Posts Tagged ‘Ehukai Beach’

There are only 8 surfers left competing for the coveted Pipeline Masters trophy.  Today, we’ll find out who will hold it over their head, and we will also find out who will win the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

Still left in competitino is Dean Morrison, CJ and Damien Hobgood, Flynn Novak, Bede Durbidge, Taj Burrow, Hobgood, Dane Reynolds, and six time pipe champion Kelly Slater.  It should be a great final, whoever makes it in.  Just 7 heats left.

The contest will start at 9 am HST and you can watch all the action live at the pipe masters website.

Pipe Masters 2009, the third jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing on the North Shore of Oahu, is on hold for Monday, December 14th.  After going through a solid third and fourth round on Saturday contest directors have decided to wait out the current waves and prepare for Tuesdays swell.

Tuesdays swell is looking to be a monster with wave heights expected to top 18 foot faces.  For pipe at Ehukai Beach Park, that means a great day.  And with quarters, semis, and finals left, it couldn’t be any better.  This past weekend saw some favorites get knocked out of the contest, most notably, Joel Parkinson who also had the ASP World Title drop from his finger tips (congrats Mick, more on that later.)

Also out of the contest is 17 year old John John Florence who broke a board early in his round and had to deal with several lulls before exiting the contest.  He had a great run and no doubt we’ll be seeing more of him in the future.  Another local favorite, Freddy Patachia was also eliminated from competition after surfing 6 time pipeline master, Kelly Slater.

Check back shortly, we’ll have more on Mick Fannings world championship win, with pictures, as well as a whole gallery from Saturdays action.

The Pipeline Masters and more importantly the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, will not have one competitor in the running for winning either of them. Sunny Garcia, who was coming into Pipe Masters in second place in the prestigious Triple Crown was, as usual, a favorite to win the contest and have a chance to win the Triple Crown.

Garcia, who was only a few points behind Joel Parkinson was supposed to surf against Nic Muscoft in heat 8 of round 1. As the loud speaker called for Sunny to get ready for his heat, get in the water for his heat, and start his heat, Sunny was no where to be found. Instead, Torrey Meister, another surfer from Hawaii, did the deed for Garcia, beating Muscoft handily.

Although it’s nice to see the Hawaii boy Meister continue on, we were hoping to watch Sunny go after the Vans Triple Crown title. I’m sure you’ll be able to catch him in the free surfs after the contest though.

After day one of pipe masters saw past champions fall, collisions at the peak, and epic barrels, day two is sure to please the crowd. It’s a furlough Friday for the Island of Oahu, so you know the traffic to the North Shore will be bad. Not Eddie Aikau bad, but there will be a lot of people heading up that way.

Day 2 action is already underway, just 3 short minutes after 8 AM. Today’s heats will have John John Florence and Andy Irons for sure. And we will most likely get treated to third round action which is where the seeded entrants start entering the water.

Those like Damien Hobgood, Mick Fanning, Freddie P, and Kelly Slater. Also possible to ride, coming in the last heat of the third round is Vans Triple Crown of Surfing leader, Joel Parkinson. Coming off a win at the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach, we all know Parko will be gunning for that winners seat.

It’s been a week to remember on the North Shore of the Hawaiian Islands.  Sunset finished in epic surf, Waimea Bay held the Eddie for the first time in 5 years, Jaws on Maui kept tow-in surfers on their toes, and now, the Pipeline Masters held it’s first day in 10 – 15 foot surf and perfect conditions.

The first day at Pipe saw a complete first round and partial second round.  Notables in the first round were Andy Irons and Bruce Irons passing through to the second.  Andy Irons had an interesting heat where he and Marcus Hickman crossed on the drop and luckily didn’t get seriously injured.  They finished the round with Andy scoring just enough to move to the next round.

Bruce Irons, like his brother, battled another Hawaii surfer and fellow Eddie Aikau surfer, Reef McIntosh. And like his brother, came out with a win. Notable who didn’t make it out of the first round is former Pipemasters champion, Jamie O’Brien. He’ll have to watch the rest of the competition from his house, right in front of the action.

Taking top scores for the day was North Shore local and youngster in the competition, John John Florence. Second round action saw both Bruce Irons and Shane Dorian make it out, with Mason Ho coming up just short.

The O’Niell World Cup of Surfing finishes up, with Parko winning, two days later comes the Eddie Aikau at Waimea with Greg Long winning, and now, two days after that, the Billabong Pipeline Masters is called on for the day. What a great week to be a surf fan, and live on Oahu.

Round 1 of the Pipeline masters starts today at 8:00 AM HST on the north shore of Oahu in 10 – 15 foot surf. 2 people per heat, for 30 minutes, at Pipe. Now that’s what I call, “worth the price of admission.” You can watch all the action live from your computer or WFI on your iPhone over at the Pipe Masters Live section.

Or you can just check back here. I’m sure we’ll have updates on all your Triple Crown of Surfing action!