The New York Times Lens section has a nice profile on OG surf photographer Brian Bielmann.
“The macho photographers who shoot fisheye, they’re all impressed by the heaviest situation,” Mr. Bielmann said. “But I don’t see it that way. I don’t look for how hard a photo was to get, I just look at the end result.”
No, Brian doesn’t need to prove anything these days.
[Link: New York Times]
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ESPN/Action’s West Coast Editor Micah Abrams has jumped in on the unexploded “Slater Tour” grenade with more thoughts on a story that keeps getting written regardless of the complete dearth of facts, quotes, or any new angles whatsoever.
How nice must it be for Terry Hardy, the main instigator of the hypothetical tour, to get so much media play for not saying anything to anyone. At this rate his “Champions Tour” could surpass the world cup in hype without anyone having to release one bit of concrete information.
Abrams, however, has thought deeply about the new tour and what it could mean and lays it down much more concisely than most, even though his employer (Disney/ESPN) has potentially more to gain from a new surf tour than anyone.
Someday this will all sort out, and we can look back and laugh. . . hopefully.
[Link: ESPN/Action]
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Click here for all the photos from the final day at the 2009 Hurley Pro at Trestles. Congratulations to Mick Fanning for charging all the way through to the finish at the 2009 Hurley Pro at Trestles and grabbing his 10th WCT final from Dane Reynolds.
Follow the jump for the ASP Press Release or click here for all the heat videos on Hurley.com (for the turning point in the contest click here for Semifinal #2 Slater vs. Fanning) or here for Lewis Samuels finals wrap up on Stabmag.com.
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The 2009 Hurley Pro is finishing up today (September 19, 2009) at Trestles. Watch it live in HD on Fuel TV beginning at 8 AM PST. Click here.
Here are the match-ups for Round 4 (our heat winning guesses are in bold).
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Kai Otton {AUS)
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 3: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 4: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Rob Machado (USA)
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 7: CJ Hobgood (USA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
[Link: Fuel TV]
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The New York Times action scribe Matt Higgins has dropped in on the “Slater tour” story with a round up of whatever everyone else is saying (and we’ve all heard) spiced up with some quotes from ESPN’s Chris Stiepock and Vans’ Doug Palidini.
“There’s little doubt in most surfers’ minds that Kelly Slater is the best surfer who’s ever lived,” said Doug Palladini, vice president of marketing for Vans and president of the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association, an industry trade group. “So there’s no doubt he brings massive credibility to anything he wants to be a part of. The fact that he’s allowed his name and his agent to be associated with this has for sure made people sit up and listen more.”
For his part Champions Surf Tour’s Terry Hardy is keeping his lips zipped. In other words, no news here.
[Link: The New York Times via Shop-eat-surf]
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After a reportedly top-secret meeting on Sunday (September 13, 2009) in which at least 20 surfers discussed the “Slater Tour” with potential organizers, ESPN/Action’s Micah Abrams caught up with Bede Durbidge and got his thoughts on the proposed “champions tour.” Durbidge seemed optimistic:
. . . maybe no one will even decide to follow this new proposed tour, but it’s still making everyone think. We can make the sport better. The ASP wants to make the sport better, so maybe they can take the ideas off these other guys and use them. So I think whatever happens, it will be good. It’s going to be interesting.
Follow the link for the entire interview.
[Link: ESPN/Action]
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The small south hung in at Trestles today and the 2009 Hurley Pro was able to get through the rest of the round three heats today in moderate surf. Here’s how it went today:
Heat 7: Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.33 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.94
Heat 8: Rob Machado (USA) 11.27 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 10.73
Heat 9: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.83 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 9.24
Heat 10: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 12.50 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.46
Heat 11: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.10 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.73
Heat 12: Heitor Alves BRA 15.77 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.50
Heat 13: CJ Hobgood (USA) 13.50 def Luke Stedman (AUS) 10.93
Heat 14: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.10 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.60
Heat 15: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.67 def. Michael Picon (FRA) 10:33
Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.84 def. Tim Boal (FRA) 13.44
Coming up in round 4 (likely running Sarturday Sept 19, 2009). We bolded our guesses on heat winners. Afterwords we’ll see how we did.
