Sunset Beach came up big yesterday, and so did some of the world's top professional surfers.

Big waves and big scores highlighted the second day of action in the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing.

The first round and six heats of the second round were run in near-perfect conditions. Wave-face heights ranged from 10 to 18 feet, and offshore winds created numerous open sections for the surfers.

"This is the kind of conditions you dream about," Wai'anae's Sunny Garcia said. "This is as good as it gets. It's like an artist with a blank canvas that can paint what ever they want."

Garcia was one of the top wave artists yesterday, receiving scores of 9.67 and 7.33 on his two best waves for a total of 17.0.

"This suits me just perfect — a little bigger, a little windy," he said. "All these light, kind of weak guys have a hard time with the wind and the big surf. I'm hoping it gets a little bigger and a little more windy and we'll see if I can get back in the Triple Crown chase."

The O'Neill World Cup is the second of three contests in the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.

Garcia owns a record six Triple Crown titles, although he needs to fare well at Sunset Beach to make up for a 49th- place finish in the first event last week at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach.

The male competitors almost didn't get a chance to surf in yesterday's picturesque conditions. The original plan was to run the finals of the women's Roxy Pro.

"My thinking was if it got smaller and better, maybe the women," Garcia said. "But to stick the women out at big, windy Sunset would be a little harsh on them. I wanted to surf, I know that."

Mililani's Kekoa Bacalso agreed, saying: "It was a good call. I haven't got barreled out here in years. I had the time of my life out there."

Bacalso received scores of 8.67 and 8.43 for his two best waves for a total of 17.1.

Other standouts from Hawai'i were Marcus Hickman, Daniel Jones, Nathan Carroll, Sean Moody and Makuakai Rothman.

But Sunset Beach did not play favorites yesterday, and some of the top performances came from the international contingent.

Australia's Daniel Ross got two barrels in his first-round victory, receiving scores of 9.5 and 9.27. His total of 18.77 was the best of the day.

"This is the best I've ever seen Sunset," Ross said. "I only caught two waves my whole heat, but those were two of the best I've ever had here."

The only perfect 10 of the day was scored by Hodei Collazo from Basque, Spain.

The top-seeded surfers in the contest received byes yesterday, including Triple Crown leader Roy Powers of Kaua'i, world champion Mick Fanning of Australia, and two-time defending Triple Crown champion Andy Irons of Kaua'i.

For daily status of the Triple Crown events, call 596-7873 or visit www.triplecrownofsurfing.com.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.