Richie Lovett : photo Aaron Chang/Tostee.com

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

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

O'Neill/Sunset: Live Webcast  Scores/Results/Photos/Videos etc

OCEAN DEFEATS COMPETITION - FINAL SCHEDULED FOR TUESDAY

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, Sunset Beach, HAWAII - (Monday, December 5, 2005) - An unruly sea of 15-foot swells and mountains of white-water defeated day five of the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing today. Competition will resume tomorrow at 8am with the quarter finals, followed by the semi-finals and the final at around 11:30 am. Tomorrow is the final day of the holding period for this competition.

A stormy west-north-west swell pushed through Sunset Beach overnight and remained constant right throughout the day. The result was a nightmare of white-water avalanches. Competitors pushed through the round of eight heats prior to the quarter finals to further whittle the field down to 16 competitors.

While the luck of snagging a rideable wave somewhere within the vast, heaving lineup appeared to outweigh skill, the favorites still prevailed to surf another day. One of those was West Australian Jake Paterson - no stranger to deep-water lineups and big waves. He advanced to the quarter finals along with second-placed Andy Irons - the defending champion of this event.

Kieren Perrow : photo Aaron Chang/Tostee.com

"Of course I would have liked it a little bit cleaner," said Paterson, "but I love riding longer boards." Paterson posted one of the highest wave scores of the day - 8.5 points out of 10, which put his heat win beyond any doubt. "I tried to get a couple of little ones under my belt, then snuck way out the back to get that good one, which turned out to be way worth it."

Local favorites Sunny Garcia, Pancho Sullivan and Irons also stood tall today, but all three will meet in the first quarter final tomorrow morning, to be joined by fourth heat-member Jarrad Howse (Australia). Garcia was extra thankful for his surfboard leash today, which didn't just keep him attached to his equipment, but also kept his boardshorts within arm's reach as they were clawed from him by the ocean. Garcia will need a good grip on his quarter final heat tomorrow morning if he is to keep his hopes of a record seventh Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title alive.

Nine Australians, four Hawaiians, two Mainland Americans and one Brazilian remain in the event:

QF1: Pancho Sullivan (Haw), Jarrad Howse (Aus), Sunny Garcia (Haw), Andy Irons (Haw)
QF2: Jay Thompson (Aus), Luke Stedman (Aus), Jake Paterson (Aus), Beau Mitchell (Aus)
QF3: Pat O'Connell (USA), Trent Munro (Aus), Yuri Sodre (Brz), Mick Fanning (Aus)
QF4: Nathan Carroll (Haw), Kieren Perrow (Aus), Tim Reyes (USA), Bede Durbidge (Aus)

Today's complete results available here ....(Not on menu bar, but on left side below "Contest Status")

More todays photos available here

Surfing events will be covered live on:
www.oneill.com
www.aspworldtour.com 
http://67.15.190.12/sunset/ 

Peter Townend and Shaun Tomson commentating : photo Kistin Scholtz/Tostee.com

More Photos; 
www.tostee.com
www.cunninghamphotos.com 
 

  http://67.15.190.12/sunset/ 

       
                      O'Neill World Cup of Surfing              Vans Triple Crown of Surfing            O'Neill World Cup of SSC                       

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 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 on  O'Neill please visit www.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.

Previous reports:
# 1 : Perfect Sunset surf for the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing 
# 2 : Int'ls settle into tough Sunset surf at O'Neill World Cup
# 3 : Sullivan's WCT future secured at O'Neill World Cup wqs
# 4 : Melanie Redman Carr wins the O’Neill Sunset Challenge 

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Jodi Young
oceanpromotion@hawaii.rr.com

Vans Triple Crown of Surfing - Surfersvillage