The Volcom Fiji Pro returned to Cloudbreak on Tuesday, June 11, 2013 (yesterday in Fiji) and the six-to-eight foot monster barrels were the perfect stage for the ASP’s top contenders. Kelly Slater (pictured above)slipped past Jeremy Flores to make the quarters along with Sebastiean Zietz, Parko, Mick Fanning, 2John Florence, CJ Hobgood, Josh Kerr, and Jordy Smith.
“That was unbelievable,” Slater said. “Those were some of the best waves I’ve ever had in a contest. On the 10, I was deep in the barrel and grabbed my rail, but I had to let go to get speed and then I hit the foam ball, I barely made that one. I did the turn and got another tube. On that one big one, it was so perfect and I just wanted to be in the right spot. As I was in the barrel, it spit really hard and there was lots of mist and I couldn’t see. The foam ball pushed my tail up in to the wave and I just couldn’t come out the way I wanted to. I didn’t even care if I won or lost, because I’d get to surf again.”
For the official word from the ASP including the quarterfinal match ups follow the jump. [click to continue…]
We ran into former Transworld Media President and Group Publisher Liam Ferguson in the Cardiff Reef, California parking lot on Sunday and got the low down on his new gig as the vice president of sponsorship integration at the Association of Surfing Professionals, but today the official word finally came out.
As part of recently hired Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer Michael Lynch’s team, Ferguson will help lead the process of securing sponsorship marketing partners. . . “This is an unprecedented time in the sport’s history and we are fortunate to have someone with Liam’s extensive experience and capabilities join the team,” Lynch said. “Liam has an excellent rapport with sponsorship and marketing individuals in both endemic and non-endemic circles and his passion for professional surfing is evident in everything he does. We are both very excited about this next chapter for the ASP.”
How’s the for landing on your feet? Turns out the ASP is looking inside the industry for talent as well. Not a bad idea. Ferguson’s skills will come in very handy as the ASP rolls out its plans for the future. Congrats, Liam. For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
It would appear that the wizards behind the Wave Garden are continuing to perfect their magical wave building machine. They’re also giving us a much better look at what the entire place looks like. The big question: When will the first one show up in Minneapolis?
The Boardroom, the consumer surf expo that will be rolling in with Surf Expo September 7-8, 2013 in Orlando, Florida, is hosting a new shaping contest called the Chunk Of Foam Challenge. Four world renown surfboard shapers will be given an 8 x 2 foot block of foam and asked to make a surfboard out of it.
“Harken back to the days of ancient Polynesian board building,” says Scott Bass, producer of The Boardroom. “Boards were made out of chunks of wood. If you wanted a board you found a tree. We are tweaking that concept just a touch. We are challenging a selection of top-echelon shapers to create a surfboard out of an 8’ x 2’ chunk of foam. That’s it. The Chunk of Foam Challenge is an attempt to see who can really shape a good board without the modern accoutrements.”
Guess we’ll find out rather quickly who knows how to mow foam. For the official word from The Boardroom, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Dylan Rieder, Natas, Greyson Fletcher, Ryan Wilson, Jack Fardell, Alex Gray, and Chippa Wilson apparently went to New Zealand and did their thing. Monster Children was there to hop on board and document a little of it. It looks like Team Average 2.0.
A least one surfer in Santa Cruz, California was apparently hoping to grab more than his/her share of the first major summer swell when they posted close to 10 fake shark warning signs at Pleasure Point, according to a story on KTVU.com.
Warning signs with the California State Parks logo were posted Wednesday night at Pleasure Point Beach near Santa Cruz warning people of a shark. . . At first glance the sign, which tells surfers to go to another beach, appears real. . . The sign ends with “Surf Cowells instead.”
It fooled some surfers for a while, but most figured it out after reading the “Surf Cowells instead” line. Desperate times requires desperate measures. We’re surprised this doesn’t happen more often.
It’s the mainstream vs. the subculture in Drift this summer’s latest addition to the Hollywood surf movie cannon. The film follows the Kelly Brothers as they fight to surf and find success in the booming Australian surf scene of the 70s.
After their mother escapes from Sydney to Margaret River in the 1970’s, the two Kelly brothers spend their youth searching for the perfect wave. Out of necessity the family launch a backyard surf business – re-thinking board design, crafting homemade wetsuits and selling merchandise out of their van. Battling big waves, small town conservatism and criminals, the brothers give rise to a global brand. A story of passion, corruption, friendship and loyalty, deadly addictions and fractured relationships, DRIFT tells a tale of courage and the will to survive at all odds.
Or something like that. The film reportedly opens August 2, 2013.
Fred Patacchia (slotted above) sent Jordy Smith directly to Round 2 in their R1H1 matchup.
Some people were missing from day one of the Volcom Fiji Prowhen it kicked of on Tuesday June 4, 2013 at Cloudbreak. ASP World Champion Joel Parkinson believed surfers were up for another lay day and so he went fishing (out of phone range), and 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater stayed in Florida for the birth of his nephew. What definitely wasn’t missing was waves. Cloudbreak delivered perfect four-to-six foot glassy barrels all day long for the Round 1 surfers who showed up.
Wildcard Mitch Coleborn ate it up grabbing the high score of the day with a 19.33.
“I’m feeling in good rhythm and trying to keep momentum going after my win last week in Brazil,” Coleborn said. “My first wave was a 10 and I don’t know what to say, I’m stoked. Hopefully I can keep it going in Round 3.” . . . Coleborn, who topped 11-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 41, in Round 1 at Cloudbreak last year, recreated the same magic today, besting ASP World No. 1 Adriano de Souza (BRA), 26, and Alejo Muniz (BRA), 23, to make his way to Round 3.
For the official word from the ASP including full heat results, follow the jump.
The ASP World Tour fires back up today with Round 1 of the 2013 Volcom Fiji Pro at Cloudbreak. Jordy Smith, Sebastian Zietz, and Freddie P will hit the water at 3:30 PM PST (Tuesday, June 4, 2013 10:30 AM Fiji time).
“Conditions have continued to improve this morning and we’ll be commencing Round 1 of competition at 10:30am,” Rich Porta, ASP International Head Judge said. “We anticipate running all of Round 1 and will monitor conditions throughout the day, making adjustments accordingly. Good luck to all our competitors today.”
Surfer is building in the four to six-foot range so this should be good. Click here to watch it live and follow the jump for the complete Round 1 match-ups.
Pascale Honore is a 50-year-old woman from Western Australia who was paralyzed in an auto accident 18 years ago. But she still likes to surf, so she has Tyron Swan, 23, duct tape her to his back and takes her out surfing, according to a story in the Herald Sun.
“We were just sitting around one night having a few beers when I thought, `yeah, I reckon I could surf with Pascale on my back’,” Ty says. . . Eventually that seed of an idea took root, and the pair began to seriously look at the logistics of surfing together.
In this case it appears Swan rather enjoys having a shoulder hopper. And it appears that Honore, enjoys the ride.
