Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure Gets Underway
Andino and Wilson lead the charge into the money round
by Evan Fontaine
SurferMag.com Correspondent

The highest profile Pro Junior event to hit North America this year, got underway Sunday with Round of 80 qualifiers at 8am. Bumped up to an ASP Grade-4 event in 2008, the contest is now a can’t-miss for Under 20s with ASP World Junior Championship aspirations (think big time points and big money in the 0 large range). But for all the talk of big name internationals, it was two surfers from Orange County that stood out, asserting themselves as would-be contenders going into the money round on Monday.

Kolohe Andino is rolling right now. Fresh off a record breaking performance at NSSA Nationals where he surfed six heats on Saturday, Sunday morning a fresh-legged Andino exploded out the gates surfing with more purpose and polish than his competitors in the junky conditions. In his two rounds, he posted heat scores of 16.50 and 15.40, and looked right at home doing it. And he should, he’s surfed Huntington enough and seen enough of her different faces to be able to succeed in any type of conditions here, no matter how nightmarish. If he continues to surf fast and link up progressive maneuvers, he’ll be a force on Monday – whether conditions improve or not.

Don’t let his size and demeanor fool you, when Chase Wilson is on, like he was on Sunday, he is one of the scariest competitors in the field. Chase skillfully navigated the sloppy, 2-foot Huntington wind swell on his way to dropping the high wave score of the day. Like Andino, these are familiar waters for the Newport native, so expect him to only get better as the conditions do.

Outside of a few relatively overblown highlights, Sunday’s opening day action was an immense let down. Conditions, which started poorly, went from bad to worse as the day progressed. Inconsistent surf coupled with the wind and a rising tide, forced competitors to take to surfing the Huntington shorebreak. And while few scores were awarded that fell outside the mid-range level, the majority of competitors still chose to surf the inside section on the hopes of lucking into a meatier wedge that they could milk for as many points as possible. As a result, some competitors were advancing on the strength of fours and fives and heat scores in the high fives to mid-to-high sixes.

Gabe Garcia, who developed his skills on similar waves near his home is Carlsbad, was in the fifth heat in the Round of 48 and commented on the challenge of surfing in quickly deteriorating conditions. “It’s pretty much whoever gets a wave out the back and connects it through,” Garcia said. “It’s so wind swelly and it sort of wedges, if you connect one you pretty much have a four. I just got one right off the bat that connected all the way through.”

Nick Rupp won his third to last heat of the day with a single digit heat score, “The waves suck right now,” Rupp said. “I was paddling back and forth, inside and outside. Only one set broke outside the whole heat and that was near the end. Nobody really got an outside wave the whole time. I gave up finally at five minutes and paddled in. I was over it.”

Forecasts, however, are calling for a new bump of South swell that should arrive Monday. Let’s hope. Otherwise it’ll be another day spent watching different versions of the Huntington Hop.

But let’s say conditions remain the same (I know, I know, surf forecasts are always so accurate) and it’s another day of crap. How does that change who the favorites are? One name to think about is Ian Gentil, the 13-year-old who dropped a perfect 20 on the kids in his Open Boys final at Nationals yesterday. I like his light-weight frame and his ability to make sections, hop-scotching from one wind slab to another. You also have to consider the East Coasters if conditions are similar Monday. Oliver Kurtz took down Tonino Benson already, but could he dispatch a few more heavyweights on the way? Just something to think over as you peruse heat sheets mañana.