Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate with the US Open of Surfing calendar, but when sizable surf lines up with the contest schedule, there’s always an added bit of excitement for spectators and competitors.
Surfline forecaster Kevin Wallis said there is going to be “no shortage of surf” for this year’s event, which kicks off Saturday, July 25.
“We’ll see a combination of swells originating out of the tropics and storms in the South Pacific,” he said.
Tropical storm Fausto is expected to punch up the waves to 4- to 6-foot faces for the opening weekend and into early next week, which is when the longboarders compete. Forecasts then beef up a bit more toward the end of the week, when the shortboard surfers are in the water, and even bigger the final weekend, Aug. 2 and 3.
An early look at the Surfline.com forecasts indicates waves in the 8- to 10-foot range for the finals.
Brian Robbins, World Surf League tour manager for North America, has been keeping a close eye on forecast models, which show several tropical storms heading toward Huntington Beach.
“It’s an exciting forecast having these storms line up, we’ve had years where it’s been underwhelming surf conditions,” Robbins said. “I don’t think that’s the case this year.”
The contest had to be put on hold for the first time in its history last year due to small waves on one of the days, though the surf picked up for finals day and a nail-biting ending.
There’s also some south swell mixing for multiple sources of waves, he said. “We’re having multiple storms coming together for almost the duration of the nine-day event, which is pretty spectacular for us.”
Robbins said the series of tropical storms could be fueled by warm water, now reading into the 70s, that has been lingering off the coast. With colder water, tropical storms tend to fizzle out.
“That’s why we have so many back to back,” he said. “The water temps are warm, the tropical storms are all forming south of Mexico, come up the coast by Mazatlan and head northwest by Cabo, and into our swell window,” he said.
Tropical storms can be tricky, however. Sometimes, they change direction, heading toward Hawaii, causing the swell energy off the California coast to dissipate.
With the tropical weather that seems to be sticking around, there’s a chance that rain could dampen the event, or even worse, lightning threats that could prompt evacuations, as happened in 2017.
“We work hand in hand with officials to monitor that, between following city protocols, the WSL, lifeguards,” Robbins said. “If it gets real close, we have to pack it up.”
The recent warm water also adds another factor to local waters: increased shark activity, with experts warning more are hanging around this summer.
It wouldn’t be the first time a shark has been spotted during a surf contest, with an event at the pier postponed after a great white was showing aggressive behavior last April.
Jet skis are always in the water watching for safety, and lifeguards in the pier tower always keep watch, Robbins said.
“It’s their home and we are fully aware of that,” Robbins said of the potential for a shark to crash the contest. “It’s the challenge of running an outdoor event — we have lightning, sharks and all kinds of things. But that’s part of being a surfer and realizing we’re in the environment, literally.”