Esquivel frolics in California waves

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California – Rogelio JayR Esquivel continued to make waves in the surfing world, putting up a show on the way to a quarterfinals entry in the HB Longboard Classic at the Wallex US Open in Huntington Beach Pier here.

With classic “soul-arching” nose rides and drop knee cutbacks, the pride of San Juan, La Union dominated his heats in the opening round last Saturday and the Round of 16 Thursday.

In a grand debut in the meet featuring the world’s best longboarders, Esquivel drew a score of 14.40, shocking favored Americans Kevin Skvarna (12.44) and Tony Silvagni (10.67) in Heat 8.

And with his high mark, the recent winner of the Padrol Longboard Classic in Bali, Indonesia, progressed straight to the Round of 16 where he completely outperformed Ben Skinner of the United Kingdom in Heat 7.

Esquivel scored 15.44 in light wind conditions as against Skinner’s 10.50 and thus advanced to the quarterfinals versus another American Richie Cravey.

The stakes are high as the top Challenger Series contenders inch closer toward qualification for the 2024 Championship Tour (CT). The Huntington Beach Longboard Classic is the first opportunity for the world’s best competitive longboarders to earn points toward a World Title.

And Esquivel is in hot chase, with a run marked by a giant upset of Skinner, a standout in the 2022 WSL Longboard Tour.