Well I made it to the promised land, Hawaii a place where reps are made and broken. There is no hiding when the swell is big and if you cat it, it takes years to rebuild your rep. Ask Anthony Jay Brown. The boy was destined to big things until he came here in 1985 and dogged going out in 5 ft Sunset and was banished to Idaho in the USA for 9 years. Well I got straight off the plane and made my way to the North Shore and hooked into a huge West swell at Pipe. No time to get my legs or make excuses so I was straight out there. Within seconds I grabbed the board and paddled out into some of the biggest waves I’d surfed for ages. Six hours later I was still out there getting all the big ones and loving it. Needless to say the locals weren’t happy.

Well after a few weeks of putting up with shitty waves, rain, non stop drinking sessions which ended up in runs into the Honolulu nudie bars I was over it nearly ready to come home but decided to stay on as the Billabong pad was a better option than Jacko’s garage in Matto. Lucky for me the next 4 days were the best waves all season at Pipe so far and I was just pulling in deeper than all the locals. They wanted a piece of me by the end of the 2nd day and once I hit the beach I was surrounded by the Wolfpak lads. Now I told them that “I was a 3 dan black belt Karate pro and I would hurt them if they came near me”. They laughed it off and kept coming. 45 seconds later 6 men down and me just standing there just saying “you fellas want some more??? Now go back to your little den”. They apologised and the next 2 days I got any wave I paddled for.

Straight after this swell the pros arrived en masse for the 1st leg of the triple crown was held here at Haleiwa and after slogging it out in tiny wave all week the final day saw perfect 3-4ft waves. Andy Irons took out the event the 1st in the 2006 Triple Crown in convincing fashion. Taj got 2nd & Parko, Fanning & Stedman got knocked in the semis

Next comp was The O'Neill World Cup of Surfing held at Sunset. Now for those of you that don't know Sunset on its day is one of the narliest waves on the planet but most of the time it's a frustrating wave. It's bumpy, fat and the inside hardly ever opens up. It almost makes you want to give up surfing. These are the exact conditions the competitors in the opening rounds had to face. As luck would have it after weeks of average waves on the rock the big heats were held in perfect 6-8ft waves. Parko was on fire with some massive scores in his earlier heats so too was Andy Irons, Deano Morrison & Darren O'Raff, 5 Aussies made into the Quarters with only Parko and Fanning progressing through to the Semis. In Semi 1 Parko killed Hawaii’s big guns. Pancho Walsh and Pattacia. In Semi 2 the Albino Fanning had a shocker. He couldn't buy a wave and got knocked out. So in the Final it was Parko v Irons & Pattacia and some nobody from Souff Afreeca. Mate Parko stood up when it counted and after 2 waves had the final in the bag. Parko smashed an 8 and a 9 and it was all over. Needless to say the party at the Billabong house at Pipe that night was bullshit.

Pipe the final event of the Year. The best event of the year held at one of the narliest breaks in the world. The event produced some of the spectacular surfing. Slater, Cory Lopez, The Irons boys, O'Brien, Machado, Fanning, Luke Stedman & Patterson were on fire early. Patterson who had to make the semis to stay on the WCT next year gave it his all in the 4th round. He charged every wave taking off and pulling in on the biggest close. Not bad for a peeping tom. Yeah mate we still remember your deeds in LA watching guys come in and out of that gay club that you saw Dustin Moore going to. Before the final there was an expression session were yours truly got a start due to my standout performances in the early season. I got the call-up by the locals because I'd been taking off 20 metres deeper than all the pipe locals and the Wolfpak - who run the pipe line-up. I actually won the expression session and scored $2000 from Forsters for the deepest barrel and longest tube.

I retreated back to the Billabong place to watch the final and man was it an epic. Slater, Machado, Irons & Lopez. Slater started with a 9 and then followed up with a 7.4 and then replaced it with an 8.53. He held the lead until Irons woke from his slumber and with 16 to go scored a 9.87. With 2 minutes to go Slater caught another and got 8.73 and came to shore thinking he had won it. With 1 minute to go a big set approached AI was in position as a bomb 10 footer made the beyond vertical drop and got the longest deepest barrel of the entire comp and scored a perfect 10. The crowd went nuts the boys at the Billabong place went nuts and AI went jatz crackers when he got to the shore. What a way to win the Pipe Masters. Andy 4 time Pipe Master and now 4 time triple crown champ.

Well that's all folks. I'm gonna hang around here for another few weeks until end of Jan. I'll be back to see Southend go round in the Jim Beam tag team comp in Wollongong in Feb. Dr Hke I will need your counselling when I get home to get over this trip. Hope you can squeeze me in for a few visits if Thommo hasn’t booked you out. Well It's been an epic year 40 countries, 52 cherries on my bat, surfed 230 days outta 278 and drank an estimated 2869 beers 2800 of which I scabbed of the pros or scored doing what I do best table drinking. A big thanks to the boys who do the raffle at the Sands every Friday cause every cent made there funded my trip and finally a big thanks to the committee except for Wez cause his brother is gay, for sending me on this trip of a lifetime. Make sure you buy the next Tracks mag as I've got the cover.

Later