Peter Townend

Travis Mellem of San Clemente could only smile at the comments made by a passing surfer. "This guy ripped," yelled another competitor. Mellem had just advanced to the quarterfinals at the United States Surfing Federation Western Regional Championships at the Huntington Beach Pier Saturday. Surfing in the 13-14 open boys' division, Mellem went on to win his semifinal heat and will surf in the championship final today. "It was really nice [Saturday] morning.

Travis Mellem of San Clemente could only smile at the comments made by a passing surfer. "This guy ripped," yelled another competitor. Mellem had just advanced to the quarterfinals at the United States Surfing Federation Western Regional Championships at the Huntington Beach Pier Saturday. Surfing in the 13-14 open boys' division, Mellem went on to win his semifinal heat and will surf in the championship final today. "It was really nice [Saturday] morning.

Ever been slumped in your favorite chair, remote in hand, channel surfing the airwaves when you stopped to watch a real surfer streak down a wall of turquoise the size of a two-story building? And then came the voice. The thick Australian accent. The high-pitched scream: "That's like having an Olympic-sized swimming pool dumped on your head!" Then you already know Peter Townend. Townend, known simply as P.T.

Ever been slumped in your favorite chair, remote in hand, channel surfing the airwaves when you stopped to watch a real surfer streak down a wall of turquoise the size of a two-story building? And then came the voice. The thick Australian accent. The high-pitched scream: "That's like having an Olympic-sized swimming pool dumped on your head!" Then you already know Peter Townend. Townend, known simply as P.T.

"I still try to be a bette surfer every day I go out. When my two kids get good, I don't want them to call their ol' man a kook."--Peter Townend, 1976 world champion and associate publisher of Surfing Magazine.

Three brothers--Jonathan, Israel and Abraham Paskowitz of San Clemente--are leading the young men's division after Friday's qualifying round of the fifth Oceanside Longboard Surfing Club contest. Leading qualifiers in the men's division (30-39) are Peter Townend of Westminster, a former world champion from Australia, and Chris Schlickenmeyer and Albert Jenks of Hawaii.

Three years after Rusty Surfboards began making snowboards and wake boards, the company is discontinuing those lines to refocus on its core surfboard business. "It was a very small, developing percentage of the business," spokesman Peter Townend said of the wake board and snowboard production. "At the end of the day, you only have so much expertise and manpower and time, and you have to face up to the fact that you need to focus."

* Traci Atwood Sayer has been named senior sales manager for the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort in Dana Point. She was previously regional director of sales for the International Assn. of Convention & Visitors Bureaus. Lois J. Stevens was appointed director of catering operations. She was formerly banquet manager for the Trumbull Marriott Hotel in Connecticut and banquet manager for the La Jolla Marriott Hotel. * William A. Furlow has been elected president of the Assn.

Wave riding enthusiasts dedicated a Surfing Walk of Fame on Saturday to pay homage to the sport's pioneers, competitors and culture. "I take great pride in being able to say I'm the best surfer in the United States Congress," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), an avid surfer, told about 100 people gathered under sunny skies for the ceremony. "Of course, some people do point out that I'm the only surfer in the U.S.

Seven teen-age surfers from Huntington Beach High School's championship surf team will leave Orange County on Wednesday for more than two weeks of competition in Australia. Coach Andy Verdone arranged the trip after Principal Jim Staunton received district approval allowing the students two weeks' leave. They are scheduled to return Jan. 17. "This is the first time a surf team I've coached has ever been allowed to travel on school time," said Verdone, who has been coach for six years.

The founder of the Rusty brand, one of the nation's most popular surf wear labels in the late 1990s, has sold controlling interest to a company that was licensed to make products under the same name in Australia. As part of the deal, Rusty Preisendorfer has claimed worldwide rights in perpetuity to continue making surfboards under the brand he founded 21 years ago.

In what has become one of the more appealing rites of summer, the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach has inducted seven new members. Those living outside California may think of surfers as beach layabouts with no interest in anything but wave height. Indeed, movies and advertising have latched onto the surfer's word "dude" and transformed it into the signature utterance of someone whose intelligence is less than top-drawer. The reality, fortunately, is different.