HIC Pro showcases future champions

Big, bad waves and big-time surfers are coming to Oahu’s North Shore for the annual winterfest spectacle called the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

Today, the HIC Pro gets the winter season started at Sunset Beach. Technically not a part of the Triple Crown, it is a qualifying event for it.

The waiting period runs through Nov. 10, which is two days before the first leg of the Triple Crown — the Hawaiian Pro — when all of the top competitors in the World Surf League’s tour will be here.

In its 32nd year as part of the World Surf League’s qualifying series, the HIC Pro bills itself as a look at the sport’s future champions. Thirty-four percent of the 112-man field are teenagers, and 59 of the surfers are from Hawaii.

One of the youngest competitors, Finn McGill of Sunset Beach, is about to take on the biggest challenge of his 15-year-old life.

“I’m not even thinking about making the Triple Crown,” McGill said during a phone interview Tuesday. “I’m out there for the experience. Hopefully, I’ll do well. I’m trying to keep the Triple Crown out of my mind because if I think about it too much, I might psych myself out and do worse than I could do. I just want to keep my head straight and have fun.”

HIC Pro defending champion Danny Fuller and former world tour surfer Joel Centeio, who is rated No. 1 in the WSL Hawaii rankings, are among the other Hawaii surfers in the field.

The world’s big guns — Kelly Slater, John John Florence, Gabriel Medina, Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson among many others — enter the Hawaii stage for the three Triple Crown events — the Hawaiian Pro (Nov. 12-23) at Alii Beach Park in Haleiwa, the Vans World Cup of Surfing (Nov. 24 to Dec. 6) at Sunset, and the Billabong Pipe Masters (Dec. 8-20) at Pipeline.

At the Pipe Masters, two champions will be crowned — the 2015 WSL world tour champion and the Triple Crown winner (best surfer among the three events). Right now, world No. 1 Fanning and No. 2 Adriano de Souza are the WSL front-runners.

Fifteen- to 20-foot wave faces and favorable winds are forecasted for the HIC Pro today.