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When it comes to the U.S. Open, if the waves are ridden on the south side of the Huntington pier, and the parties rage all up and down Main Street, the nerve center of the whole circus has to be the Shorebreak Hotel. As the day winds down and the contest is dusted the lobby transforms into prime people watching territory. Slater slips out of the elevator. His jeans are cuffed, exposing turquoise socks. ASP CEO Brodie Carr slaps hands with a contingent of Europeans, while Billabong VP Graham Stapelberg converses with someone in the corner. Former World Champ Barton Lynch chats up Evan Geiselman and Lincoln Taylor. Dusty Payne and a crew of Hawaiians enjoy happy hour on the outdoor deck. Jamie O'Brien walks through the room with his colorful cast. Bikini-clad energy drink girls scamper about. Then Sean Penn comes motoring down the stairs. It's surreal.
Mr. Penn and I happen to be walking down the stairs at the same time, so rather than let awkwardness abide, I reach my hand out and say, "Hi Sean, I'm Jake. I'm a friend of Jon Rose."
He shakes my hand, says hello, and promptly shifts from second gear into fifth and accelerates down the remaining stairs. Then he stops, turns, and says, "Jon Rose is a good man." Then he's gone, out the door and into Jack's Surf Shop, to buy some checkered slip-on Vans I suppose.
If you missed any of his coverage here on ESPN Surfing, Jon Rose was on the ground during the Padang earthquake and was part of Penn's recovery effort in Haiti. And yes, he is a good man.
Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that it's only getting weirder up here, and the surfing's only getting better. And as far as the surfing goes, it more or less begins and ends with Dane Reynolds' frontside 360 punt in the second heat of the day, for which he was awarded a 9.87 out of a possible 10. It's what those in the judging community refer to as "high risk and high reward."
"Dane's insane," mused Kolohe Andino, who surfed fairly insane himself in his early morning heat. "How could you do a better air than that?"
Case in point, it caused Owen Wright, who surfed in the heat immediately Reynolds, to alter his own aerial assault. "I knew the judges had just seen that grab he did, and I knew I could come close to doing one better, so I had to change it up and try something different," he explained. It must have worked as he advanced on too.
As noted in my preview, the Brazilians are dancing through the small Surf City conditions like it was Carnival. Elder statesman Adriano De Souza's leading the samba, with Gabriel Medina, Jadson Andre, Miguel Pupu and Heitor Alves nipping at his heels. "It's one of the best events in the world and almost all the best surfers in the world are here," tells Andre. "Last year I was trying to qualify [for the ASP World Tour], so the pressure was on, now that I'm on tour it is fun to come to this event and try and do big maneuvers. I'm just enjoying it."
And if yesterday the up-and-comers announced their presence, today they began to apply some pressure. Save Kolohe Andino, who lost to Owen Wright, Pat Gudauskas and Taj Burrow in a stacked heat, the kids faired alright today. Maui's Granger Larsen and Florida's Evan Geiselman continue to impress. "Evan's surfing really well right now," said Red Bull performance coach Sean Hayes. "He's reading the waves right, he's making the right decisions, and he has that extra something the judges are looking for."
Still, lurking out there are favorites Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning, as well as Brett Simpson who barely squeaked through a tight duel with Julian Wilson. Ah yes, and if there's a giant killer out there it would have to be Ola Eleogram, who's surfed out of the trials and topped Jordy Smith and Gabe Kling today in their Round of 48 heat.
We'll be marching on tomorrow, stay tuned.
US Open of Surfing Round of 48 Results:
Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.60, Kiron Jabour (HAW) 12.17, Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 11.07, Leigh Sedley (AUS) 10.20
Heat 2: Olamana Eleogram (HAW) 14.96, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 12.33, Gabe Kling (USA) 8.54, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 5.54
Heat 3: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 16.47, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.76, Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) 11.44, Nate Yeomans (USA) 8.83
Heat 4: Jadson Andre (BRA) 17.80, Cory Lopez (USA) 11.16, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 9.60, Austin Ware (USA) 8.70
Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.23, Evan Geiselman (USA) 14.70, Jihad Khodr (BRA) 12.03, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 11.70
Heat 6: Nic Muscroft (AUS) 10.23, Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 9.37, Blake Thornton (AUS) 9.30, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 6.60
Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 14.20, Kelly Slater (USA) 13.57, Rob Machado (USA) 13.50, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 10.77
Heat 8: Granger Larsen (HAW) 13.00, Heitor Alves (BRA) 10.73, Wiggoly Dantas (BRA) 10.26, Oliver Kurtz (USA) 4.60
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.60, Jay Thompson (AUS) 10.10, Mason Ho (HAW) 9.13, Nathan Hedge (AUS) 5.63
Heat 10: Dane Reynolds (USA) 14.37, Adam Melling (AUS) 10.50, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 9.28, Drew Courtney (AUS) 8.36
Heat 11: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.34, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 13.43, Taj Burrow (AUS) 8.43, Kolohe Andino (USA) 7.90
Heat 12: Brett Simpson (USA) 12.93, Nathaniel Curran (USA) 10.47, Chris Waring (USA) 8.87, Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 7.95
US Open of Surfing Round of 96 Results:
Heat 19: Adam Melling (AUS) 14.50, Jay Thompson (AUS) 14.27, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 10.90, Dylan Graves (PRI) 9.56
Heat 20: Dane Reynolds (USA) 15.70, Nathan Hedge (AUS) 12.47, Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 9.67, David Weare (ZAF) 8.70
Heat 21: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.27, Chris Waring (USA) 9.63, Diego Rosa (BRA) 6.23, Josh Kerr (AUS) 6.06
Heat 22: Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.87, Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 11.80, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.73, Taylor Knox (USA) 8.93
Heat 23: Brett Simpson (USA) 15.17, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 15.06, Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.43, Andre Silva (BRA) 7.67
Heat 24: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 12.54, Taj Burrow (AUS) 10.34, Tim Reyes (USA) 8.94, Eneko Acero (EUK) 8.27