Contrast Magazine

Tribute video I made of the late Andy Irons. 3x World Champ. Legend. Merry Christmas

Hale‘iwa’s Ross Williams, 38, won $10,000, a Joe Green ‘ukulele and the 2011 Reef Clash of the Legends yesterday at Ali‘i Beach Park. The 38-year-old, regular foot took out fellow Momentum Generation bros Shane Dorian, Rob Machado and Kalani Robb.

“It felt good,” said Williams about putting the contest jersey back on at the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. “We were all in the same boat: it was a little specialty heat and we were a little nervous because the four of us have been retired from competing for awhile, but we wanted to make sure we surfed good and that was the main thing.”

Oh yeah, and yesterday some Aussie, named Taj Burrow, won the Reef Hawaiian Pro, too.

The first jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing presented by Rockstar Energy Drinks is in the books. The Australians are in the lead for the surf series title with defending Triple Crown Champ Joel Parkinson winning the Reef Hawaiian Pro and 4-time ASP World Champion Stephanie Gilmore capturing the Cholo’s Women’s Hawaiian Pro victory. At least Sunny Garcia came from behind to win the Reef Clash of the Legends presented by Bud Light Lime so the hometown crowd could celebrate that.

Six-time Triple Crown Champ Sunny Garcia rallied after a first round interference call to win the Clash of the Legends.

“I thought it was going to be a mellow thing, and that first heat woke me up that those guys were hungry and they still want to win so it was anything goes,”said Sunny Garcia after his round 3 heat.

Image by © ASP/ Kelly Cestari

I work as a public and media relations assistant for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, which kept me from the Reef Hawaiian Pro Pool Party on Sunday. I was bumming at work that day, but I still love my job and getting paid to hang out the most prestigious surf series in the world. My main job responsibilities are to interview the surfers after their heats, take the soundbites and transcribe those quotes so they can be put into the press release, which is sent out every day the event runs. I also guide media around the event sight and do fun lifestyle stuff like Ask A Hawaiian.

Kaua'i's Alana Blanchard finished third at the Cholo's Women's Hawaiian Pro and is the highest ranked Hawaiian in the overall Triple Crown rankings. Blanchard is a favorite if she gets into the Vans Duel For the Jewel because she already won two Women's Pipeline Pro titles. Image by © ASP/ Kelly Cestari

When the waves are firing at Hale‘iwa there are all kinds of things washing up on Ali‘i Beach Park. Image by Ito

I also cover the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing for ESPN, and on certain occasions for the Honolulu Star Advertiser. Therefore, my post heat interviews can be used twice depending on what gig I’m doing– North Shore double dipping. Triple Dip of Surfing if you count Contrast, too.

Joel Centeio finished runner up this year at the Reef Hawaiian Pro, but has cracked the Haleiwa finals twice in the past two years. That's not an easy task for any surfer. In my opinion, he's Hawai‘i's best Triple Crown contender this year. Image by © ASP/ Kelly Cestari

So I’ll try to bring you a unique recap of each event for the whole North Shore contest season, but if you want a day-to-day-behind-the-scenes-all-access-glance into the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing then checkout Contrast’s Global Editor Zen Yoshifuku’s blog on triplecrownofsurfing.com. Zen’s mojo so dope, bitch!

"Give a fuck about your lifestyle, give a fuck about a mothafuckin' lifestyle."– Kid Cudi Image by Ito

Betzy's most prominent asset.

They crowned Betzy World Miss Reef yesterday at Ali‘i Beach Park. This bikini pageant was held in conjunction with the Reef Hawaiian Pro, which is the first jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. a huge northwest swell tomorrow to start off competition. Should be nuts. You can watch it live on Oceanic Time Warner Cable channel 250 or HD1250, and it’s also available live via the Vans Live app or here.

