The O.C.

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The third and final stop of the Volcom Totally Crustaceous Surf  Tour, Orange County Starfish Series is happening next weekend. The one-day event, held at River Jetties in Newport Beach, will likely draw lots of top talent from up and down the California coast.  Beach clean up:

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer If you’re thinking about picking up a new board, then you might want to check out this event happening on Saturday.  Faction Surfboards is having a huge Grand Opening party for its new store and surfboard factory. Faction Surfboards was launched in 2007 by local Huntington Beach shaper M...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer Hurley once again is teaming up with another core surf, skate and snowboard shop.  This time the action sports giant is opening a store inside ZJ Boarding House in Santa Monica. Where: ZJ Boarding House 2619 Main Street, Santa Monica Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The event - to run through Nov. 24 - is a 6-star prime, meaning major points for those on ASP’s World Qualifying Series.  There’s a lot of money on the line during the Triple Crown, with a total prize purse of $1,000,000. Watch the action live here. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer A different kind of contest found its way to Orange County last weekend, the first time the Australian contest – which started in 2001 – has made its way to the United States. Overseas, there are about 70 teams that compete in the Jim Beam SurfTag event – and organizers are hoping the Cali eve...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer As always there’s a lot of top talent from Orange County that will be competing.  They include: Huntington Beach’s Kanoa Igarashi and Christian Saenz, Capistrano Beach’s Luke Davis, Costa Mesa’s Colin Moran, Newport Beach’s Tyler Gunter and Kaleigh Gilchrist.

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer RVCA Holiday Warehouse Sale This is a bit further out, but check out the RVCA sale on Dec. 4 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Costa Mesa. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The final event in the national series brought together some of the best young surfers from around the nation, with Kolohe earning an all-expenses paid trip to Bells Beach in Australia in April to go up against the best from around the globe. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Surfboard with a picture of Gary Edgar and covered with flowers is shown during a paddleout memorial for Edgar, a pro surfer from the 80s who died of lung cancer at age 45. PHOTOS BY CARLOS DELGADO, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer An Orange County girl pro surfer landed an entertainment gig.  22-year old Erica Hosseini has been a regular competitor on the ASP Women’s World Qualifying Series for a number of years, but can now be seen on camera. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Want to go? The sale continues Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Address is 2323 Main St., Irvine. Click here or on the image below for the slideshow: Read more beach culture: For more ways to save in OC, check out the Register’s OC Deals Blog Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer Longtime Newport Beach local Gary “Shredgar” Edgar lost his battle with cancer on Wednesday.  If you grew up surfing the Newport jetties in the 80’s, then you likely saw this regular foot ripper in the lineup at one time or another. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer If you can’t make the trip or fundraiser, donate here.  All donations  and trips are tax deductable. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer Then in the Groms division it’s Martin Jeri holding down the lead followed by Costa Mesa’s Colin Moran.  And lastly in the Girls it’s Kulia Doherty in first with Charlotte Hand trailing behind in second. Where: River Jetties, Newport Beach Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The Service Saturday, November 14 9:30 a.m. Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary 1702 Fairhaven Avenue Santa Ana, CA 92705 714-633-1442 The Reception Lunch will be served Saturday, November 14 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Hyatt Regency Newport Beach 1107 Jamboree Road Newport Beach, CA 92660

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer Waxy Wax can be found at several surf shops in the Orange County area including: Katin Surf Shop in Sunset Beach, Huntington Surf and Sport, The Frog House in Newport Beach and Catalyst in San Clemente.  For more info. check out waxywax.com. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer The best 16 and under surfers from around the nation are about to take over Salt Creek in Dana Point this weekend.  The 2009 Rip Curl GromSearch National Final will get underway on Saturday, November 14th. Some of the invited athletes from Orange County include: Costa Mesa’s Colin Moran...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Most of the better breaks throughout Orange County will offer inconsistent two-foot-to-three-foot-plus (knee-waist high+) surf with top southwesterly exposed spots in the southern half of the county producing occasional bigger waves up to four-foot (chest high).

