How quickly things change. After four years of Stephanie Gilmore taking pretty much everything on the ASP Women’s World tour it seems the next generation has moved in to take over. Australian Sally Fitzgibbons defeated Hawaiian Coco Ho 16 to 8.86 in the finals of the TSB Bank Women’s Surf Festival at Taranaki, New Zealand on Saturday April 30, 2011 making it two in a row, after three years on tour without a win.
“This means the world to me, I’m so stoked to get a win here in New Zealand,” Fitzgibbons said. “Last year I got runner-up so to take the win today is extra special. . . The waves today were pretty challenging,” Fitzgibbons said. “Entering the water I saw a little peak down the beach, it was a risky move but it paid off this time. I just went out there and thought I’m in the final and I just wanted to go for it and that’s where I was going to surf. “
It was an Easter Day full of shutdowns, April 24, 2011. Adriano de Souza slammed the door on Kelly Slater in the quarter finals, Mick Fanning decimated Jordy Smith in the semis, and then in the dream 50th Anniversary Rip Curl Pro Bell Beach FinalsJoel Parkinson delivered the same treatment to mate Mick Fanning.
Parko grabbed the first wave of the heat and landed an 8.53 and then just didn’t let up. By the middle of the heat Parko had Fanning combo’d but, Fanning got back in with a 7.9. By then there wasn’t much time left. With less than a minute to go Parko used his priority to block Fanning off the last wave and on the way in scored a perfect 10 at the hooter.
“Bullshit! I had no idea,” Parko said, surprised when he heard about the 10. ” Did they? I didn’t know you know. The 50th year thing it’s like a gold plated bell this year. It’s a special one.”
When he say that last set coming, Park was worried but he knew that Fanning had been our of sync with the waves for most of the head. “I was like oh no,” he said. “I’ve definitely had things taken off me that way before. I thought Mick was the form surfer of the event and I was never going to take him lightly. I was thinking he was the hardest surfer to beat.”
Fanning was obviously spent. “I’m stuffed,” he said on the podium. “I thought I was mr. fitness then tried to chair Parko up the beach and I folded right away. It was an awesome day. I had some great heats. Most of the time when you go out and surf three times you’d be buggered but this with the crowd it was great.”
Follow the jump for full results and the world from the ASP. [click to continue…]
While the ASP Elite surfers were battling away at Bells for the Rip Curl Pro, the juniors were in Cardiff, California for the Rob Machado Seaside Pro Junior. When the contest was done on Saturday, April 23, 2011 it was Evan Geiselman and Lakey Peterson who took the top spots a the 4-Star event.
“It was kind of a sluggish final for me and I think for the rest of the competitors and I was pretty tired out there, but I’m so happy to get a win and get some momentum going,” Geiselman said. “I’m not having the best year like last year so I’m so excited. I just want to thank my Mom for helping me out lately. She flew out here before the event and has been doing everything for me.”
Follow the jump for complete results and the official story. [click to continue…]
“It’s cold,” says Stangel, an East-Coast transplant who started photographing surfers in the area after a hike through the nearby forest lead him to Indian Head beach, “and thick westuits are mandatory. . . The surfers are used to the cold,” he adds, “but I feel like I’m still getting used to the rugged lushness of the ocean and mountains of Oregon. I’m constantly surprised by its beauty.”
Stangel’s images provide a balance for all the ASP action we’ve been soaking in this week. Click here to see the project, or click the link for the rest of the story.
The Heavy Current Surfing Club in Higashi-Matsushima, Japan did not lose one member in the Tsunami that claimed the lives of 1,800 of their neighbors, according to a story in the Washington Times.
When they saw the tide suddenly withdraw after a massive quake on March 11, they knew a huge tsunami was coming. They all fled the picturesque beach of this town in northeastern Japan to safety on higher ground. . . “We didn’t lose any members, because we respect and fear the ocean,” said Seiichi Kato, sitting by his surfboard and tent on the beach. “But other Japanese forgot about nature, and they could not escape it.”
Now, rather than move in to refugee shelters some club members are camping out on the beach and helping to clean the place up as a way of dealing with the grief over lost friends. One thing they have noticed: the tsunami didn’t change the beach. “We were amazed that the beach looks exactly the same as before the tsunami. It destroyed everything man-made, but nature is almost the same.”
We’re always amazing by surfers’ ability to ride things out no matter how bad it gets.
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons was unstoppable today at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach as she racked up more 8.0 plus score waves in a day that many surfers get all season to win her first ASP Elite Tour event. Hawaii’s Carissa Moore charged through the final but was unable to match Fitzgibbon’s onslaught.
Fitzgibbons was emotional on the podium. “It’s so overwhelming. This is amazing,” Sally said fighting back tears. “Thank you for everyone coming out and watching today. It’s been a long journey for a win. . . As a young kid I’ve seen everyone ring this bell. . . To win this event is definitely the pinnacle of my career.”
Carissa Moore was smiling, and gracious in defeat. “I’m stoked to have made the final with Sally,” Moore said. “I wish i could have rung the big bell, but I had fun surfing today.”
Some would argue that there is no better job in the world than following the Nike 6.0 women’s surf team around the world and pressing the record button. We don’t think we’ve ever heard filmmaker Aaron Lieber complain about it. The film,Leave A Message, will be downloadable on May 24, 2011.
Bobby Martinez was fired up and ready to fight his way to the top after taking out the world number two surfer Taj Burrow in Round 3 Heat 2 at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.
“I felt the judges have been doggin’ me out. A surfer knows when another surfer gets a good score. I saw his whole wave and they said it was a 7, nah,” Martinez said at the end of a heat in which he’d flipped off the judges from the water. “I knew they were going to try to give it to him, but that was not a 7. . . My approach to that heat was to just surf,” he continued. “I’m not Occy (Mark Occhilupo) he’s not (Tom) Curren. That was just a heat that I’m very grateful I got through. I’m here to win, so I’m not going down without a fight.”
Burrow was visibly shaken at the end of the heat and with good reason. It was one of those heats that could have gone either way and maybe should have gone the other in hindsight. The one certainty is that this loss just made the perennial almost champ’s year ahead that much more difficult.
The men and the women will probably surf today (2:30 PM PST 7:30 AM local time).
For the rest of the day and all the results, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The 50th Annual Bell Beach surf competition kicked off with the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach yesterday (April 19, 2011) in head-high surf. Round one of both the men’s and women’s events were run. Joel Parkinson had the highest heat score of the day, Kelly Slater put his head straight, and Stephanie Gilmore got right back on her world champion game.
“My first two years on tour I didn’t have great results on the Gold Coast,” Gilmore said. “I always bounced back at this event and then finished the year well, so hopefully I’ll do that again this year. The Gold Coast was a fine showing of what women’s surfing is up to now and everyone has to try and keep up. It really pushes me and I think anyone who wins an event from now on will be a very deserving winner because of that fact.”
The contest continues today in what is likely to be even larger surf beginning at 7:30 AM local (2:30 PM PST). Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
