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At a time when excitement was beginning to peak in the pro surfing universe, a pall has been cast by the unexpected death of Andy Irons, a three-time world champion and one of the sport's icons.

Instead of preparing to celebrate Kelly Slater winning an unprecedented tenth ASP World Tour championship, competitors, industry executives and fans around the world are mourning the passing of one of Slater's longtime rivals.

It's a time for mourning, of course, but also for head-scratching, as circumstances surrounding Irons' death, at only 32, are both tragic and bizarre.

His body was found Tuesday morning in a Dallas hotel room, after he had failed to respond to a wake-up call. The surfer had recently become ill and was trying to return to Hawaii from a contest in Puerto Rico, and was in Dallas for a layover.

While Irons was said to have been suffering from symptoms associated with dengue fever, investigators searching the hotel room found Alprazolam (Xanex) and a prescription bottle of Ambien. An autopsy was performed Wednesday at the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's office, but lab results probably won't be available until Friday, according to spokesman Marc Flake.

Meanwhile, the Association of Surfing Professionals and its World Tour competitors -- still in Puerto Rico for the season's second-to-last competition -- are trying to come to grips with an event that essentially has left the surfing community reeling.

ASP CEO Brodie Carr said in a video statement: "The surfers today lost a brother. We all lost one of our fellow tribesmen and one of our family that we've been traveling with for many, many years, and it's a very sad day for all of us."

Irons had become ill at the previous competition in Portugal. Other surfers have attested to that and some reportedly also became sick.

Irons did not show for his first-round heat Saturday in Puerto Rico, and he officially withdrew Sunday. Dave Prodan, ASP spokesman, said it's still unclear whether Irons sought help from its medical staff. "Aside from Andy withdrawing from the event due to illness, ASP was unaware of the severity of it," Prodan said.


Irons admittedly battled "inner demons" occasionally throughout his career, and sought the ocean and its waves as a means to escape them. He loved being home on Kauai, and became homesick during his travels.

"He spent the better part of his career torn between wanting to conquer the world and wanting to get home," said Chris Mauro, who worked at Surfer magazine during the early careers of Andy Irons and his younger brother, Bruce, a former World Tour competitor. "There was always that conflict and it was always a tug-of-war for both of them because they come from such a beautiful place."

While there remain unanswered questions, what's crystal clear is that pro surfing lost not only an icon but one of its genuine characters, the pride of the Kauai, whose wife, Lyndie, is about to give birth to the couple's first child, a son.

The family has requested privacy "so their focus can remain on one another during this time of profound loss," and reaction from other surfers has only begun to trickle forth.

"Words can never explain how I feel right now. R.I.P. Andy, I know I will see you again," Sunny Garcia, a former world champion and fellow Hawaiian, wrote on his Facebook page.

Slater, when reached in Puerto Rico, referred to Irons as "an absolutely gifted individual."

Some of the heated duels between Slater and Irons, especially those in big waves at the fabled Banzai Pipeline, are legendary. The two surfers did not always like each other and Slater, 38, credits Irons for reigniting his competitive fire during those years when Irons was winning his titles.

"I feel blessed that we worked through the differences we had and I was able to learn what I'm made of because of Andy," Slater said Wednesday. "We enjoyed many quiet times together with our girls in the last year and I got to know a happy, funny, innocent kid who was happy to live every second with the people he loved.

"It's a huge and far too premature loss for all of us. He was the most intense competitor I've ever known and one of the most sensitive people. He had so much life left in him and it hurts to think about."

Slater, who could clinch his 10th world title as early as Friday, is expected to dedicate the remarkable feat to Irons.

Irons' death also comes a week before the prestigious Vans Triple Crown of Surfing gets underway on Oahu's North Shore.

The Triple Crown, which has events at Haleiwa, Sunset Beach and Pipeline, is fiercely competitive. Irons won it four times, and also won its treasured jewel, the Pipeline Masters, four times.

"He reveled in competition and in stepping up to the plate and I think that's something in sport that anybody can admire," Triple Crown spokeswoman Jodi Wilmott told the Associated Press.

Irons and his younger brother, Bruce, are perennial invitees to the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau big-wave competition at hallowed Waimea Bay. Bruce is a past winner and the opening ceremony for the 2010-11 is later this month.

It's bound to be an emotional affair.

-- Photos of Andy Irons are courtesy of ASP

Ever wonder what happens when a pro surfer jumps on a dirtbike and takes to the track alongside the top racers in motocross? Or when motocross guys attempt to surf alongside pro surfers including a former world champ. If you guessed complete chaos, you would be correct.

The 12 Annual Toyota Surfercross, wrapped up after 2 days of action in the desert and the beach. After the dust settled pro surfer Sunny Garcia and motocross racer Josh Grant won the overall pro division.

They were the models of consistency, not winning the individual competitions but placing high enough in the motocross and surf days to take home the overall title. They finished 3^rd at Starwest Motocross Park, as well as a 4^th place finish at San Onofre State Beach.

