Posts Tagged ‘Pipe Masters’

It was a small day on the north shore of Oahu, but the swell was dropping and the rest of the week looked like it was gonna be junk, so the contest directors did what needed to be done. They held the contest.

The quarters, the semis, and the finals, all held on a day when getting barreled wasn’t gonna win you the contest. You needed aerials to make it count, and Taj Burrow did just that. The only barrel of the finals scored Kelly a measly 3.93 whereas the aerials for Taj Burrow scored him a 7.00 and a 5.83 and a win in the final jewel of the Vans Triple Crown and $90,000.

Winning the overall three contest prize was Australian Joel Parkinson who was eliminated on Saturday which also eliminated him from an ASP world championship title which would go to Mick Fanning, a fellow aussie surfer and friend. In fact, this image to the right is Joel Parkinson falling on his final wave which would have had him cliniching the ASP.

It’s been a great 6 weeks on the North shore of Oahu with the Vans Triple Crown, womens triple crown, the eddie, a couple of other free surf comps and more.  Congrats to all the surfers.

Parko wins the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing and Kelly Slater and Taj Burrow are going to be in the Pipe Masters finals at 1 PM Hawaii standard time which comes out to 3 PM pacific time.

Check out the finals live over at the triple crown website. Small surf is going to make for an interesting battle. While you’re waiting you can check out photos from saturdays Pipe Masters action as well as Mick Fanning’s World Title pictures.

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.

Micktory shirts were all around as 28 year old Mick Fanning was in the water along side childhood surfing mates Joel Parkinson and Dean Morrison. It was Saturday, December 12th, during the last stop on tour and the last event of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. The stage was set during the 3rd and 4th round of competition.

Joel Parkinson, in the hunt for both the World Title and The Vans Triple Crown title, just needed to win in order to stay in the running for both. If he lost his heat, Mick Fanning would win. Mick, two heats later, entered the water to watch as Parko’s heat and the last heat of the 3rd round finished up before he and Dean Morrison could jump into the lineup.

Parko couldn’t do it, and Mick was crowned Champion with a hug from both out on the water. Fanning had to wait out the next 40 minutes of his own heat before being greet on shore by the rest of his crew and fellow surfers to a champions carry off.

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.