Opening ceremony for the 2005 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing : photo courtesy Roxy 

2005 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing 

Mens events:    
Op Pro Hawaii* ASP 6 star WQS
O'Neill World Cup of Surfing
Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters

Womens events:
Roxy Pro* ASP WCT #8/2005
O’Neill World Cup of Surfing Sunset Challenge
Billabong Pro

Venues:
North Shore, Oahu, & Maui, Hawaii
12 November - 20 December 2005

Live webcast - Op Pro Hawaii:- Scores/Results/Photos/Videos etc
Live webcast:- Roxy Pro Hawaii:- Scores/Results/Photos/Videos etc

Op Pro Hawaii & Women's Roxy Pro enjoy opening ceremonies but hold on competition

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, Honolulu, HAWAII - (Thursday, November 12, 2005) - A solid audience of spectators and competitors were on hand at Haleiwa's Ali'i Beach Park today, to enjoy the opening Hawaiian blessing that signals the official start to the six week-long Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. Celebrating its 23rd year, the Vans Triple Crown opens with the men's Op Pro Hawaii, a 6-star ASP (Association of Surfing Professionals) World Qualifying Series (WQS) event, and the women's Roxy Pro, the penultimate stop on the 2005 women's World Championship Tour (WCT).

While clean 3-foot waves rolled in at Haleiwa this-morning, the promise of a much larger swell from a more favorable westerly direction later in the week prompted competitors and officials to call for a lay day in competition today. This new swell will likely hold strong to allow a succession of contestable days of waves. A total of four days are required to complete events at this, the first of three stops, and with 12 days remaining in the holding period, there is no urgency to push through the heats.

The Vans Triple Crown welcomes the return of Op the original icon in American surfing, to Haleiwa. Op was a sponsor here back in the early '90s, and is considered to be a great fit for Haleiwa - the cultural center of the North Shore.

Hawaiian hula dancers performed at the Roxy openning party : photo courtesy Roxy 

The Op Pro Hawaii offers a total of $125,000 in prize money, as well as crucial points towards qualifying for next year's men's WCT. In addition to the individual event honors, an $10,000 winner-takes-all Vans Triple Crown title will be awarded to best performing surfer over all three events. The defending champion of this event, and of the Triple Crown is Hawaii's Sunny Garcia. Garcia, 35, will enter retirement after this Series of events.

The $65,000 women's Roxy Pro Hawaii enters its 11th year in 2005, and once again will play a major role in determining the women's world champion. The top contenders for the women's ASP world title are defending world champ Sofia Mulanovich (Peru) and Chelsea Georgeson (Australia). Six-time world champion and defending Roxy Pro Hawaii champion Layne Beachley is out of the Triple Crown events with a neck injury.

Like the men, the women are also competing for a $10,000 Triple Crown bonus.

The day is not yet done for the Op Pro, with the official kick-off party and barbecue taking place at "Breakers" tonight, in the heart of Haleiwa. The evening will feature Op's resident DJ Greyboy and local legends Natural Vibes, with special guests Kent Doonan, DJ Xnrik, DJ Wual and DJ Winnie, plus Op pro surfer/DJ and producer Omar Etcheverry. The kick-off party will go from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Surfing events will be covered live on:
www.triplecrownofsurfing.com
www.aspworldtour.com
www.roxy.com/roxypro

Previous reports: - Vans Triple Crown of Surfing
# 1 : Vans Triple Crown of Surfing to top off an exciting year
# 2 : Vans Triple Crown of Surfing set to start this Saturday
# 3 : Op Pro Hawaii & Roxy Pro on hold - opening ceremomy
# 4 : Coming soon  

Previous reports: - Op Pro Hawaii, Haleiwa.
# 1 : Op Pro Hawaii 1st event at Vans Triple Crown of Surfing
# 2 : Coming soon
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon  

Previous reports: - Roxy Pro, Haleiwa.
# 1 : Roxy Pro Hawaii celebrates 50 yrs of womens contests
# 2 : Mulanovich/Georgeson battle for world title this w/end
# 3 : Roxy Pro Hawaii will begin minus Beachley and Woods  
# 4 : Lay Day for Roxy Pro Hawaii Day One, swell on horizon  

     
             Op Pro Hawaii                               Roxy Pro Hawaii                       O'Neill World Cup of Surfing

     
   O'Neill World Cup of SCS              Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters                    Billabong Pro Maui   

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

    
       Mens Events                               Womens Events

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.

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Jodi Young

Triple Crown Series - Surfersvillage