Chuck Patterson was apparently out SUPing with the Great Whites and got them on video. . .He says:
The day before I shot this video, i was SUP surfing with a couple friends and 2 sharks circled us for about 15 minutes. the next day, i decided to go back out at around the same time and take my GO PRO HD camera mounted on a 10 ft pole and do some exploring. . . Sure enough within 5 minutes a 9 ft shark came out of no where and circled twice and slapped his tail on my board before disappearing. then a minute later a 7 ft young juvenile Great White swam circles around me for 12 minutes.
Not so sure we’re itching to surf Trails anytime soon. . .
We’ve always admired the work of San Clemente, California based shaper Cole Simlar, but have never spoken with him. Kind of bummed on that after watching this video. Some of his work will be on display at the Billabong Art of Shaping: Orange County Edition August 13-14, 2010 at the ASR Trade Show.
If the entire ASP World Tour were held in Huntington Beach, California there is a very good chance that Brett Simpson could be the number one surfer in the world rather than down at 26 on the world rankings. Over the past two years he’s beaten nearly every one of the ASP’s top five surfers at the US Open. This year he downed a nine-time world champion and the current ASP number 1 in consecutive heats to take his second US Open of Surfing victory and a check for $100,000.
“It’s amazing to beat those guys,” Simpson said. “I guess this is my best chance to compete against those guys and I know the wave really well and I just go out there and stay confident. I know which waves score the best and that’s all you can do against those guys. . .“Jordy (Smith) has been getting quick starts, so I tried to go out there and get a decent start,” Simpson said. “I got a five, and it was a low scoring heat, but all the waves I caught I maximized. Jordy had that one wave, where if he pulled that air it could have been a different ballgame. That’s the risk you take to be rewarded and with the level these days, that’s where it’s at. I kind of stayed conservative and built my scores, but either way, a win is a win.”
After 2009’s epic surf it was sad to see the Huntington Pier return to it’s normal wave size for the finals. Jordy and Brett spent much of the heat just sitting on a flat sea hoping for a wave that would save them. Brett scored a 13.97, and all Jordy could muster was 8.33. But the crowd did not appear to care as they changed into the water to mob each surfer as they tried to get back up the beach. The final was not even close to spectacular, but it did put a cap on an amazing week of surfing at the 2010 US Open of Surfing.
Josh Clement, 25, of Wilmington, North Carolina reportedly kicked a shark before getting what can only be described as the smallest shark bite in the history of shark attacks, according to a story on WWAYTV3.com.
“I honestly thought that I lost my foot,” Clement said. “I mean it happened, and it hit so hard, I thought I lost my foot, and I couldn’t look back to see if my foot was there and finally I got to see if my foot was still around my leg. Of course it scared me to death, but it all comes with the territory. You’re out there in the ocean and they’re out there as well.”
Sadly, his six stitches look like nothing more than a scratch. This is reportedly “the fourth shark attack between Topsail Island and Myrtle Beach in the last six weeks.”
Today, mixed somewhere into a Southern California day filled with all manner of flying boards, Hawaii’s Carissa Moore confidently paddled out at the Huntington Beach Pier and put the vice to current ASP World Tour number two Sally Fitzgibbons. With several paddle battles to start the heat, Moore didn’t let up until the US Open of Surfing’s Woman’s Final horn blew and she had won the largest women’s prize purse in the history of surfing.
“I was pretty nervous because I only had two 4 point scores,” Moore said. “Sally (Fitzgibbons) is gnarly and is a great competitor and I knew when that last set came, if I didn’t get on it Sally would have gotten the score easily. I’m just so on top of the world right now, I’m so psyched. . . . “It is really amazing to win this event,” Moore said. “I just can’t even believe it right now. It just seems really surreal. That Final went by so fast and I wish I could have done some more surfing, but I’m just really stoked.”
For Sally’s side of the story and all the official details, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
With the 2010 US Open of SurfingNike (with Hurley, Nike 6.0, and Converse) is presenting what is likely one of the most spectacularly produced action sports events so far. Every single detail of the 2010 US Open of Surfing looks right. From the layout of the village, to the music stage, the four live webcasts, the iPhone app, and the Converse mini-park everything is well designed, attractive and functional.
For more of what we’re talking about click here for the photo gallery from the Village, the Surfing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and the Converse Coastal Carnage.
[Update Saturday August 7, 2010: Yesterday, the OC Register updated its story regarding “arrests” at the US Open to reflect the following. “About 94 misdemeanor citations were issued Wednesday during the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, police officials said. . . Four people near the pier and six from the beach and downtown area were also arrested and booked, police spokesman Lt. Russell Reinhart said.]
Huntington Beach Police are apparently being proactive when it comes to crowd management at the US Open of Surfing.
On Wednesday, August 4, 2010 they reportedly arrested 26 cited 94 people “near the pier” in only five hours according to a story in the OC Register.
“We didn’t have a riot or anything, there were just (several) people at the beach,” he said Thursday. . . Lt. Russell Reinhart said the police expect activity at the pier to get “much busier” as the weekend approaches. . . “This happens every year for this surfing contest event,” he said.
They’re not going to let another Op Pro riot go down on their watch. No, sir.
In the round of 48 the US Open of Surfing has finally entered the portion of the contest where we begin recognizing some names. And yes, that makes watching the heats more enjoyable.
Earlier, in the round of 96, Dane Reynolds busted out the highest score of the contest so far in a heat against Nathan Hedge, Rodrigo Dornelles, and David Weare.
Apparently, Dane’s “inverted frontside 360 air on a closeout section, earning a near-perfect 9.87 out of 10 for the single maneuver.” Can’t complain about that.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Reynolds said. “I just rode this board for the first time yesterday and had a fun session on it so I was a little more confident than normal out there. When the first set came through and I didn’t get anything I was kind of worried. It was so grey out there I couldn’t see anything. I was on that wave and thought I was going to do turns but then I saw it was closing out, so it was kind of a hail Mary.”
Watch all this and more from the largest surfing event in the world as the US Open of Surfing continues in Huntington Beach, California all weekend long.
It seems that having an iPhone app has now become one of the check-off items for every well run event. Many, like the US Open of Surfing, are discovering that simply having the app doesn’t mean that the proper info is being distributed on the right channels.
On the surface the free US Open of Surfing app (click here to download it) has everything that an event app should. The opening screen features the following menu: Live, Schedule, News, Videos, Photos, Results, Media, and Shop. Under each of those is another slew of sub menus.
If the movie is even half as good as the poster it will be well worth the trip to Encinitas, California’s world famous La Paloma Theater on Friday July 30, 2010.
With Andy Irons, Andrew Doheny, Fergal Smith, Wade Goodall, and Eric it can’t be bad.
