Bickering, bantering, barrels, and battling added to the drama on the south side of the Hermosa pier Sunday morning when the Mira Costa and Redondo Union alumni surf teams met in four to six foot surf and the occasional overhead set. The shape was on the walled side with the occasional spitting barrel.
“There are some bombs out there,” said Mira Costa Alumni Chris Wells, who was out with a broken shoulder. He got bounced off the bottom two weeks ago in El Porto. “Man, I wish I could be out there,” he said.
The heckling was as consistent as the surf. If there was a Spirit of Competition Award it would of gone to Jamie Meistrell, who gave Costa some memorable tongue lashings and played the part of Redondo’s pump up guy.
Event director Dickie O’Reilly elected to go with the game format, as opposed to the traditional format. The game format emphasises team scoring by putting four surfers from each team in the water and allowing substitutions. Points are awarded to teams rather than to individuals.
The “whammy” rule enables the competitors to double their scores after a good ride by raising their arms in the air. Each team can only claim a whammy only one time per heat.
“To say it was good would be an understatement,” said photographer Mike Balzer, who captured an inside view of Zaun’s barrel ride while shooting from the pier.
Halfway into the first 45 minute heat, Zaun turned around and took off on a bomb. The crowd and both teams erupted in “ooohs” and “ahhhs” that turned to “yeeees” when Zaun came out of the double overhead, Hermosa death pit. Zaun raised his hands claiming the whammy. The judges gave him a 10, which meant 20 points for his team.
Redondo’s Connery Beatty struck back moments later with a righthander off the pier that was good for a 9.5 from the judges. The red headed regular footer came out of a carnivorous caving tube right before almost being cinched in by the lip. The first heat ended with Costa up 60 to 55.
In heat two, Zaun stroked into a backside barrel that was awarded a 9.5, and also doubled. Redondo’s Rich Silva found himself deep inside a similar spitting tube, helping to keep Redondo in the game. Round two ended with Costa up 110 to 84.
With the falling tide, sets in the final became crunchier. Points were doubled and the whammy wave tripled. Mira Costa’s senior statesman Ted Robinson capitalized on conditions by stylishly connecting some insiders and linking turns. Redondo’s Tracy Meistrell surfed well the entire contest, but in the final couldn’t get a wave to open up for him. On his last wave, he threw his arms up, not to claim the whammy, but to express his frustration. Tommy Ostendorf of Mira Costa picked a gem off the pier to secure his team’s victory. The final score was Mira Costa 165, Redondo 126.
