It’s been 32 years since the ASP World Tour officially began. And in every year since 1976 there has been at least one Hawai’i surfer in the Top 10 come years end. With only 3 events left for the 2008 year on tour, that streak is in jeopardy of coming to an end.

With a total of 5 world championships making their way back to the islands over the past 31 years, Hawai’i’s professional surfers have always had at least some sort of impact on the world title race. However when Andy Irons unexpectedly skipped out of his 2nd round heat with Jihad Khodr at the Quiksilver Pro France, the Kauai’i surfer tumbled all the way down to no.13 in the overall ASP rankings and left Hawaii without any representation in the current Top 10. That has to be pretty strange for the place that many consider to be the epicenter of the surfing world. Even stranger than that is the real scenario that Hawai’i could go from having 5 surfers on tour in 2008 to a mere 2 on the 2009 Dream Tour.

‘08 has been anything but a smooth ride for Hawai’s current WCT surfers. Although he hasn’t been the same dominant, intimidating A.I. that we’ve come to know in recent years, Andy had been fairly consistent up until the Trestles event. He went home with a 33rd from the Trestles event, and then followed that result up with his France no-show. Brother Bruce, and current world no. 14, made his overall displeasure with the tour known by announcing his decision to bail on full-time tour status next year. In classic Bruce Irons fashion, the Volcom-rider completely blew minds on his way to winning the “Somewhere in Indo” event, and then went on to blow minds again, although in a very different way, with laying down of scores in the 2+ range during his very brief appearance at the Quik Pro.

Fred Patacchia started off the year with a frustrating leg-injury at the hands of Pipeline and it really took Fred a few events to get back into form. He finished runner-up to Bruce in Indo and, aside from his Trestle’s showing, seems to be riding some decent momentum. He’s currently sitting at no. 18 and will more than likely seal himself a spot on the ‘09 tour in the next couple of events.

Roy Powers and Pancho Sullivan round out the rest of Hawai’i’s pro-surfing contigent. Pancho, at no. 40, will definitely have to climb back on tour via the WQS next year and Roy, at no. 23, is flirting with having to do the same.

The overall future for Hawai’i’s pro’s is actually very bright. Between Clay Marzo, John John Florence, Torry Meister, Mason Ho, and many others, Hawai’i has an absolute slew of up and coming rippers that will most likely compete for the world championship for years to come. However it may be another few years before those guys are actually set to make noise on the Dream Tour. If Roy doesn’t finish in the Top 27, that basically leaves Hawai’i’s tour hopes heaped upon the enigmatic A.I., and a somewhat resurgent Freddy P. Sunny Garcia, currently no. 20 on the WQS tour, has an outside shot of being on the ‘CT next year, but even then you have to wonder about how well he’ll be able to compete with the new breed of surfing that’s taking place on tour.

So while there are still 3 events, and most importantly the Pipeline Masters left for Hawai’i’s current group of pros to make some noise, it’s been an uncharacteristically off year for the state of pro-surfing in Hawai’i. While this seems to be more of an abnormality than a sign of things to come, the possibility of having no surfers in the Top 10 come years end is something that none of us expected at the beginning of the year.

In what was a spectacular event that was as full of surprises as it was epic surfing, Bruce Irons took down his Hawaiian counterpart Fred Patacchia to win the 2008 Rip Curl Pro Search ‘Somewhere in Indonesia.’ The victory is the first for Irons on the WCT, and undoubtedly extra rewarding for the surfer many consider to be the ‘best freesurfer on the planet,’ as he plans to step away from full-time participation on the Dream Tour next year. “One of my goals when I joined the Tour was to win an event and I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen since I’ll be stepping away after this season,” Irons said. “But the waves pumped this event! This is what the Dream Tour should be like all the time. I’m definitely stepping away from the ASP Tour at the end of this year, but I’m not retiring. I’m still planning on competing at Pipeline and Teahupoo and at venues that I can get into.”

Aside from Bruce heading home with a huge win under his belt, the Rip Curl Pro Search saw all of the top seeds fail to take advantage of Kelly Slater’s Rd. 3 upset loss to Tiago Pires. Andy Irons, Bede Durbidge, Mick Fanning, and Joel Parkinson all let golden opportunities to make up ground in the world title race slip through their hands, all suffering losses in the 4th round. The only other surfer on tour with even an outside chance of catching Slater, Taj Burrow, did make it through the gauntlet that was Rd. 4. However his run would end in the quarterfinals as an absolutely firing Chris Ward sent the Aussie title hopeful packing, and essentially ending any hope Taj had of winning it all this year.

