San Clemente, San Diego surfers thrive, survive at US Open of Surfing

The ocean delivered San Clemente surfer Eden Walla a gift for her birthday.

There were five minutes left in her heat on Friday, July 31, and she was trailing her opponent, needing a big score to move to the next round at the LEXUS US Open of Surfing.

So Walla went big, turning and twisting her board in the wave’s face, weaving her way into the inside section to end the ride with a big hack near the shoreline.

The judges delivered her a 9-point score, one of the highest of the event.

“I’m here at the US Open on my birthday, surfing a heat,” said Walla, who turned 17. “No matter what happens, it will be a great day, so making it was just a bonus. … I’m just super grateful to be here, trying to enjoy every moment.”

Walla was just one of several Southern California surfers who got the gift of another day of competition, battling big waves and strong currents to make it into the finals weekend of the Challenger Series event in Huntington Beach. Surf size was down just slightly from previous days, the competitors no longer getting lifts from personal watercraft safety teams, instead paddling out on their own to navigate the still turbulent waves.

The morning kicked off with the men’s round of 32, with San Clemente’s Taj Lindblad and Encinitas’ Jake Marshall both advancing in the first heat of the day. Fellow San Diego surfer and last year’s US Open winner Levi Slawson was eliminated from the event.

“There was a lot of current, and the waves were juicy and dumpy, so it was hard to land turns,” said Lindblad, his coach, Ryan Simmons, reminding him to reset in the middle of the heat before he earned the score he needed to take second spot in the heat.

“The goal is to win,” Lindblad said. “It’s a chess game.”

Even though Marshall surfs on the elite World Tour, a win at the US Open would be huge, he said. “I remember coming to this contest when I was 10, watching all my favorite surfers. This event has been a part of my life as far as I can remember, growing up in California.”

San Clemente’s Crosby Colapinto described the strong current pulling the surfers to the pier.

“Your wave selection has to be on point, you can’t be falling, which I was doing a little bit,” he said. “You really have to be on your game, I’m just psyched to make it. It’s just so fun competing, to be in a jersey and sleeping at home, it’s just so epic.”

Several San Clemente surfers found themselves going up against one another in the four-man heats.

San Clemente’s Cole Houshmand and Hayden Rodgers both took the top two spots to advance, as did Griffin Colapinto and Kade Matson.

Griffin Colapinto, who celebrated his 27th birthday this week, talked about the big community of professional surfers from the region, including his own brother Crosby, who spend the year traveling and how the US Open of Surfing is an event that brings them together.

“All the best Californians are in this contest, it brings it back to the NSSA days,” he said of the amateur events that happen at the same surf spot for up-and-coming kids.

Though he was already on the World Tour, Griffin Colapinto’s US Open title in 2021 was one that helped give him confidence to earn two more elite-level wins shortly after.

“That was the biggest event win of my career at the time,” he said. “That set me on the trajectory. I think just getting a win, I got to feel what it was like, just keep the motivation to continue to pursue that.”

He was stoked for his friend, Matson, who got the points needed to move into the next round — also valuable as Matson tries to make it back on the World Tour.

“Getting through that round is huge for him to get his year started, and me getting to do that with him is so cool,” Colapinto said. “It’s a pretty special day.”

Matson, who advanced with a buzzer-beater wave, said it was stressful, but glad the score went his way.

“This is my favorite event of the year. To be making heats is awesome,” he said. “It seems like everyone is doing good in this event, so it’s sick. We all grew up competing against each other, so to all come together is cool.”

Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi, who has two US Open titles, reflected on how he’s competed in the event at every phase of his life, back when he was 14 and so nervous he was shaking, to now in the middle of his World Tour career and in the hunt for a World Title. He also won a silver Olympic medal in that time.

Local female surfers had some wins, and some losses, during their Round of 16 heats, several eliminated from the event on Friday.

Huntington Beach’s Bailey Turner was eliminated during her heat, as was San Clemente’s Kirra Pinkerton, who went down against Encinitas surfer Sierra Kerr, who splits time between San Diego and Australia.

Encinitas surfer Alyssa Spencer moved to the next round, also in a last-second effort to earn the score she needed.

“Those are the moments we train for,” she said of the wave just before the buzzer. “Stay mentally strong to still perform until the end, never give up.”