Surfing - Sullivan shows rivals how to surf Sunset at Vans World Cup

Local surfer Pancho Sullivan took advantage of a double-overhead swell at Sunset Beach as the Vans World Cup of Surfing got under way.

In shifty conditions, Sullivan registered the day's highest score with 15.5, while Australians Tom Whitaker and Nathan Hedge and Maui's Ian Walsh and Ian Gentil also shone.

"'I absolutely love this wave it's got so many looks - from 2 feet to 15 feet it's so much fun," said Sullivan, who is yet to win the Vans World Cup at his home break.

"It's a high performance wave. You can really push your surfing and I try to attack it like you would a small wave even in the bigger eight to 10 foot surf.

"It's home, I grew up, started surfing the little inside wave shores and eventually graduated out to the point and it's a wave that I think you just have to put a lot of time into learning the different line-ups depending on the direction and size."

Walsh said: "You've got to approach Sunset everyday for what it is. You can't really plan too much ahead... even right before your heat you've got to make an adjustment, adapt to every little thing, you can't really premeditate everything."

Hedge, on a comeback and looking for valuable seed points for 2013, also relished the conditions after a couple of lay days had delayed the start of the event.



The swell is now expected to diminish and action may not resume for another two days. When it does, the round of 64 will get under way, with the likes of Gabe Kling, Mark Occhilupo and Nat Young hitting the water.

Round of 128 results:















