Put one on the board for the cute girls.

Alana Blanchard won the Reef Hawaiian Pro yesterday, giving editors around the world good reason to plaster shots of her all over their print and web pages. When it comes to Alana, arguably the sexiest girl in pro surfing, they're always looking for reasons to run her.

By now I'm sure most of you are shocked--SHOCKED! to learn that sexier athletes in sports get far more attention than their butt-ugly counterparts. It's a disturbing trend in sports--especially on the women's side-- that sexy athletes earn far more in endorsements than those who actually get better competitive results but are, y'know, a little harder to look at.

Is this fair?
No.
Will it change?
Absolutely not.
At least it doesn't happen in the average work place, right?
Hah!

Yes, it ain't easy being ugly. But being sexy has its own pitfalls. This issue catches fire every time somebody like Pamela Anderson wants to be considered a "serious actress" or Anna Kournikova wants to be known as a serious "pro athlete". That was a tough line to tow when she couldn't win a tournament. She could, however, help the television ratings of women's tennis. Her counterparts resented the fact that it was looks, not talent or skills, that earned them.

Women like Anna get villified...as if they've done something wrong. But have they? Wasn't there a tag line a while back for some tooth paste or tampons that said, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful." Well, I have no issue that. I'm no hater.

Of course, until yesterday, pro surfer Alana Blanchard got a lot of heat for being hot. Especially among her peers. Many quietly expressed doubt whether or not she was, herself, benefiting from Kournikova syndrome. But Blanchard buried that one on the strenght of some solid surfing. In fact, whe did for cute girls in surfing what Maria Sharapova did in tennis. After all, Sharapova, who actually wins tournaments, put a crimp in Kournikova's earning power.

You see, whether it's looks or talent, there's always somebody better coming along. And sometimes they have both.

Dana Point, Calif. -- San Clemente's Kolohe Andino added another gem to his mantle Saturday by winning the U16 division of the Rip Curl Grom Search National Final at Salt Creek. As expected "Brother" tapped his full arsenal of progressive moves, including a rash of aerial reverses and a text book shove-it to revert that won him the H20 Maneuver of the Day Award, en route to his victory over Hawaii's Nathan Carvalho.

Andino pocketed $500 for the win, plus a new Nintendo Wii and and extra Benjamin for the maneuver award, but the biggest payoff comes next spring, when he will be sent to Australia to represent the USA in the International Grom Search Finals at the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach.

"That's like being put on Center Court at Wimbledon," says Dylan Slater, Rip Curl's Director of Marketing. "The Rip Curl Pro at Bells is the longest running contest in professional surfing, and the International Grom Search Final is likely to take place on the final day of competition in front of the typical crowd of 30,000 people."


"I'm so pshyched to be going to Bells," said Andino. "I've been to Australia a bunch of times, but never down to Torquay. It'll be fun to surf against the hottest guys from everywhere else in front of that kind of crowd." While Andino nabbed a lot of the spot light at Salt Creek there were a number of big standouts.

In the girls division Kauai's Nage Melamed came from behind in the closing moments of the final to overtake the nimble-footed Lakey Peterson of Santa Barbara for the win. Melamed's powerful brand of backhand surfing was the perfect match for the punchy lefthanders on tap at the Creek. Her turns were much more mature than her age.

In the U14 division La Jolla's Jacob Halstead was the one who yielded most of the power. Halstead's impressive rail work led to a healthy supply of rooster tails that, according to Doppler radar, might have actually ended the Southern California drought. While beating out Colin Moran for the win, he presented a strong argument for being the best surfer to come out of La Jolla in a generation.

Finally, in the hotly contested U12 division, it was Jacob Davis who nabbed the win over Nick Hdez, Kanoa Igarashi and Colin Deveze. The mini-groms were their usual cool selves, throwing warning shots over the bow of the older kids all day with their penchant for the progressive stuff.

Final Results of the Rip Curl Grom Search National Final

U16 Boys
1. Kolohe Andino
2. Nathan Carvalho
3. Taylor Thorne
4. Koa Smith

U16 Girls
1. Nage Melamed
2. Lakey Peterson
3. Chelsea Roett
4. Frankie Hararr

U14 Boys
1. Jacob Halstead
2. Colin Moran
3. Koa Smith
4. Taylor Clarke

U12 Boys
1. Jacob Davis
2. Nic Hdez
3. Kanoa Igarashi
4. Colin Deveze

Salt Creek has always been ruled by grommets. The lineup maintains one of the youngest demographics in the entire state. In fact, studies have shown that Creek legends like Pat O'Connell, Kevin Billy have Creek-Geeks Disease, which sounds pretty bad, but isn't, because it's really just a permanent bout of adolescence. Symptoms include being routinely still mistaken for 8th graders. So apparently, something in the water there keeps you fresh. Good thing, too, because it's not easy to be enthusiastic about a dumpy closeout. Don't get me wrong, Salt Creek has its magic moments, in fact, this Saturday could be one of them as the nation's hottest gremlins come to battle for the National Titles of the Rip Curl Grom Search.

