Big waves and big crowds made the 2008 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing a big success.

"Overall, I would have to say this was the best Triple Crown in that all three venues had good waves," said Randy Rarick, executive director of the Triple Crown of Surfing. "Usually there's one contest a year where we don't get waves, but this year, we lucked out."

The 2008 Triple Crown series ended last week. Australia's Joel Parkinson won the men's championship; Stephanie Gilmore of Australia took the women's title.

The Triple Crown has been run on O'ahu's North Shore every year since 1983.

This year's version was memorable because all three sites — Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach, Sunset Beach and Banzai Pipeline — featured consistent surf.

The Reef Hawaiian Pro at Hale'iwa Ali'i Beach opened in wave-face heights of 10 to 20 feet. The final day was run in barreling conditions with wave-face heights of 6 to 10 feet.

The O'Neill World Cup of Surfing featured four days of competition, and wave-face heights were higher than 15 feet (and up to 30) for all four days.

The Billabong Pipeline Masters was run in wave-face heights around 10 to 15 feet, and the famous barrels were on display.

"We didn't get really big Pipeline this year, but it was still nice, and you saw a lot of high scores," Rarick said. "But we had great waves at Hale'iwa and great waves at Sunset, so the surfers were truly tested."

Because of the big waves, the big crowds came to watch.

Over the course of 14 days of competition, an estimated total of 30,000 fans showed up to watch the action. And that's despite several days of stormy conditions.

"We don't have a gate, so there's no way to make direct money off it for us, but it truly is big business for the North Shore," Rarick said.

And that's not even half of it.

Rarick said the triplecrownofsurfing.com Web site attracted 2.8 million "unique" visitors in the past six weeks.

"That's a lot of people around the world reading about Hawai'i and watching live video feeds from Hawai'i," Rarick said. "I don't think other sports based in Hawai'i come close to those numbers."

There was also a record turnout of surfers this year.

"We actually expanded the field this year, and still had to turn away another 150 guys," he said. "The thing is, all these guys are legit. The talent level has risen so dramatically, and that's why it's so hard to win now days. The Hawai'i guys found that out, unfortunately."

For the first time since 1995, Hawai'i surfers were left off the victory stand for all three men's Triple Crown contests.

Still, the future of Hawai'i surfing was on display during the Triple Crown.

Maui's Dusty Payne, 19, nearly became the youngest surfer to win the Triple Crown championship. He finished a close second behind Parkinson.

"I point to Dusty as a good example of what surfing is about now," Rarick said. "He basically got in to the Triple Crown as an alternate. Then he goes out and almost wins the whole thing. That shows you how talented the field is these days."

Fellow "young" stars Kekoa Bacalso of Mililani, Marcus Hickman of Sunset Beach, Ian Walsh of Maui and Evan Valiere of Kaua'i had solid performances in the Triple Crown.

In the women's Triple Crown, the future of Hawai'i's surfing is now.

Carissa Moore, 16, won the Reef Hawaiian Pro, becoming the youngest surfer to win a Triple Crown contest. She is a junior at Punahou School, and is still at least a year away from becoming a full-time professional.

Sunset Beach's Coco Ho, 17, qualified for the 2009 ASP Women's World Tour thanks in part to her solid performance in the Triple Crown. Kaua'i's Alana Blanchard, 18, also qualified for the 2009 tour.