What madness. But a fun kind of madness. By 8 a.m. there were already thousands of people on the beach, the pier and the stands. They take their surfing seriously down here, especially with Brett Simpson still in the running. The conditions were great as the final day of the Open got underway—there were smooth shoulder-high lefts breaking towards the pier, and with the grey light and and only two guys in the water you could almost imagine that the lineup was one of those perfect and uncrowded Sunday mornings at home. But Huntington Beach itself was basically a football stadium today—news trucks, helicopters, standing-room-only scaffolding, giant screens for replays, you name it.

As for the surfing, today was a reminder that the thing that makes surf contests so fun to watch can be the same thing that makes them so frustrating to watch. There's two minutes left to go in a tight heat, both surfers are scrambling back out to the lineup and the crowd can see a set showing on the outside. Someone needs a 6.7, or a 5.5, or a 9.2, and they get to the peak and spin on a wave and take it to the beach. From there it's all about the waiting—it's like the lottery, in that it's all about the numbers and thousands of people are on edge waiting for them to drop. But at the same time, how can you really quantify surfing? As Jordy Smith said in an interview today, it sucks to see people lose—and besides, who's to say that a few backside turns, super solid but a bit safe, are more worthwhile than one super-critical air reverse? There were some of tough calls today, and a few heats that could've gone either way. As the time ticks down in a heat the fun and tension is all in the waiting, but sometimes you wish that everyone could share the money and just go out and surf.

The first two heats of the day were fantastic, with plenty of waves and some fierce stuff thrown by Smith, Miguel Pupo, Mick Fanning and Jadson Andre, but after that the swell backed off and the rest of the heats were marked by lots of sitting and waiting through long lulls. Simpson, the Huntington Beach local and defending champion, had a huge contingent of support on the beach, and he made it a memorable Sunday for The Real OC by beating Nathaniel Curran, Kelly Slater and Jordy Smith to win his second US Open of Surfing in a row. It's a really difficult and impressive feat, and he's probably going to be buying a lot of drinks tonight with that $100,000 cheque in his pocket.

All in all, the US Open was a blast to be at, and the level of surfing from the men, women and juniors was incredible. It's a fun time to be surf fan, that's for sure. And at the end of the day, it should all come down to the fun—like Slater, for example, after losing his semifinal heat, surfing a wave into the shorebreak, stretching forward into a cheater five on his shortboard and going left into a little barrel all styled out like longboarder circa '66. Not for money, not for photos, but just for fun. Even on its most biggest and most lucrative stage, it's neat to see that surfing still has fun at its core.

See all the event highlights at www.usopenofsurfing.com. Thanks to Hurley for making the trip possible.