Jon Jon Florence : photo Carol Cunningham - Cunninghamphotos.com 

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

Thirteen-Year-Old Rookie Florence Takes on Huge Haleiwa on Opening Day of Op Pro Hawaii

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, Honolulu, HAWAII - (Thursday, November 16, 2005) - The North Shore community and a throng of visitors came out in force for the opening day of the $125,000 Op Pro Hawaii today, showing their support for the youngest surfer to ever take on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Series. Thirteen-year-old Jon Jon Florence, an eighth grader here on the North Shore, made his debut in some of the most challenging conditions ever contested at Haleiwa: 10- to 15-foot waves with a freight-train current and strong off-shore winds.

A closely watched rising star who has regularly featured in international surfing publications over the past 12 months, Jon Jon is considered to be one of the most promising surfers to emerge in years. While his day ended in a second round elimination today, he had done enough to win the respect of thousands of onlookers and to live up to claims that he will be one of pro surfing's great champions in the very near future. He will contest the remaining two Triple Crown events at Sunset Beach and Pipeline in the coming weeks.

Florence advanced through the first round with a solid performance in the morning's rising surf. Stylishly carving his way across double-overhead sized waves, Jon Jon looked superb. But the real challenge came in the afternoon's second round when waves had more than doubled and he was faced with wave face heights of 15 feet. At almost five feet tall and 90 pounds soaking wet, the conditions were beyond overpowering for Jon Jon and it was a matter of having all the moves but none of the weight to make them happen.

Kekao Bacalso  : photo Carol Cunningham - Cunninghamphotos.com 

He placed fourth in a highly rated heat behind former champion of this event, Kaipo Jaquias (Kauai), World Championship Tour (WCT) qualifier Bobby Martinez (San Clemente, CA), and national champion Patrick Gudauskas (San Clemente, CA). "I was pretty scared," said Florence. "That's probably the biggest Haleiwa I've ever surfed.

"It was really hard. Super bumpy. Every time I tried to do a turn the tail of my board just slid out. It was exciting, there were these big long drops on the take-off, but it was pretty scary. I'm stoked though. I'm happy with how I did."  

Heat winner Kaipo Jaquias, champion of this event in 1996 and 1998, was full of praise for Jon Jon: "I was keeping an eye on him out there," said 33-year-old Jaquias. "He's a young grom with a lot of heart. For him, today was a case of the mind being there, but the body not following. You really need the weight to get down the face on a day this big. He did great."

Jaquias was a welcome return to the lineup this year. No longer a pro surfer, now a lifeguard on the island of Kauai, it has been a couple of years since he surfed in this competition. His motivation came in the form of his 12-year-old son this time around. "To have my son here is a real experience for me; to set an example for him and to introduce him to the guys he's read about and watched in movies is really cool for me."

Tim Boal  : photo Carol Cunningham - Cunninghamphotos.com 

Touted as the most successful and highly attended opening day of competition for this, the 23rd annual Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, more than 5,000 spectators were on hand to enjoy action from surfers from 14 nations.

Advancing through the second round so far were Jaquias and Martinez, Australian Chris Davidson, Eric Rebiere (France), Sean Moody (Hawaii), Bruno Santos (Brazil), Cory Ziems, and Mick Fanning (Australia). Fanning, currently ranked No.4 on the elite World Championship Tour (WCT), has tasted victory around the globe but is yet to score a win in a Hawaiian event.

Still to surf their round two heats, but scoring highest in round one, were Makua Rothman (Hawaii), Jay Thompson (Australia), Leigh Sedley (Australia), and Nathan Carroll (Hawaii). Each of these surfers posted two-wave heat totals that exceeded 16 points out of a possible 20.

The day concluded with the fourth heat of round two and a series of giant close-out waves that washed half way up the beach, clearing out spectators. The forecast is for even larger waves overnight and into the morning. Competitors and organizers will assess the conditions at dawn tomorrow and a second day of competition is likely.

The Roxy Pro women's event did not run today but may take to the water on Friday.