All other title contenders aside, Irons winning is the story of the event. There has been so much made about his stepping away following the year that it was refreshing to see him put out a performance that everyone knew he was capable of. You even got the sense that his fellow competitors were pumped on Bruce winning one before he steps aside. “It feels great to come back after a slow start to the year,” Patacchia said. “The waves were so good for this event and I’m bummed I didn’t win, but to have Bruce there and since he’s stepping away, it feels good that we kept the title within Hawaii.”

Congratulations Bruce Irons, the 2008 Rip Curl Pro Search ‘Somewhere in Indonesia’ Champion!

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH FINAL RESULTS
1 – Bruce Irons (HAW) 17.66
2 – Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.16

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SEMIFINAL RESULTS
SF 1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 10.16 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.50
SF 2: Bruce Irons (HAW) 13.70 def. Chris Ward (USA) 13.50

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
QF 1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 16.50 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 14.17
QF 2: Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.00 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.34
QF 3: Bruce Irons (HAW) 19.40 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 9.67
QF 4: Chris Ward (USA) 16.34 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.90

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 4 RESULTS
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS) 11.67 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.67
Heat 2: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 19.50 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.40
Heat 3: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 10.00 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 6.30
Heat 4: Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.77 def. Dayyan Neve (AUS) 5.06
Heat 5: Bruce Irons (HAW) 10.84 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.83
Heat 6: Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.97 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 12.37
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.43 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.83
Heat 8: Chris Ward (USA) 18.17 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 11.33

The second round of the Quiksilver Pro found Snapper Rocks coming back to form following several days of small-surf and uncooperative conditions. Snapper wasn’t alone in returning to it’s form as 2 time world-champ Andy Irons opened up and let loose in the opening heat of the day to put a quick end to 16 yr. old trials winner Tamaroa McCombs run and avoid what would have been an absolutely disastrous T-33rd finish for A.I. in the inaugural event of the ASP Tour. In a stark contrast to his demeanor in and out of the water during the opening round, the former world-champ sounded quite pleased with the way he surfed Tuesday, and after posting a 9.70 to seal his spot in the 3rd round he has every reason to be.

I haven’t gotten a 9 in about six months so it felt unreal. I haven’t made heats in a while and I guess I just haven’t been into it. In the offseason I really had to think about that and now I’m really psyched. I want to be here and I want to do well. I like to win heats and it feels good. It’s my new buzz.

ROOKIE WATCH - The frosh class pulled off some very impressive victories Tuesday, setting up some interesting match-ups in the upcoming 3rd round. Jordy Smith surfed a flawless heat and Dane Reynolds fired away and both move on to face Bobby Martinez and Dean Morrison respectively. Julian Wilson narrowly edged out Pancho Sullivan to move onto the 3rd round as well. This was a particularly surprising result to me as I really expected Pancho to do well with the way he had been surfing as of late.

INJURY WATCH - Fred Patacchia was unable to get the his ankle back into good enough condition and Jay “Bottle” Thompson moved on as a result. Aritz Aranburu also wasn’t able to go, giving Neco Padaratz (my dark-horse contestant) an easy pass into the next round of action.

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Pancho Sullivan would not be denied. Dominating the Monster Energy Pipeline Pro from beginning to end, Sullivan sealed the win in what was, although sub-par by Pipeline standards, finally somewhat decent surf following a windy and rainy weekend of tiny waves.

Posting a perfect 10-point tube ride as well as the highest heat score of the event - 18.75 points out of 20, in the 30-minute final, his three rivals were all left in need of a combination of scores to turn the tables. The win earned Sullivan $7,000 and 875 World Qualifying Series ratings points. Pancho, the much heralded North Shore local, first won this event back in 2005, a result that catapulted him onto the elite ASP World Championship Tour.

An all-Hawaii affair, second and third place went to fellow WCT surfers Fred Patacchia and Roy Powers respectively, with Dustin Barca fourth. With the conditions being what they were, it was very evident that familiarity and knowledge of Pipe had local surfers in the right places at the right times, enabling them to dominate the competition.

Even though Sullivan’s perfect ten was up there, ride of the day honors has to go to Patacchia. In a classic move with 20 minutes left in the final heat, and realizing that Pancho was just too far out in front to catch, Fred decided to paddle in and trade in his surfboard for a pink bodyboard, apparently not concerned by the threat of losing money by dropping his position in the heat. When he wiped out heavily on that, he took to bodysurfing the barrel. “The thought of injury and money didn’t even enter my mind,” said Patacchia. “I was all about the win, so once I saw Pancho had it, I was done.”

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