Sunny Garcia late for heat & is knocked out at Pipeline

Team News

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 December, 2009 : - - North Shore, Oahu - Sunny Garcia was knocked out of the Billabong Pipeline Masters yesterday after arriving late for his heat. Garcia clashed heatedly with contest director Randy Rarick, threatening to grab a singlet and surf anyway. Initially, Garcia was furious. Eventually, he was shattered.

The 2000 world champion was sitting at No.2 in the ratings behind Parkinson in the Triple Crown. He was made the first reserve for the draw - but no one withdrew so Garcia was out. ''Sunny Garcia, check in for your heat; Sunny Garcia, your heat has started!'' was the message over the loudspeaker as his opponent, Nic Muscroft, entered the water. When the five-minute deadline passed, Garcia was forfeited and his replacement, fellow Hawaiian Torrey Meister, ripped Muscroft apart by 16.83 points to 8.9.

''I don't know what happened,'' Meister said. ''I expected Sunny to turn up and I was sitting on the beach getting tired watching the waves. I was literally nearly falling asleep. I couldn't get too antsy because I didn't know if I was going to get into the event, but I'm happy that I did. I guess it's kind of an advantage to get in this way, because I didn't have time to get nervous.''

Rarick said: ''Basically, Sunny failed to check in by the five-minute mark. All surfers have to abide by the five-minute mark and they know that. When he didn't do that, we had no option than replacing him with Torrey. Sunny knows the rules and he knows he's got no one to blame but himself. He said he was stuck in the terrible traffic we've had around here today. He's an emotional guy and a tremendous surfer. It's unfortunate for him. I've known Sunny a long time and there's no problem there.''