Reef Hawaiian Pro: Final Day

Heats Held: Too many. Just ask Parko.
Conditions: Six to 20 feet depending on your origin. Haleiwa makes her Vans Triple Crown curtain call worth the wait. Biggest swell of the year so far.
Nature’s Call: Oh yeah, it’s winter. Sorry for the delay. I’m here now.
Predictions: The Hawaiians get on the piss. They’re having Bud Light.

It was quick but it definitely wasn’t painless. Today in two fell swoops at massive Haleiwa Kauai boy Roy Powers won the 2007 Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa and in the process looks good to re-qualify for the 2008 ASP World Tour. In the 35-minute final, Powers managed to combo the entire field –– which included Joel Parkinson, Bede Durbidge and local favorite Sean Moody –– at the 20-minute mark by locking into two beastly caverns big enough to hold his after party in them. He then managed to fist pump so hard on one he fell over and took a massive walloping as the beach erupted into a frenzy. Roy was genuinely ecstatic afterwards. “I claimed that one a little hard and it made me fall over,” he said. “But to come out of a barrel at Haleiwa? C’mon! And to get two of them! And win the event. This is dream come true. I just wish my parents and girlfriend could have been here with me. There’s nothing better than being a Hawaiian and winning in Hawaii. ”

If Roy’s enthusiasm isn’t enough to get the point across about how difficult it was out there today, maybe this will: With five minutes remaining in the final, every single surfer was washed in and decided to hang up their boardies early. Adios. See ya at Sunset. It was just too much to make it back out in the time remaining.

Roy Powers

Joel Parkinson was surfing his fifth heat of the day and has had less tiring days taking care of his two little ones. “I virtually surfed the entire contest today,” he said. “I’m tired.”

It wasn’t easy to paddle out once, let alone five times. They were torturous. Wipeouts were extravagant. And the caverns were some of the biggest you’ll see on the North Shore. Just ask Dean Morrison who scored the contests only 10-point ride on a behemoth amid the pandemonium in the lineup. “Dingo just pulled into a proper 12-footer and come out!” shouted Aussie ringleader Jake Patterson from the competitor’s tent –– quite a feat considering the grueling game of footie the Aussies played the day before. It was pretty intense. Phil Macdonald could hardly walk. Tom Whitaker broke his finger. And Dean Morrison spent a lot of time with the masseuse before his heat. Which is why you can imagine how psyched he was when he came out of it. “Fortunately that thing stayed open,” Dean said.” Because it would have given a good walloping if I didn’t make it. It was pretty big, for sure.”

In other humbling experiences, three-times World Champ Andy Irons had a few of the more intense floggings of the day in two of his heats. In his first heat Andy tried on two separate occasions to pull off miracle bomb drops only to take about 15 waves on the head before paddling all the way in, then back out through the channel. In his second venture, Andy needed only a 2.0 to advance on but would again take a series of sets on the head instead, eliminating him from competition.

Bede Durbidge

So now what? There’s enough energy on the North Shore tonight to power the entire South Pacific. With the Roy Powers victory party and the macking Pacific just outside the window, we’re in for a night of it. Not to mention Haleiwa local Sean Moody’s showing in the contest which was nothing less than incredible. With straight up backhand hacks on legit 10-footers and a finals appearance, Moody has plenty to be celebrating right now. The Bud Lights are cracked and it’s on tonight.

As for us, we could be paddling out at Sunset within 36 hours for the O’Neill World Cup. Stay tuned to WWW.SURFINGMAGAZINE.com and www.triplecrownofsurfing.com

Official Results of the 2007 Reef Hawaiian Pro The First Jewel of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing

1. Roy Powers 18.84 $15,000
2. Bede Durbidge 13.74 $7,500
3. Joel Parkinson 12.00 $4,000
4. Sean Moody 6.37 $3,000

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