Garcia has double fun

Six-time Triple Crown winner Sunny Garcia was in dominant form on Thursday as the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Haleiwa got under way in 3- to 5-foot surf on the North Shore.

Garcia, 43, who first surfed in competition at Haleiwa when he was 9, also competed in the Clash of the Legends event.

Garcia’s 13.70 two-wave score in the Triple Crown event was tops in his heat, ahead of New Zealand’s Billy Stairmand (13.44), Portugal’s Frederico Morais (10.06) and Hawaii’s Kevin Sullivan (9.43).

"My approach has always been to wait for the sets and I was a little worried halfway through (my heat)," Garcia said. "These young guys surf so incredible, for me to beat them I’m always going to have to have the better waves and bigger turns, and need all the size I can get."

In the Legends event, Garcia’s 15.93 score was easily better than Hawaii’s Kaipo Jaquias (10.00) and Michael Ho (8.66), and California’s Brad Gerlach (0.00).

"They started the heat and It just went flat," Garcia said. "I don’t think anybody caught a wave till the 10-minute mark, it was a nail-biter."

Also advancing on Thursday was 16-year-old Seth Moniz from Honolulu, who won the second heat of the day with a 10.80 score.

"It feels pretty good to make it out of that first heat, it was pretty nerve-racking," Moniz said. "It was my first time surfing a 6-star Prime event.

Hawaii surfers Dylan Goodale, Zeke Lau, Kai Barger and Ian Walsh all won their heats.

Brazil’s Marco Fernandez scored the highest combined heat total of the day at 17.17 (out of 20).