Sunset Beach, HI (December 2, 1997)--It was a Rip Curl kind of day at Sunset Beach as surfers paddled from peak to peak through windy, bumpy, choppy conditions trying to find the right spot to take off in theRip Curl World Cup of Surfing presented by Zeal Optics.

The World Cup, a four-star World Qualifying Series competition, with $80,000 in prize money, is the last WQS contest of the season and a critical one for surfers.
The top 16 WQS finishers will earn a berth on next year's elite ASP World Championship Tour.

While Brazil's Victor Ribas leads the WQS ratings and won his heat today, Australia's Beau Emerton is right behind him in the number two position. Today Emerton advanced to round four with a 19.93 heat score, over Brazil's Yuri Sodre, 17.20, USA's Pete Rocky, 15.60 and Hawaii's Ross Williams, 9.17.

Before he went out in the water, Emerton, 22, said: "I've been waiting to go out all week so I guess you just gotta go out and give it your best shot. It's pretty hard conditions out there but you can either have a really good heat or a really bad one, so I'm hoping to have a good one. I'm using my 7'4 board. I think I'll use that one and try to get a few good inside waves."

Following his heat he had this to say: "I had a pretty bad start and I ended up getting that good one, what was it? A 9.43. I didn't realize until I came in what score I had. I actually thought I'd lost the heat, so I'm pretty happy," Emerton said.

"You don't know what's going on out there, so you always tend to think the worst, especially in conditions like this." said Emerton, who felt the others in his heat got better waves than he. "I was thinking the worst and I really thought I'd lost out there."

European champion Russell Winter compared the ocean today to the English Channel on a bad day. "It would be better if it wasn't so windy," he said.

Brazil's Yuri Sodre, 19, is one of the few teens on the tour and so happy with his finish today he was grinning from ear to ear as he exited the water.

"It was very hard because I'm too young, you know," said Sodre, who finished second to Beau Emerton and grinned from ear to ear as he exited the water. "You have to get a lot of experience to surf this kind of wave because it's too big, and there's wind. In Brazil we don't have this kind of wave, never.

"The waves are too strong," Sodre said. "But I have one guy who prepares me and I put in my mind that I will make it, and I made it, for my dad. And...I forgot what I was going to say, cause I'm too happy."

For others trying to win the Men's Triple Crown of Surfing Championship, the points they gain in this one will help put them near the top when they enter the Pipe Masters.

Australian Tony Ray, a non-touring but formerly rated professional surfer, has so far done very well in the '97 Triple Crown. From the trials to the finals of the OP Pro he won each heat and then the contest. For this contest he's posted a 1-2-1 in three heats and will surf tomorrow in round 4.

"When its like that, 25 minutes is like nothing, you know," said Ray who is in the Pipeline trials. "There's barely time to get one wave, and then you gotta' go in and get three. It's like being stuck in a heavy duty rinse cycle in the washing machine."

Zeal wildcard Adam Faunce, 28, felt more like he'd been caught in the wash cycle after he won his heat. "It was kind of big and windy, really messy and hard to get good waves," said Faunce of his first Triple Crown. "It's really hard conditions."

Matt Hoy, who won the Rip Curl contest at Bell's Beach last March and could be shooting for a second Rip Curl win this year, made it through his heat today with a 16.44 score to Luke Hitchings, 14.00, Chris Gallagher's 11.37 and Mark Bannister's 8.33.

California's Pat O'Connell caught four low scoring waves but made up for it on his second wave as the only surfer to receive a 10.00 today.

If scores were given for wipeouts, five-time world champion Kelly Slater would have received a 10 today for a spectacular "crash" in round 3, heat 4. Slater made a hard bottom turn climbed back up the lip and was launched by the wind off the top. "I was up in the air so long looking down at the water, I was wondering when I would hit. It was a little bit scary," Slater said. He did not make it through the heat.

Another form of wipeout came today for Hawai`i surfer Conan Hayes who needed a good finish to keep his spot on the WCT but finished fourth in his heat today.

For more information:
Carol Hogan or Jodi Holmes
Lava.Net/Honolulu Cellular - Sunset Beach Media Center
808-638-5533 Fax: 808-638-5008

Check out the official Triple Crown website at:
http://holoholo.org/triplecrown/