Panamanian surfer Gary Saavedra reportedly just broke two Guinness World Record for standing behind a boat on a surfboard for three hours 55 minutes on Saturday, March 19, 2011, according to a story on Newsroom Panama.
Saavedra, holder of 13 Panama surfing titles surfed for three hours 55 minutes over a distance of 41.3 miles on waves created by a power boar. Both achievements qualify as world records for surfing behind a static wave and were witnessed by representatives of The Guinness Book of World Records.
We just waiting for the Red Bull extreme documentary coverage of this epic event. Got a great title idea: Standing Behind A Boat. Follow the jump to watch the video of Gary doing just that.
Sad news from Mavericks. Hawaiian big wave surfer Sion Milosky, 35, reportedly drowned at approximately 6 PM Wednesday, March 16, 2011, while surfing the Northern California big wave spot, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
“He went down the face of the wave. He made a bottom turn and he totally made the wave, but the water caught up to him and it just kind of engulfed him and raced him down,” said the surfer, who did not wish to be identified because he had taken the day off from work but did tell his employers that he would be surfing. . . “The last image I have of him was of him standing on his board as the whitewater was kind of engulfing him,” he said.
Mikosky’s body was reportedly found by Nathan Fletcher near the Pillar Point Harbor mouth.
Milosky was pronounced dead at Seton Coastside Hospital in Moss Beach. He leaves behind a wife and two daughters.
Milosky, described by Transworld Surf as “one of (if not the hardest) charging surfers in the world)” was featured on a recent cover of Transworld Surf Magazine’s Tales From The North Shore issue. Our thoughts are with Milosky’s friends and particularly with his wife and daughters.
The Bethany Hamilton bio-pic Soul Surfer doesn’t hit theaters until April 8, 2011, but until then here is a little clip the fictional Bethany Hamilton (AnnaSophia Robb) and Alana Blanchard (Lorraine Nicholson) try to finagle a little late night surf session out of Bethany’s mom.
Hollywood makes everything look so bright and sparkly doesn’t it?
The 26-year-old man who attacked Stephanie Gilmore outside her apartment on December 27, 2010 is still in jail after appearing in court on charges of “grievous bodily harm, according to a story on ABC.net.au.
Twenty-six-year-old Julius Fox appeared in the Lismore Local Court today to face three charges relating to grievous bodily harm. . . He did not apply for bail.
Hopefully, he will stay in jail for a long, long, time.
Byron Bay, Australia surfer Prem Puri had just dropped in on a perfectly little right and was setting up for cutback when something hit the tail of his board and stopped him dead in the water, according to a story in the Northern Star.
“I didn’t see what it was, but there are definitely no rocks or anything around there where I was surfing,” he said. . . “I was doing a bottom-turn and something hit me and threw me off – it had to be something big.”
When he came up the tail of his board was broken off and his foot was in pain. He’s still not exactly sure what exactly chomped him, but from the photographic evidence it looks an awful lot like the work of the gray suits, doesn’t it?
Frederic Lecouturier, 55, a surfer riding waves at the Southern end of San Francisco’s Golden Gate on Thursday March 10, 2011 looked toward the bridge and saw someone fall into the water from above, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
“I thought, ‘Well, he’s going to die,’ and then it was a miracle when he popped up alive,” said Lecouturier, of San Rafael. “I paddled out there, and he told me he jumped ‘for kicks.’ . . “That’s when I lost it and told him what he did was wrong, that life is precious, and he should not take risks like that. I mean, he’s a kid, he’s got his whole life ahead of him.” . . Lecouturier said the boy was about 5 feet tall, “built like a wrestler” and had a brown ponytail. “There was a stiff wind coming out of the south, and I think that broke his fall and helped save him,” he said.
The 17-year-old boy, whose name has not been released, was on a field trip walking across the bridge with 45 of his classmates from Windsor, California when he apparently decided to jump from the bridge. According to the article he escaped with minor injuries. According to the Chronicle “99 percent of the estimated 1,500-plus people who have jumped from the bridge since it opened in 1937” have died. If Lecouturier hadn’t been there, there might have been one more death.
We’re not sure that anyone has captured the personal lives of surfers in photos the way that Steve Sherman has. Even his contest photos are loaded with an emotional intimacy that is difficult to put in worlds. Surfing Magazine has just posted a collection of Sherm’s most recent photos of Kelly Slater from the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast in a gallery titled Kelly Slater in Black And White Again.
In this case blank and white really does capture the moment.
An 8.9 earthquake that devastated Japan at 2:46 PM local time Friday (March 11, 2011) has triggered Tsunami warnings across the Pacific according to the the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Already there have been more than 300 deaths reported in Japan.
Waves have begun hitting the Hawaiian Islands and beaches are closed. As of 4:30 AM (HST) there has been no real damage, however, no “all clear” sent yet in the Islands.
Reports from the action community are rolling in via Twitter and Facebook. Here are just a few:
Earlier in the night Surfer Clay Marzo said via Twitter: “So im SUPPOSE to be getting off this plane at 2am’ish hawaii time…. this gives me so much time…… Hope my house is high enough :(”
Les ettes owner Carmela Fleury, who lives in Japan with her husband Ivar, reported this morning via facebook: “All good. Thanks for the messages. Ivar is okay. His office and our home are not, but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.”
Camp of Champions‘ Ken Achenbach reported via facebook that he left Japan only a couple hours before the quake hit: “Stoked that we left Tokyo a couple hours before the earthquake. Super stoked our friends in Japan are OK.”
Follow the jump for video footage of the Tsunami hitting Japan.
The pressure from the world surfing community appears to have paid off. Volcom has now announced that they have flip-flopped on their original ruling and will pay Santa Cruz’s Zoltan Torkos the $10,000 for his kickflip. Not only that, they are now upping the award on the first high performance, above-the-lip kickflip to $20,000.
After further review Volcom has decided to reward Zoltan the $10K for his groundbreaking maneuver, and at the same time redefine the rules and double the prize money on the elusive “above and off the lip kickflip” now worth $20,000. . . “We really want to celebrate Zoltan’s successful kickflip, and continue to push the concept of futuristic surfing. Zoltan was the first and we feel shouldn’t be the last,” said Volcom’s Director of Surfing, Mike Guarino.
Nice. We kind of figured they’d come around. Volcom will release a video later this week that outlines the new kickflip competition more clearly defined rules. Looks like Zoltan has the chance to double down as he’s obviously already the closest surfer to the next $20,000.
In their Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast final match up Kelly Slater and Taj Burrow surfed a total of 23 waves. Seven of those waves scored a 3.0 or above. Five of those that did were Kelly’s, and two were Taj’s. Kelly’s high score was a 5.93 and Taj’s was a 7.17. That’s the kind of heat it was. To look at all the scores more closely click here.
Panamanian surfer Gary Saavedra reportedly just broke two Guinness World Record for standing behind a boat on a surfboard for three hours 55 minutes on Saturday, March 19, 2011, according to a story on Newsroom Panama.
