Australia's Joel Parkinson might be in search of a world championship, but he showed yesterday that he wants to defend another lofty title.

Parkinson began defense of his Vans Triple Crown of Surfing championship in style.

He had the best heat of the day during the Reef Hawaiian Pro men's contest. The fourth round of the contest was run in sometimes-spectacular conditions — wave-face heights got as high as 15 feet — at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

"I paddled out there in the lineup and said 'Am I really back in Hawai'i? Am I really back in the Triple Crown?' And I got really excited to be back," Parkinson said.

Then he gave the large crowd on the beach reason to be excited.

Early in his fourth-round heat, Parkinson rode through two barreling sections on the same wave. The judges rewarded him with a near-perfect score of 9.87 (out of 10).

"I don't know, I guess it was just one of those waves that was just big enough and hit the right spot," he said.

He finished with a two-wave score of 16.54, which was the best total of the day.

Parkinson won the Triple Crown championship last year. The Triple Crown title goes to the best overall surfer in the three North Shore events.

The Reef Hawaiian Pro is the first in the series.

Parkinson is also in contention for the 2009 world championship. He and fellow Australian Mick Fanning are the only surfers with a shot at the world title, and it will be decided at the Billabong Pipeline Masters next month.

Results of the Reef Hawaiian Pro will have no bearing on the world title race, which might be a reason why Fanning opted to skip it.

Parkinson, however, relished the idea of repeating as Triple Crown champ.

"I love the Triple Crown events and would hate to miss it," he said.

Parkinson led a strong showing from the Australian contingent yesterday.

Of the 32 surfers advancing through the fourth round yesterday, 14 of them are from Australia.

The waves were somewhat inconsistent yesterday, and so were the Hawai'i surfers. Only seven Hawai'i surfers advanced to the fifth round.

Wai'anae's Sunny Garcia advanced through his heat, but said it was "gut-wrenching" to have to sit through the long lulls between waves.

"The local guys have better knowledge of the waves, but on a day like today, you can surf this place all your life and if the wave doesn't come there's nowhere to go," Garcia said. "There's really no strategy today, just go out there and catch what you can catch."

One of the Hawai'i standouts yesterday was Joel Centeio, who was surfing in his self-described backyard.

Centeio and his wife bought a house across the street from Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach a few years ago, so he literally walked to work yesterday.

"It's amazing to walk across the street and surf," he said. "It's a great wave to have in your backyard."

As one of the lower-seeded surfers in the contest, Centeio had to surf on the first two days of the event — when waves were much smaller. Even though yesterday's waves were inconsistent, he said it better suited his style.

"I had to grovel through those first days on the little lefts," he said. "I feel like I can be a little stronger out here when it gets bigger."

He proved it by completing several strong moves, and his two best waves received scores of 8.5 and 7.5.

"It's a bigger wave, but it's actually really rippable," Centeio said. "This is a bigger wave that you can kind of get high performance on."

Hawai'i surfers advancing to the fifth round were Centeio, Garcia, Roy Powers, Sebastien Zietz, Hank Gaskell, Jesse Merle-Jones and Torrey Meister.

Meister also had an impressive heat. He received a score of 9.0 for a barrel ride, and finished with a two-wave total of 16.1 — which was the second-highest total of the day, behind only Parkinson.

Several top Hawai'i surfers were eliminated, including Bruce Irons, Pancho Sullivan, Fred Patacchia Jr., Dusty Payne and Clay Marzo.

The final day of competition is expected to run today at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach. The fifth round, quarterfinals, semifinals and final are all scheduled to be completed.

A live broadcast of the final day will be available on Oceanic digital channel 250.