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Myles Padaca won his second-round heat by totalling 15.00 on his two top waves yesterday. CLICK FOR LARGE
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2 swells stir up Sunset's waves
Padaca advances in World Cup, but Garcia is eliminated
By Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-Bulletin
With two swells from different directions generating sizeable waves, but washing-machine-like conditions at Sunset Beach, some surfers managed to advance in the 32nd annual O'Neill World Cup of Surfing, while some big names didn't survive the spin cycle.
Among the standouts in the 8- to 15-foot-face surf, Hawaii's Myles Padaca totaled 15.00 (out of 20) points for his top two waves to win his second-round heat and move on in the third competition day of the contest that serves as the second jewel of the Triple Crown of Surfing series.
Padaca won the World Cup in 2001 over the field primarily composed of international touring pros, on his way to eventually also taking the Triple Crown championship that goes to the best overall performer in the three series events each year.
"It was bombing out there, waves all over the place," said the 35-year-old, who competes exclusively on the North Shore each winter. "You just have to stick to your game plan and hope it works out for you. Ever since I won (the Triple Crown) I've been trying to win it again, and it's a very hard thing to do. But I look forward to competing against the world's best in these events every year."
All of the second round and four of 16 heats in the third were held yesterday. The World Cup needs another day and a half to run to completion, and must be finished by next Wednesday.
Competition will resume today if conditions permit. The forecast of smaller, but cleaner, waves seems favorable for the potential completion of the Roxy Pro -- the women's Triple Crown's second event, also at Sunset -- in the morning, with the World Cup resuming in the afternoon.
Other Hawaii surfers to move on included second-round heat winners Ola Eleogram, Evan Valiere and Jason Shibata.
A strong performer since the trials portion of the World Cup, Kauai's Jesse
Merle-Jones won both second- and third-round heats.
The 27-year-old tallied 12.34 total points in his four-man third-rounder to help second-place Ian Walsh (11.30) of Maui eliminate Taj Burrow of Australia (4.03). Burrow is currently the world's No. 3 surfer, and was the runner-up in the Triple Crown's first jewel last week.
There are 15 Hawaii competitors remaining in the field that started with 144 total surfers, but has since been whittled down to 56.
"It was tough finding the good ones," Merle-Jones said, "but Sunset's one of the funnest waves there is."
Australia's Joel Parkinson -- the World Cup winner in 2002 -- also was among the surfers moving on after winning his third-round heat. So too was Brazil's Neco Padaratz, who notched the highest overall heat score (16.50) for the day in his second-rounder, but somewhat reluctantly eliminated record six-time Triple Crown champ Sunny Garcia of Hawaii in doing so.
Seeded directly into the round, it was Garcia's second straight first-heat loss in this year's series. Former four-time Triple Crown and 1990 event winner Derek Ho of Hawaii also was eliminated in the second round.
"I have so much respect to have a heat with Sunny. It's just competition, and this is a consequence," Padaratz said.
Defending World Cup champ Jake Paterson of Australia was seeded directly into the third round and has yet to surf. The same was true for Kauai's Andy Irons, who is the defending Triple Crown champ as well as the winner of this year's first jewel, and Florida's Kelly Slater, the current and record eight-time world champ.
Also yesterday, the opening ceremonies for the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau were held at Waimea Bay. The invite-only, one-day event for 24 of the world's best big-wave surfers is only held if the wave faces at the bay consistently and cleanly reach more than 30 feet, and has a waiting period that begins today and runs through Feb. 28.
The last time "The Eddie" was held was two years ago, when Kauai's Bruce Irons won. Irons and older brother Andy are again among the invitees, as are 2002 winner Slater and 1986 winner Clyde Aikau, the younger brother of the event's namesake.