Tuesday, November 3, 1998
North Shore stoked for surfing's
By Greg Ambrose
most prestigious event
Special to the Star-BulletinIN a yearly ritual that for anticipation and drama rivals the arrival of the humpback whales, the surfing world is shifting its attention to the planet's most productive and accessible wave factory, Oahu's North Shore.
The focus is the Vans G-Shock Triple Crown of Surfing, a series of professional contests that takes advantage of the massive winter waves that pound Hawaii's shores. After an exhausting year of chasing the pro tours from continent to continent, the world's most talented surfers get their reward in Hawaii's challenging surf.
At stake are the men's world title, the men's and women's Triple Crown championships, eight individual contest victories, a $1 million bonus, and the careers of several dozen competitors.
The merchants and businesses of Haleiwa appreciate the excitement in the surf, but they are more impressed with the economic boost that the Triple Crown of Surfing brings to their sleepy little slice of paradise.
It pumps an incalculable but crucial amount of money into the community from competitors, spectators, judges and journalists. And the international media exposure of Hawaii in general and the North Shore in particular is a huge asset in inspiring viewers to visit Hawaii.
"There is a big influx of people out here to come watch the Triple Crown," says John Moore, owner of Strong Current in Haleiwa. They visit all the surf shops to seek information about the contests and end up buying Triple Crown posters, T-shirts, sweatshirts and other items.
"It's really amazing how many people come out to see it, people that aren't hard-core surfers. And then there are casual surfers who want to come to Hawaii and tie it in to the Triple Crown time."
All these visitors also swarm to the Haleiwa restaurants, boutiques and specialty shops, Moore says. "It's really cool because the restaurant next door feeds all the judges, competition crew and professionals, and they come through my store, too. I have an old pinball machine, and (five-time world champion) Kelly Slater comes in and plays pinball in here, which always draws a crowd."
"The Triple Crown has been great for my business," says North Shore Realtor Juliana Monet, who specializes in vacation rentals. "That is the season that we are alive out here, and the surf contests do bring the people out here.
"People associated with the contests rent from me, as do surfing companies that sponsor events."
The main attraction is watching Hawaii's top wave riders battle an international crowd of hungry hopefuls for a chance to make it onto the elite World Championship Tour next season. For this year's world tour members, the Triple Crown is their last chance to finish the season in a high enough position to remain on the WCT next year.
In addition to $350,000 in prize money, the male surfer and female contestant who end up with the highest aggregate score from all three respective events claims individual Triple Crown titles and a $7,500 bonus each. And if a male surfer wins all three Triple Crown contests, he'll be rewarded with $1 million by Vans.The series was to begin with a pair of historic contests on Kauai, the Triple Crown's first visit to a neighbor island. But the plan became mired in a logistical nightmare, including escalating costs that would have impoverished the junior South African team to get to Kauai and back.
So Triple Crown officials moved the contests to Oahu's version of an outer island, Maili Point on the Leeward Coast. The Billabong World Junior Championship is a glimpse into professional surfing's future, with local youngsters such as Jason Bogle and Fred Patacchia on team Hawaii battling rising teen stars on teams from Australasia, Europe, South Africa, South America and North America.
The Billabong Girls is the first wahine event of the Triple Crown, featuring 32 women, including top pros and young amateurs.
"Having the contest at Maili Point gives the local girls an advantage," says Triple Crown contest director Bernie Baker. "It's up for grabs."
The surf at Haleiwa's Ali'i Beach is the site for the next contests, the G-Shock Hawaiian Pro for men and women. As a treat, this year the event will feature a longboard division, starring the top international and local longboard surfers, who will use the contest to tune up before flying off to the Canary Islands for the Oxbow World Longboard Championship.
The Triple Crown competitors then head for Sunset Beach, where the men will compete in the Rip Curl World Cup, while the wahine end their season with the Quiksilver Roxy Pro.
The last men's contest ends the world tour with an exclamation point at the Banzai Pipeline with the Mountain Dew Pipe Masters.
"Even I get impressed with the Pipe contest after 27 years of this and having seen it all," says Triple Crown executive director Randy Rarick.
"When Pipeline is 10 to 12 feet and cranking, it's one of the greatest shows on earth. I would love to be retired from this and go down to Pipe and sit in the sand and watch this show with no responsibilities.
