O'Neill World Cup of Surfing 2005 - WQS Sunset Beach, Hawaii

INTERNATIONALS SETTLE INTO TOUGH SURF AT O'NEILL WORLD CUP

Sunset Beach, HAWAII - (Sunday, November 27, 2005) - A disjointed swell of 8- to 12-feet took the world's best to task today for day two of the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach, Hawaii. If the first day of competition favored local knowledge, today's unpredictable lineup leveled the playing field, with the majority of heats won by visiting overseas competitors. Of the 18 heats contested today, 13 were won by non-Hawaii surfers.

Among them, 22-year-old Australian Dan Ross continued on this-morning with the red-hot form that saw him post the highest single wave score of the contest late last Friday - a 9.9 point ride that still stands as the best of the tournament. He registered a total of 12.83 points today, including his top wave of 8.0. In only his second year of surfing in Hawaii, Ross, from Yamba, NSW, looked like a seasoned veteran today, linking strong, arcing maneuvers all the way through from the mountainous outside take-off to the funneling walls of water on the inside reef.

"It's pretty intimidating," said Ross, after his fourth round win. "I probably had the heaviest hold down today that I've had in ages - which rattles you a bit," he said of a wipeout that kept him pinned underwater for a good 15 seconds. "But I like surfing bigger waves. It's a lot better than the half- to two-foot waves it feels like we usually get for contests. It was pumping through today and I was just psyched to be heading out for a heat."

New Zealand's Maz Quinn surfaced with the top heat score of the competition so far in his round four heat, averaging almost nine points for his top two rides against Australian trio Kieren Perrow, Jamie Thomson and Nathan Webster. In his 10th Hawaii season, Quinn, 29, is enjoying the best Hawaii results of his career. From Gisborne, Quinn reached the quarter finals at the first stop in Haleiwa last week, and is on track for at least a similar result here at Sunset Beach if he can hold firm on his form of today.

With a two-wave total of 17.66 points out of a possible 20 - a 9.87 his best, second-placed Perrow was left in need of a near-perfect 9.34 if he was to overtake Quinn, even though his total score of 15.43 would have been enough to win 16 of the 18 heats surfed today. Perrow still advanced in second. Quinn will next face Adriano de Souza (Brazil), Greg Emslie (SAfr), and Kainoa McGee (Hawaii) in round five.

O'Neill team-rider Nathan Carroll, a Sunset local, blitzed his way through another two rounds today and will take on former world champion Mark Occhilupo (Australia), as well as two other riders, in round five. Like Australia's Dan Ross, Carroll also suffered the odd heavy wipeout between excellent rides, posting a two-wave total of 13.5 points. His best wave was an 8.5.

"The conditions are really hard," said 20-year-old Carroll. "I think it's harder being a local today - we're so picky and we usually know which waves are good. But the best waves I got today looked like the (worst) ones, but turned out great. "It's kind of scary. It's like, 'don't fall!' The first day I had a really bad wipeout and hit the bottom. It's kind of survival surfing - do what you need to do to get the score but don't wipeout. "You can get pushed down 10-15 feet out here and it feels like you're doing about 20 or 30 summersaults underwater. And there are so many air bubbles in the water that you can't even get yourself to the surface for a breath, or it's so dark that you don't even know where the surface is. I've had it sometimes where I've had to climb my (surfboard) leash to get to the surface. Especially on a day like today when there are so many waves coming one on top of the other - there's not time sometimes to even get a breath between hold-downs."

Local surfer Makua Rothman was again a standout today, posting a 15.76 point total in the fourth round. Rothman is drawn against C.J. Hobgood (USA), Fred Patacchia (Haw), and Justin Mujica (Portugal) in round five. South Africa's David Weare also made the international stand-out list today with a satisfying 14-point total in his heat against Shane Beschen (USA), Dustin Barca (Hawaii) and Rodrigo Dornelles (Brazil). With this swell episode forecast to hold in through tomorrow, organizers are hoping for a continuation of favorable light-off-shore winds to continue on with competition tomorrow.

There are two days of competition still to run, including the women's O'Neill Sunset Challenge. For live coverage and a complete list of results: www.triplecrownofsurfing.com For up-to-the-minute surf forecasting: www.surfline.com . Surfline is the official surf forecaster for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. Information: Jodi Young (808) 258-8533 (not for publication)