Scoring big at Kitty fest

It was a fun, crowded weekend blowout at our Surf City beaches. The

sun was blazin’ and the surf was up to four- to six-foot-plus on

Labor Day.

That means the gals scored big time in the finals of the $20,000

Hello Kitty Boardfest at the Huntington pier. Some of the top women

in the world tore up the southwest lines rolling in.

Brazil’s Jacqueline Silva had the good wave selection, busting the

big scores to get the win and $3,500. The ratings points pushed Silva

into the top five in the World Qualifying Series standings.

Hot on her heels was Australian veteran Melanie Redman-Carr, who

took the early lead and finished second. Third place went to

Carlsbad’s Julia Christian, who requalified for the World

Championship Tour with her strong finish. Rounding out the top four

was Florida’s Karina Petroni.

In longboarding, Oceanside’s Summer Romero was doing the fancy

footwork and won for the second year in a row. San Clemente’s Jayme

Gee was close behind, losing by less than a quarter of a point.

A new division at the Hello Kitty was the 14 to 16 age bracket,

won by Long Beach’s Sophia Bartlow, daughter of legendary surfer

Jericho Poppler-Bartlow. In the 13-and-under division, Chandler Parr

took the victory.

In Japan at the Quiksilver Pro, defending world champ Andy Irons

went up against six-time world champ Kelly Slater in the finals. The

typhoon pushed in incredible six- to ten-foot barrelin’ surf.

In the final, A.I. found a set, pulled in and got a mean deep

tube, hammering a critical floater reentry to score a 9.5 and the

lead. Slater answered back with a big 8.83 score but couldn’t keep

the pace. A.I. won his first event of the season.

The tour now heads back to Cali for the Boost Mobile Pro at

Trestles in San Clemente Sept. 13 to 18.

The wild cards will be surfing two heats to get three slots. In

heat one is U.S. champ Rob Machado, big wave standout Makua Rothman,

three-time world champ Tom Curren, and air-buster Ian Walsh. Heat two

will be pipe-winner Jamie O’Brien, retired World Championship Tour

vet Shane Dorian, former national champ Bobby Martinez and Aussie

veteran Nathan Webster.

Wow, tough draw in either heat. And if you make it, those guys

usually pull the number one or two seeds in the event, so it doesn’t

get any easier.

That’s it for now. Fig over and out.

* RICK FIGNETTI is a nine-time West Coast champion and has been

the KROQ-FM surfologist for 18 years. He owns a surf shop on Main

Street. You can reach him at (714) 536-1058.