"You can go to G-Land (in Indonesia) to get more perfect waves, or J-Bay (in South Africa) and get longer waves. But no place on earth do you get a closer, more intimate look than this perfect arena. It's so close at Pipeline that the sand rumbles under your feet when the waves break, and when someone wipes out, the whole crowd groans."
Strong Current owner Moore believes that the best aspect of the Triple Crown is that it brings people to Hawaii from all over the world, such as a couple from Switzerland last year who bought a surfboard from Moore's shop.
Pointing to a photo of a smiling man holding the precious Hawaii board while standing in snow up to his knees, Moore explains the apparent incongruity.
"Swiss guys take a lot of trips to France to surf."
And, Moore hopes, to Hawaii to buy surfboards.
Two-person heats are half tactics,
half talent. You have to think a lot more. Everyone
is trying to be the world champion.
Megan Abubo
Professional surfer
Hawaii rookies find life on
By Greg Ambrose
tour is an arduous journey
Special to the Star-BulletinMEGAN Abubo and Andy Irons have dedicated their young lives to becoming professional surfers. But now that they have reached the elite World Championship Tour, life at the top is not what they had imagined.
"When I first wanted to surf the tour, I had a definite idea of how it works," says Kalani Robb, at 21 a tour veteran of six years. "And what I have found is it is a lot different than I expected." Cutthroat competition, fickle judging, endless hours at airports, bad food and accommodations, and the brain-frying subtle strategy of surfing man-on-man heats were enough to send them back home to hide.
It seemed like a great idea to be paid to travel the world, surfing in exotic locations against top professionals. But it is a dream shared by thousands of talented surfers.
Their rookie years on the world tours have been a constant revelation for the two young surfers from Haleiwa and Kauai. They have been pressured by frantic hordes of even younger surfers eager to take their place on the tour.
And the veteran pros are determined to maintain their place at the top of the professional surfing food chain. To reward the tour veterans and test the resolve of the rookies, the top finishers each season are matched up with the newcomers.
"I haven't had one easy heat this season," says Abubo, who has found it difficult to adjust from competing against several people in the World Qualifying Series to the two-person heats of the World Championship Tour.
"In the WQS you get three waves in 20 minutes like a little machine. But two-person heats are half tactics, half talent. You have to think a lot more. Girls are a lot better than on the qualifying tour. Everyone is trying to be the world champion."
"Megan and Andy have been only winning in three-man heats," says Rochelle Ballard, Hawaii's top professional wahine surfer. "That is what being a rookie is about. There is a lot of skill involved in man-on-man, and rookies are always coming up against the vets.
"Megan has been getting (world champions) Lisa (Andersen) and Layne (Beachley) a lot. But if you beat them, you learn that much more because you have beaten the best."
Irons has endured some harsh lessons, but he has caught on quickly. "Being in man-on-man heats, you learn from them, and become more comfortable the more you are in them. Next year I'll feel even more comfortable."
Abubo is a quick student as well. "You can't just get by each round, you've got to get better and better each heat. I've had some insane heats. I learned more this year than I learned in my whole career this far. It's a much higher maturity level on this tour than I was used to."
Memorable beginnings
The rookies also have enjoyed some splendid moments this year, especially when Abubo beat Andersen and Beachley in the same contest in Japan. She also surfed perfect, uncrowded waves at Trestles in Southern California, made the finals in Manly, Australia, where she had never won a heat in three years, and surfed against her idol, Andersen, in perfect waves at Jeffrey's Bay in South Africa.
"At every contest, people know who you are, and had seen your picture," Abubo says. "I had always been the qualifying girl from the back of the pack, no one knew who I was. Now people all around the world know who I am."
It may be some time before Irons is able to top his rookie highlights. He celebrated his 20th birthday by winning the U.S. Open at Huntington Beach, and quickly surpassed that by taking the OP Pro, a WCT event also at Huntington.
But following the tour is more than savoring the occasional victory. It's about perseverance, and questioning your strength of will when the judging decisions inevitably go against you.
"It was hard having to figure out if I really want it, and to go after it," says Abubo. "I had to find that I really want to be a world champion."
"I'm not burned out, but I can easily see how guys can get burned out over five or 10 years," says Irons. "You're never anywhere for more than three weeks. I hope I can last on the tour for 10 years, but it's so hard to be consistent, it's so cutthroat."
As he nears the end of a 15-year career punctuated by a world title, four Triple Crown of Surfing Championships and numerous contest victories, Derek Ho knows just what the kids need to stay focused for the long haul. "It's all in the heart," Ho says.
