Coaches dotted the beach with binoculars, friends and girlfriends waited with towels and oversized sunglasses, and locals lined the beach watching one of the most high-performance out of contest sessions ever to grace Ocean Beach. Here, an unidentified pro breaks his fins loose as a warm-up to the Rip Curl Pro Search in San Francisco, CA Sunday October 30.

As a side note, when you’re a poor college local publication photographer you shoot with a 500mm Samyang mirror lens. That’s manual focus, single aperture (00), fixed length. I’ll be renting a $6k lens during the contest.

Jon Weiand