In the beginning, it looked like we were in for another dud of a winter. The swells came late, but got here just before the Triple Crown so locals got a good little feed before the Cirque du Soleil of Surfing pitched their tents. The Triple Crown circus was in full effect this year drawing crowds into the seven mile miracle like we have never seen before.


The Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa kicked off just after a really nice swell and they had some decent surf off and on throughout the contest. The final day started off in hideous onshore conditions which switched offshore midday providing for a great final. The 3-4 foot waves were just barrelling right through the toilet bowl or those pros were making them barrell, Im not sure which. The first leg of the Triple Crown was won by Tahitian surfer Michel Bourez who got a high scoring tube ride to win the event. Hawaii's Kekoa Bacalso also made the final placing third and thus qualified for the World Championship tour.


Carissa Moore who recently left Roxy and signed with Nike proved her validity to mainstream athletics as she captured the women's division becoming the youngest competitor to ever win the event.


Hawaii's Coco Ho also made her way into the final and qualified for the 2009 World Tour. Both these young women are a class act, sure to raise the level of professionalism in surfing and women's action sports.


The Oneil World Cup kicked off in some solid surf maxing out Sunset 10-12 ft with a few wash through 15 ft sets. CJ Hobgood claimed victory on the final day.


The Roxy kicked off in epic 6-8 ft surf but concluded in just 1-3 ft which kindof bummed out some of the girls who were enjoying some sizable waves to themselves. Stephanie Gilmore was able to win the contest and the World Championship Tour in that event and then went on to claim the Triple Crown on Maui by winning the Billabong Pro which had to be moved to Ho'okipa due to lack of swell.

The Pipe Masters was able to sneak through their three day competition  in some good backdoor with a few nice Pipe waves. The swell was a bit of a let down however compared to the 2 weeks prior which had some 10 foot epic rides and even a few moments where the second reef was breaking.


The final day started out like a dream for those who came early. There were solid 10 foot sets breaking with stiff offshore southerly winds under the moon light. We don't often get those offshore winds here and the waves were thick and hollow but did not have the bite they usually do with common easterly  trades. It was a really neat way to finish the final day of the Triple Crown. Kamalei Alexander was one of Hawaiis most outstanding surfers in this event advancing to the quarterfinals after placing second in the Xcel earlier this year.  In the end however, Kelly Slater went head to head with Chris Ward in a man on man final with fading swell and conditions where  Slater found two scarce waves to capture his win. The talk however was not about his 6th time Pipe win or his 9th World Championship title but the 5'11 he managed to ride throughout the day in the 6-8 foot surf. Surfline has a full write up on the board which looks almost like a fish in the front with a real narrow tail.


Gerry Lopez was there signing his new book which is said to be a sort collection of stories about the all timegreat Pipe days of his time. My friend Adam 12 (another Pipe legend) showed me the book and mentioned that he was in it so I got the impression that it was pretty authentic.


The 62 year old Lopez paddled out inbetween the semis and the final with Rory Russel and Bonga Perkins for an expression session which was pretty cool, but the waves were pretty bad. I dont know if Garret McNamara was invited to the expression session but he wooed the crowd by catching a wave with his standup paddle while wearing a Santa hat.


Maui's 19 year old Dusty Payne was a complete standout at this years Triple Crown placing 4th at Haleiwa, 5th at Sunset and going down in round three at Pipe to Joel Parkinson who was able to score two perfect 10s and advance far enough to win a well-deserved  Triple Crown victory  putting Payne second in the final standings.


Props to Joel. He surfs out Pipe a lot when he's here in Hawaii and is one of the few guys who can score some of the best waves while maintaining complete gentlemen status.


Its encouraging to see surfers who are as professional as Joel Parkinson amongst the onslaught of egomaniacs. Believe it or not there is actually a good group of the guys who give respect to the locals and we enjoy their company in the surf for those 6 weeks out of the year.

