Vans Women’s Triple Crown of Surfing
O’Neill World Cup of Surfing Sunset Challenge
Sunset Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
25 November - 7 December 2005

Vans Triple Crown of Surfing
O’Neill World Cup of Surfing 
Sunset Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
25 November - 6 December 2005

O’NEILL ANNOUNCES SUNSET CHALLENGE FOR WOMEN

$10,000 WOMEN’S TRIPLE CROWN BONUS UP FOR GRABS

O’Neill World Cup of Surfing at Oahu’s Sunset Beach Nov.25 to Dec.6

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, Santa Fe Springs, CA (November 3, 2005) – O’Neill, the world’s original surf brand, has announced the inclusion of a $10,000 women’s event in conjunction with the men’s O’Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach, November 25 to December 6, reigniting the Vans Women’s Triple Crown of Surfing for 2005. As part of the second jewel in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing on Oahu’s famous North Shore, the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing Sunset Challenge will be open to the world’s top 17 ranked women surfers from the ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) World Championship Tour, along with seven wildcards, yet to be announced. The seventh wildcard invitation will go to O’Neill’s Junior Pro Island Girl event winner, Bethany Hamilton, who dominated the junior pro event in 4-6 foot waves last month on Kauai’s South Shore.

“Essentially, this is a specialty event for the women,” said Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Executive Director Randy Rarick. “While the event will not offer ASP world tour points, it is critical to the women’s Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Title.

“The Triple Crown has long been one of the most coveted titles in surfing. It stands as a testament to the skill and big-wave capabilities of a surfer who can prove themselves to be the best at a variety of locations in Hawaii, during our large winter swells. If you can master the waves here, you’ve pretty well mastered surfing, so that’s why this title is so prestigious.”

In addition to the $10,000 prize purse up for grabs in the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing Sunset Challenge, the women’s Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title offers an additional winner-takes-all $10,000 purse. The women’s title will go to the best performing surfer across three events: The Roxy Pro, Haleiwa, Nov. 12-23; the O’Neill World Cup Sunset Challenge, Nov.25-Dec.7; the Billabong Pro on Maui, Dec.8-20.

“We are proud to be keeping the Triple Crown title alive for the women and having them surfing Sunset Beach,” said O’Neill’s Director of Brand Marketing, Bret Muhlitner.

“This specialty event is a really good opportunity for the Women CT surfers to charge Sunset, as well as some of the local Hawaiian talent that will be vying for the wildcard spots in the event.”

The men’s O’Neill World Cup of Surfing (Nov. 25 – Dec 6 at Sunset Beach), a $125,000 6-star World Qualifying Series event, is the second stop of the men’s Vans Triple Crown Series.  The Series begins with the OP Pro Hawaii (Nov. 12 – 23 at Haleiwa) and concludes with the Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters at the infamous Banzai Pipeline (Dec. 8 to 20).

The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is made possible through the support of O’Neill, Roxy, Billabong, Rip Curl, Op, Surfing, Oahu’s Turtle Bay Beach Resort, Hawaiian Airlines, G-Shock, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Fox Sports Net and Road Runner High Speed Online.

About O’Neill
O'Neill is the world's original surf brand. The family-owned and operated company distributes its products to 85 countries, including more than 2,000 specialty wetsuit and clothing retailers in the U.S. O'Neill Clothing USA is a licensee of O'Neill International. For more information log on to oneill.com

About Vans
Vans, Inc., a subsidiary of VF Corporation (NYSE: VFC), is a leading lifestyle brand for the youth market.  Vans® collections, which include active and performance footwear, apparel and accessories, snowboard boots and bindings and the Pro-tec® line of protective gear, are sold in the United States through 150 company owned stores and factory outlets as well as independent retailers.  Internationally, Vans sells its goods in approximately 50 countries through a network of distributors, sales agents and foreign offices.  Vans supports and promotes the action sports lifestyle through such events as the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing™, the Vans Warped Tour™, and the Vans Cup at Tahoe™.

For more information on Vans, please visit www.vans.com. 

To learn more about the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, please visit www.triplecrownofsurfing.com.

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Jodi Young
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Vans Triple Crown of Surfing - Surfersvillage