The Rip Curl Grom Search, if you've never been to one, is 20 times better than opening day of Little League. That's becasue these kids are All Stars. Matter of fact, you should go get some autographs now because they'll be worth millions of pesos in 10 or 15 years (the dollar will be long gone as a currency but more on that later.)

At the Grom Search, the microscopes are truly busted out because 12, 14 and 16 years of age are the cutoff points for each division, which makes things highly competitive all the way across the spectrum. But the fun part is watching some of the tiny little circus freaks beat up on their older peers, which happens routinely. That's because these groms don't know what barriers are. They're pulling moves even guys on tour can't do. And in a few short years some of them will be out there on tour. And if you're not down there placing bets on who it's going to be, Well you're missing half the fun. But you will be able to tune in online. So stay tuned...

Some of the most unique cultural experiences in surfing are those rare uniting of our various tribes. For a tiny sliver of the surfing population surf contests actually facilitate this mixing of cultures, but for the vast majority of surfers, it's the surf movie that pulls us together best...and these days, surfing festivals, like next week's California Surf Festival in Oceanside, do the best job of getting all of our tribes in one place.

California's surfing community has always been a fragmented one. In a State as big as ours that's to be expected. Most of us settle into our familiar patterns and rarely roam beyond our favorite go-to surf spots. Ask yourself this, did you surf more than five spots last month? If you did, chances are you just got your drivers license or you were recently handed a pink slip. Regardless of the reason, you're hardcore, so congrats. And you deserve an even bigger pat on the back one if you drove more than 80 miles to one of those spots.

Sadly, we usually forget what we're missing until we go mingle. There's much to be said for touching, smelling and wandering a new horizon. And in California there is certainly no shortage of those. We also have a diverse surf culture. More diverse, surprisingly, than almost anywhere else in the world. Case in point: Newport Beach is a far cry from Oxnard, which is a light years away from Malibu, which is nothing like Morro Bay, and don't get me started on Encinitas vs. Huntington.

Next week, from the 19th through the 22nd, the California Surf Museum, a beautiful 5600 square foot space in Oceanside that houses much of our rich history, will be honoring all of them with their huge four-day celebration of our heritage. The festival will feature a healthy dose of surf music, surf movies, and surf culture, all the while raising money for a very worthy cause, the museum itself.

There are 12 feature length films on tap, along with 12 short films, including the first sneak peek at Kelly Slater's IMAX project. The flicks will be showing at one of three venues over the four-day event. But that's just the tip of the spear. Nat Young, who changed surfing back in 1966 at Oceanside during the World Contest, will be on hand to talk story on the opening night. Renowned ukulele strummer Jake Shimabukuro will be delighting the acoustic senses on Friday and Clark Little will be showcasing his groundbreaking photography over the weekend. Some of the "must see" films being shown include Sea of Darkness, HighWater, Still Filthy and Dear & Yonder. There's also a Hot Groms Shorts Film contest.

Of course, one of the biggest celenrations will take place on Saturday night, when Surfer Magazine will be celebrating its first 50 years. Festival organizers are paying tribute to the sport's longest running print publication. As part of the celebration, almost all of the past editors and several of the past photo editors, including John Severson, Jeff Divine, Drew Kampion, Art Brewer and editor-turned-historian Matt Warshaw will be there in attendance talking story and answering questions about the magazine's rich history.

So if you've been looking for an excuse to escape your home town for a day or so, next weekend might be a good one to try Oceanside. Hey, for what it's worth, there's always a fun wave to be had there.

A schedule of events for the California Surf Festival is listed below. For more information and ticket purchases, go to the California Surf Museum website at www.surfmuseum.org or call 760-721-6876. Films and schedule subject to change.

The Three downtown Oceanside screening venues:
CSM = CALIFORNIA SURF MUSEUM
GRACE = Grace Theater (at the Grace Chapel), 102 N. Freeman St.
BROOKS = Sunshine Brooks Theatre, 217 N. Coast Highway

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19
BROOKS
7:00 to 8:30 An Evening With Nat Young

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
CSM
6:00 – 7:00 Jake Shimabukuro VIP reception.
GRACE
5:00 – 6:30 Short film: Madera. Feature film: Shaped.
8:00 – 10:00 Jake Shimabukuro in Concert
BROOKS
6:00 – 7:30 Short film: Verve. Feature: Dear & Yonder.
8:00 – 9:30 Short film: Gum For My Boat. Feature film: Still Filthy

