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Waves Rise to the Occasion With Perfect 8-foot Sets
HONOLULU (December 8, 1998) - Hawaii's Shane Dorian posted his first big international win on Oahu's North Shore when he took off on an eight-foot Sunset Beach wave, ducked into the barrel not once, but twice, and emerged with a final wave score of 9.25. It was the final heat in the Rip Curl World Cup of Surfing and Dorian was on top of the World.
Prior to that, Dorian and Australia's Michael "Munga" Barry traded first place back and forth in the heat while Kelly Slater rode every wave that came his way. Occasionally the veteran trio let the fourth member of their 45-minute final -- rookie standout Christiano Spirro from Brazil - catch a wave or two.
The Rip Curl event is 1998's final Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) competition, and while today's win does not affect his status as 6th in the world on the ASP World Championship Tour, it did catapult him into first place in the Triple Crown Championship title race. A good finish the Pipe Masters could see him win the title.
Dorian and Barry each rode six waves (with the best four counted), and the final score was a tight 26.45 for Dorian to Barry's 26.40. Dorian's heat score was the highest of the entire event, followed by Barry's and Pancho Sullivan's 26.30 yesterday. Slater caught nine waves for a 22.75 while Christiano caught only four for 9.50. Dorian got $8,000, Barry got $4,000, Slater got $3,000 and Christiano got $2,600.
"I'm so tired," said Dorian who surfed four heats today. " I'm fighting off a cold right now, believe it or not. When I woke up this morning I was so lethargic. I just woke up super tired and had a radical chest cold. I felt horrible."
In his first heat this morning, Dorian only wanted to make it through so he could surf again. Given his North Shore expertise, he knew the waves were going to get bigger. By the time he got to the final he was so tired he didn't think he could make it.
How did he do it? "Sheer will power," Dorian said. "I really wanted to win. I just kept telling myself not to give up. My arms were telling my brain to stop paddling and my heart wouldn't let them.
"I'm so excited. It's really thrilling," Dorian said. "I won on the wave that you always want to win. There's nothing like needing a huge score and getting it and nothing like coming from behind in a final -- not that I've never done it before. Beyond that, it's winning in Hawaii. Although I won events before, I feel this is my first real win," Dorian said. "To win in Hawaii is a totally different feeling and being the only guy in the final I felt like I had a bit of pressure on me. I felt like I really wanted to win for Hawaii."
The win was all the more sweet for Dorian because his original plan was to remain at home in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii and surf there until the Pipe Masters. But there weren't any waves and since he hadn't competed in the Hawaiian Pro or World Cup in three years, he entered because he thought the waves would be good.
"I woke up one day and decided I wanted to surf the whole Triple Crown," Dorian said. It's been a few years since I spent a winter on the North Shore.. I always spend a minimal amount of time on Oahu during the Pipe Masters and try to stay home with my family around this time of year. "This is the best I've ever done at Sunset," Dorian said. "I've always felt real comfortable out here but it's hard to put a heat together because the peak is shifty and fickle. It's a strange wave and has a lot of moves. To be able to put it together here shows a surfer's versatility."
Barry had a lot to lose in the heat. He needed a first or second in the final to remain in the Top 44 and compete on the 1999 World Championship Tour. I'm really happy," said Barry, 22, from the Gold Coast. "When I woke up at 6 this morning and looked at the swell I thought 'these guys have got no luck at all. It's (the contest) not gonna be on. So I drove down to the beach and checked in with Bernie (Baker, contest director). I couldn't believe it. I said what do you mean there's nothing out there, but I went back home and did my stretches and got my boards together."
It took him the better part of the day to get the right boards selected for the changing waves. He got through each of his four heats in second place, but by the final he had the right board for the job.
"Positioning was the key to it all," Barry said. "Then in the semi final the waves were barreling and that semi final was one of the happiest times of my life. I got an average wave for the start and then my next wave I was playing the field because the other guys were too far out the back. I took off on an inside wave and just got barreled." The judges gave him a ten.
"I was really happy, making it out of a barrel that size. It was pretty amazing and tough. The wave actually opened its mouth like a mean creature. After that I was stoked and knew I had two good waves and needed another solid one to make the final. Kelly was ripping and then he got a 10. I had to play my cards right because I knew what I had to do to qualify for the WQS. That really made me happy after making that barrel. In the final it was anybody's game. I ran away with it that half way Point. With five minutes to go Shane Dorian was one of the guys who could catch me. He needed a solid score. He took off on a wave and I was hoping he wouldn't get it. That's when he got his 9.25 and there were still a few minutes let left. I needed a 5.8. I was positioned five feet out too far. I just scratched into it but I didn't have the position right and that was the end of it."
"The semi final was my best heat," Slater said. "I was just really in sync and got some nice barrels. I caught one of the best waves I've ever caught at Sunset and got a 10. I had a great time in that heat.
"This is a classic spot, its as fun as it is competitive," Slater said. "I think Munga was the most focused in the heat. He had to be because he had to qualify. Shane and I were laughing and telling jokes on the way out. We were singing out in the water. It's funny, I got second at Haleiwa. Third at Sunset and firsts at Pipe. That's fitting, because I surf better at Haleiwa than I do here and and better at Pipe than Haleiwa.
"It was beautiful out there today, you really couldn't ask for anything more. But I was under gunned in every heat. My board was just too small but I finally got the right board in the final," Slater said.
Spirro put it into a few words. "I am very happy," he said. "My first final in Hawaii and the second time in the competition. I surfed Triple Crown last year for the first time. I'm very very happy. In the semi Final I twisted my left hip muscle. Very much pain. But no problem. This was the best surf in the world and I am in the final. Like a dream. "Tomorrow I go to the doctor to have my muscle made better and then I go into the Pipe Masters. There were good waves for the start of the contest, then after they dropped small. In the semi final I made two barrels; the best in my life."
Australian Glyndon Ringrose, 26, from Phillip Island, Victoria, won the Triple Crown Rookie of The Year award on his first North Shore experience. "I came here five years ago to free surf for a month and that was it. It's my first year competing in Hawaii. Imagine, my first year in Hawaii and I win the Rookie award."
Brazilian Fabio Gouveia finished first in the WQS ratings.
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