Congratulations to Kauai’s Alana Blanchard for winning the 2009 Vans Women’s Hawaiian Pro today at Haleiwa.  It was Alana’s last scoring wave sealed the deal for her as tore the wave to shreds and finished it off with a vertical backside off the lip on the on coming section!  The crowd erupted as she rode out of her finishing maneuver thus clinching her biggest accomplishment to date.

This win puts Blanchard out in the lead of the Women’s Triple Crown Ratings.  There are 2 more events for the Women at Sunset Beach and Honolua Bay in the upcoming weeks.  On another note the Men’s Reef Hawaiian Pro has 2 more days to run at Haleiwa so stay tuned.

Day 1 or the Reef Hawaiian Pro got off to an early start on the very first day of the 12 day waiting period.  The Reef Hawaiian Pro is a 6* World Qualifying Series event and the first of 3 events for the Men to decide the Triple Crown of Surfing Champion.

Yesterday the conditions were barely average on a local scale.  The swell direction was coming in predominantly Easterly which totally misses Haleiwa.  The waves were huge at Puena Point just to the right side of the event and at Paradise and Avalanche to the left.  Nonetheless it was a great call by Randy Rarrick and Marty Thomas to get the event running.

Despite the waves only being in the 1-2 foot range the surfers in the Rounds of 136 and 128 made the most of the lackluster conditions.  In an event which Haleiwa is the star, the roles were reversed and it was the surfers who could perform the best maneuvers in their respective 25 minute heats that got the shine.

The boys who were featured in “North Shore” issue of Contrast in the Icons 2 segment did great!  Hank Gaskell continued his success from his Xcel Pro win last week with a heat win at Haleiwa.  Hanko managed to boost one of the few air 360’s of day one’s competition.

Joel Centeio is a former finalist here in this event, he made his intentions known that he wants to take this event in ‘09!  Joel out-surfed his other competitors and has been spending a lot of time practicing out here at Alii’s.  Looks like the practice and training is paying off!

Moody is Reef’s Haleiwa Ambassador.  Sean grew up surfing Haleiwa from day 1.  He’s been a big part of Reef supporting a major WQS at Haleiwa.  It’s key having someone like Sean in the Reef family, because he looks after both the traveling competitor’s and the local’s best when the call needs to be made.  Stay tuned for Sean’s upcoming feature in Contrast’s Travel Issue.

The entire Round of 128, Heats 1-16 were scheduled to surf until the end of the day.  With the swell dying down and the conditions deteriorating, event officials were on the verge of calling off the event for the day. Just as the 5 min horn sounded (which is when we were supposed to paddle out), Marty Thomas the Vans Triple Crown Managing Director ran up asking if I wanted to surf or not.

At first I was a little hesitant, but I had been down at Haleiwa before the sunrise, watched the conditions for a good 8 hours and watched every heat analyzing what it takes to win.  Within an instant I yelled, eh were on , I’m out there and TJ Barron and the other competitors jumped into the water.  I was confident, I wanted to win!  The feeling of confidence is usually confused with pressure of competition, but I wasn’t feeling it for once and I knew I had to surf.  What a good choice it was!  Both TJ and I were able to advance to the next round of competition.

I’ve attached some of the heats on demand for you to watch.  To check out all of the event’s coverage click the links below.

photos courtesy of Surfline.com/Sean Rowland

Triple Crown of Surfing - photos, video, news

Hale`iwa’s Ali`i Beach will be the setting for the 2009 Reef Hawaiian Pro.  The event is set to kick off this Thursday, November 12 with surf permitting.  The Reef Hawaiian Pro is the 40th of 41 World Qualifying Series (WQS) events on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) tour.  The Reef Hawaiian Pro is the first jewel of three in the prestigious Triple Crown of Surfing. The Contrast crew will be down at Hale`iwa bringing your the insiders scoop of the event.

reef-hawaiian-pro-2009 (Heat Draw)

Watch 2009 Reef Hawaiian Pro LIVE (Internet)