Four young wave riders carry the day in OP meet

By Greg Ambrose
Star-Bulletin

Remember these names: Nathan Hedge, Trent Munro, Fred Patacchia and Damien Hobgood. Someday, they are going to be making piles of money as professional surfers.

For now, they are just kids, stoked to have ended up as the world's top four amateurs in the OP Junior.

The women competitors took a back seat at Haleiwa yesterday while the juniors' and Men's divisions of the OP Pro took to the glassy, 5- to 7-foot waves.

The young amateurs couldn't believe their good fortune in getting to ride perfect performance waves at Haleiwa with only four surfers out, and they quickly showed their appreciation.

They attacked the waves with the reckless abandon of stoked young grommets. They gouged great white sprays off the wave faces, snapped under the lip and slammed off the top before floating over the treacherous Toilet Bowl section as though they hadn't seen French competitor Didier Piter break his ankle performing the same maneuver last week.

When the big boys took to the waves, former OP Junior winner and five-time world champion Kelly Slater showed that he is eager to complete a perfect season by winning his second Triple Crown of Surfing title.

Slater quickly dispensed with his three competitors, and spent the rest of his heat experimenting with his surfboard's fins.

Mark Occhilupo and Brad Gerlach continued their impressive attempt to rejoin the elite World Championship Tour, which they abandoned years ago.

Occhilupo's victory came at the expense of Hawaii's Conan Hayes, who needs a good showing in the Triple Crown to remain on the world tour next season.

Hawaii's Myles Padaca and Andy Irons made it through to the next round of competition before rain, lightning and thunder spoiled the perfect conditions that the juniors had enjoyed and forced officials to end competition for the day.

Meanwhile, back among the kids, Waialua High student Patacchia showed that local knowledge coupled with desire is an indomitable combination.

"I was going for straight up vertical maneuvers, trying to send up as much spray as possible and also getting in the most critical part of the wave," Patacchia said. "Then I'd try to mix it up with some cutbacks and floaters."

He beat Munro, a recent Australian junior champion, in three straight heats with those tactics. In the final heat, Munro, who has been competing on the World Qualifying Series, bested the 15-year-old Patacchia.

Hedge saved his best performance for the final heat, earning the highest wave scores of the day for a total of 24.80, though he reckons it was a close competition among the three goofy-foot and one regular-foot finalists.

"Me and Fred were tussling a little, pushing each other a little deep," Hedge said. "But it was a mellow final, with enough waves for everyone, and everyone was surfing well. It was a really good heat to watch."

For contest information, call 637-6376.