Zaun works Deteriorating Waves for Surf Concepts win

Consistency best describes El Porto. Its large, submarine canyon sucks swell from every which way, concentrating the ocean energy onto a variety of sandbars that can offer the most insane barrel ever and/or slow lethargic mushballs (most likely on the same wave.) Chaotic is another good description that comes to mind. The 105 freeway a few lifeguard towers north makes El Porto the South Bay’s most accessible break. It’s more or less “LA County” Beach, one of the most frustrating breaks in the planet.

On Saturday, the South Bay Boardriders Club cleared this madness for a tower-to-tower stretch sponsored by Surf Concepts.

The surf cooperated (sort of) starting off with with glassy 2- to 3-foot breakers. But conditions would shift to windy onshore slop, on and off, from heat to heat. Kudos to the club for choosing a superb spot with rights and lefts breaking in two different judging areas.

The most contested division may have been the Legends (50 and over) due to the fact that former pro Ted Robinson turned 50th on contest day. He celebrated by winning the old guys division and placing fourth in the masters (40 and over).

In the women’s division, Rachel Tominaga took home first in the juniors division (18 and under). Her competitive background showed as she waited patiently, then pick-off nuggets to execute decisive turns on. Open women’s winner Natalie Anzivino showed off her well known rawness for the radical. She attacked the lip and wrapped roundhouses with quick, pouncing pumps.

Surf Academy director Marion Clark has been bringing her League of Women Surfers to the last couple of events and they’ve been making a scene in and out of the water (tackling the slip n’ slide at the previous contest). The team consists of Lincoln and John Adams Middle School and Santa Monica High Students. Between dancing and singing to songs blazing from the loud speakers and placing in events, the crew throws out a great vibe to the scene. Teamrider Maddie LoMonaco placed third in the junior’s, fifth in the open, and sixth in the longboard, where she was the only female.

In the longboard division, Dave Shaefer took home first with his patent whirlybird noseride 360 drifts, which he has more dialed than a telephone operator. A prominent move at the height of 90s hi-pro longboarding era, Shaefer dishes them out and the judges gobble them up and crap 10s. Tom Seth, the ultimate waterman, waited on the outside for the entire heat and caught the best right, bashing it multiple times for second. Seth also placed in the open and masters division.

In a stacked Juniors final, Spyder team rider Noah Collins dished out the hot moves, with his heat rising, he loosened it up with controlled fin wafts for the win.

In the same division, Surf Concepts’ Steven “Hons” Honsowetz deserves a young grommy spirit sward for pulling double duty, competing and helping around the contest site.

The open men’s final, the last heat of the day, brought the talent but the ocean wasn’t interested. Thanks to a day of oat sodas some of the boys attempted to fire up the competition with heckling and cheers, but Lake El Porto bordered on the unridable. Jamie “Babe” Meistrell was inspired by his 5-foot-5 x 19-1/4, and channeled the mid-90s on a Lost surfboard (a student of his board) with a classic “chop hop” that was followed with a claim best suited for winning a Pipe Master — pretty epic.

Shaun Burrell placed third, keeping it classy and clean on the inside, but won the Best Maneuver and $100 from Jani Lange of Electric.

Fighting for the top prize were Derek Brewer and Kelly Zaun (whom one crowd member affectionately yelled “fireball” to through out the heat). Honestly, there had to be a ro-sham-bo to decide this event. The two tied for most waves caught — three. Zaun edged out Brewer with a hint more radicalness as Brewer just could not find the back-up score. DZ