The last day of the Pipemasters actually came right after a nasty 2 day Kona storm.  The Northshore in particular was threatened on both ends. In Waialua, the river got blocked and swept away houses and cars. Parts of Kahuku and the east side were also flooded. Both schools were closed on the Northshore. By the time Kelly Slater was accepting his trophy the whole beach was already labeling it the Triple Brown Poop Masters and then it continued to rain and storm for a few more days. The National Weather Service had to put out leptospirosis warnings for beachgoers surfing nearby streams and besides some treated and untreated waste plants had dumped out as well. For the next few days after the contest a good majority of surfers were staying out of the chocolate brown water which at times had a stinche and a nasty foamy film. YUCK


Unfortunately the swell seemed to disappear with the storm and the piles of people, but I think most of us are enjoying the small waves to ourself right now. It has been so uncrowded and peaceful since the day the contest ended. Sometimes I think those pros want to get out of here faster than we want them to leave. The crowds are exhausting for everyone including the surfers. The water is still pretty filthy from Haleiwa to Waimea but people have been enjoying the sandbars and Pupukea which have been super small but really rippable. Hawaiian favorite Pancho Sullivan is said to be retiring from the tour this year. He had a solid victory at the XCEL Pro earlier this year to put a nice little bow on his professional season.


Other pros who are leaving the tour this year include Bruce Irons, Danny Wills and Layne Beachly.  Amaion Goodwin suffered a bad injury at Pipe already this season. He took off on a 10 foot ledger and pulled into the tube when his friend Cody Grahmn dropped in and it looked like he cartwheeled into the tube with him. It was a pretty horrific sight which should remind us all the danger of dropping in on our fellow surfers especially at Pipeline.


There have been a few killer days at Pipe already even though there is still a warble in the wave due to the sand pile stuck hovering over Ehukai Beach Park. The tally of radical wipeouts is certainly outnumbering radical waves at this point, but hopefully January will change that. Waimea broke 12-15 plus one afternoon and that is about as big as its been so far but there have been several 10 foot days. Jamie O'Brien has been taking Pipe to another level this year, taking off on the most ledging 10 footers and pulling in mid-face.


My husband and photographer Sean Davey called him one day and said I'm not shooting anymore photos of you at Pipe because your making it look too easy. (that was a joke of course) There has been some incredible surfing at Pipe with guys making impossible waves.

Wade Tokoro has also been a standout this year at Pipe catching some of the best waves on the best days. He is amazing surfer and incredible shaper who turns up every morning crack of dawn with some bust up old board that he has put back together 6 times. What a great role model in this era of consumerism.


Cole Christen is another underground Pipe guy who paddled out with a whole crew of his underground friends on a very big ugly Pipe day and somehow made it look good. At that moment, I was hoping they could enter their crew in the Backdoor shootout to see how far they could get. There are so many underground surfers that never get much credit for their waterman skills on paper, but they are most certainly an inspiration to us all.

Surfrider recently held their John Kelly Awards. Surfer Shaun Tomson was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award,


Dave Rastovich the Pro Surfer Award and Styrophobia was honored as the Environmentally Friendly Local Company. The Awards show and dinner was followed by a party at Aloha Tower called The Disco hosted by Hawaiian Heavywater and Lost clothing. The Lifeguards held their annual party this year in Haleiwa since Waimea Valley has been closed. The movie Walking on Water premiered here in Haleiwa and in town. Canon featured their week long promotional presentation with workshops, lectures and the like. It has been pretty action packed on the Northshore as usual for this time of year and most of us are looking forward to a quiet Christmas and some more waves.  Looks like the lull in swell will last pretty much through the end of the month and we will have to wait and see what the new year brings. It is my understanding that the Bodyboarding event which is usually held in January is not until late February this year ( Feb 17th I believe) I dont know what comes inbetween that but the Backdoor Shootout and the Monster Pro are more local events and do not draw the kind of crowds that the Triple Crown does. Banzai Betty received a permit for her women's event at Pipeline again this year which will be held late March early April.

Aloha and stay tuned!

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