Kelly Slater is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down (even though he is an official 41 years old and he had to surf against Dane Reynolds and Kolohe Andino in Round 1). 2 John Florence seems to get better with every heat he surfs, Travis Logie nabbed they days high score for the goofy-footers with an 18.20, Matty Wilkinson didn’t let 2012 ASP World Champ Joel Parkinson stop him from advancing directly into Round 3, and while Quiksilver may be going through some interesting times at home, on the Goldie things are looking rock solid as the 2013 ASP World Tour season kicks off with the 2013 Quiksilver Pro. Even Mick Fanning was gushing a little.
“It’s a new year and everyone is feeling fresh,” Fanning said. “When I was younger, I mostly stuck to Snapper Rocks and Kirra, but since the sand has filled in, I’ve spent a lot of time surfing through Rainbow Bay. It’s a fun wave and provides a nice wall for a variety of maneuvers. Compared to Snapper and Kirra though, I think Rainbow probably lessens the local advantage as it’s a pretty user-friendly canvas. . . “That’s the goal every year – to with the title,” Fanning said. “Seeing Joel (Parkinson) win last year was great because he’s a mate, but it’s back to the job at hand this season. There are no easy heats and everyone on tour is a threat.”
For the official word from the ASP, results from Round 1, and next round match-ups of both the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Last night Jeremy Jones survived a profile with Nightline’s Bill Weir, one of the most annoyingly hyperbolic cliche chomping news presenters we’ve seen in years. But as anyone who knows Jones would expect, he came through it all like the confident, open, big mountain badass that he is.
Here, check out one of the “demigods who rides monsters for a living. Snow porn stars who wing into the backcountry and bring their conquests back on film. . . if they ever carve a Mount Rushmore of snowboarding Jeremy Jones is a lock.” Just watch, you’ll see.
Here’s what you missed this weekend if you weren’t at the Vans Block Skatepark in the City of Orange, California March 3, 2013 for the 2013 Vans Amateur Combi Pool Classic.
Boardistan readers may remember what we said the day (January 29, 2013) images appeared of Garrett McNamara riding what was at the time reported as a “100-foot wave” in Nazaré, Portugal. We mentioned that it seemed that the measuring sticks were getting shorter and shorter.
Now, McNamara, who is a gifted, hardworking big wave surfer, has removed his wave from the Billabong XXL Awards after images appeared that made the wave look much, much, smaller, according to a story on ESPN.com/Action. Here’s what McNamara told Jake Howard.
“We decided to pull my waves from Nazare out of Billabong XXL because I do not ride for Billabong and I did not go out that day and surf for a world record or to win any XXL prize money,” said McNamara via email. “I was out there because I live for big waves, it’s what I love to do!! It is not necessary to have a Billabong panel measure it. There have already been quite a few educated professionals who have measured it anywhere between 60-110 feet!”
As always, we never argue with guys who ride waves that big. Respect to Mr. McNamara.
Halfpipe judging is always suspect, but never more so when an amagingly talented new kid goes up against a well established halfpipe juggernaut like Shaun White. That’s what happened, apparently, in the second run of the 31st Burton US Open Snowboarding Championship at Vail, Colorado on Saturday, March 2, 2013 when just crowed World Snowboard Tour Halfpipe Champion Ayumu Hirano, 14, went up against White in the second run. White ended up 8.18 points ahead of Hirano even though many people agree that Hirano’s run was one of the best they’ve seen. White, however, had his say in the second run.
Coming off of his 6th consecutive X Games win, Shaun White put together an unbeatable second run at the US Open with a top score of 95.58, earning him his fifth US Open men’s half pipe victory – in addition to his two US Open men’s slope style titles. His winning trick combination included a backside air, frontside 1080 double cork stale fish grab, Cab 1080 double cork melon grab, frontside 540 stale fish grab, backside 1260 double McTwist mute grab, to a frontside 1260 double cork stale fish grab. Shaun also claimed the top five highest trick scores of the day. . . “It was incredible to get my fifth US Open half pipe title in Vail, and hands down, this is the best pipe of the year,” said Shaun White. “I’m pretty happy to end my season with a win at the US Open.”
Hirano’s second run included a Method Air, Frontside 1080 Tail Grab, Cab 1080 Nose Grab , Frontside 900 Tail Grab, Backside 540 Mute Grab, Frontside 1080 Double Cork Indy Grab. So the truth is, while the judges may have been a little off (or a lot) on the numbers, they were not off on the placing order.
For the women, Kelly Clark won her sixth US Open title over For the official word from Burton and video of Hirano’s second place run follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The DonutHill Project, a key club in the Omaha area, has a general rule that only skaters can come as guests: Don’t bring lurkers who only want to hang out. . . They also have a “kook list” of skaters who aren’t welcome. . . “It’s kind of for the people who made it happen,” says Kevin Wilkins, a DonutHill key holder and editor of The Skateboard Mag. “If you run it any other way, you jeopardize what you built.”
Backyard ramps and parks have always been pretty hidden and exclusive, it’s nice that everyone is beginning to share the expenses in a more much official way.
It was all Canada at the top of the Burton US Open Snowboarding Championshipslopestyle podium yesterday (March 1, 2013) as Mark McMorris (video above) and Spencer O’Brien ruled the Vail, Colorado course.
While snow fell steadily all day, the riding level remained high with competitors working hard under tough conditions. Mark McMorris took his first ever US Open men’s slopestyle victory with a winning run that included a MINI wallride to gap to lipslide, gap to backside lipslide, double backflip indy grab, frontside 1080 mute grab to a backside 1080 mute grab. Coming in second was Torstein Horgmo (NOR), who arguably had the best rail trick of the day, and rounding out the podium in third was Chas Guldemond (USA). . . “Winning the US Open is one of the highlights from my season, and I think everyone is psyched to see it in Vail,” said Mark McMorris. “Conditions were a little rough, but I kept my speed up, and these are the best jumps ever built in slopestyle. I’m having more fun than I’ve ever had and to be sharing the podium with my good friends is really fun.”
O’Brien edged usual winner Jamie Anderson by .45 of a point. For the official word from Burton, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
