Oceanic Time Warner Cable's Community WebsiteWithout much of a stretch, the surf conditions for 2010 winter surf season could be encapsulated in two words; "small" and "north". La Nina delivered dutifully on her promise of less than stellar ocean apparatus and relative to the prolific 2009 season, the surf for this year were largely forgettable. Consequently, the three jewels of the 2010 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing suffered through erratic conditions. However, when you have the world's hottest surfers applying their craft to the available conditions, there were plenty of exciting moments. In fact, it was rife with some downright awesome moments.
The series began with the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa Ali'i Beach. Solid swell fanned into Day 1 of the contest on 11/15 and the WQS journeyman took it apart for sure, but strangely, the biggest buzz on the beach was reserved for the specialty "Clash of the Legends" heat 1 scheduled for midday. Featuring 80's pro surfing icons Tom Carroll and Mark Occhilupo of Australia, Californian Tom Curren, and local boy Sunny Garcia, this was a non-rated "exhibition" event model. They'd surf three heats over three days and the top points getter would take the $15,000US top cash prize and bragging rights. Though influenced by the northerly slant, there was enough west in the swell to deliver some roping bomb sets up to 10'+, and it just so happened that the biggest waves of the day coincided with Clash heat 1. Validating their retro-elite status, all four athletes simply ripped the waves apart, bringing an electrified beach crowd to its feet each time they took off. On what may have been the wave of the winter, Carroll hooked into a towering, black 12’ monster that loomed 3 times over his head and he carved huge, arcing turns across the face as he hurtled towards the infamous Haleiwa toilet bowl section. Hair flying, Occy sent giant rooster tails of spray into the sky on his timeless backhand act, and Curren surfed with his typically cool, radical, and technical approach, finding his way into a pair of deep tubes. With frightening authority, Garcia stuck his patented shoulder-reverse snap to any section that presented itself, accumulating enough points to take down the Clash after three days. The wide-eyed young touring pros on the beach got a proper and humbling lesson in style, positioning, and full rail power application in consequential Hawaiian surf. No disrespect to them, but compared to these men they looked like babies, and the Legends’ fantastic performances are still very much valid and progressive. Everyone’s hoping they do it again in 2011. Awesome moments!
Incidentally, there was controversy in Heat 1, when Curren swung around late and took off underneath and inside of Garcia, who clearly had gentleman's rights to the shapely inside wave. Garcia was flagged with an interference call, infuriating the burly Hawaiian. Very tense moments ensued when he paddled right up on Curren after the wave. After Sunny had a night to sleep on it, he returned to the beach the following day cooled off, seeking to right things with Tom, and they hugged it out … much to the content of their fans. Awesome moment!
Unfortunately, surf for the remainder of the contest (and Triple Crown) would never exceed what was seen on Day 1. Because of the predominance of north/northeast swell, most of the surfing for the Reef was done at "Peaks", a tricky patch of reef just left of the Haleiwa Harbor entrance, but it proved to be contestable nonetheless. Having just returned to formal competition after having his right heel functionally severed from his foot by his own surfboard fin, Australian golden boy Joel Parkinson took the Reef victory by outpointing defending champion, Hawaiian golden boy Joel Centeio. Parko's win was a major statement, and signaled his official return to pro surfing's upper echelon. Stephanie Gilmore took the Cholo’s Women’s Hawaiian Pro with her faultless surfing in the bumpy waves. It also made them both the frontrunners to take the Vans Triple Crown championships, a career benchmark by itself as highly regarded as an ASP world title.
On to Sunset Beach, the North Shore’s preeminent performance big wave, for the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing. Again, this contest suffered through lots of waiting and a weird range of small, rainy, windy north swell conditions that alternated between the peak, point, Boneyards, and Val’s Reef, the funky, shallow double up section just yards off the beach. Although it wasn’t classic Sunset, I found the quirkiness of Val’s wedging ramps pretty amusing when being ridden by the top pros. The event finished with the Men’s and Women’s finals being held in extreme ENE swell, whipping 30 knot NNE winds, and ultra shallow Boneyards section waaaaay up Sunset Point and barely visible from the beach. Thank goodness for expensive TV cameras with powerful zoom lenses! Brazilian journeyman Raoni Monteiro and 16 year old Australian Tyler Wright won their respective events in relatively pedestrian conditions.