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Three-time international surf champ Corky Carroll answers your questions each week on the Beach Blog. Hit him up at Corkysurf@aol.com. Q.  Are there different surfboard designs for women and men?   A.  Girls do need a slightly different board design than men.  For one they are, for the most par...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer This years ASP WQS 6-star Prime event has several surfers from Orange County competing.  They include Pat, Tanner and Dane Gudauskas and Nate Yeomans all of which are from San Clemente.  Some of the top talent from Huntington Beach includes: ASP WCTer Timmy Reyes, Brett Simpson and Brad...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Yeomans is known for his domination at the Newport Beach Pro, which he won for the third consecutive year in 2008. During the Oakley Pro Juniors event, OC surfer Luke Davis made it to the semi-finals, but got knocked out. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer There were boards from the past -  like a board blaring neon colors made in the 80s that former employee Mike Hulshof brought to the sand. Another board had permit stickers on it from back in the day in Newport Beach - where surfers once had to buy permits from the city to surf. Imagine that?!

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Today had mixed results for Orange County surfers at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic event being held in Santa Cruz. It’s not over for Orange County surfers - Huntington Beach’s Shaun Ward will be up early when the contest resumes, which is looking good for tomorrow morning.

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer There are plenty of potential winners here in Orange County - just look at last year’s winner Chad Shetler, of Dana Point. Shetler is team manager for the Lost skate team. Huntington Beach’s Omar Hassan got the bronze medal. Pro skater Tosh Townend also did really well, placing in the top 10.

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer For those of you who love your Harbour boards, there’s a surf day coming up just for you. The Harbour Surf Day - a day set aside for Harbour surfboard enthusiasts to celebrate Seal Beach shop owner Rich Harbour- is coming up on Saturday at tower 20 at Bolsa Chica State Beach. The day started a fe...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The juniors went at it today, with Newport local and one of OC’s top young surfers Andrew Doheny winning his heat with a score of 13.37. In the first round of junior’s events, Newport’s Chase Wilson advanced with a score of 12.00, but in that same heat Taylor Thorne, of Newport, was knocked out a...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer High pressure will remain centered in the Pacific Northwest as a weak trough holds along the California coast for the middle to end of the week. Therefore, winds will be pretty light near-shore with the cleanest conditions found through the morning hours with calm winds. Each afternoon wi...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Three-time international surf champ Corky Carroll answers your questions each week on the Beach Blog. To hit him up, email him at corkysurf@aol.com. Here’s what he wrote about this week: Q.  Have you ever written a column about your favorite surf spots?  I would be interested in know what you...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer Some of the top talent competing from Orange County includes: San Clemente’s Josh Baxter who’s the current points leader in the North America longboard tour ratings andColin McPhillips who’s also from San Clemente. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer If there’s one lesson surfers have learned over the years about riding waves in costume, it’s to make sure to wear one that won’t fall apart when wet. Fortunately, the waves were small early Saturday morning as about 100 surfers showed up at Blackies surf break in Newport Beach – just north o...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer The 6-Star Prime ASP World Qualifying Series event happens at Santa Cruz’s most famous surf spot…Steamer Lane.  Some of the notable names from Orange County competing in the big event include: Huntington Beach’s Brett Simpson and San Clemente’s Nate Yeomans. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer If you don’t remember a couple of years ago, Big Wave Charger Laird Hamilton was featured in a national American Express commercial for several months.  And I’m sure Hamilton took home a pretty good paycheck from that. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Surfline.com forecaster Kevin Wallis gives us a look at what’s happening on the OC coast this weekend: The recent passage of a cold front will keep beach temps cooler than what we’ve seen of late for the middle part of the week. On Wednesday we’ll see breezy northeast wind early, shifting no...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer The event will start about 7 a.m and wrap up about 10 a.m.  So if you can surf and you think you have a really cool costume this year, come down just north of the Newport Beach Pier on Halloween morning. Where: Blackie’s, Newport Beach Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Two of surfing’s greats died this weekend, and were remembered by the surf community along the Orange County coast. Surfboard shaper Chris Hawk - who was admired for his surfing style during the 70s - passed away in his San Clemente home. He had been battling against cancer. He was 58. Accordin...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The surf wasn’t as clean as it was with last week’s swell, but there were plenty of surfers out taking advantage of the energy pushed to shore by the swell that came through today. As soon as the fog lifted, I went out to snap some photos of the action down at the Huntington Beach Pier, [...]

