Nike US open of Surfing - Huntington Beach, CA

Heading down to Huntington Beach, CA for the Nike US open of Surf was an experience that rivals some of the best competitions in the world.  As tens of thousands flooded the sandy beaches of Surf City USA, a name trademarked by Huntington Beach after a long legal battle with Santa Cruz, surfers from around the world competed daily in the week long competition.

On Sunday, August 7th, Kelly Slater, the 10 time ASP world champion, won his first US open title in 15 years and took home a hefty $100k check for the win.  The veteran surfer was undisputed in his win over the Australian Yadin Nicol.  "I guess Yadin wanted me to win because he didn't catch any waves," Slater says after getting doused in champagne on the winner's stage.

Slater accepting his well earned trophy

Sally Fitzgibbons of Australia took the women's title over teenage sensation Lakey Peterson(16) of Santa Barbara, who also competed in and won the junior women's competition.  "It's such an unbelievable feeling to get chaired up the beach," Fitzgibbons said.  "There is just a sea of people and it's one of my biggest achievements.  To get three wins this year it has been a really special year and although I didn't get the title, I can't believe I've won this event."

All Smiles

Along with the surfing competition, BMX and skateboarding were also showcased at the NIKE US open this year while motocross did not return to the arena.

At the end of each day's events, the NIKE music stage hosted big name bands for a line up of free shows that took place in one of the greatest venues imaginable.  A sunset show on Huntington Beach isn't easy to match in the world of music, and US open visitors took advantage of bands like Jimmy Eat World, The Sounds, and MGMT rocking the stage into the early evening.

This sea of onlookers watching MGMT rock the stage stretches from the highway to the ocean where, standing knee deep in shallow waves, even passers by stopped to enjoy the show.

I Always Tell the Truth.. Even When I Lie

One positive thing came out of last night.  I met a girl who was living with her grandmother, making her living situation officially less intriguing than mine.  However, I'm living in Newport and she's in Laguna Beach so I guess neither of us can complain.

I went down to the US Open of Surfing to watch a few quarter final heats yesterday as well.  It was rad seeing some of the best surfers in the world competing for spots on the ASP, but less rad leaving the beach to a sea of tweens watching the skateboarding competition or getting autographs while making me feel weird for being there.

I was watching TV this afternoon while recovering from my hangover and couldn't help but wonder if sharks knew that this past week was shark week.  Did they all get together to celebrate and do cool shark stuff.  Then I thought about AMC's mob week which is also happening.  Do gangsters take a week off or just do extra gangster shit to honor this week of television devoted to them.

Pretty soon i'll be concentrating on my other blog, not that this one gets a whole lot of attention.  My best friend will be deployed soon with the Navy's elite forces, where he will write letters of his travels for me to post and copy write for him.  It's a project I'm rather excited about because people will actually want to read it unlike this dribble that I occasionally jot down to fill my time.  I will post links to the new blog once it's up and running.

Until then,

C