By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
On a near-perfect day at the Banzai Pipeline, Bruce Irons surfed to near-perfection to win the Hawaiian Island Creations Pipeline Pro yesterday.
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| Kaua‘i’s Bruce Irons used a ride like this in 6-to 8-foot surf yesterday to capture the Hawaiian Island Creations Pipeline Pro.
Bernie Baker • Special to The Advertiser |
The three-day event concluded yesterday in postcard-quality waves of 6 to 8 feet. Irons, who is from Kaua‘i, was up to the challenge, surfing consistently — and more important, successfully — through the famed Pipeline barrels.
He received one perfect 10, a 9.9 and a 9.8 for a total score of 29.7 on his three best rides to dominate the four-man final.
"It was a perfect day," Irons said. "You could go left or right and get locked in a barrel either way."
Irons chose to ride primarily to his right, through the section known as Backdoor Pipeline. Each of his top three rides came on Backdoor waves.
"I’m just more comfortable going right," he explained. "I was just waiting for all the Backdoor waves. Even if a good left came, I let it go because I knew I could get a good score on the rights."
Still, his strategy didn’t start working until nearly half of the 30-minute final expired.
"At first, I was sucking," he said. "I was getting closed out on my first couple waves. About halfway (through the final heat), I got a good one and then it kind of got me in a rhythm."
On a succession of four waves, Irons rode through four long Backdoor barrels, each seemingly better than the previous one. On one of the rides, he received a 9.5, which wasn’t even good enough to make his final cut (each finalist was judged on his top three waves).
No other finalist received a score higher than 8.0 for any wave. Myles Padaca of the Big Island was in contention for the first half of the final, but like the rest of the field, was ultimately left in Irons’ wake.
In an all-Hawai‘i final, Padaca placed second, followed by North Shore surfers David Cantrell and Strider Wasilewski.
Over the last few years, Irons has emerged as one of a handful of surfers regarded as true Pipeline specialists — competitors who can make riding the treacherous waves seem easy. Still, yesterday was his first victory at Pipeline.
"I made three finals here before this, but never won it," said Irons, who received $4,000 for the victory. "So I’m really stoked."
It was a successful start to Irons’ 2001 commitment toward the World Qualifying Series. Yesterday’s contest was a part of that qualifying tour.
He said he will enter similar contests around the world this year in an effort to qualify for the 2002 World Championship Tour. In order to become one of the elite competitors on the WCT, surfers must first have a successful season on the qualifying tour.
"I’ve never really gone all out to try and qualify," said Irons, whose older brother Andy is on the WCT. "But this year I really want to try and make it."
Final results
1, Bruce Irons (Hawai‘i), $4,000. 2, Myles Padaca (Hawai‘i), $2,000. 3, David Cantrell (Hawai‘i), $1,500. 4, Strider Wasilewski (Hawai‘i), $1,300. 5 (tie), Michael Todd (California) and Cory Lopez (California), $1,000. 7 (tie), Jonah Morgan (Hawai‘i) and Danny Fuller (Hawai‘i), $800. 9 (tie), Isaac Kaneshiro (Hawai‘i), Shane Beschen (California), Jamie O’Brien (Hawai‘i) and Brian Pacheco (Hawai‘i), $700. 13 (tie), Derek Ho (Hawai‘i), David Wassell (Hawai‘i), Babi Hoffman (Brazil) and Rainos Hayes (Hawai‘i) $600.
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