Pulling into the parking lot above Lowers a shroud of fog hung over the water and the surf looked pathetically small. I seriously debated whether or not to drop $15 on parking. Thankfully I went down to the beach anyway. The fog was lingering just far enough offshore to let the sun peak through, and even though there were long lulls.

The waves were contestable enough to make it interesting. It was about 10:00am when I first walked up to the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro contest site and the event organizers were trying to decide whether or not to keep running heats from the Oakley Pro Junior, or move into Round 1 of the main event.

"I've got the first heat if the event starts, so I've been down here all morning," said defending champ Fred Patacchia, smiling and good-natured as ever. "They got me running around doing all kinds of crazy stuff," he joked.Also in the first heat is Julian Wilson, who's just now rebounding from an ankle injury that sidelined him for the second half of the winter. "It's feeling pretty good," he says. "It's getting there."

As the heat draw would indicate, from Round 1 through the finals there will not be an easy heat. In the water Evan Geiselman was breezing through his pro junior heat; his surfing looking more polished and considerably stronger than the last time I saw him about six months ago. On the day he would sail into a semifinals berth.

Also worthy of note was Newport Beach's Andrew Doheny. After trying a number of boards from various shapers he decided that the one he made with his own two hands was the best stick for the job. And obviously it was as he's also into the semifinals of the Oakley Pro Junior.

In the end it was only the juniors that would paddle out. With the promise of a healthy southern hemi swell starting to build by tomorrow, the big guns should be set for an 8:00am start in the morning. And then come Thursday Surfline's calling for the swell to peak with solid shoulder to head-high waves and bigger sets going a couple feet overhead.