Surfing tour cancels three stops in Europe
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Sunny Garcia has a world surfing championship to defend, but he also has a wife and three children to look after.
So it came as no surprise that Garcia was one of the supporters of yesterday's decision by the Association of Surfing Professionals to cancel the next three events of the World Championship Tour.
"As far as traveling, I feel safe," said Garcia, who won his first world championship last year and is ranked No. 5 on this year's tour. "But I didn't want to be in Europe if war broke out. I have a family. If something happened, I wanted to be (in Hawai'i) with them."
The three events were all scheduled to take place in Europe — Portugal, France and Spain — between Sept. 24 and Oct. 24. Because the contests were scheduled to run consecutively, surfers would have been required to stay in Europe for approximately one month.
"Under the circumstances, it's the right decision," said Hawai'i competitor Kalani Robb. "In the big picture of what's going on, losing three surfing events is very, very small."
Now, only one WCT contest remains on the 2001 schedule: the Rip Curl Cup at O'ahu's Sunset Beach, Nov. 26-Dec. 7. Unless adjustments are made, that contest will be the last chance for surfers to earn points toward the world championship.
Only four contests have been completed so far this year on the men's tour, and only two on the women's tour. In other words, this year's world champions will be based on five contests for the men, and three for the women. In 25 previous years, the men's tour has consisted of at least 10 contests every year.
"There are going to be some serious repercussions because of this decision," Garcia said.
Eight Hawai'i surfers are on this year's tour — five men and three women. However, Garcia admits that he and Kaua'i's Andy Irons, who is currently ranked No. 6, may actually be in a favorable position.
"From my point of view, I could have gone to Europe and lost points if the waves were small," Garcia said. "But as it is now, I'm in fifth heading to Sunset, where we'll hopefully get some big waves. I'm comfortable with that situation."
