Irons’ big finish
wins XCELPro

By Greg Ambrose
Star-Bulletin

Kauai surfer Andy Irons enjoyed a coming-home party at Sunset Beach yesterday, where the ocean treated him to a last-second wave that won the XCEL Pro.

Irons, 19, spent the past year following the second-tier World Qualifying Series around the planet, and has earned a spot with pro surfing's heavyweights on next season's elite World Championship Tour.

Irons hopes the momentum from yesterday's XCEL victory carries over to the upcoming Triple Crown of Surfing.

"The best thing I could possibly do is start my WCT career with a Triple Crown victory," he said.

It was neither big nor menacing Sunset Beach, but the 4- to 6-foot waves were the most frustrating mix of north and northwest swell that kept contestants stroking wildly from the far point to the middle bowl trying to grab elusive peaks.

One of the bigger sets offered enough muscle to ambush Dino Andino and snap the hard-riding Californian's surfboard, giving his opponents an opportunity to seize his lead in the final heat.

The ocean was equally spiteful to local hero Pancho Sullivan, who had put on a brazen display of power surfing days earlier in the XCEL when the surf was twice a big as yesterday.

"I got overzealous," Sullivan said. "Every way I went, the wave went the other way. I couldn't seem to put it together."

The ocean also broke Shane Beschen's heart. The California surfer was on the beach with a minute left in the heat, convinced that he had finally won a contest at Sunset Beach.

He looked confidently out to sea, saw a last set looming on the horizon, and noticed with a smile that Sullivan was out of position and that Andino was out of a surfboard. The smile faded when he saw Irons perfectly positioned and stroking into the best wave of the set.

"I just dropped in, stalled for the tube and just went for it and got lucky," Irons said.

When Beschen saw Irons come out of the barrel, he said softly to himself, "Well, that's it," and turned away, disappointed to settle for two second-place finishes in two contests at Sunset Beach.

"I can't believe it," Irons said excitedly. "It's like a full-on storybook ending at the last minute. I never even thought that wave was going to come."

Final placings in the 1997 XCEL Pro: 1. Andy Irons $4,000. 2. Shane Beschen $2,000. 3. Pancho Sullivan $1,500. 4. Dino Andino $1,300