Layne Beachley Defends Triple Crown of Surfing Championship Title
HONOLULU (December 7, 1998) - Australian Sandie Ryan today won the $30,000 Quiksilver Roxy Pro in an all Australian final at Sunset Beach. Homesick and missing her two young boys after five weeks in Hawaii, Ryan surfed the 40 minute heat without the pressure she normally would have felt because she knew tonight, at midnight, she would be on an airplane for her home in Wollongong.
It was the final woman's competition in the $350,000 Vans G-Shock Triple Crown of Surfing and the final Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women's World Championship Tour presented by Kahlua. Winning made going home all the more special because she will go with an Extra $7,000 in her pocket and dozens of presents for her two boys - 4-1/2 and 2-1/2.
Second was Snapper Rocks' Trudy Todd who got $4,000. Third was former world champion Pauline Menczer from Byron Bay, $2,600 and fourth was Lynette MacKenzie, Maroubra, $2,400.
"It's pretty exciting, to have a major win," said Ryan, 27. "The surf at Sunset is a lot like where I live. It's a really big right hander and gnarly just like sunset. I surf waves like this every day, maybe not as steep but the same kind of waves.
"These waves were perfect right handers. They weren't too heavy, just fun play waves," Ryan said. "I'm so homesick and I'm probably the only one today who just sat back and laughed because I knew I was going home tonight."
Former world champion Pam Burridge retired from the women's World Championship Tour (WCT) and is expecting a baby, so Ryan moves into the ranks of the Women's Championship Tour and will travel the world next year. Todd won $4,000 and finished third on the women's WCT ratings, bumping Hawaii's Rochelle Ballard down to fourth place. A win would have placed Todd second in the world. Australian Layne Beachley won the number one women's spot last August in France.
Todd, 23, from the Gold Coast, surfed a close final and led for much of the 40-minute heat. She was second by .40. Had she won, she would have finished second in the world.
"Sandie needed a 4.5 wave in the last minute," Todd said. "A set came through and I couldn't do anything else but take that wave, so Sandie got the second one. It was in her hands and she got what (points) she needed. But I'm really happy I got second. Of course I'd like to win but I'm stoked that I made the finals" said Todd, who won the first WCT of the year at Snapper Rock in Australia, but had a run of bad luck with appendicitis and a broken toe before coming to Hawaii.
Had Menczer, 28, from Byron Bay won the event, she would have won the Triple Crown championship, but it wasn't pressure to win that left her in third place, it was her choice of boards.
"I didn't feel the pressure so much as I was just a bit disappointed. I was going to ride a bigger board and then I ended up riding a smaller one," Menczer said. "It looked like it (the surf) had gotten smaller, and the board I had before was too big. But the one I ended up taking out was a bit too small." Menczer has won, at least once, every woman's competition on the North Shore. She finishes the year in 7th place, ready for next year's tour.
It was a tight Triple Crown defense for Beachley, 26, who watched the final from the beach. The final standings had Beachley with 4,160 points, Menczer 4,060 points and Hawaii's Keala Kennelly with 3,830 points. "It was narrowly, narrowly, narrowly, narrowly," sang a relieved Beachley who received $7,500. "It was narrow enough to be sitting on the beach praying Pauline would lose."
Asked about her banner year, Beachley said, "I did it all, except winning my favorite event at Sunset beach. That was the one goal not achieved, so that will keep me fired up for the next year. "My reaction when I heard the results from the beach was elation. I was really excited. It was like a consolation prize because I didn't make the final," Beachley said. It took a lot of depression out of my demeanor. I was depressed, but I'm not now." Beachley will live in Hawaii and train until March 1999 when the World Tour begins again in Australia. Kennelly won the NoseGuard "Rookie of the Year" title for her first-year entry into the Triple Crown.
"It was fantastic to see the emergence of a new rookie," Beachley said in praise of Kennelly. "It is always exciting to see someone new win. And Keala's going to be a giant killer in years to come."
Semi-Final 1: 1. Pauline Menczer, 14.40. 2. Lynette MacKenzie, 11.80. 3. Layne Beachley, 10.40. 4. Keala Kennelly, 9.60. Semi-Final 2: 1. Trudy Todd, 15.50. 2. Sandie Ryan, 14.00. 3. Megan Abubo, 12.85. 4. Serena Brooke, 11.25.
Final: 1. Ryan, 17.00. 2. Todd, 17.00. 3. Menczer, 14.25. 4. MacKenzie, 13.65.
Competition in the Rip Curl World Cup of Surfing continues tomorrow, with surf in the 8-10-foot range expected.
The Rip Curl event returns next year with a new name. In 1999 it will be called the Rip Curl Cup.
The Mountain Dew Gerry Lopez Pipe Masters has been delayed due to the late running of the Rip Curl event. The first possible surfing date for the Pipe Master is Thursday, December 10. A blessing will be held on the beach at Pipeline at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 9.
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