but on the other, the WSG is a slightly different creature, open to the pros and too often featuring odds stacked against the U.S.

Since the 1990s, U.S. teams have usually been scraped together, hardly ever representing the best collection of talent here, yet facing teams from Australia, Brazil, Hawaii and South Africa that quickly bury U.S. hopes. The 2006 team was an exception. The Hobgoods, Pat O’Connell, Chris Ward, Julia Christian, Colin McPhillips and Courtney Conlogue put on a show of strength and won medals.

Putting that team together took months of effort. Buran never really had that option. Nevertheless, at the end of day three in Costa de Caparica, Portugal, the U.S. team is essentially right where they were at this point in Huntington Beach two years ago.

East Coast pros C.J. Hobgood and Ben Bourgeois, along with junior team holdovers Nat Young and Dillon Perillo are through the first round. It’s a bit of a surprise that Hobgood is back competing for the U.S. after he reacted angrily to sloppy judging in Huntington Beach. Having the 2001 world champ back is a big relief.

The women’s team of Lauren Sweeney and Demi Boelstirli took first round victories but are already facing the shadows of Australians Claire Bevilacqua and teen phenom Sally Fitzgibbons. Both U.S. surfers finished second in second round heats behind the Aussies. At least if the trend continues, U.S. women can battle and accrue enough points to get the team near the medal stand.

Defending U.S. Open longboard champ Taylor Jensen is holding his own and has won his first two heats. Jensen is still one of the top American longboarders, as reinforced by his U.S. Open performance. Jensen is facing surfers he is used to seeing and should be a steady veteran presence on the team.

It was no secret even before the team was named two weeks ago, that bodyboarding would be the trouble spot for the team. Not surprising then, that Jeremy Wright and Keila Grodzen finished third in their first heats and have been knocked into the repercharge. If they are eliminated early, it will deal a serious blow to U.S. medal hopes. However, Jacob Romero finished second in his opening heat and is into the second round.

The key to victory in ISA team events is keeping as many of your team mates in the competition for as long as possible. All surfers must finish in the top two of their heat (in the winner’s bracket). If they are knocked into the repercharge (the loser’s bracket), they must still place in the top two of each heat or cost their team.

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