Results: Day 1 Op Pro Hawaii

ROUND of 132 (1st,2nd,3rd to next round)

H1

H2

H3

H4

Belo,Jano

BRA

6

Bryson,Royden

ZAF

2

Ho,Derek

HAW

5

Rocha,Marcondes

BRA

4

Robertson,Adam (Vic)

AUS

4

Mitchell,Beau

AUS

5

Riou,Alain

PYF

4

Otton,Kai

AUS

5

Lipke,Marlon

DEU

5

Galvao,Renato

BRA

4

Santos,Bruno

BRA

2

Gaskell,Hank

HAW

1

Florence,Jon Jon

HAW

3

McNamara,Liam

HAW

6

Moody,Sean

HAW

1

Thomson,Jamie

AUS

6

Gudauskas,Patrick

USA

2

Barron,T.J

HAW

3

Ziems,Corey

AUS

3

Eleogram,Ola

HAW

2

Jaquias,Kaipo

HAW

1

Bacalso,Kekoa

HAW

1

Valiere,Evan

HAW

6

Padaca,Myles

HAW

3

H5

H6

H7

H8

Bruneau,Mikey

HAW

4

Magnusson,Cheyne

HAW

5

Coutinho,Odirlei

BRA

4

Sullivan,Jarrad

AUS

5

Muscroft,Nic

AUS

2

Thompson,Jay

AUS

1

Simpson,Brett

USA

3

Quinn,Maz

NZL

1

Courtney,Drew

AUS

3

Centeio,Joel

HAW

2

Sedley,Leigh

AUS

1

Wright,Warwick

ZAF

4

Neve,Dayyan

AUS

6

Flores,Jeremy

REU

4

Boal,Tim

FRA

5

Curren,Tom

USA

6

Ohno,Masatoshi

JPN

5

Campbell,Ryan

AUS

6

Jones,Mikala

HAW

2

Gutierrez,Pablo

ESP

3

Rothman,Makua

HAW

1

Barca,Dustin

HAW

3

Jones,Daniel

HAW

6

Pacheco,Brian

HAW

2

H9

H10

H11

H12

Gossman,Shaun

ZAF

3

Neto,Dunga

BRA

3

Munro,Luke

AUS

2

Dodd,Mike

HAW

5

Polo,Marco

BRA

1

Curran,Nathaniel

USA

5

Beven,Patrick

FRA

5

Toth,Brian

PRI

2

Dunn,Ben

AUS

2

Merle-Jones,Jesse

HAW

4

Mujica,Justin

PRT

6

Kerr,Josh

AUS

1

Gonzalez,Jonathan

CNY

4

Mann,Samba

AUS

2

Aranburu,Aritz

ESP

3

Todd,Mike

USA

4

Clements,Steve

AUS

5

Shibata,Jason

HAW

6

Carroll,Nathan

HAW

1

Etcheverry,Omar

USA

6

McGee,Kainoa

HAW

6

O'Brien,Jamie

HAW

1

Reichle,Raymond

HAW

4

Alexander,Kamalei

HAW

3

ROUND of 96 (1st, & 2nd,to next round)

Martinez,Bobby

USA

2

Khodr,Jihad

BRA

1

Trekinho,Marcelo

BRA

4

Costa,Danilo

BRA

3

Jaquias,Kaipo

HAW

1

Rebiere,Eric

FRA

2

Fanning,Mick

AUS

2

Paulino,Pablo

BRA

4

Gudauskas,Patrick

USA

3

Bacalso,Kekoa

HAW

3

Barron,T.J

HAW

3

Santos,Bruno

BRA

1

Florence,Jon Jon

HAW

4

Bryson,Royden

ZAF

4

Moody,Sean

HAW

1

Ziems,Corey

AUS

2

For a complete list of results: www.triplecrownofsurfing.com

All photos  www.cunninghamphotos.com 

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 : Op Pro Hawaii & Roxy Pro on hold - opening ceremomy
# 3 : Teenage rookie debuts in huge waves at Op Pro Hawaii
# 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  
# 5 : Roxy Pro Hawaii expecting sizeable swell Wednesday
# 6 : Coming soon
# 7 : Coming soon
# 8 : Coming soon  

Previous reports: - O’Neill World Cup of Surfing Sunset Challenge
# 1 : O'Neill announces Sunset Beach Challenge for Women
# 2 : O'Neill puts Triple back in Womens Crown at Sunset...
# 3 : Coming soon
# 4 : Coming soon

            
                      Op Pro Hawaii                       Vans Triple Crown of Surfing                   Roxy Pro Hawaii                       

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. 

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