It was a constant battle with the ocean on the first full day of Challenger Series competition at the Lexus US Open of Surfing on Wednesday, July 29, with walls of wave after wave battering down on the competitors.
Strong, rushing rip currents tested competitors trying to survive their heats, with a safety team on watercraft ready to zip them back out to where the big waves were forming for their next rides.
It’s no typical year at the US Open of Surfing, with Hurricane Genevieve now bringing tricky, challenging, big-wave conditions to the Huntington Beach event. Waves in the 8- to 10-foot range crashed into whitewash, tickling the bottom of the famed pier on Wednesday where spectators lined up to cheer on the pro surfers.
Huntington Beach surfers fared well in the big waves, showing local knowledge paid off. Luke Guinaldo advanced in the men’s draw, and Bailey Turner on the women’s side, both bringing out big cheering sections on the sand.
Ahead of her heat, Turner studied the spitting barrels that were showing up, watching as waves jacked up to make a cave of water she was hoping to tuck into.
Turner had a tough start in her heat, she admitted, but in the second half was able to capitalize on several waves, pulling off big hacks and turns on beefy waves to earn a 5.77 and a 4.03 — enough to advance.
On her last wave, she made a huge turn and her body bent backward, engulfed in whitewash. She was able to pop back up, the crowd cheering, later joking that she had to really squeeze her abs to stand up on the board.
“I just needed a small score,” she said. “I just really needed to hang on.”
Turner grew up surfing the same spot with friends and family, “so it’s a dream just to go into the contest and just happy to surf heats,” she said.
Her dad, former pro surfer Ryan Turner, was among her fans on the beach cheering her on.
“So excited,” he said after she advanced. “I know how hard she works. She was waiting and wanted it to get bigger, she had some bigger boards… She has her plan.”
Huntington Beach High School surf coach Ian Dominelli said the 17-year-old, who recently won an ISA gold medal and took the win at the Jacks Surfboard Pro earlier this year, makes the surf town proud.
“She represents us,” he said. “She thrives when it’s big here, she’s always a standout.”
The coach knows the conditions are tricky, and only experience in these kinds of conditions — big, messy and wild — will help the athletes feel comfortable.
World Tour surfer and Canadian Erin Brooks, 19, is just off of a surf trip to Indonesia, where she got some experience with big waves that helped her prepare for what the ocean was throwing at the US Open competitors, she said.
She earned a high 8.33 and backed it up with a 5.67 to take the first spot in the same heat with Turner on Wednesday.
“I’ve never seen Huntington this size,” she said. “I got a lot of practice in big waves, so I felt super, super comfortable.”
The day was all about big turns and the competitors finding critical sections to dig their rails into — the surf was too wild and messy to try to pull off big airs, even for skilled aerialists like Brooks.
Encinitas surfer Alyssa Spencer found a few gems among the chaos in the water.
“It’s definitely a lot different than we usually see in Huntington Beach, it’s not every day we see a huge hurricane swell that comes through, but there’s a couple really good waves out there amongst the challenging water moving and current and everything else going on,” she said. “It’s definitely really exciting, that’s for sure.”
Though she also surfs on the elite World Tour, the US Open is the big, prestigious event for California, Spencer said, and a win would “mean everything.”
“That’s a big reason I’m here doing it, it’s a big goal for me and I’m hoping to make it happen this year,” she said.
French surfer Johanne Defay put the jersey back on for the first time since having her baby, now 11 months old, thinking Huntington Beach would be a good place to ease back into competition.
“For Huntington Beach, I wasn’t expecting this,” she said after advancing in her heat. “I chose the US Open to start in smaller waves, but that’s what surfing is all about. It’s always different and surprising.”
San Clemente surfer Eden Walla, 16, hunted for left-handers that were reeling from the south end of the contest area, rather than staying by the pier where surfers earlier in the day were getting stuck in rip currents near the concrete pylons. When the heat started, she paddled out three lifeguard towers down the beach, but the current quickly moved her north toward the pier.
It was Walla’s first time using a jet ski assist in a contest.
“It’s never been big enough in any contest I’ve been in,” she said. “It was super nice to be able to use them… I probably would have caught two waves in that heat if we didn’t have the jet ski. It makes it so everyone can surf more, and do less paddling.”
The big waves in the contest made for an exciting day for both surfers and spectators, she said.
“I think it makes it way more entertaining for everyone on the beach. It is super nice to have bigger waves, and not have to worry if the waves may not come,” she said. “There’s always going to be some waves coming.”
The men’s action got underway by the afternoon, the lower-seeded competitors needing to scrap through more heats to make it to finals day.
In the Round of 80, the top two surfers get a chance to gain momentum and confidence before they move to the next round and face higher-level competition against others hoping to earn valuable Challenger Series points, as well as some of the world’s best surfers already at the elite level.
For the bottom two in the heats who can’t find the score they need, they must pack their bags and start thinking about the next event.
Hawaii surfer Luke Swanson, who moved on to the next round Thursday, talked about the challenging conditions and needing to have different kinds of boards on hand when competing in Huntington Beach. Last year, surfers had to be ready for 1-foot waves; this year it is a huge hurricane swell.
During one of his waves, he got launched up into the air for several seconds.
“I was free-falling,” he said. “It’s gnarly.”
Peruvian surfer Alonso Correa said he knew he had to “just go for it” on the waves that showed up during his 35-minute heat.
“It’s awesome and incredible waves. We’re stoked,” he said of the big waves. “But it’s hard.”
The surf on Thursday is expected to be even larger as Hurricane Genevieve ramps up into Friday; the swell is expected to drop through the weekend and for Sunday’s finals day.