Parko Wins 2nd Jewel in Vans Triple Crown

The finals of the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing, the second jewel of the Vans Triple Crown on the North Shore of Oahu, took place today on rising surf coming off from two large storms in the north pacific. The finals at Sunset Beach saw Hawaii’s own Sunny Garcia and Dusty Payne against Australia’s Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson.

Sunny Garcia got off to an early led stalling into a barrel and scoring a 9.47 as the first wave of the heat. The surfers jockey back and forth off the inside and outside waiting for that wave which would take over crowd favorite Garcia. Joel slowly clawed his ways through waves and scored a 7.00 on a couple nice turns off a rising wave.

Then, towards the end of the heat, Joel scored a 6.17 to take a small lead over Sunny Garcia, and finally on to take his 3rd World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach and setting himself up as the leader of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. Parkinson won the Triple Crown last year and now looks to defend his title going into Pipeline which starts it’s holding period this Tuesday amid possible 30 – 50 + waves. Sunny Garcia is heading into the Pipeline Masters in second place in the Vans Triple Crown and looks to take over Parko with a great contest in what looks to be big waves.

Mick Fanning took 3rd followed up by Dusty Payne in 4th.

Coming this week his huge north shore surf whereby we may have epic rounds at Pipeline and more importantly for those big wave enthusiasts, the running of the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Challenge at Waimea Bay. We’ll keep you posted as great surf is expected to bring great competition all week.

Tags: Joel Parkinson, North Shore, O'Neill World Cup, Oahu, Sunny Garcia, Sunset Beach, Surf Contest, Vans Triple Crown