Overall, there were some unexpected impressive performances put on by some of the pros in the sports there not normally accustomed to doing. Big wave charger Ian Walsh showed of some moto skills on day one while Metal Mulisha FMX star Ronnie Faisst looked comfortable on his longboard.

Check out photos from Surfercross.

Full Results-

Pro Overall-

1.Garcia/Grant

2.Eckert/Norman

3.Rambo/Albrecht

4.Kailie/Kargola

5.Gabriel/Moss

Pro Motocross-

1.Moss/Gabriel

2.Dudek/Pattison

3.Grant/Garcia

4.Northrop/Greenlee

5.Emig/Tipton

Pro Surf-

1.Eckert/Norman

2.Dudek/Pattison

3.Grant/Garcia

4.Northrop/Greenlee

5.Emig/Tipton

Granger Larsen Photo Courtesy of US Open of Surfing

GrindTV Newswire, Via US Open of Surfing: HUNTINGTON BEACH, California/USA (Tuesday, August 3, 2010) The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME US Open of Surfing marched through Round 1 of the main event in tricky one-to-three foot (1 metre) surf at South Huntington Beach Pier today and saw ASP Pro Junior Standouts Granger Larsen (Lahaina, HI), 20, and Nat Young (Santa Cruz, CA), 18, rise to the top of the impressive field by posting some of the day's top scores.

Competitors surfing in this year's US Open of Surfing are out to capitalize on the mass of ratings points on offer towards their ASP World Ranking in an attempt to either solidify their position on or qualify for the 2011 ASP Dream Tour.

Larsen managed to navigate his way through a wave starved heat, but still crushed the day's highest single-wave score of an impressive 8.93 out of 10 on the way to snagging the highest heat total of Round 1, 14.97 out of 20.

"There were no waves in the beginning of the heat," Larsen said. "I was just looking for a wave that actually broke and my goal was just to get one turn out the back and do a turn on the inside. Then that magical left came and gave me two turns out the back. I'm stoked to get that last wave at the end and get an 8.97. I obviously really wanted to make that heat. I was pretty happy with it."

Larsen, who was a standout in his opening ASP Pro Junior heat, hopes that he can use both the US Open Pro Junior and the men's ASP PRIME main event to build momentum as the rounds progress.

"I feel like the more heats I do out here, the more confident I feel," Larsen said. "I feel like I'll do better in every heat, so hopefully it keeps going for me."

Young, who is the defending ASP North America Pro Junior Series Champion, relied on a magic small-wave board to advance through today's soft conditions while posting some of the day's highest scores and expressed the importance of modified equipment for success at South Huntington Beach Pier today.

"I got two decent waves and my board goes really good out there," Young said. "That helped a lot. Having a board that goes fast over those flat sections really helped."

Young, who is still competing on the ASP North America Pro Junior Series, is currently sitting in the No. 74 position on the ASP World Ranking and has been focusing his time towards building his seed amongst the world's finest up-and-comers and is becoming consistently more comfortable competing in ASP PRIME events.

"I feel more comfortable since I've been doing them quite a bit this year," Young said. "It's nice to be able to do both the Pro Junior and the PRIME event."

Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 19, who posted the day's highest scores in yesterday's early rounds, continued to assert her dominance on her fellow competitors today by unleashing the highest score of Women's US Open of Surfing, a near perfect 9.00 out of 10 despite the tricky decreasing swell on offer.

"The swell has dropped this morning," Fitzgibbons said. "It's a bit smaller for the Round of 12, but I was able to get a few high scores. The 9 was one of the bigger waves and it was a bit bowlier and offered two big turns. I just tried to go big on it and I'm happy to move through to the Quarterfinals."

Fitzgibbons, who is currently rated No. 2 on the ASP Women's Dream Tour, has been a constant Finalist throughout the season, and is hoping to keep the ball rolling in an attempt to take out this year's historic $50,000 prize purse for this year's Women's US Open of Surfing winner.

"It's one step closer to the $50,000 for sure," Fitzgibbons said. "It'd be nice to make a Final here. I haven't made a Final here at the US Open. Huntington is one of those challenging waves that would be pretty cool to master and with that extra incentive, people are pushing the level."

Tuesday also saw the start of its free live music festival. Soft Pack and Cold War Kids performed right after the conclusion of the day's surfing action to a capacity crowd at the live music stage.

The music lineup for the week:

Wed - Bedouin Soundclash preceded by Iration, Thu - Switchfoot preceded by Timmy Curran, Fri - Cobra Starship preceded by Street Drum Corps, Sat - Weezer preceded by Hot Hot Heat. Music starts at 4:30 PM.

For more on the US Open of Surfing go to www.usopenofsurfing.com for LIVE webcasts, heats on demand and full event schedule.

For complimentary high-res photos and video downloads log on to http://usopenofsurfing.com/downloads.
For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com or www.aspnorthamerica.org.

