His Turn to Shine

Five years ago, Sunny Garcia sat in the shade of the Huntington Beach pier and described his relationship with Kelly Slater.

“We’re good friends,” he said. “And when we watch each other surf, we sit on the beach and pray the other one loses.”

Unfortunately for Garcia, Slater’s prayers were answered much more often.

Slater, whose radical maneuvers were revolutionizing the sport, had already won two Assn. of Surfing Professionals world titles and was to win an unprecedented four more before going into semi-retirement last year. Garcia, whose powerful, carving turns and attacking approach are tribute to a more traditional style of surfing, was halfway through a remarkable decade of consistency during which he finished in the top 10 every year.

But never higher than No. 3.

So guess who’s No. 1 in the World Championship Tour rankings coming into the Bluetorch Pro that begins Wednesday in Huntington Beach?

That’s right, Vincent Sennan Garcia III holds a slim 270-point lead over Australia’s Luke Egan.

Garcia, 30, a 14-year ASP veteran from Hawaii who is second--behind Slater, of course--on the career money list with $701,880, is sort of the Cal Ripken Jr. of surfing. Even on a tour where the head-to-head, one-guy-advances-the-other-goes-home grind takes its toll on loyalties, Garcia is as close to a sentimental favorite as you can get.

He clearly has the respect and--albeit sometimes grudging--admiration of most everyone who makes their living on a surfboard and was recently elected president of a newly created pro surfers’ group called the World Professional Surfers Assn.

Oxnard’s Tim Curran, a 22-year-old who ended last season ranked No. 5, seems to speak for many of the younger pros when he says, “Sunny’s one of the guys I used to watch in videos when I started surfing and it still seems a little strange to be out there competing against him. I wouldn’t be too upset if he won it. He’s put his time in.”

Slater’s decision to cut back his schedule made room last year for Australian Mark Occhilupo’s long-awaited ascent to a world championship at age 33. But Slater, who can always get a wild card to surf where and when he wants, apparently hasn’t lost form. In two events this year, he won in Tahiti and lost in the third round to Occhilupo in Fiji.

“Sunny’s been up against Kelly for a lot of years and he’s never been able to [win a world title],” said former world champion Ian Cairns, ASP’s North America director and a vice president at Irvine-based Bluetorch. “Let’s face it, the general consensus among the guys was that Kelly was pretty much untouchable.”

Garcia, however, bristles at the notion he should feel a sense of urgency because Slater might decide to return to the tour full time.

“Let’s get one thing straight, there’s no shortage of talent on this tour,” he said. “I’ll give Kelly all the credit in the world, he’s got six world titles, but on any given day there’s 48 guys who could beat him.

“He’s tired, he needs a break, so, yeah, I’m ready to step up. But I’ve been wanting to win a world championship for 15 years and I don’t want to win it any more this year than I have any other.”

Going With the Flow

While the level of desire may not have changed, Garcia’s chances surely have improved with Slater competing only part time.

“In the past 18 months, a lot of surfers have become more confident of their chances of winning a world title,” said former Surfing Magazine editor Nick Carroll, now a free-lance journalist who travels the WCT. “But, even though this might sound weird, I feel like Sunny is actually less concerned about [winning a championship] than he has been in years past.

“Of course, he would love to be world champion, but he seems willing to flow along and do his job from heat to heat, and if it comes, it comes. I don’t believe he feels like there’s any need to be desperate about it, which is probably good. The timing and relaxed power needed to surf at your peak does not benefit from desperation.”

Indeed, timing and power are the keys that unlock the fluid grace that makes Garcia’s surfing so much fun to watch. He always seems to be in the right place on the wave at the right time and manages to stay atop his little slab of foam and fiberglass when everything around him--such as gravity and a couple hundred thousand gallons of ocean--are apparently intent on reversing his fortunes.

“He’s just got a beautifully grooved-in style in which very little is out of place,” Carroll says.

Garcia, who grew up in big-wave conditions in Hawaii, is also adept at getting the most out of less-than-spectacular conditions, which could bode well for his fortunes in Huntington, where predictions cast a gloomy picture about the chances of a decent swell. He won the first two WCT events this year in Australia in mediocre conditions.

“Sunny is a deceiving surfer because he’s got those big carving bottom turns and power moves and is so at home in big waves,” Cairns said, “but he’s also really good in crummy waves. He’s very versatile.”

