Triple Crown ready to hit North Shore

This year’s Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is celebrating its 30th anniversary by offering a $1 million prize purse.

The winner of the Triple Crown will also win $100,000, a $30,000 Harley Davidson and a $10,000 Nixon watch. The Triple Crown consists of three events — the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa, the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach and the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons at the Banzai Pipeline. The holding period for the Triple Crown started Sunday and runs through Dec. 20.

Last year, the North Shore’s John John Florence became the youngest winner of the Triple Crown at age 19. He achieved this by placing fifth at Haleiwa, winning Sunset and taking another fifth at Pipeline.

This year, Florence looks to defend his title against a slew of local and international surfers as well as 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, who has not won the Triple Crown since 1998.

Of note, Slater has won six times at Pipeline, but never at Haleiwa or Sunset.

"This year, 28 of the world’s top 34 surfers are entered in all three events," contest director Marty Thomas said. "I think with John John winning last year, it makes Kelly want to steal a little thunder from the up-and-coming John John."

Forty-two-year-old Sunny Garcia is back in the Triple Crown hunt after winning the HIC Pro at Sunset and becoming the Association of Surfing Professionals Hawaii regional champion. He gets a round of 64 seed into Haleiwa and Sunset, and will be able to surf Pipeline if he’s still in the running for a Triple Crown title.

"I am looking forward to getting some big waves and surfing good Haleiwa and Sunset," said Garcia, who lives at Sunset Beach. "Hopefully I will be getting into the Pipe event too and making a run for the Triple Crown again.

"For me, I always said winning the Triple Crown is the next best thing to winning the world title. Being Hawaiian, there is nothing more important than winning in your backyard. I am always in it to win it and I hate losing, so we will see."

The Reef Hawaiian Pro, the Triple Crown’s first event, has a holding period of Nov. 12 to 23. The first jewel is likely to start on Thursday.

It is an ASP Prime rated event carrying the highest number of points toward qualifying for the world tour.

Haleiwa is predominantly a right-hand reef break that can range from fun and rippable to big and heavy. Knowledge of the break is key as the lineup changes with every variation of size and direction in the swell.

Australia’s Taj Burrow is the defending champion. A natural-footed (left foot forward) surfer has won the event the past 11 years. Conan Hayes was the last goofy foot (right foot forward) to win, in 1999.

The Reef Clash of the Legends is a side event that will run along with the Reef Hawaiian Pro. Some of the big-name surfers competing are Tom Curren, Mark Occhilupo, Garcia and Kaipo Jaquias. They will surf for $20,000 in prize money in three 25-minute heats to determine a champion.

The second Triple Crown event is the Vans World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach. The holding period runs from Nov. 25 to Dec. 6. It is the last ASP Prime rated event of the year with critical qualifying points needed to make it onto the elite world tour next year.

Sunset is known as a big-wave event that favors power surfing. It offers up huge open faces and the occasional gaping barrel on the inside. Physical endurance and knowledge of the break is a major factor, as the lineup is roughly the size of a football field with many different take-off points. Because it’s the last qualifying event, dreams will be made and crushed.

The last Triple Crown event is the Billabong Pipe Masters in memory of Andy Irons, with a holding period that runs Dec. 8-20.

The contest is considered by many as the Super Bowl of surfing, where the best of the best come to do battle with the most notorious wave in the world.

Pipeline is a very hollow wave that breaks over a shallow reef just 75 yards from shore. The left-breaking wave works in small surf and in big surf up to 15 feet.

There is also a right-breaking wave called Backdoor, which is very fast and hollow and breaks over nearly dry reef. Either way you go, it is all about getting barreled. Kieren Perrow of Australia is the defending champion.

Pipe is the last ASP World Tour event of the year and will determine the world champion. Slater and two Australians, Joel Parkinson and Mick Fanning, are in contention for the title.

Requalification among the top 32 ASP surfers for next year’s world tour will also be part of the scene at Pipe. Only the top 22 will requalify.

Another side event, the Hawaiian Air Show offers 250,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles to the surfer who executes the most progressive aerial maneuver during the six weeks of the Triple Crown.

Contests will run on the first four days of surf selected during the holding periods. Log on to Vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com for updates.