Reef Hawaiian Pro Day 3: Watch the wrap-up

Vans Triple Crown of Surfing

Reef Hawaiian Pro
ASP Prime Event
Alii Beach Haleiwa, Oahu
12 - 24 November 2012

Live Coverage | Results/Photos/Videos etc

Reef Hawaiian Pro Day 2 wrap-up

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 18 November, 2012 : - - Honolulu - The big guns entered the draw at the Reef Hawaiian Pro on Saturday. Clean and contestable 4-foot surf opened up the door for the full spectrum of maneuvers from tube rides to aerials. With four surfers in the water at any given time, the judges had their work cut out for them: A total of 1,053 individual rides were scored Saturday. The entrance of Kelly Slater, John Florence, Gabriel Medina, Michel Bourez, CJ Hobgood, and Bede Durbidge took the intensity up a notch.

Slater drew the biggest crowd, paired up against Sunny Garcia, Alex Smith, and Jesse Mendes. Garcia offered up a spirited contest from the outset, locking in a clean tube-ride that shot a message to long-time rival Slater that the game was on. Slater's trump card was his aerials, while Garcia focused his energy on securing the biggest waves that better suited his power gouging approach.

Garcia was doing double time again Saturday, switching between the main event and the final heat of the exhibition Reef Clash of the Legends against Kaipo Jaquias, Mark Occhilupo, and Tom Curren. Garcia eventually won the Clash for a bonus $10,000. Despite the nostalgic glory of winning the Legends, it's safe to say that Garcia's real focus today was on proving his place in the lineup against Slater. Including Saturday, the pair have faced off 16 times during their careers - Slater holding the upper hand with 11 wins.

Gabriel Medina surfed the last heat of the round of 96 and flew through a dizzying display of aerials to post an event-high heat score of 17 points out of a possible 20. Inspired by Dane Reynolds' layback hack of Friday - a single move that reverberated through cyber-space - John John Florence arrived for his opening heat Saturday. He went on to post the top single wave score of the round - 9.4 - with an outrageous air that rockets him into contention for the Hawaii Air Show award: 250,000 Hawaiian Airlines miles for the best aerial of the Triple Crown.

Reynolds marched on in solid form again Saturday, as did Keanu Asing, Nathan Hedge, and Tom Whitaker. The first two heats of the Round of 32 were held before day's end and resulted in the elimination of Nat Young, Dege O'Connell, Aritz Aranburu and Alain Riou.

Organizers will reassess the conditions at first light Sunday morning for a possible final day of action.

Check the Full Coverage

www.reef.com
www.vanstriplecrownofsurfing.com

Previous reports:
# 1 : Vans Triple Crown of Surfing wait opens
# 2 : Reef Hawaiian Pro waits for new swell
# 3 : Good surf for Reef Hawaiian Pro kick-off
# 4 : Pumping Haleiwa for Reef Hawaiian Pro

In celebration of 30 years of world class surfing, the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing hydrated by vitaminwater offers $1million in prize money this year, including a $100,000 bonus, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, and a $10,000 custom Nixon watch for the overall series champion. Each of the three events of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing has a two-week holding period within which to run, requiring just 3-4 days of excellent surf to be completed.

The events are broadcast live on Oceanic Time Warner Cable around Hawaii on channels 250 & 1250HD; in Los Angeles on channel 101*; in San Diego on channel 411*; and in Desert Cities on channel 111*. *partial live coverage, subject to pre-emption for local CIF prep sports playoffs. To stay on Oahu's North Shore and witness the action in person, special rates are available at Turtle Bay Resort.

The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is made possible with the support of: vitaminwater; Nixon; Skullcandy; GoPro; Turtle Bay Resort; Clif Bar; Mauli Ola Foundation; wavejet; the Association of Surfing Professionals; JN Automotive Group; Hawaii Tourism Authority; Oahu Visitors Bureau; Surfline.com; Surfing Magazine; Hawaiian Airlines; truth®; Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

Source: Reef

Author: The Editors/Oceanpromotions

Tags: Reef Hawaiian Pro, Vans Triple Crown of Surfing

Prime: Surfersvillage