"I was traveling with Andy, and he didn't have too many good results and was already getting frustrated. But he stuck with it, and won two events in California.
"Megan and Andy know what happened to the ones who came and went so quickly. As long as they don't want to be one of those, staying focused and motivated is the biggest factor. It's tough to stay that way for so long.
"All these kids are getting paid just to do dream surf trips, and when they get on the tour, they find out how hard it really is. To me, the tour is where you establish yourself. Photos and the rest of the exposure comes from that."
Fantastic futures
Hawaii's top-rated pro surfer, Shane Dorian from Kona, feels that Irons needs no advice from him. "He won a WCT event in his first year, that hardly ever happens. He is destined for great things."
Robb is equally optimistic about his fellow competitor's future, if only he can survive the present. "I can't believe he hasn't died yet, he does such gnarly stuff," Robb says. "We are trying to do new things, almost killing ourselves, pushing each other higher and higher beyond all thoughts of safety.
"Megan and Andy are really smart. As long as they can hold it and have fun with it, that is the best thing. They may not be winning heats, but if you like your style and have a good attitude, that's worth it."
It's a philosophy that Irons already has embraced.
"I don't have any new strategy for next year. I'll just do what I do, and don't worry about what everyone else is doing. I blew it by watching everyone else and trying to match them. Now I just come up with my own game plan.
"I'm stoked just to be where I'm at, and looking forward to winter. Winning the Pipe Masters would be the dream ending to this season. It's my biggest goal, the only contest I have always wanted to win."
New world champion Beachley's ominous advice to Abubo was succinct. "Sharpen your skills, there are a lot of young ones coming up fast. If Megan scrapes through, you have to be able to learn and carry on. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I know she doesn't like coming up against me in early rounds, but she's learning fast."
Abubo is not looking over her shoulder, however, but straight ahead to take Beachley's place on the throne. "I don't want to hear people say 'You're so young and you have a good future.' I want to disregard my age and reach my goal now, to be the best in the world.
"Next year I'm not just going to be happy to be there. I really want to win the world title, or at least have a great year.
"I'm not just a rookie anymore. I have beaten some good surfers, and that has given me more confidence for next year. I make mistakes, but you only get better if you make mistakes."
Triple Crown venues
1. Sunset Beach
Events: Rip Curl World Cup of Surfing, men's competition; Quiksilver Roxy Pro, women's competition
Dates: Nov. 24-Dec. 6
Location: Sunset Beach
Prize: men, $80,000, 5-star WQS event; women: $30,000, WCT event
Impact: Rip Curl is the last chance for WQS surfers to earn points toward next season's WCT. Roxy is the final WCT event of the season, last chance for top competitors to remain on WCT for next year.
Layne Beachley of Australia already has won women's world title. Last women's event of the Triple Crown of Surfing, Beachley could repeat as Triple Crown champion
Information: hotline - 638-5533
2 Banzai Pipeline
Dates: Dec. 8-20
Location: Banzai Pipeline
Prize: $120,600.
Impact: Last WCT event of the year, last chance for men to earn points to remain on the WCT for next season, will determine men's world champion. Final event in the Triple Crown of Surfing.
Information: hotline - 638-5008
3 Haleiwa Alii Beach Park
Dates: Nov. 12-23
Location: Haleiwa Alii Beach
Prize: men, $60,000; women: $12,500.
Impact: 4-star WQS event earns men valuable points toward a spot on next year's elite World Championship Tour. 3-star WQS event for women. First year for a $10,000 Longboard Invitational competition for men.
Information: hotline - 637-6376
4 Maili Point (Lefts)
Dates: Nov. 5-11
Location: Maili Point, Leeward Oahu
Prize: $12,500
Impact: A 4-star event that earns women on the World Qualifying Series valuable points toward a spot on next year's elite World Championship Tour. First time a Triple Crown of Surfing event has been held on the Waianae Coast
Information: hotline: 696-1964
Dates: Nov. 5-11
Location: Maili Point, Leeward Oahu
Prize: $40,000
Contestants: Teams of 6 surfers each under age 19, from Australasia, South Africa, South America, North America, Europe, Hawaii
Impact: Future stars of surfing world get international exposure, chance to compete against top peers
Information: hotline - 808-696-1964
Net surfers: http://www.vans.com; http://www.surfline.com; http://www.asplive.com
Tomorrow
Who can win the men's world championship?Million-dollar prize if one man takes all 3
