Following a successful online-only format last winter, this season’s Vans Triple Crown of Surfing on Oahu’s North Shore will again be held digitally, without audiences and judges on the beach or heats between competitors in the water.
Instead, contestants in the 39th annual Triple Crown will once again free-surf on their own during the contest period at each of its three venues, and submit videos of their two best waves at each break, the sports apparel company said in a press release.
Last season’s Triple Crown was also the first in 10 years to field a women’s division.
Registration opens today at 9:01 a.m. Hawaii time and will close at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 15; the three contests will take place between Dec. 21 and Jan. 21 in the waves of Haleiwa Ali’i Beach (Vans Hawaiian Pro), Sunset Beach (Vans World Cup of Surfing) and Banzai Pipeline (Vans Pipe Masters).
Any surfer age 16 or older can enter, with a total of 125 places open equally to men and women and 40% of slots allocated to Hawaii residents.
“We want to celebrate the creative expression, inclusivity and freedom that surfing offers,” Scott Sisamis, the company’s director of global sports marketing, said in the release, “by continuing to elevate opportunities that empower surfing’s premier talent both in Hawaii and from around the world.”
In a new direction, one of the six entries that competitors submit this year must show them riding on “progressive craft”, defined by the sponsor as “something outside of the normal thruster or quad you might see ridden in competition, to shine a light on progression through radical experimentation.”
Defending champions will be Oahu natives Carissa Moore, four-time world champion and Olympic gold medal winner, and fellow U.S. Olympic team member and two-time world champion John John Florence.
Florence won all three Triple Crown events, while Moore won the women’s Haleiwa event and took first place based on overall scores; Hawaii’s Moana Jones took first place at Pipeline and Australia’s Bronte Macaulay won the Sunset Cup.
In addition, a new Fan Voting category was won by Australia’s Jack Robinson and Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb.
This season’s prize purse is $217,000, and the overall champions will receive $50,000 each.
The entry fee is $125, but the fee will not be charged unless and until an applicant gets in. After the 125 slots are filled, overflow entries will be automatically placed on an alternate list.
Entry fees will be matched by Vans and donated to local community organizations including Na Kama Kai, Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii and North Shore Community Land Trust, as was done last year.
New this year is the addition of $20,000 in prize money for videographers, $10,000 each to those capturing rides for the men’s and women’s divisions.
Looking ahead, Vans announced that the 2022 Pipe Masters will be reshaped in December 2022 as a live, invitational event.
In recent history, the Pipe Masters has been the last event on the World Surf League’s men’s world championship tour, while the culminating event on the WSL women’s championship tour was held at Maui’s Honolua Bay.
A major change took place in 2020, when the women’s contest transferred to Pipeline after a fatal shark attack on a local surfer at Honolua Bay.
The women’s Maui Pro was completed at Pipeline, alongside and alternating heats with the men’s Pipe Masters championship event.
Those invited to the 2022 Pipe Masters will include this season’s virtual Triple Crown champions, and the top three finishers in the men’s and women’s divisions of the 2021 Pipe Masters.
Register to enter
Registration opens today at 9:01 a.m. and will close at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 15
>> Information:
vanstriplecrownof surfing.com. (Includes criteria for video submissions)
