HONOLULU - (Monday, December 3, 2012) Kelly Slater (USA) . -- North Shore's John John Florence, the defending champion of the VANS World Cup of Surfing and the VANS Triple Crown series title, posted the highest heat score of the event at Sunset Beach today - 17.8 points out of 20. This is the third of four days of competition and Florence heads into tomorrow's World Cup final rounds as the man to beat.    Florence, 20, hit the waves immediately after 11X world champion Kelly Slater returned to the beach with a heat win, thinking he was the top scorer of the event: 17.04 points. As Slater sat in the VANS LIVE interview chair, he watched the tables turn right in front of his eyes...Florence had reason to be motivated in the 10-foot surf (wave face heights), finding himself out with fellow Sunset surfer Billy Kemper, younger brother Nathan Florence, and VANS Triple Crown contender Fred Patacchia. ..Kemper opened with a perfect 10 wave score after a couple of high risk lip gouges, and John John knew he had no time for warming up in the shifty, lumpy conditions. He answered back with a succession of deep, carving rides. He eventually took the win with Kemper second, Patacchia third, and Nathan Florence fourth. Patacchia's loss likely takes him out of contention for the VANS Triple Crown series title after his top-4 finish at Haleiwa..The second jewel of the $1M VANS Triple Crown of Surfing, the VANS World Cup will require four full days of competition between now and December 6...Winner of the first jewel - the REEF Hawaiian Pro - last week was Sebastian Zietz (HAW). Zietz is seeded through to the round of 64 and will surf on Day 3 of the competition..  Photo: joliphotos.com
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