by The Editors on August 7, 2011
After being on fire all week, Kelly Slater stopped at nothing to carry that flame on into a victory over Australian Yadin Nicol at the US Open of Surfing (his first since 1996). As he has several times during this event, Slater paddled out into an 8.5 on his first wave and then went to work on a shockingly unresponsive Yadin Nicol.
With five minutes to go in the final, Nicol had still not even taken off on one wave. Then, two minutes later, Nicol finally took off on a closeout, popped a little ollie and jumped off his board. It appeared to take an act of will for Nicol to get a second wave to avoid a complete shut out.
Kelly Slater was his normal confident self following the heat. “Well, I guess Yadin wanted me to win. He didn’t catch any waves,” Slater said. “But, I was feeling frustrated for him. The big ones were close outs. And he was sitting a little too far outside to get the smaller ones that I picked off. I got the 8.5 to start and he knew he had to get a big wave to start. So he was trying to be patient.”
Sadly, the ocean never came through for Nicol and he suffered what so many surfers before him have–a complete unraveling in a heat with the best surfer who has ever lived.
If Nicol had to blame the heat on one thing it would be Slater’s opening 8.5. “That sucked for me. Whenever someone opens up with a big score you have to wait,” Nicol said. “I think I waited a little too long. If someone had told me at the beginning of the week that i would get second and even get the chance to surf with Kelly at the end of the week, I would have said beat it. So I’m pretty over the moon.”
Complete results and official word from ASP after the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 7, 2011
Australian Sally Fitzgibbons wanted an ASP World Title this year, but Carissa Moore took that away from her. None of that seem to bother and exuberant Fitzgibbons as she capped off the season with her first US Open of Surfing win (her third tour win of the season) against 16-year-old Lakey Peterson.
After riding up through the crowd Fitzgibbon could barely contain her bliss. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to get chaired up the beach with this sea of people,” Fitzgibbons said. “To get three wins this year was very special. I didn’t get the title, but I kept improving.”
It was an interesting week in Huntington Beach for the women, but Fitzgibbons kept on the drive. “The conditions have been challenging,” said Fitzgibbons. “We managed on the smaller days. And today was just about connecting the dots and stepping it up. I’ve been coming here for five years seeing people get chaired up the beach. And it is as amazing as it looks.”
We can only imagine. Follow the jump for full results and the official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 7, 2011
Brazilian wildcard Filipe Toledo, 16, slipped in ahead of Kolohe Andino to take the Junior Men’s title while Santa Barbara’s Lakey Peterson, 16, dominated Malia Manuel, Laura Enever and Coco Ho to steal the Junior Women’s event at the US Open of Surfing on Saturday, August 6, 2011.
“I feel like this win puts my name with the rest of the Brazilians like Alejo (Muniz) and Miguel (Pupo),” Toledo said. “I’m going to go back to Brazil and do some ASP contests and hopefully I can do well.”
Lakey was obviously stoked.
“It’s amazing to win this event,” Peterson said. “I was looking at the trophy before I paddled out and I was like ‘I want that thing so bad.’ Nike does such a great job and I’d like to thank them for putting on this event. It’s been an amazing day. The final wasn’t really serious, we were all laughing and cracking jokes, it was really fun.”
Follow the jump for all the details. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 5, 2011
Today, Kelly Slater showed the Huntington Beach, California crowds at the US Open of Surfing that he can and will bend the ocean to his will. In the Round of 12, Heat 2 Kelly paddled out in his heat against Taj Burrow and Tanner Gudauskas, turned around and got barreled like no one had all day. Then he did it again on his second wave, and on his third he boosted this air up and out for a total of 18.77. The highest heat score of the day.
“I saw some barrels before my heat so I went out there to try and find some and I wanted the airs because the wind is perfect for the airs on those rights,” Slater said. “There are some fun peaks. You try not to peak too early in these events and if you have a really good heat like I just had, you kind of readjust and know that you can’t always go to that level of scores.”
For the rest of the heats and the official word from the ASP, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 5, 2011
Click here to go directly to the party photos.
In a deserted lot tucked in behind a small warehouse in the soft, flabby, belly of Costa Mesa, California’s velcro girdled waistband, Globe International set up shop to host a massive party and world premiere of their newest motion marketing project the surf film Year Zero.