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
CSM
The Museum is open 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
6:00 – 7:00 Surfer Magazine 50th Anniversary tribute VIP reception.
GRACE
12:00 to 1:00 = to be determined
1:00 to 3:00 Short film: All Points South. Feature film: Waveriders
3:00 to 4:30 Feature film: Sea of Darkness
5:00 to 6:30 Feature film: HighWater
8:00 to 10:00 Surfer Magazine 50 Year Anniversary Tribute

BROOKS
12:00 – 1:00 Hot Grom Shorts
1:00 to 2:30 Clark Little champagne reception.
2:30 to 4:30 Short film: Tom’s Creation and Plantation. Feature film: Hanging Five
5:00 to 6:00 Feature film: Echo Beach
6:00 to 7:30 Feature film: The Drifter
8:00 to 9:00 Short film: Inundation. Feature film: Lost Prophets

NOVEMBER 22, 2009
BROOKS
12:00 to 1:00: Hot Grom Shorts
1:00 to 2:30 Feature film: BS!
3:00 to 4:30 Short film: El Día Despues. Short film: Shaping A Life. First “Silver Surfer Award” presented to Gary Linden
4:00 to 5:30 Awards ceremony.

Funds raised from the California Surf Festival will assist the California Surf Museum in its growth and outreach to the community. The California Surf Museum is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located at 312 Pier View Way, Oceanside, Calif. 92054; (760) 721-6876; www.surfmuseum.org. Open daily 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and until 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays. Admission.

CONTACT:
MARKETING AND SPONSORSHIP: Lou Niles, (760) 579-3826, lounbr@pacbell.net
FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING: Keiko Beatie, (949) 395-0879, keikobeatie@gmail.com
TICKETS AND EVENTS: California Surf Museum, (760) 721-6876, CSM@surfmuseum.org

San Clemente's Nate Yeomans may have just made a reservation for next year's ASP World Tour. By winning the 6-Star Prime O'Neill Cold Water Classic in huge surf at Steamer Lane the dynamic goofyfooter has jumped all the way up to 8th in the WQS rankings from the No. 27 slot. He now stands a great chance of jumping up into the major leagues along with fellow Californians Patrick Gudauskas and Brett Simpson in 2010.

Lord knows Yeomans was due to cash in on some of the good karma he'd racked up over the years. The 27-year-old has been battling on the WQS for what seems like forever. He's won several smaller events at home in California, but none that have carried much weight. "I’ve been winning 2-Stars for too long and it was time for a big 6-Star win," he said. "To have my name up there with all of the great surfers who have won this event over the years is amazing. This is the biggest result of my career and I’m speechless. ”

Thanks to brands like Nike, Hurley and O'Neill, all of whom have stepped up their support of the WQS in North America this year, there has been far more points and prize money available to American surfers. The added opportunity has proven to be a productive launching pad guys like Yeomans, the Gudauskas brothers and Brett Simpson who are taking advantage of the added opportunities. Yeomans earned $20,000 for his win.

The Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz was only a 4-Star last year when 17-year-old local boy Nat Young took the victory. While Young wasn't able to defend his title in the WQS event this week, he managed to redeem his early exit with another win in the Oakley Pro Junior division (a title he took back in 2007). He thrilled his home town crowd in the final where he edged Hawaiian Tonino Benson, who was also very impressive all week.

“I was the only kid from Santa Cruz in the junior, so I’m stoked,” Young said. “It’s great to build momentum up for Worlds, even though it’s far away, it’s good to win this event at home with so many good guys in the draw.”

The completion of the Santa Cruz event marks the end of the historic Cold Water Classic Series that was comprised of five events this year, including the first ever WQS event in Canada just last week. A very stoked Aussie Blake Thornton is taking home an extra $50,000 for taking the Series title.

O’Neill Cold Water Classic California Final:
1 - Nathan Yeomans (USA) 15.33
2 – Heath Joske (AUS) 8.60


O’Neill Cold Water Classic California Semifinals Results:
Heat 1: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 12.50 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 8.00
Heat 2: Heath Joske (AUS) 11.43 def. Luke Munro (AUS) 8.86

O’Neill Cold Water Classic California Quarterfinals Results:
Heat 1: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.50 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 8.00
Heat 2: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 15.00 def. Cory Lopez (USA) 12.53
Heat 3:
Heath Joske (AUS) 13.17 def. Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) 9.10
Heat 4: Luke Munro (AUS) 9.67 def. Kieran Horn (USA) 8.46

Oakley Pro Junior ASP North America Championships Final Results:
1 - Nat Young (USA) 15.07
2 – Tonino Benson (HAW) 7.76
3 – Cody Thompson (USA) 7.73
4 – Dylan Goodale (HAW) 7.10