Local boy Brett Simpson edges out South African surfer Jordy Smith in the 35 minute finals in front of a home crowd packed onto the beach and wins $100,000. World #1 Surfer Jordy threw spray and pumped down the ramp to do an air but just couldn’t stick the landing.
On Brett’s road to a second US Open of Surfing title, he defeated surfers Dane Reynolds, Nathaniel Curran, and Kelly Slater. Brett beat out Kelly Slater in the semi finals just by .04 points, talk about a close one. Some would argue that Kelly’s first wave was underscored, but the 9x World Champion was a true champ and conceded the heat to Brett with only 20 seconds left.
Kolohe Andino, Alejo Muniz, Evan Geiselman, Miguel Pupo
In the men’s junior division, Evan Geiselman was crowned champion and donated $1,000 of his winning to the Stoked Mentoring organization. Kolohe Andino won the Hurley Pro trials and will get one of the Wild Card position for the Hurley Pro in September. Julian Wilson went bigger than Dane Reynolds to win the WPS All-Star Expression session.
On the women’s side, Nike stepped up and increased the prize purse giving 1st place winner Carissa Moore $50,000 in prize money; the largest cash prize for women’s in surfing history. Sally Fitzgibbon placed second and walked away with $15,000. Sage Erickson won the junior women’s title.
In the Pacifico Nose Riding Invitational, it was Joel Tudor who won; further solidifying his status as the winningest longboarder.
As promised Nike, Hurley, and Converse made this year’s US Open of Surfing bigger and better. We saw Weezer played on the beach in front of 50,000 people that stretched from the stage all the way to the beach. The kids at Corona Del Mar High School won Walk the Walk. In addition, we saw some great surfing by all the surfers who came out. It was crazy busy and like a circus in Huntington Beach during the nine-day event that offered surfing, BMX, and skateboarding.
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