Redondo High Surf team gains composure and closes out on El Segundo

Redondo’s Kyle Beatty leads the charge in his surf team’s victory. Photo by Dickie O’Reilly

 

Redondo’s Kyle Beatty leads the charge in his surf team’s victory. Photo by Dickie O’Reilly

Redondo’s Kyle Beatty leads the charge in his surf team’s victory. Photo by Dickie O’Reilly

by Ed Solt

El Niño is in full effect. The South Bay Scholastic Surfing Association league director Dickie O’Reilly and league coaches have their hands full. The decision to give the “go” on a contest is made the night before each contest.

“It’s been a winter of never-ending swell,” as deemed by O’Reilly.

The right call was made January 20th as four-to-six foot waves offered the occasional corner on the south side of the Hermosa Beach Pier.

“The consistency was like a conveyor belt,” said surf judge Sarah Foley. “The tide was getting higher and opening up the shape.”

Redondo Union High School can’t afford another loss after losing to South High earlier in the season.  With South and Palos Verdes High beaten by undefeated Mira Costa, Redondo is the only school with the opportunity to tie Costa for first. If this scenario played out, it would force a league championship match.

The fiery Kyle Beatty of Redondo drew first blood with a radical rollercoaster on a set right. With a solid Spyder surfboard under his feet, the regular footer is one of the most stoked league surfers out there. He’s always smiling. It could’ve been a free surf for the senior. Beatty put on a clinic at his local break to win the first heat of the boy’s shortboard division.

“Kyle set the standard for high scoring of the day,” said surf judge and private surf coach Chris Broman. “It’s all about catching the corners, connecting the sections, throwing in four to five turns, and ending with a radical maneuver.”

Beatty’s teammate Ryan Hughes went huge on a backside hit for second place. El Segundo’s Lukas Boscoe placed third.

In the second division of the boy’s shortboard, the exchange between El Segundo’s Shane Frontino and Redondo’s Tate Curran was a perfect example of good sportsmanship. The two kept sharing the middle peak with Tate on the left and Frontino on the right.

Frontino threw in multiple turns down the beach while Tate (who’s also one of the state’s top pole vaulters), used his athleticism and gouged one big legit manhack. After the heat horn was blown, Frontino squeaked by with the win. Curran took second.

Their was vacancies in girl’s shortboard division. El Segundo girl’s team elected to use the late start to study for midterms. Redondo’s Emma Waldinger and Hali Honea paddled out anyway, utilizing the 15 minutes of empty lineup to put on a display. Waldinger and Honea as well as freshman Devin Gracin (who missed the meet) form a very solid shortboarding unit for Redondo, one of the tops in the league. When the trio surfs against Mira Costa girls the week of 2/15-2/19, it’ll be the division’s showdown of the season.

One might think “wow, those Eagles are a scholarly bunch” with only one longboarder representing El Segundo (Tyler Hatzikian of Tyler Surfboards influence always influences a competitive longboard team) and the lack of surfers in the last heat. Redondo took full advantage. In the first minute, Redondo’s Jack Langdon dropped into the set left of the day, grabbing rail and pig dogging for glory. He was quickly eaten alive by the closeout to emerge with a decapitated longboard. A teammate took the gamble and rushed him out another board to help him place third. Curran rebounded from his last heat to win the division with a hang five all the way to the inside. He walked back and blasted the lip. Hughes followed him in second with an inside noseride. 

 photo gallery by Saul Zaragoza

Shortly before the bodyboard heat, Beatty contemplated taking his friend’s broken nose from the last heat to ride it as his bodyboard. He forgot his fins (like always) but managed a shorepound tube for second. His teammate Jason Lange won the heat with a critical cutback high in the pocket to a lip slide floater.

No shows in the El Segundo’s girls longboard heat meant this contest was now a landslide. Kelly Harraka won the heat with an overhead set right all the way to shore.

El Segundo’s Zac Montrose didn’t mind the scoreboard and having a great time in the third boy’s shortboard heat. He placed third with an amazing off the lip. Teammates Langdon and Dominic Gelfing also enjoyed the superb conditions. Gelfing won the heat with a frontside blast while Langdon placed second with a slash off the top on an inside right.

Dominic Gelfing of Redondo blasts the left lip at the Hermosa Beach Pier. photo by Dickie O’Reilly

Dominic Gelfing of Redondo blasts the left lip at the Hermosa Beach Pier. photo by Dickie O’Reilly

Redondo’s Nathaniel Harris relished in the opportunity to try radical maneuvers with the victory at hand Local pro surfer, private surf coach and former Seahawk Jamie Meistrell (who lends a hand with his alma mater’s surf team) and has been working with Harris one-on-one for a couple of seasons told his pupil to just have fun. Harris placed third. His teammate Braden Anderson rollercoastered into second. Winning the heat, El Segundo’s Noah Hale bopped a frontside slash and hit for the win.

Final score: El Segundo 33, Redondo 112

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