In two of the most exciting World Championship Tour races ever, Kauaian surfers and Hanalei natives Andy Irons and Keala Kennelly made surfing history by being the first male-female Hawai’i duo to win the Triple Crown of Surfing.
While both won the crown, only Irons won the world title.
In both races, it came down to the final day of the surf contest seasons, providing nail-biting finishes on Maui and O’ahu.
O’ahu native Myles Padaca summed up the thoughts of the epic Kelly Slater-Andy Irons showdown on O’ahu, Dec. 19:
“It was a really special day and is going to go down in the history of all the surf lore and legend books. You couldn’t ask for a better show today. I take my hat off to Andy and Kelly. It was the most spectacular thing to happen in surfing for a long time and it feels great to be a part of it.”
Kennelly, who led the world title race going into the last event, fell just short of winning her first world title. She lost in the semifinals at the Billabong Pro Maui on Dec. 12 by a minuscule six-hundreths of a point to eventual winner Samantha Cornish.
The semifinal loss, and Australian Layne Beachley’s win in the other semifinal, gave Beachley her sixth consecutive crown, making her the first surfer, male or female, ever to win six consecutively.
The only other six-time world-title winner, Slater, led the points race going into the last event, with Irons needing a better finish at the Pipeline Masters to beat him.
After a stressful day, Irons and Slater wound up battling it out in the finals at the world’s most famous surf spot.
Irons eventually won the contest, the Triple Crown, and the WCT title for the second time. Irons is the first surfer to win all three titles two years in a row.
“I didn’t think it would come out this way, but this is a dream come true. This is the stuff I dreamed of as a kid. I got to watch it and now I’m living it,” Irons said after the final on Dec. 19. “I was a ball of nerves the whole day, it was so emotional.”
“The final was psycho,” he added, “It was just one of those finals. I was so tired and sore. I couldn’t wait to hear the countdown, but my watch actually stopped at 12 minutes, so I thought it was 12 minutes forever.”
The final will go down in history as one of the more pressure-packed events in surfing. While the waves were on the small and inconsistent side, the amount riding on the results of that heat will be hard to match.
“My stomach has been in knots for weeks, so I’m just happy it’s over. I’m just trying to soak it up and enjoy it,” said Irons after the contest. “Kelly said it was one of the best days of his career. For me to hear that was just amazing. He said he’d never had such a rad title race, and tried so hard.
“For him to say that was just the biggest compliment. I still look up to him. He sets the scale and the standard,” said Irons. “To see what he’s done in the past and be able to go head-to-head with him was just amazing.”
Equally matching the drama on O’ahu was the stage a week prior at Honolua Bay.
“It all came down to this day and was pretty amazing,” said Kennelly after the event. “Everybody in contention made the quarters onwards and there was unreal surfing, so it was exciting stuff.”
The waves cooperated a little better for the ladies, with crisp, clean barrels filtering through the world-class right reefbreak..
“If you were going to win the world title you definitely had to earn it today,” she said on Dec. 12.
“That heat with (Cornish) was close. She got an early lead and I came back strong at the end, but just didn’t seem to get the scores. There’s always next year. (Beachley) earned it today.”
As for the Triple Crown, it was something, but not everything.
“The Triple Crown was the last of my thoughts,” she acknowledged, when told she’d won the prestigious Triple Crown of Surfing award for her combined efforts over the past three Hawaiian events. “It was all about the world title today, but at least I won something. About time a Hawaiian won the Hawaiian Triple Crown.”
