This is the Irons Age of surfing.

Kaua'i's Andy Irons made sure of it by winning his second consecutive professional men's world championship with his second consecutive Xbox Gerry Lopez Pipeline Masters championship yesterday.

Irons, who is from Hanalei, Kaua'i, is the only male surfer from Hawai'i to win back-to-back professional world titles. In the 28-year history of the Association of Surfing Professionals world tour, only two other male surfers from Hawai'i have even won one title — Derek Ho in 1993 and Sunny Garcia in 2000.

In making surfing history, Irons had to beat the surfer who is recognized as the greatest in the sport's history, Kelly Slater of Florida.

"Last year was incredible, but this year more so," said Irons, 25. "To come from behind against a champion like Kelly, nobody's supposed to do that."

Slater, who owns a record six world titles, entered the final two contests of the year ranked No. 1 by more than 600 points over No. 2 Irons. But Irons placed second at the Rip Curl Cup at Sunset Beach two weeks ago, and then first in the prestigious Pipeline Masters yesterday to overtake the seemingly invincible Slater.

"It might never sink in," Irons said. "I don't even know how to react right now. It's like this whole day went in slow motion."

ANDY IRONS

The Pipeline Masters is the final contest for both the World Championship Tour and the Triple Crown of Surfing. Winning that surfing trifecta — Pipeline Masters, world championship and Triple Crown championship — in the same year is a feat accomplished by only two surfers, Irons and Slater.

The final day of competition in the Pipeline Masters was completed in 4- to 8-foot surf, and Irons emerged victorious by turning in an ironman performance.

By Pipeline standards, yesterday's waves were disappointing. However, a raging current and fast-closing waves made for challenging conditions.

After completing their waves, several surfers chose to ride to shore and then run 100 to 200 yards in the sand to get back to the north end of the beach where the waves were breaking, rather than challenge the current by paddling against it.

Irons' calves and shoulders were cramping because of the conditions, but he rode through it in the final.

"My body feels dead right now," he said. "It was some of the worst cramping I've ever had in my life."

It only added to the drama.

Over the last month, since Slater and Irons solidified the top two positions heading into the Triple Crown, all the hype has surrounded a Slater vs. Irons battle. In surfing circles, it became known simply as "The Showdown."

Yesterday, they lived up to the hype.

The third round, quarterfinals, semifinals and final were all staged yesterday. Irons and Slater were clearly the top performers up to the final.

"I was trying not to think about what he was doing," Irons said. "I just wanted to take care of my side of it and put the pressure on him."

They were joined in the final by Australians Joel Parkinson and Phillip MacDonald, although the only ones who seemed to cheer for them were the other Australian surfers. The rest of the estimated crowd of 10,000 were split between Irons and Slater.

Still, the Australians nearly stole the show. MacDonald took a lead midway through the 30-minute final, and then Parkinson took it for a few minutes after that.

"I couldn't hear the scores anyway, so I couldn't tell what was going on," Irons said. "I knew I had one good wave, so I was just looking for one more. I was so tired, I didn't want to catch too many waves. I just tried to wait for the good ones."

Irons' second wave of the heat was a long barrel ride to his right — through the section called Backdoor Pipeline — that resulted in a score of 8.33.

After MacDonald and Parkinson took their momentary leads, Irons took control for good with a 6.83 score for another barrel ride through Backdoor. Because only the top two waves count toward the final score, Irons' rides of 8.33 and 6.83 provided an insurmountable total of 15.16.

In addition to the three trophies, Irons won $30,000 for the Pipeline Masters victory, and $7,500 as Triple Crown champ.

Parkinson placed second with a two-wave score of 14.40, and MacDonald was third with 9.60.

In an attempt to rally, Slater caught several small waves in the last half of the heat. None of his rides scored more than a 5.0, and he wound up in fourth place.

"I had an amazing year, one of the best of my life," said Slater, 31. "I never enjoyed myself so much competing and we were just back and forth. It was awesome. One of us had to win and one of us had to lose. It couldn't have happened a better way. I was stoked we both made the final. I wish we both would have got a few more good waves in the final, but that's the way it goes."

The Hawai'i wildcard entries — nine non-world tour surfers who had to qualify for the contest through a trials event — continued to impress on the final day of competition. Five of the nine wildcards advanced as far as the quarterfinals, and two (Bruce Irons and Derek Ho) reached the semifinals.

Although the waves were small by North Shore standards, its power was still on display. Several surfboards were snapped in half after wipeouts, and Florida's Shea Lopez had to be rescued by lifeguards after injuring his knee during his quarterfinal heat.

Hawai'i's Myles Padaca won the Foster's Expression Session exhibition heat before yesterday's final.