Hurricane Jova Brings the Swells to 57th Annual Brooks St. Surfing Classic

The 57th Annual Brooks St. Surfing Classic went off without a hitch this past weekend with ideal wave conditions, stirred up by the passing Hurricane Jova, a storm creating high surf along Southern California beaches.

The annual surf contest, sponsored by the Brooks Street Surfing Classic organization and the City of Laguna Beach, is held in loving memory of Jack Denny, an influential Laguna surf community member. This year, the contest just happened to line up with the 25th anniversary of his passing.

“We were saying that Jack sent us the swell to have it on the anniversary of his passing,” Brooks St. Contest Director Brandy Faber said.

Faber said the hurricane popped up out of nowhere and helped boost the popular event.

“They (the storms) rarely line up for two days of surf on the weekend, but Jova did, and we were grateful,” Faber said. “Considering we’re out of peak summer, it was very well attended. We had good conditions throughout the event for the most part. Great swell and good weather, which is always nice. When there’s a storm like this and surf reports are going out, surfers clear their schedules for it,” Faber said.

Two surfers who cleared their schedules were Trey Lockhart and his dad Bobby. The father-son surfing duo cut short a family trip to Hawaii to make sure they’d be back in Laguna water by the weekend of the contest.

“Trey and his dad were visiting his brother who goes to school in Hawaii and they came home a few days early because they saw the swell was going to be good and the contest was on,” Faber said.

It was a good thing they did. Trey Lockhart took home first place in the Pro/AM division, and his dad Bobby, claimed second in the grand masters category.

Division Winners