Bouncing Back

There’s another explanation for Garcia’s ability to finish in the top 16 a dozen times in 14 years, a most extraordinary run in a sport where careers sometimes last as long as yesterday’s swell. “I honestly can think of only one reason,” he says. “I absolutely hate to lose. Ever since I was a little kid, in cards, at anything, you name it. I love to compete and I hate to lose.”

It’s a common trait among champions, but Garcia knows how to take it to the extreme.

Consider the final day of the 1996 Pipeline Masters, the most prestigious event on the tour. Near the end of his quarterfinal heat against Australia’s Todd Prestage--which he won--Garcia suffered a scary wipeout and his arm was violently yanked behind his back. “I thought it was broken and they took me to the hospital in an ambulance.” X-rays were negative, but it was determined he had a torn biceps muscle. “They taped me up, gave me a shot for the pain and I went outside, but there was no one around. So I ran down to the road and hitchhiked back to the contest. I got there about five minutes before my semifinal.”

Garcia, his arm weak but gratefully numb from painkillers, beat Hawaii’s Kapo Jaquias to advance to the finals against Slater. Sporting a new tape job for his showdown with Slater, Garcia promptly ripped through three Pipeline barrels to grab a solid lead. His fourth wave was almost fatal, however. His head slammed into the coral reef that shapes Pipeline’s waves into some of the world’s finest . . . and most dangerous.

“Somehow, I managed to get to the beach. I didn’t lose consciousness, but I didn’t know where I was or what was going on. After a while when my head cleared a little, I realized I was at the contest and in the finals and then I remembered hearing [the public address announcer] say I only needed a [score of] one-point-something [to take the lead]. So I tried to get my board and go back out. I figured I could just catch the whitewater and get a one.”

A couple of Garcia’s lifeguard buddies began to protest when Garcia’s eyes rolled up in their sockets. A couple of minutes later, he was back in an ambulance heading back to the hospital for tests. “Everything was OK, but I can tell you that I didn’t feel too good the next day.”

A Sunny Future?

Garcia’s wife, Raina, can’t take credit for her husband’s power, grace or determination, but she has taken an active role in helping him stay fit. At 5 feet 10 and 190 pounds, Garcia is among the bigger surfers on the tour--which can be a disadvantage in small waves because it’s more difficult to maintain speed--so weight-watching has become a family affair.

“She put me on a diet, sort of--well, I don’t drink sodas anymore or go to McDonald’s,” he said. “I feel like I have a lot more energy. When I was living [in Rancho Santa Fe] last year, there was a gym right down the street and I worked out every day.”

Garcia and his wife have since moved to Kauai so he can be near his daughters, Kaila, 9, and Logan, 8, and his son, Stone, 6, who live with their mother on Oahu. He likes that he can surf in warm water and good waves more often, but he misses the gym and plans on getting some exercise equipment for his new house.

“You never used to see anybody on the tour over the age of 30, but Occy and I are going to start stretching that out,” he said. “I think I’ve still got five or six good years left.”

Can this relatively old man in the sea hang onto the top spot for another 5 1/2 months?

Carroll doesn’t see why not.

“His years on tour have taught him all there is to know about the game,” he said, “and his squared-off power surfing style looks great in good surf, especially as opposed to many of the lightweight, younger up-and-coming pros.”

After Huntington, eight of this year’s 14 WCT events remain, so there’s much to be decided. Still, Cairns says a world title is “right there for Sunny.”

“If he tries to just hang on, I don’t think he’ll get it,” Cairns said, “but if stays aggro and remains the Sunny Garcia we all love to watch, and the one those guys all hate to compete against, I think it’s his if he wants it.”

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Pro Surfing

* What: Bluetorch Pro, $168,100 World Championship Tour professional surfing event featuring 48 of the best male and 15 of the top female surfers in the world

* Where: South side of Huntington Beach Pier

* When: Wednesday through Sunday, with early rounds running from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Men’s fourth-round heats and women’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (2:15 p.m.) on Saturday. Men’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals (12:40 p.m.) on Sunday.

* Parking: Available at city structure on corner of Main and Olive streets

* Webcast: Live on www.bluetorch.com

* Information: (949) 215-8000