Sandwiched in between the World Cup and Billabong Pipeline Masters, were the prestigious Surfer Poll Awards at the Turtle Bay Resort. In celebration of its 40th anniversary, Surfer Magazine decided to move the show from Anaheim, California to the North Shore, and everyone was agreed it was the right move! Instantly, it was the hottest ticket in town and Oceanic was lucky enough to bring along a few of our ecstatic customers to the show. It was a sensory feast of warm weather, music, food, drink, beautiful people, more drink, cool outfits, famous surf stars galore, and a few more drinks. The show was intimately downsized, nicely paced, and filled with tributes and references to Andy Irons. Bruce Irons accepted the Best Barrel award on behalf of his beloved older brother, who appeared in the nominee highlights sitting inside an impossibly long pigdog Indo tube. Bruce’s quiet, introspective speech was bookended by a nervous hush at the start, raucous applause when it ended, with lots of love and tears in between. A truly awesome moment.
“What an amazing night,” said Surfer Magazine Publisher Tony Perez. “It could not have been possible without the local community, the brands, and the whole Surfer staff. (We’re) already looking forward to be back in Hawaii next year!” Cool!
With La Nina dragging her can on west swell delivery and moving the summertime pile of sand off the beach, the Billabong Pipeline Masters was forced to endure fickle NNE swell, pesky backwash, a complete absence of the obligatory Pipeline left, and lots and lots of waiting for good waves. The last week of the period caused stress for contest officials who devoured the daily Surfline forecasts front to back in an attempt to cobble up a plan to run on the best possible days. I asked Triple Crown Executive Director Randy Rarick if he’d experienced worse surf for a final day of the Pipe Masters, and with furrowed brow he said, “Yeah, once, when Robbie Page won, it was 3 foot.” That was in 1988.
So 4 foot Backdoor was the comp du jour and enough holes opened up for the competitors to jam themselves into. Actually, I’m half joking as there were plenty of clean and hollow 6 footers coming through. 10X ASP world champion Kelly Slater got one of them and scored the only 10.00 of the contest. Maui’s Dusty Payne was on the ASP WT bubble when he paddled out against Aussie Mick Fanning in their Round 3 heat. Payne needed to advance to qualify for the 2011 WT, and he barely did with a near perfect 9.87 barrel with just seconds left. He won by a hair thin .093 margin. Dusty’s crew at the Volcom house went nuts as he proned in to the beach completely stoked (and relieved). Awesome moment.
Vans also held a Women’s event during the Masters (an important first for the ladies) called the Duel for the Jewel. A specialty single heat of four surfers, it would showcase the speedy progression of women’s surfing, especially at Pipeline. It wasn’t hard to sense the nervousness as the ladies prepared not only to take on shallow, inside-out Backdoor barrels, but doing so in front of the Pipeline’s best surfers, a huge crowd on the beach, and millions viewing on web and television around the world. Although they were tentative on the first few sets, the girls eventually began to loosen up and charge. The irrepressible Stephanie Gilmore put in a legit+ performance, hunting the lineup, pulling into thick closeouts, bouncing hard off the reef, and flying out of a super clean, deep tube. You guessed it … awesome moment.
Mahalo to the usual suspects; Randy Rarick & the ASP Hawaii/Triple Crown crew, Doug Palladini of Vans, Producer Jordan Velarde & crew, Director Jeff Doner & crew, Mano Ziul of Beach Byte, web editors Lachlin Munday and Paulo Dias, Moz Mirbaba of Windowseat Pictures, Reef, O’Neill, Billabong, web anchor David Stanfield, Tony Perez and Scott Woodruff of ASG/Surfer Magazine, Kelly Hamlett of the Turtle Bay Resort, the Oceanic Time Warner Cable broadcast and tech support groups, and all the other cool, hardworking people that make the Triple Crown happen!
Aloha Oe to Andy Irons, Marvin Foster, and Flippy Hoffman whom we lost in 2010.
The Vans Triple Crown is over, but the North Shore winter surf is still pumping, and Oceanic SURF Channel 250 & 1250 brings you two more exciting live broadcasts this month!
Watch all the electrifying big wave action live and from the comfort of your living room! Call Oceanic at 643-2100 to upgrade to digital or HD cable service.
