With a smaller than usual winter swell on offer today, just 4-6 foot faces, two distinctly different styles of surfing emerged between the regular foot surfers (those who ride facing the wave) and the goofy-footers (those who surf with their back to the wave). In the final, goofy-footers Occhilupo and Patacchia amassed large numbers of maneuvers with their tight, driving top-to-bottom turns, while regular-footers Irons and Parkinson honed into every possible tubing ride to counter the scores.
Ironically, it was a rare left-breaking wave that offered Irons a high-scoring back-side tube ride that turned the tables in the heat - the best ride of the final at 8.67 points out of a possible 10. Association of Surfing Professionals (A.S.P.) Head Judge Perry Hatchett called the wave the highest scoring left ever ridden at Sunset during Triple Crown competition.
"I think it looked like I was a little deeper than it really was," Irons said of the left. "But I'll take it and I'll run with it."
Second placed Occhilupo won over another generation of surfing spectators with a youthful, effervescent string of heats today. By far the heaviest surfer in the final and the oldest surfer in the event, Occhilupo didn't miss a beat and surfed with the same speed, flair and enthusiasm as his far younger rivals.
Third placed Patacchia received as huge a welcome as Irons upon his return to shore, securing a berth on the A.S.P.'s elite World Championship Tour (W.C.T.) for 2005 with his performance today. His promotion to the top ranks of pro surfing was four years in the making and came as a huge relief and motivation to the Haleiwa surfer.
"The dream first started in high school, but it's definitely been strong the last four years," said Patacchia. "The second I made the quarters, I felt a lot better. By the final, my thought was, You're job's done.
"I always love surfing events out here. Some guys would kill just to shake these guys hands and I got to muck around with them out there."
As the final World Qualifying Series (W.Q.S.) event of the 2004 A.S.P. World Tour, the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing played a major hand in deciding the lineup for next year's W.C.T. tour. Along with Patacchia, Californian Tim Reyes, 22, (Huntington Beach) qualified for the W.C.T. tour today. While the performance of W.C.T. surfers at Pipeline will cast the final dice, W.Q.S. qualifiers currently include the top 20 W.Q.S. ranked surfers, with Brazil's Bernardo Pigmeu the last at this point, rated 20th (see WQS rankings www.aspworldtour.com).
Reyes, an O'Neill team rider, had his greatest day in pro surfing today, posting the highest heat score of the entire competition in the quarter finals, 18.07 points out of a possible 20, before losing in the semi-finals to Occhilupo and Irons. His 5th place finish overall was enough to earn him the 2004 Nose Guard Rookie of the Year award, that goes to the best newcomer to the Triple Crown.
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing next moves to Pipeline for the third and final men's event, the Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters - the final W.C.T. event of the year. The holding period begins Wednesday, December 8, and runs through the 20th. The second and final event of the women's Triple Crown Series, the Billabong Pro Maui, runs through the same period as Pipeline.
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is made possible through the support of a partnership of the world's leading brands and media companies including: Ford Trucks, G-Shock, O'Neill, Rip Curl, Surfing Magazine, Surfline.com, Roxy.com, Oahu's Turtle Bay Resort, The Honolulu Advertiser and Fox Sports Net.
For Daily Status of Events and complete results: triplecrownofsurfing.com aspworldtour.com surfline.com
For more information: Jodi Young, in Hawaii Tel: (808) 258-8533 (not for public release)
FINAL: 1st=$15,000, 2nd=$8,000, 3rd=$6,000, 4th=$4,000 1st. Andy Irons (Hawaii) 16.17 2nd. Mark Occhilupo (Australia) 13.8 3rd. Fred Patacchia (Hawaii) 12.87 4th. Joel Parkinson (Australia) 10.5
Semi Finals: 1st & 2nd to final. 3rd=5th, 4th=7th H1: Mark Occhilupo (Aus) 15.73; Andy Irons (Haw) 15.33; Tim Reyes (USA) 14.13; Nathan Carroll (Haw) 10.16 H2: Joel Parkinson (Aus) 17.53; Fred Patacchia (Haw) 14.16; Phillip MacDonald (Aus) 12.2; Cory Lopez (USA) 12.17
