Irons Is Making Waves Now

Andy Irons’ has a philosophy any professional athlete can appreciate: “I like to go really fast, do a lot of powerful turns and look good the whole time.”

He also likes to soar really high, which perhaps has a different meaning today than it did during his early years on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals tour.

“In those years, surfing on the tour was a dream come true,” Irons says. “I was coming fresh out of high school and getting paid to go on holiday to all these different countries. I was only 18 but in most of those countries I was old enough to drink. I was able to go into clubs and it was all about drinks and girls and friends. Life was all about going off and just having fun.”

What Irons failed to realize at the time was that partying was taking its toll. He was not living up to expectations and, eventually, would sink so low that he considered kicking out of competitive surfing altogether.

Instead, he stuck with it, and today, with a clearer head and a work ethic befitting a top-level athlete, Irons, 24, of Princeville, Kauai, is well on his way to winning his first world title.

He will bring to Southern California next week a No. 1 rating on the World Championship Tour and an explosive style, blending power and speed with new-school acrobatics, that has made him a favorite among thousands of young surfers around the world.

“Now he has every aspect of his life handled and all he has to worry about is surfing, and that’s what he does best,” says Mike Parsons, contest director for the Boost Mobile Pro at Lower Trestles near San Clemente.

The four-day event, featuring the world’s top 44 surfers, plus four wild-card entries, has a nine-day competition window beginning Thursday.

It is the only WCT event being held this year on the U.S. mainland and the first since the Billabong Pro two years ago at Trestles. Irons won that event, and another victory at the legendary break would all but make him a shoo-in as world champion.

With victories in two of five WCT events this season, at Bells Beach in Australia, and in thunderous crushers at Teahupoo in Tahiti, Irons has built a commanding lead over all but his closest pursuers, Michael Lowe of Port Kembla, Australia, and Shea Lopez of Satellite Beach, Fla.

Still, he is not ready to celebrate just yet; not with seven events left and so many superstars on his trail, among them reigning world champion C.J. Hobgood, currently rated ninth; Joel Parkinson, fourth; Taj Burrow, 10th, and Kelly Slater, the six-time world champion who is back on tour after a three-year hiatus and, as his No. 21 rating suggests, is still struggling.

“Slater is a freak show,” Irons says affectionately of an athlete he has been compared to. “He could easily go out there and win four events in a row and steal this thing from everyone.”

Perhaps, but Irons is making the most of his time in the sun. Born and raised on Kauai, he began to excel at the sport not long after standing up for the first time, when he was 8.

He and his younger brother, Bruce, pushed each other to new heights as they surfed almost every day, before and after, and undoubtedly, at times, during school sessions. They developed the hard-driving power-and-speed style of surfing necessary to negotiate the fast and hollow waves breaking over the island reefs.

Andy turned pro first, surfing on the Hawaiian circuit then later on the ASP’s World Qualifying Series circuit, with the ultimate goal of earning enough points to someday reach the WCT. He attained that goal in 1998, at which time he was being hailed as the next Slater.

By then, though, his hard-driving lifestyle had begun to catch up to him, much as it had caught up to and ruined the careers of others before him.

“We would stay up until 3 a.m. the night before contests, getting wasted,” Irons says. “You learn the hard way that you can’t get by for long by doing that.”

Reality struck hard in 1998, when Irons failed to requalify for the WCT. He would have to work his way back through the longer and more grueling WQS circuit, on which his brother is now competing, although Bruce Irons has been awarded a wild-card entry for the Trestles event.

Failing to requalify was a turning point for Irons: It was either quit or turn his attention totally to surfing.

His supporters, and he had many, persuaded him to stay with it and he has been progressing steadily since. He finished the 2000 season ranked 16th and last season he was No. 10.

“What’s different about him now is that he’s incredibly focused and has a super-deep desire to win,” Parsons says.

Irons still drinks on occasion, he says, “but never on the night before contests.” He now has a girlfriend who accompanies him during much of his travels, and with the generous support of several high-profile sponsors--they pay him well in excess of what he makes on the tour--he again is living a dream.

“It was always a dream of mine to surf for a living but I never thought I’d be making the money I do,” he says. “I thought I’d be lucky just to be able to pay the bills and get by. Now I’m super stoked. I’ve got a killer car, a nice house and all the toys I want.”

The only thing missing is a crown.

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Taking the timing of the Trestles event into consideration, organizers have decided to have a paddle-out ceremony on Sept. 11 in honor of those who lost their lives and whose lives were forever changed as a result of the terrorist attacks. The ceremony is open to anyone wishing to attend and will take place after the raising of the flag at 6:30 a.m.

Says event spokesman Bill Sharp, “If there will be tears shed on the morning of Sept. 11, I say let them fall into the waters of Trestles where they may mix together in the healing waters of our ocean refuge.”

Trestles is located within San Onofre State Park.

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News and Notes

* Dove hunting: Sunday’s season opener is shaping up as one of the best in years in some parts of the state, notably the Imperial Valley and even across the border on and near the lower Colorado River.

“It’s looking pretty dang good,” says Richard Sprague, owner of Sprague’s Sports & RV in Yuma, Ariz. “There are some scenarios where there are no birds but the fields that have them are just packed.”

Gerald Mulcahy, a Department of Fish and Game biologist in Blythe, adds, “There are more doves in the Imperial and Palo Verde valleys than I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been here 13 years.”

A bonus for hunters in the Imperial Valley this year is the expansion of a cooperative program aimed at generating more opportunities. The DFG, Desert Wildlife Unlimited and several other agencies have developed and planted, with mostly wheat and safflower, 27 large fields on private lands accessible to the general public during the 15-day hunting season.

“All have been thrashed and are ready to go,” Mulcahy said.

Their locations can be found in the Hunting in California section at www.dfg.ca.gov.

Other popular areas in the region are the Wister and Finney-Ramer units of the state-run Imperial Wildlife Area near Niland. Details: (760) 359-0577.

* Saltwater fishing: Sashimi lovers have been in heaven this week. Bluefin tuna, which for so long have been reachable only by those aboard San Diego-based vessels, are in U.S. waters and being targeted by boats as far north as Los Angeles, in an area 90 miles offshore.

“And they’re the bigger fish too, averaging about 40 pounds,” says Don Ashley, owner of Pierpoint Landing in Long Beach. The Aztec returned to Pierpoint from a 1 1/2-day trip Wednesday with 76 bluefin and as many smaller albacore. The largest was an 85-pound bluefin caught by Gary Halberman of Torrance.

Freshwater fishing: Those heading to the Eastern Sierra this weekend for a final summer fling will find their favorite fishing holes teeming with trout. Lakes and streams throughout Inyo and Mono counties have received bonus plants from the DFG in anticipation of large holiday crowds. There had been concern over whether Mono County’s Hot Creek Fish Hatchery would be able to meet its delivery schedule, because of personnel shortages, but the Mono County Board of Supervisors lent both equipment and employees, and deliveries have been made all week. Alpers Ranch has been busy as well, planting its popular trophy-sized trout.

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Winding Up

A man and his teenage son were fishing last week off Florida when they found a human head floating on the surface. Using a gaff, they brought it aboard, but rather than run for the coast they stuck the head in a bag and continued fishing.

Said the father, Paul Trabulsy, “We didn’t want to come in right away, so we just put it in a bag in a bucket. It’d been out there a while--what’s a couple of hours?”

Authorities are investigating.