Monday, November 9, 1998
North Shore surfer Pancho Sullivan
By Greg Ambrose
captures his first Xcel Pro championship
Special to the Star-BulletinNorth Shore surfer Pancho Sullivan won his first Xcel Pro contest yesterday by continuing to display the tube-riding finesse that earned him exceptional scores during the previous days of Xcel competition in bigger waves at Sunset Beach.
Meanwhile, the Triple Crown of Surfing got underway on the Leeward Coast at Maili Point with the Billabong Girls contest.
World champion Layne Beachley made a strong bid to capture her second Triple Crown of Surfing title by advancing to the quarterfinals.
Hawaii's Megan Abubo, Rochelle Ballard and young sensation Melanie Bartels also advanced on tiny waves in hazardous dry-reef conditions.
Although the waves at Sunset Beach decreased throughout the day to a flawless six feet, Sullivan won the Xcel Pro with a simple strategy.
"It was hard at Sunset in that it wasn't big enough for the outside reef, and the waves were shifting a lot. Getting tubed is the best feeling in surfing and it scores high, so if it was there I went for the barrels," he said.
On his way to victory, Sullivan snagged every tube in sight, getting tubed twice on the same wave at times and earning perfect 10s from the judges, the highest scoring ride of the day, and sharing the highest score in a heat with Oahu's Alex Cox.
Sullivan's performance pushed him past California's Dan Malloy, rated No. 16 on the World Championship Tour. Kauai's Braden Diaz, and Ewa Beach's Davey Gonzalves, each of whom had excellent barrels of their own.
Sullivan won $4,000, Malloy $2,000, Diaz $1,500 and Gonzalves $1,300.
"I've been looking forward to this day forever, Sullivan said. "When I started doing competition when I was 18, I entered my first World Cup at Sunset, made it through round six and made some money. I couldn't believe I got paid to go surf. I have tried to learn as much as I can since then and stick to my game plan -- go out and have fun, first and foremost."
To give the Xcel contestants a breather between the semifinal and final heats, Hawaiian Style ran a challenge featuring Hawaii's top longboard surfers. World champion Dino Miranda quickly snatched a new board from the Rus-K Makaha shop to replace his favorite board, which he had broken at Backdoor Pipeline.
The adjustment period took just seconds.
"We wanted bigger waves, but the waves today were awesome -- five, six feet," Miranda said. "I got the barrels, the killer tubes. They were big barrels, two of them."
They allowed Miranda to beat friends and fellow Hawaii surfers Lance Hookano, Rusty Keaulana, Joey Valentine, Bonga Perkins, Kanoa Dahlin and Danny Kalahiki.
Miranda won $1,000 and Hookano $500.
Sullivan's competitors in the final heat of the Xcel Pro were surfing so well that it wasn't until he caught a good tube at the point that he felt he had a chance to win the event.
"To surf in your backyard and come up from bodysurfing and bobbing around in the shore break at Sunset as a kid to sitting on the peak in a professional event. It feels incredible," Sullivan said. "I don't know what to do now, jump up and down or what. It's a dream come true."
