Black Friday was followed by Stormy Saturday on O'ahu's North Shore yesterday.

The O'Neill World Cup of Surfing men's contest was run in big — but messy — waves at Sunset Beach. The second round was completed in wave-face heights that ranged from 10 to 20 feet.

The competition was halted at mid-day when conditions became too stormy.

"It started out contestable in the morning," said Randy Rarick, executive director of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. "But then these winds started picking up and it got worse and worse. Around 11 (a.m.), it was horrendous, and we had no choice but to call it off for the day."

The O'Neill World Cup is the second of three events in the Vans Triple Crown series. The first two days of the World Cup has already experienced challenging conditions.

For the opening day on Friday, surfers were greeted with near-perfect conditions at Sunset Beach. Yesterday, it was far from perfect.

"It's big, it's real challenging, it's not perfect Sunset, but it's fun," Wai'anae's Sunny Garcia said. "It's a little nerve-racking because there's a lot of small waves in between. I noticed a lot of guys are getting smaller waves and getting good scores. So it's kind of a gamble to get a bigger board and get those bigger waves, or take a smaller board and sneak some of those small ones."

Garcia, 38, has won a record six Triple Crown championships. He is also attempting to qualify for the 2009 World Championship Tour, and needs a strong showing in the O'Neill World Cup to do so.

"Hopefully, I can keep making heats and if I make the semis or final, I'll be back on the tour next year," he said. "That's the main goal right now."

Only 12 heats of the second round were completed yesterday, and Garcia was one of eight Hawai'i surfers to advance to the third round. Also advancing from Hawai'i were Bruce Irons, Myles Padaca, Torrey Meister, Ola Eleogram, Love Hodel, Gavin Gillette and Kamalei Alexander.

Irons' two-wave score of 16.17 was the best of the day, although he surfed in the first heat of the day, before the stormy conditions took over.

The international contingent also fared well, including Australia's Jarrad Howse, who had a two-wave score of 14.33.

"This is up there with the hardest, just everything about it," he said. "Wave selection, not getting caught by the sets, then actually riding the waves. It's so much bumpier and windier than it looks. I just sort of stayed compact and held on."

Brian Toth of Puerto Rico advanced to the third round despite admitting that he had a difficult time with positioning in the rough ocean.

"It's pretty hard to line up," he said. "You don't know where you're going. It's really difficult to be in position on some of them, but luckily I got it in the last couple of seconds."

The top-seeded surfers received byes through the first few rounds. Among those yet to surf are Hawai'i surfers Fred Patacchia Jr., Pancho Sullivan, Kekoa Bacalso, Dustin Barca and Roy Powers. Tahiti's Michel Bourez, who won the first contest in the Triple Crown series, also has yet to surf.

The contest could continue today if conditions improve. For updates visit http://www.triplecrownofsurfing.com.