Men's US Open of Surfing Round of 128 Results:


Heat 1: Kiron Jabour (HAW) 14.00, Ola Eleogram (HAW) 10.53, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 8.93, James Taipan Wood (AUS) 7.86


Heat 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.60, Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 11.17, Ian Gentil (HAW) 7.00, Corey Ziems (AUS) 6.60


Heat 3: Marcio Giorgi (URY) 10.83, Eric Geiselman (USA) 7.16, Brian Toth (PRI) 5.44, Masatoshi Ohno (JPN) 1.93


Heat 4: Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 10.57, Marcio Farney (BRA) 10.10, Shaun Ward (USA) 8.47, Brad Ettinger (USA) 6.97


Heat 5: Cory Lopez (USA) 12.10, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.27, Torrey Meister (HAW) 9.83, Tom Curren (USA) 9.66


Heat 6: Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) 9.90, Pablo Paulino (BRA) 9.43, Kieran Horn (USA) 9.20, Yuri Sodre (BRA) 8.00


Heat 7: Nat Young (USA) 14.83, Blake Wilson (AUS) 12.67, Jean da Silva (BRA) 11.37, Adam Robertson (AUS) 9.10


Heat 8: Luke Davis (USA) 13.33, Hizunome Bettero (BRA) 12.83, Rhys Bombaci (AUS) 10.37, T.J. Barron (HAW) 12.83


Heat 9: Wiggoly Dantas (BRA) 14.93, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 13.57, Tomas Hermes (BRA) 12.50, Joel Centeio (HAW) 10.26


Heat 10: Oliver Kurtz (USA) 12.50, Sunny Garcia (HAW) 12.04, Jarrad Sullivan (AUS) 9.67, Jayke Sharp (AUS) 6.93


Heat 11: Granger Larsen (HAW) 14.97, Jack Perry (AUS) 14.60, Tonino Benson (HAW) 10.27, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 8.77


Heat 12: Paulo Moura (BRA) 12.93, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 9.60, Dane Gudauskas (USA) 9.47, Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 8.70


Heat 13: Dylan Graves (PRI) 12.36, Mason Ho (HAW) 9.77, John John Florence (HAW) 8.66, Jesse Merle-Jones (HAW) 7.76


Heat 14: Nathan Hedge (AUS) 10.84, Diego Rosa (BRA) 8.64, Yujiro Tsuji (JPN) 7.27, Maxime Huscenot (FRA) 3.27


Heat 15: Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 12.16, Julian Wilson (AUS) 8.70, Brent Dorrington (AUS) 7.63, Kai Barger (HAW) 5.43


Heat 16: Andre Silva (BRA) 12.50, Eneko Acero (EUK) 8.43, Mike Losness (USA) 8.07, Royden Bryson (ZAF) 8.04

Women's US Open of Surfing Round of 12 Results:


Heat 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) 8.83, Lakey Peterson (USA) 5.73, Chantelle Rautenbach (ZAF) 5.27

Heat 2: Tyler Wright (AUS) 13.77, Laura Enever (AUS) 9.36, Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 8.57

Heat 3: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.17, Justine Dupont (FRA) 8.67, Nicola Atherton (AUS) 8.06

Heat 4: Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 12.64, Sarah Baum (ZAF) 10.20, Alana Blanchard (HAW) 7.60

PICK SIX: WEDNESDAY

Day five action

The Men's heavy hitters take to the water tomorrow, Aug 3. The ASP Prime Round of 96 will begin at 7:30 AM. Expect some great action as top-ranked World Tour surfers battle for the $100,000 first-place-prize. Here's what to watch for.

1. Men's Prime - Round 2 - Heat 7
Andy Irons (HAW)
Nate Yeomans (USA)
Marcio Farney (BRA)
Cory Lopez (USA)

The three-time World Champ takes on fellow WT competitor Nate Yeomans as well as high-flying Cory Lopez and Brazilian Marcio Farney.

2. Men's Prime - Round 2 - Heat 10
C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Blake Thornton (AUS)
Evan Geiselman (USA)
Nat Young (USA)

Top American Juniors take on Australian Blake Jones and WT staple C.J. Hobgood.

3. Men's Prime - Round 2 - Heat 11
Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Tanner Gudauskas (USA)
Blake Wilson (AUS)
Luke Davis (USA)

Luke Davis has been on a tear throughout the US Open thus far. He looks to keep his streak alive as he goes up against WT surfers, Kekoa and Tanner.

4. Men's Prime - Round 2 - Heat 13
Kelly Slater (USA)
Dayyan Neve (AUS)
Alain Riou (PYF)
Wiggolly Dantas (BRA)

Kelly Slater starts his US Open campaign trying to better his 5th place finish from 2009.

5. Men's Prime - Round 2 - Heat 15
Chris Davidson (AUS)
Heitor Alves (BRA)
Rob Machado (USA)
Sunny Garcia (HAW)

Surfing legends, Rob Machado and Sunny Garcia, face off in a tough Round 2 heat against WT surfer Chris Davidson and Brazilian Heitor Alves.

6. Concert Stage - 4-7 PM - Bedouin Soundclash and Iration

The largest free music festival in the world continues Wednesday afternoon with Iration taking the stage at 4 PM, followed by Bedouin Soundclash. Come enjoy the free music on the sand at the HB Pier.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's Pick Six as Men's Round 2 finishes up Round 3 gets started.