Sunny Garcia misses heat on Day 1
By Stuart Cornuelle
Jobs not to be 10 minutes late for:
Astronaut
Midwife
Assassin
Fireman
Sunny Garcia
Torrey Meister arrived at Pipeline in the dark this morning. Tired. He’d surfed into the semis of the O’Neill World Cup in big, unruly surf a week earlier. Then he’d gotten up at 4:00 a.m. to jet over to Maui and tow-surf Jaws with Mike Parsons and Laurie Towner. As the swell dropped, it became clear that the Billabong Pipe Masters would begin Thursday, and Torrey — as first alternate — had to be ready to paddle out at a moment’s notice.
He hadn’t surfed Pipeline once all season, missing the only good days for WQS events in California and Vancouver Island. He hadn’t eaten anything. Sitting in the competitors’ area, ready to patiently await a dropout for days if necessary, Torrey actually began to doze off.
Until about a quarter after ten. Sunny Garcia was supposed to be surfing against Nic Muscroft in Heat 8, but Sunny hadn’t showed. Torrey was on. He grabbed his jersey and rushed out to join Muscroft in the lineup, who had already begun catching waves. Then Sunny arrived on the beach, ready to surf. Late to work. Mere minutes late, but his tardiness wouldn’t be excused.
The contest had kicked off running the dual heat format, meaning the contest was progressing 50% faster than normal, and Sunny had missed his chance. Torrey had already caught a 4.87, which he’d soon throw out in favor of two 8’s, bludgeoning Nic Muscroft out of the event with a 16.83 heat total. But the real drama was on the beach at the competitors’ tent.
Sunny was told he wouldn’t be surfing; he disagreed. He made a move to grab a jersey and paddle out, but Triple Crown Director Randy Rarick grabbed it too. Rules are rules. A mild singlet tug-of-war ensued, but to no avail — Sunny was out. Kauai’s Evan Valiere offered to give up the next alternate spot, so that Sunny would still have a chance to get in, but no other surfers withdrew from Round 1. And that was it. Tragedy.
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Sunny got robbed! Chris Ward showed up 15 MINUTES LATE! to his 2nd round heat in France. But he still got to go out and surf. If the rules are what all you Sunny haters say they are then how come nobody replaced Wardo? Rules are rules and Randy Rarick is the one who didn’t follow them.
FAAARRRKKK. Is this true? Adriano was also late during pipe and was allowed to surf? Randy, not cool. Unprofessional is having double standards, so if you’re late your’re out should APPLY to all situations… Heavy one Sunny, at least you’re a living legend.
For the record, Sunny G DID take it like a “man”. He was understandably upset about the situation and was watching his chance slip away in real time as Rarick jawed on the beach. Thats slow torture. But Sunny realized his mistake, blamed only himself and moved on and that’s the mark of maturity. I don’t know why so many are taking “pleasure” in this man’s mistake and misfortune.
It does sound a bit like a double standard with Adriano getting to surf and Sunny getting the ax but who shows up late for a Pipe Masters heat anyway it’s beyond me.if you’re gonna surf pro you’ve got to be pro about it and be on time.If I hear it’s good at OB and I don’t run to get it,well you missed out bra,your bad…
Tragedy! Heartbreak! Talk about over kill. Talk about sucking up. Here’s a writer shoring up a hassle free winter on the North Shore this year. The headline should have read: No News Today.
Tragedy? Hasn’t this happened before with Sunny. You would think he had learned his lesson the first time.
He is really not the best representitive for Hawai’i anyway, yea he charges but he is just too aggro, or at least he was, maybe he has mellowed out in the last few years. One would hope anyway. Beter luck next time, and hopefully you won’t be late. Don’t forget about the traffic.
Garcia is a racist, aggro, idiot. Glad he finally got a taste of his own karma. He couldn’t kick somebody’s ass to fix this screw up…surprised he didn’t blame all us haoles for his over sleeping.
What goes around comes around…
FB