Irons completes surfing trifecta

By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer

Appropriately enough, the new king of surfing won the Triple Crown yesterday.

Kaua'i's Andy Irons rode through several Backdoor barrels to win his first Pipeline Masters and Triple Crown championships. Bernie Baker • Special to the Advertiser

"This is a fairy tale for me," said Irons, who is from Hanalei, Kaua'i. "I wouldn't be able to write it this perfect."

Indeed, Irons' victory yesterday completed a personal triple crown of the most prestigious titles in the sport: world champion, Triple Crown champion, and Pipeline Master.

Only one surfer has completed that trifecta in the same year. Florida's Kelly Slater did it in 1995.

"The words are coming out that I won the Pipe Masters and the world title and all that, but the true feeling hasn't sunk in yet," Irons said. "I really don't know what to say because this is all just pure emotion for me right now."

The Pipeline Masters was completed in 6-foot waves at the famous Banzai Pipeline yesterday. The contest is considered the most precious jewel in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

Irons, 24, won it for the first time in dramatic fashion.

Trailing for 32 of the 35-minute final heat, Irons rode successfully through a Backdoor barrel with three minutes remaining to secure the victory.

Although waves were small by Pipeline standards, clean right-hand barrels — the left is called Pipeline, the right is known as Backdoor — provided the platform for high scores.

"It wasn't incredible Pipeline today, but it was good Backdoor," Irons said. "And I love Backdoor."

As proof, Irons' best two waves received scores of 9.25 and 8.4 for a total of 17.65. The 8.4 was the last wave that gave him the victory.

Upon exiting the barrel of that wave, Irons raised his hands triumphantly to the roar of the crowd, which was estimated to be around 5,000 at 'Ehukai Beach.

"I couldn't help it," he said. "I couldn't keep my arms down if they were dead-bolted."

Until that wave, Shane Dorian of Kailua, Kona, controlled the final heat. In the first 15 minutes of the heat, Dorian had Backdoor barrel rides that resulted in scores of 8.35 and 7.75.

However, he was never able to better those scores, and finished with a total score of 16.10 (each surfer can catch 15 waves, but only the best two count toward the final score).

"I actually thought Andy was winning the whole time," Dorian said. "So I wasn't really bummed out when he got that wave. Even before he caught that one, I thought I was going for second."

Dorian did finish second, giving Neighbor Island surfers the top two spots.

Slater dominated his earlier heats in the day to reach the final, but wound up in third place. He uncharacteristically wiped out on some of the better waves he caught, and finished with a two-wave total of 11.25.

"Andy was real aggressive in the final," Slater said. "He kept getting position on us, so he made all this happen himself."

Australian Mick Fanning was the fourth finalist. He was never able to find any high-scoring barrels, and finished in fourth place with a score of 9.0.

Irons' victory was also clutch. In order to win the Triple Crown — which is awarded to the best overall performer in three North Shore contests — he had to win the Pipeline Masters.

Irons received $30,000 for winning the Pipeline Masters, and $7,500 and a new Ford Ranger truck as the Triple Crown champ.

The Pipeline Masters was also the final stop on the 2002 World Championship Tour. With yesterday's victory, Irons won four of the 12 events on the tour, and finished a whopping 1,556 points ahead of No. 2 Joel Parkinson.

"It's been a whirlwind," Irons said. "I was stoked to finish 10th (in the final rankings) last year. I never thought I'd put a year like this together."

All four Hawai'i surfers from the 2002 world tour — Irons, Dorian, Sunny Garcia and Kalani Robb — requalified for the 2003 tour.

Xbox Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters

1, Andy Irons (Hawai'i), $30,000. 2, Shane Dorian (Hawai'i), $16,000. 3, Kelly Slater (Florida), $11,000. 4, Mick Fanning (Australia), $9,000. 5 (tie), Damien Hobgood (Florida) and Cory Lopez (Florida), $8,500. 7 (tie), Taj Burrow (Australia) and Taylor Knox (California), $7,500. 9 (tie), Flavio Padaratz (Brazil), Daniel Wills (Australia), Luke Hitchings (Australia) and Joel Parkinson (Australia), $5,500. 13 (tie), Lee Winkler (Australia), Brian Pacheco (Hawai'i), Kieren Perrow (Australia) and Jake Paterson (Australia), $4,500.

2002 World Championship Tour final ratings

1, Andy Irons (Hawai'i), 8,102 points. 2, Joel Parkinson (Australia), 6,556. 3, Luke Egan (Australia), 6,396.4, Taj Burrow (Australia), 6,198. 5, Mick Fanning (Australia), 5,944. 6, Michael Lowe (Australia), 5,824. 7, Kieren Perrow (Australia), 5,690. 8, Daniel Wills (Australia), 5,674. 9, Kelly Slater (Florida), 5,576. 10, Mark Occhilupo (Australia). Also: 13, Kalani Robb (Hawai'i), 5,346. 16, Shane Dorian (Hawai'i), 5,076. 23, Sunny Garcia (Hawai'i), 4,760.