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Kai Otton {AUS)
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 3: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 4: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Rob Machado (USA)
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 7: CJ Hobgood (USA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
[Link: 2009 Hurley Pro]
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The Liquid Nation Ball 6 awarded Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers the SIMA Humanitarian of the Year award, and he took the opportunity to auction off a “one-of-a-kind” FLEABASS and help the organization raise an “all-time record amount” of more that $270,000.
Flea’s Humanitarian of the Year award was presented by pro skateboarder Tony Hawk and Surfers Healing’s Izzy Paskowitz. Well-known as arguably one of the greatest rock bass players of all time, Flea is also known for making his mark on the world through his humanitarian efforts. Flea has a selfless heart, especially for children in need, as demonstrated by his active support and volunteerism for Surfer’s Healing, where he helps autistic children experience the joy and calming effects of the ocean and surfing.
Follow the jump for the rest of the official press release. [click to continue…]
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While watching today’s heats in the 2009 Hurley Pro we got a better understanding of where some of the “Slater Tour” proponents are coming from. While deep down we’re supporters of the ASP and hate the way action sports seem to continually attempt re-inventing their wheels, we have to agree that there are too many heats in ASP WCT events.
Out of the 20 heats run today in moderate, yet somewhat inconsistent surf we cared about five, maybe six. We were stoked C.J Hobgood beat Marlon Lipke, bummed that Bobby Martinez lost to Luke Stedman, proud of Taylor Knox, surprised when Josh Kerr knocked out Ace Buchan, happy when Kai Otton defeated Jay Thompson, and thought Freddy P may have been underscored, but since it was against Roy Powers we were okay with it. When Roy said he was glad to be on the winning side of a close heat after being on the losing end so many times, he was gracious. And that was cool.
The heat that the ASP press release writer was most excited about, however, was when Josh Kerr scored a 17.5 against Dayyan Neve. To us, watching a guy in 25th place on the ASP rankings get all over the number 30 guy just doesn’t seem all that compelling.
Josh Kerr (AUS), 25, current ASP World No. 25, stunned spectators today with his diverse repertoire of progressive surfing, blending rotation aerials with power hacks to net the highest heat total of the day, a 17.17 out of a possible 20, to defeat an in-form Dayyan Neve (AUS), 31, in Round 2 of competition. . . . “I’d been here the last couple of hours and in the heat before I saw that there were a few nice rights shaping up,” Kerr said. “There seemed to be a few in our heat. Dayyan (Neve) got a couple as well. That one wave wasn’t the biggest wave, but it looked like it was going to connect down the line and that’s exactly what it did. I raced down the line and popped a little air, came around, up and down, and it stayed wally for me and I gave it a little bang off of the end.”
While no tour is going to make 100 percent the fans happy all the time, fewer throw away heats might not be that bad an idea.
Follow the jump for the official ASP press release, all the heat results, and the line up for tomorrow which includes banging heats from the get go starting with Dane Reynolds vs. Ben Dunn, Joel Parkinson vs. Rob Machado, and Kelly Slater vs. Brett Simpson.
[Link: 2009 Hurley Pro]
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Kelly Slater wasn’t fooling around at Trestles in his first heat in the 2009 Hurley Pro yesterday, September 13, 2009. He paddled out in sloppy, wind-blown chop to surf against Adrian Buchan and Rob Machado. Slater nailed down a 9.0 and a 9.5 then switched boards and did a little product testing while Buchan and Machado tried to catch him. Neither got the waves they needed and both left the heat in a combo. Not surprisingly, Slater’s score of 18.5 turned out to be the highest of the day.
“I think those two waves were probably two of the best that broke all day,” Slater said. “There haven’t been too many rights all day, but I was able to grab a couple of really good ones to start out. I didn’t think I was going to better a 9.00 out there so I came in and went for a board change to try something a little different towards the end of the heat.”
Rob Machado went on to eliminate Taj Burrow in the final seconds of their round two face-off. No redemption for Taj against Kelly this year. Joel Parkinson dispatched Kai Barger in their round two heat to stay in the contest after getting bumped to the losers round by Kai Otton in round one.
The contest continues today live with round two, and possibly more. Stay tuned to 2009 Hurley Pro.
[Link: 2009 Hurley Pro]
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