With revelers dropped off by the bus load and a taco truck with lines ten deep, the deserted back lot became a swirling mass of Orange County’s finest professional and civilian partiers, along with more than a few pro surfers.
The premiere got off to a pretty rough start. After a countdown, the lights dimmed, and the film began with a scene shot in the middle of California’s Joshua Tree littered high desert. Muscle cars faced off on a dusty strip of lonesome highway. Then as the titles rolled, the power went off and the film stopped. Twenty minutes later, Globe got the film running again and the crowd glimpsed five more minutes of video including explosive freesurfing from Taj Burrow. Then the video froze and everything stopped a second time.
This is the part where we left the party. Having no interest in standing by as the technical collapse of an epic film threatened to ruin all the hard work Globe put into the party, we checked out early. Our mistake. We’re sorry. Forgive us.
On the drive home the tweets began pounding in: Sal Masekela said: “Just watched the Globe Surf Movie. 16mm time machine of forward moving joy. Joe G and Scott Soens should be proud.”
Super action agent Circe Wallace kicked in: “The post apocalypse Year 0000 is some next level s#÷!. Joe G. Making Globe look good and CJ is not messing around. Buy it-No Pirate it!”
Guess, we’ll have to wait for the download. In the meantime, follow the jump for all the photos.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 4, 2011
While we were hanging out at the Converse Coastal Carnage bowl it appears some pretty amazing surfing went down at the US Open of Surfing today if Dane Reynolds Round of 48, Heat 8 score of 17.43 was any indication.
“It was fun out there,” Reynolds said. “I kind of just sat off to the left of everyone and took it easy. I didn’t really get any waves in the beginning and Kolohe got an 8 in the beginning for a small wave, so I knew if you were to get a set wave, anything you did was going to be a good score. That 9.33 was really important, I was looking pretty bad in the beginning and that definitely turned the heat for me.”
Follow the jump for the rest. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 4, 2011
Click here for a complete photo gallery of day 1.
When the Agenda Show opened at Huntington Beach, California Hyatt Hotel yesterday (August 3, 2011) it didn’t take long for the place to fill right up. And that didn’t seem to bother show co-founder Aaron Levant all that much.
“Even in the first two hours it was packed everywhere we went,” Levant said. “The valet filled up and there was no where to park. We’re having some logistical problems like that, but they’re good ones, just because there are so many people here. We’ve been getting compliments all morning. It’s good show.”
Levant brought the show back to Huntington Beach after a January show in Anaheim because there’s just nothing like the synergy created by the US Open, Huntington Beach, and being right in the middle of it all.
“This is our third year in a row that we have coincided with the US Open,” Levant said. “The US Open has a lot of energy. And the two things together has an undeniable draw for someone traveling from across the country or across the world. They can come out to Agenda, get business done, hang out at the US Open. See the contest. See the free concerts. I think that whole synergy together is kind of undeniable.”
While the space in Anaheim was larger, Levant was able to bring close to 350 brands back to the Hyatt thanks to a temporary building called The Pavillion. “We really wanted to come back to Huntington for the summer with the US Open and the whole vibe here,” he said. “So that’s why we had to build that whole zone, because we just maxed out the space here.”
Not a bad problem to have, actually.
Click here for the complete photo gallery.
by The Editors on August 3, 2011
Brazil’s Thiago Camarao and Hawaii’s John Florence ended local favorite (and two-time US Open winner) Brett Simpson’s shot at a third title this year in Heat 22 of the Round of 96 of the US Open of Surfing. Camarao described it like this:
“When I paddled out I knew it was going to be gnarly with Brett (Simpson) winning the last two years and John John (Florence) having good results in the last two events,” Camarao said. “I told myself I should do airs, but it never happened because it was kind of weird and small, but I just surfed and tried to go for the sets because they were the good scores. Luckily I was able to get one good set.”
For the rest of the official details, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 1, 2011
by The Editors on August 1, 2011
HDX Hydration Mix has just signed two-time US Open of Surfing champ Brett Simpson to the team.
“I’ve been training and drinking HDX for the past few months,” said Simpson. “I’ve noticed a big difference, not just from being better hydrated, but it also completes my total training regiment mentally and physically. It’s amazing that a drink mix can give me mental clarity and quickly replenish my body during intense training and competition.”
Having tried HDX several times ourselves, we can’t say we disagree with Simpo. Follow the jump for all the details. [click to continue…]
