After a wild and wooly half-day of surfing at Sunset Beach yesterday, the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is awash with new contenders.

Half of the third round of the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing was run yesterday morning in huge waves at Sunset Beach. Wave-face heights ranged from 10 to 25 feet, but tricky winds made for difficult conditions.

The competition was halted at mid-day when the winds made the waves unruly.

"Today is such a challenge against the ocean," Australia's Nic Muscroft said. "You really just have to watch yourself. You can't worry too much about anything else."

Although only eight heats were completed, it did have an impact on the Triple Crown standings. The O'Neill World Cup is the second event in the Triple Crown series.

Kaua'i's Andy Irons — the two-time defending Triple Crown champion — did not show up for his heat because of a back injury, thus eliminating himself from a third straight Triple Crown championship.

Irons' loss was Dion Atkinson's gain. Atkinson got to surf as a replacement for Irons.

"I was walking to the beach to see what was going on and I heard them calling my name," said Atkinson, who is 21 and from Adelaide, Australia. "I had about five minutes to get ready and go out there."

Atkinson then made like Irons and won the heat in impressive fashion.

"It's real big out there and the waves are bumpy, so I was lucky to get a couple good ones," he said.

Also eliminated was Kaua'i's Roy Powers. He won the first event of the Triple Crown (the Reef Hawaiian Pro at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach), and could have solidified his lead yesterday.

Instead, the elimination of Powers means the winner of the O'Neill World Cup has a good chance of taking over the Triple Crown lead.

Australia's Bede Durbidge won his heat yesterday, and is now in Triple Crown contention. He placed second to Powers at the first event.

"It's still a long way off," Durbidge said. "I just have to take it one heat at a time and see how it goes."

Contest officials contemplated postponing the whole third round yesterday morning, but eventually decided to send the surfers out in the challenging conditions.

Sunset Beach's Flynn Novak is glad they did. He advanced through his third-round heat, and said he would like to continue in similar conditions.

"It's wild; it's nuts — there's so much water moving around, and the swell is coming up really fast," said Novak, 24. "But this is what Sunset is supposed to be. This is a proving grounds. The first two days (of competition), we got really lucky because the conditions were perfect. Today is more survival, and I like it like that."

Other Hawai'i surfers advancing were big-wave chargers Makuakai Rothman and Ian Walsh.

Hawai'i surfers eliminated were Powers, Fred Patacchia Jr. and Dustin Barca.

Despite the difficult conditions, there were some high scores posted. Australia's Adrian Buchan was the standout of the day, receiving scores of 9.17 and 8.67 on his two best waves for a total of 17.84.

Muscroft had the best ride of the day, receiving a near-perfect score of 9.57 for a barrel ride.

The contest still has two days of competition. For daily status, call 596-7873 or visit www.triplecrownofsurfing.com.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.