Cooling off as the season reaches crowning point

RICK FIGNETTI

Let’s start this column out with a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Hopefully, you’ll wake up, grab your hot cup of coffee, head on down

to the beach and see some smoking surf, get a little sess in, go back

home and have some big turkey grinds with the family.

This weather has been a bit on the freaky side lately, with that

last Santa Ana wind condition combo-ing with a storm last weekend and

giving us offshore winds, clouds, rain and even two feet of snowfall

in the local mountains. We got a dusting of snow on the lower

elevation Saddleback Mountains too. Wow!

Don’t forget the drop in air temps in the mornings, cause it’s

been freezing with that blast of Arctic air. I guess, it means

winter’s finally here!

The Hawaiian Pro finished Monday in some 6- to 8-foot surf at

Haleiwa in Hawaii, with light trades and sunny skies prevailing.

Sunny Garcia, the 2000 world champ, won his fifth Hawaiian Pro in

style, doing his patented power snaps on the sets. He blew out the

field in the final with an 8.17 opening ride and then another blazing

right in the later going with an assortment of gouges to score an

8.57 to seal the victory.

The win gives Sunny the lead in the Triple Crown Series, which he

has won an amazing six times, and pushed him over the million mark in

prize earnings. Only six-time world champ Kelly Slater is ahead of

him.

The Triple Crown, which includes the Hawaiian Pro, the O’Neill

World Cup of Surfing at Sunset and the Rip Curl Pipe Masters at the

ever-legendary Banzai Pipeline, is probably the next best thing to a

world title, which Andy Irons iced down in Brazil at the last World

Championship Tour event.

Placing second at Haleiwa was Aussie Philip MacDonald from New

South Wales, Australia, who had some great heats on the way. Third

went to a virtually unknown Brazilian, Bernardo Pigmeu, who was going

off all week. Rounding out the top four was Kauai’s Bruce Irons, who

had some rough moments.

Bruce broke his surfboard in half on his first wave, got nailed in

the chest with the board, lost valuable time getting another piece of

equipment and lost his rhythm. Many were thinking he was going to

take it by the looks of his surfing earlier in the week.

San Clemente’s Shane Beschen lost in the round of 32. Andy Irons

and Santa Barbara’s Tom Curran went out in the round of 64. Losing

out in the round of 96 were Huntington’s Timmy Reyes and San

Clemente’s Chris Ward, both qualifiers for the World Championship

Tour next season, and Hawaiian power master Pancho Sullivan. On top

of that, “Slates� missed his plane flight and was a no-show. Ouch,

though I know he’s thinking about the Pipeline. So watch out.

In the women’s Roxy Pro, also held at Haleiwa, six-time world

champ Australian Layne Beachley took another decisive win to cash in

on $20,000. The big news, though, was Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich placing

second, giving her enough points to clinch the women’s world title,

the first for a South American. Mulanovich got the victory ride by

her comrades, who carried her up the beach. Her surfing has been

spectacular as she won a string of events midway through the season.

There is still one more event to go, the Billabong Pro Maui at

Honolua Bay from Dec. 8 to 19, before their season wraps up.

Have a good one. It’s time to go eat some more turkey. See ya.

* RICK FIGNETTI is an nine-time West Coast champion, has

announced the U.S. Open of Surfing the last 11 years and has been the

KROQ-FM surfologist for the last 18 years, doing morning surf

reports. He owns a surf shop on Main Street. You can reach him at

(714) 536-1058.