Ratopia Surf Contest: South’s Browning rips at Torrance Beach
By Mike Purpus and Ed Solt
The 11th Annual Ratopia Surf Contest got underway in 1 to 3 foot frozen zippers last Saturday morning at Torrance Beach. It was so cold judging the first heat that the judges thought we were up in Big Bear waiting for the chair lift to open.
“The water is warm. It’s the air that kills you,” said local up-and coming surfer Nathaniel Harris.
The Ratopia Surf Contest is like no other surf contest because it’s put on by the locals for the locals at Torrance Beach and has raised over $110,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).
“Contest director Nic Weber does an exemplary job running the contest,” said surf Judge Mike Siordia. “He had us cracking up with his announcing on the mic.”
It’s not only a surf contest for the entire family with a Grom Division on up to Seniors. There is a costume contest and a pie eating contest.
“I had the force guide me against the Sith longboarder,” said Brian King, dressed as a Jedi during the costume surfing heat, who took out a competitor with light saber coming in from the previous heat. “I mixed it up with a coffin ride and used my Jedi power to victory.”
Michael Duby of Redondo Beach took down a lemon meringue pie to win the pie eating contest.
“I focused on the top of the pie and then slurped up the lemon,” he said. “After that I went after the crust hard, leaving crumbs in my beard.”
In the women’s division, Emma Waldinger, star surfer from the Redondo Union High School Surf Team, traded off waves with Ratopia Classic veteran Jenna Newburn.
“My strategy out in the water is to have the most fun,” Newburn said.
Newburn won the division with a solid left hander and a few cross steps while Waldinger took second.
Kevin Ball put on an exceptional performance in the Longboard heats working the tip and doing radical turns.
“I just waited for the set waves and rode them as far as I could. I had fun. That’s what this contest is all about,” Ball said. “I just went for it and prayed for an opening hoping for the best.”
The longboard final was a battle between regular foot Ball and goofy foot Matt Moser. Moser stuck to his backside with nimble cross steps to the nose and hang fives. He’d finish with a lip blast, getting the nose of his board to 10 o’clock status. Ball had the set right of the heat that doubled up on the inside. He projected his Joe Bark Surfboard critically, becoming totally involved with the wave. When the heat-ending horn was blown (via Nic Weber imitating a horn), both surfers were tied for first. Judges had to go to a third than a fourth wave to determine the winner. Moser won by a half a point.
The 13 and under division enjoyed the right hander in front of the contest, as the wave lined up to chest to shoulder high for the pint sized surfers. Son of local legend, waterman, and lifeguard Paul Hugoboom, Reef Hugaboom, carried his family name well. The young Hugoboom won the division by connecting a series of radical turns and an ending lip bounce onto the beach for the win.
The hottest groms in the South Bay came out for the 14-18 boy’s division. Hot Saphire local Tate Curran is growing up with an impressive, confident surfing style. He picked off set waves going for left tubes and slashing cutbacks to place third. Rodney Buck, star of the Palos Verdes High School Surf Team, was the king of the backside blasts, sliding out the tail off the top. He placed second. South High’s shining Spartan, Parker Browning, has a powerfully yet stylish approach to surfing.
“My plan is to sit on the sandbar all contest and try to catch a good right,” Browning said before his first heat.
His tactic worked as he won every heat he entered. In the final he picked off a set, demolishing the wave all the way with sweeping cutbacks and a gravity defying hit off the top to win the division.
All contest, Paul Hugoboom put on a show with his smooth style that looks equally appealing on a two-foot day or a 20-foot day. Riding a longer Campbell Bros bonzer, Hugoboom drove down the line and penetrated each section to connect for the longest rides of the contest. He threw in a few soul arches for good measure, landing him in second. Besides standing out in the shortboard division, he placed third in the longboard division with his wrapping cutbacks.
Last year’s 14-18 division winner, Peter Healey, graduated to the 19 and over division this year.
“The right has been fun all day long,” said Healey.
Healey had the beach break wired, patiently waiting for the right wave. As the youngest competitor of the division, Healey relied on his youthful go-for-broke surfing mantra pulling off the most radical moves of the contest to win the division. ER