PIERRE TOSTEE / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN Newly crowned ASP world champion Andy Irons caught a Backdoor tube en route to the Xbox Pipeline Masters and Triple Crown of Surfing championships.

Andy Irons
king of the surf

The 24-year-old enters elite
company with a victory in
the Xbox Pipeline Masters

---

By Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Two weeks ago, professional surfer Andy Irons walked through the front door of the fraternity reserved for world champions.

At the Banzai Pipeline break of Ehukai Beach yesterday, the 24-year-old, Hanalei, Kauai, native used the Backdoor to enter two even more exclusive clubs -- and finish off one of the most impressive years in Association of Surfing Professionals history.

In less than ideal conditions, world champion-elect Irons successfully rode the right-handed waves at the break on Oahu's North Shore -- in the section known as Backdoor -- to win the Xbox Pipeline Masters for the first time.

"This is a fairy tale for me," Irons said. "I couldn't have wrote it better. To be able to do what my dream has always been -- I can't think of a feeling much greater."

In its 32nd year, the Pipeline Masters is the longest running professional surfing event in the world and marked the end to the 2002 World Championship Tour and prestigious Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

Already with the WCT title in hand because of three earlier victories and an insurmountable lead in the standings, Irons needed to win yesterday to capture the Triple Crown championship -- which goes to best overall performer in three North Shore events each winter.

In doing so, Irons became only the third surfer (Florida's Kelly Slater in 1995, '98; and Hawaii's Sunny Garcia in 2000) to win the world and Triple Crown titles in the same season.

And to a club previously occupied only by Slater, Irons joined the former six-time world-title winner as the only surfers to win the Pipeline Masters en route to both championships.

"It's an incredible lineup (of names) to be in," Irons said. "I couldn't think of much better names to be affiliated with."

PIERRE TOSTEE / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN Newly crowned ASP champion Andy Irons, a Kauai native, celebrated the Xbox Pipeline Masters on the North Shore yesterday. Irons was also awarded the Triple Crown of Surfing title.

After an excellent northwest swell on Monday, the swell direction shifted more north as it dissipated yesterday through the final rounds. The change shut down the hollow left-handers that Pipeline is famous for, and provided fickle 6- to 10-foot-faced waves at the right-breaking Backdoor, with high-scoring barrel rides harder than usual to come by.

As he has consistently done all year, however, Irons was able to combine his skill and tenacity with a little bit of luck to surf the best waves. He also took the top spot in his quarterfinal and semifinal heats in qualifying for the finals.

Once there, Irons needed a 6.85-point (out of 10 maximum) wave score to take over first place as time was winding down in the 35-minute heat. Irons nabbed a solid 10-footer with three minutes remaining. Backdoor offered him a barreling section, and he stood erect as he rode through the tube before gouging a deep roundhouse/rebound combination for an 8.4.

None of the four finalists caught another wave for the remainder of the heat. Combined with a 9.25 -- highest of the final -- Irons received for a wave 14 minutes in, he won the heat with a two-wave total of 17.65 points.

"Little of everything," described Irons, of his formula for success. "Just luck, knowing the lineup, being in the right place at the right time and making the wave."

And as for his celebratory pumps to the sky after the winning wave: "I couldn't have kept my arms down if they were dead-bolted," he said.

Fellow Hawaii surfer Shane Dorian, 30, of Kailua-Kona, finished in second place with 16.10.

"I'm just pretty pumped, because it was a great final. The (other) guys are some of the best surfers at Pipe," he said. Dorian also made the finals at the Rip Curl Cup two weeks ago, but did not surf in the first Triple Crown event -- last month's Hawaiian Pro.

Also 30 and surfing in his eighth Pipeline Masters final after winning five previously, Slater took third with 9.55.

"Andy, as soon as the final was over, told me, 'I know what it feels like now,' " Slater said.

Australia's Mick Fanning, 21, made his first Pipeline Masters final and finished fourth with 9.00. Named 2002 ASP Rookie of the Year after his first season as a member of the elite 46-man WCT, Fanning has stayed with Irons in Hawaii this winter.

"It's been pretty fun," said Fanning, "(But Irons) wins everything."

After winning the Rip Curl two weeks ago and enjoying the Triple Crown lead until Irons' final wave, Aussie Joel Parkinson finished only 60 points behind for the series championship. But Parkinson's solid run down the homestretch did allow him to leapfrog into a second-place WCT finish, the highest spot up for grabs.

Irons received $30,000 for winning the Pipeline Masters, then another $7,500 and a Ford Ranger truck for capturing the Triple Crown.

Yet as important as the money and new vehicle may be, the Pipeline Masters trophy he also received to match the one his younger brother, Bruce, won last year, is right up there as well.

"He's been holding that in my face for about a year now," Andy said. "It's good to have one, too."

---

Vans Triple Crown of Surfing
Association of Surfing Professionals WCT