2006 O'Neill Cold Water Classic Set To Kick Off

The 2006 O'Neill Cold Water Classic presented by Jeep will kick-off six days of world-class surf competition, October 17-22, 2006, with a trial round allowing four Santa Cruz locals a spot in the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) four-star World Qualifying Series (WQS) contest. Joining the local standouts will be 160 of the world's most talented surfers all competing for a share of the $75,000 prize purse.

For nearly 20 years, the O'Neill Cold Water Classic has welcomed some of the world's best surfing talent to compete at the legendary surf break, but only the Santa Cruz locals experience the cold rugged conditions of Steamer Lane everyday, providing them with a definitive competitive edge.  Santa Cruz is also home the O'Neill headquarters and they have worked with event organizers to create four 'locals only' heats.  This opportunity allows local surfers, both legend and "grommet," to compete in a trials round with the hopes of securing a berth into the event. A limited field will compete for one of four coveted slots into the WQS Men's round of 160.

"The addition of the local trials ensures the best surfers in Santa Cruz will compete in the event and give the rest of the field a run for their money." says Marc Prefontaine, O'Neill marketing manager. "The local knowledge in the line-up definitely plays to the advantage of the Santa Cruz competitors as we've seen in previous years."

The local surfers advancing to the main event will have some very stiff competition with World Championship Tour (WCT) surfers Timmy Reyes (Huntington Beach, CA), Cory Lopez (Indian Rock Beach, FL) and Roy Powers (Hanalei, HI) and WQS top rated surfers Brett Simpson (Huntington Beach, CA), Gabe Kling (St. Augustine FL), Luke Munro (Queensland, AUS) and Dustin Cuizon (Ewa Beach, HI) vying for points at this last ASP North America event.  With very few events on the North American tour, the O'Neill Cold Water Classic plays an important role for American surfers looking to get closer to the WCT.  The Cold Water offers surfers a chance to earn points toward their end-of-year rating before the last few ASP tour events. Event organizers have secured permits at Waddell Creek, located 30 minutes north of Steamer Lane, for use as an alternative contest location to ensure the contest will run should conditions fall short at Steamer Lane.

The O'Neill Cold Water Classic is also the final stop of the Macy's California Trifecta Surf Series presented by Jeep and will determine the 2006 Trifecta champion. Dustin Cuizon, Nate Yeomans (San Clemente, CA) and Nathaniel Curran (Oxnard, CA) are currently leading the ratings with first and second place separated by only 90 points.  The Trifecta, in association with Action Sports Group (ASG) and the ASP, will award the overall points-winner a bonus of $10,000, a second-place bonus of $3,500 and a third-place bonus of $1,500, now that no single competitor has the opportunity to win all three events for the $33,333.

Touted as Northern California's premier surfing event, the O'Neill Cold Water Classic will run in conjunction with the Grade 2 Oakley Pro Junior ASP North American Championships with an elite field of 48 competitors vying for part of a $10,000 prize purse.

The Oakley Pro Junior ASP North American Championships at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic presented by Jeep is the final opportunity for North America's elite junior competitors to advance to the Billabong Junior World Championships in Sydney Australia. The competition will be fierce as junior competitors chase points towards securing one of four ASP North America seeds into the World Championships. The small field of 48 and competitive draw will ensure an exciting and dramatic finish to the 2006 season.

For the first time in the events history fans will be able to catch all the excitement and drama of this year's contest with streaming video and live scoring starting October 17th at www.oneill.com.

Source: ASP

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