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The season for blue whales is staying unusually strong off the coast of Orange County, where charter boats are reporting strong numbers of sightings later in the year than they ever have in the past. The blue whales found a home here in Orange County about five years ago, coming down south fr...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer In case you guys missed it, I had a story about a Laguna Beach surfer who was on a trip in Indo when the devastating earthquake hit on Sept. 30. It was pretty amazing what this guy, Jon Rose, was able to do in the early hours of the relief effort. xxxxx Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Our surf looks fun and will be a combination of swells out of both the southwest and west-northwest. For Wednesday look for 2-4’ surf at many breaks throughout the county, while breaks best exposed breaks to the southwest swell in the south half of the county see larger waves up to 5-6’ at tim...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Some of the best skimboarders showed up in Newport Beach last weekend to battle it out for the world title during the Oktoberfest Skimboarding contest. The sport has strong roots here in Orange County – it’s said that the first skimmers were a couple of lifeguards in Laguna Beach who threw p...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer The National Scholastic Surfing Association NSSA is heading down south this weekend for the fourth stop of the 2009/2010 Southwest Conference Open Season event. Some of the best 18 and under amateurs from up and down the California coast will be battling it out at the Oceanside Pier.  Som...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer You can find out when they’ll open again by following twitter.com/MammothMountain or check out the Web site at MammothMountain.com Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer Competitors are encouraged to throw on a costume too.  So if you can pull off an air reverse, backside 360 air, a kerrup or a rodeo come on down.  For more info. check out oceanearth.com. Where: 54th Street Newport Beach When: October 31st Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer An impromptu fundraiser with Bob Hurley, Rob Machado and the Surfline crew bartending at A Restaurant brought in about $3,000 Wednesday night. The proceeds at the Newport Beach event will go to the relief effort to help in Padang, West Sumatra, after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake left mor...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer Are you an Andy Irons fan?  Well here’s a chance to see the guy up close and personal.  The 3-time World Champion will be in Orange County this weekend for an AT@T  promotional event. Irons will be signing autographs and taking photos with customers at a Costa Mesa AT@T store.  If you’re in the m...

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer If you don’t have any plans this coming Sunday evening and want to help out a fellow surfer then check this out.  There’s a fundraiser for Newport Beach local Jay Thomas who was paralyzed while surfing last March. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The predicted swell should make for good conditions for the contest. Check out this video of last year’s event: Click here to view the embedded video. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer OC Register’s Jeff Overley reports that officials in Newport Beach want to get rid of fire rings in the city. Here’s a bit more: Citing impacts to public safety and the environment, Newport Beach is looking at doing away with its beach bonfire pits, a symbol of nighttime nostalgia now also a...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Getting to Mammoth Mountain: Take I-5 north to State Route 14 north to US 395 north to State Route 203 (300-375 miles). Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer We’ll also see a nice size south swell building Thursday, peaking Friday, and then slowly fading over the weekend. The combo of south and west swells will create peaky conditions at the beachbreaks Thursday and Friday, along with favorable morning conditions and the surf will be really f...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer The beaches are always a mess after the first big rain following the dry season, with all kinds of interesting and weird things making their way to the sand via water systems that stretch inland and connect to the ocean, such as the Santa Ana River in Newport Beach or San Gabriel River in Seal...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer We all know Orange County dominates the surf industry, and that was proven again at this year’s SIMA Image Awards held down in Cabo San Lucas last week. Scott Madison and Dean Bradley of Atwater accept their award Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer It was a pretty slow heat with not a lot of set waves, but two Orange County boys still advanced today at the 2009 U.S. Open of Surfing. Brett Simpson is currently sitting in 9th place on the ASP World Qualifying Series ratings, while Tanner Gudauskas is in 6th place. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Jeff Malanca, contributing writer Huntington Beach’s Brett Simpson is making his first appearance in the 2009 U.S. Open of Surfing.  He’s surfing in a pretty stacked heat with another Orange County local boy in Heat 2 in the Round of 96.  The ASP World Qualifying Series standout is taking on San Clemente’s Tanner Gudausk...

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Where: Huntington  Beach Pier When: Saturday Where: Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Contest entry forms are available at the Katin Surf Shop in Sunset Beach. When: 7 a.m.,  Saturday July 18 Where: Anderson Street, Sunset Beach Post from: OC Beach Blog

By rshadley Orange County locals Timmy Reyes, 26, and Chris Ward, 30, both won their opening heats at fourth stop on the ASP World Tour, the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro at Imbituba in Santa Catarina, Brazil and will continue their event campaigns when competition resumes. Post from: OC Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer After looking around a bit, I found two Orange County companies that I really fell in love with. Both are organic products – a trend I think we’re going to see more of in years to come – and are made with no chemicals. Cost: $15.99 Soleo Organics: Cost: $ 19.99. Coming Up: Post from: Beach Blog

By Laylan Connelly, staff writer Hansen’s Boardroom, Encinitas Huntington Surf & Sport, Huntington Beach Surfside Sports, Costa Mesa The Beach House, Santa Barbara