Steamer Lane will be lifted back into its rightful place on the world tour November 1-11, 2012 as the O’Neill Coldwater Classic returns the Santa Cruz, California break to World Championship Tour status.
With a long and rich history, the O’Neill Coldwater Classic at Steamer Lane is known for producing powerful and consistent conditions in a classic Northern California setting. Originating in 1987, the event has taken on various incarnations over the past three decades. It was once an ASP WCT event (prior to the ASP creating a two-tier system), but for the past few years, it has run as an ASP Star or Prime event. With this year’s upgrade to the highest echelon of professional surfing, it will not only bring the top caliber of talent to Steamer Lane, but a lofty $425,000 prize purse as well.
Whenever we hear that a former pro surfer has a “new album” coming out we automatically begin cringing. With the exception of Donovan Frankenreiter (and we admit to cringing a little at the start) the road most surfing troubadours walk is not paved with critical acclaim or booming success.
Into this milieu drops three-time world surfing champion Tom Curren (right). His debut EP Summerland Road goes on sale October 16, 2012.
Still one of the most well known, beloved and legendary of professional surfers, Curren has a mystique that was enhanced by his musical aspirations and abilities. During his years on competitive surf circuit, Curren always found opportunities to create and perform music, developing bands with names such as Skipping Urchins and Plankten. His sound reveals musical influences ranging from jazz to African music to acoustic guitar melodies, reflections of a world-traveling competitor. His diverse repertoire made such an impression on Jackson Browne that he asked Curren to join his touring band last year.
The 30th Annual Vans Triple Crown of Surfing has signed on 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater to go up head to head against 2011 champ John John Florence for a one-time $100,000 winner takes all cash bonus (that’s in addition to all the money the winner will win by being the top finisher in the three jewels of the crown). Slater hasn’t won a triple since 1998.
The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing is the world’s premier series of professional surfing events that runs from November 12 through December 20 in the famous winter waves of Oahu’s North Shore, Hawaii. The final event of the 3-event series — the Billabong Pipe Masters — is the final event of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour and will crown the ASP World Surfing Champion.
All this just for surfing Haliewa, Sunset, and Pipeline with a couple other guys out. Follow the jump for dates and times. [click to continue…]
It was a Quiksilver dream final at the Quiksilver Pro France 2012. The master versus the prodigal son with Kelly Slater facing off against event wildcard Dane Reynolds in surf that allowed them both to shine. Slater landed his first win in France in 20 years.
“It has literally been 20 years,” Slater said. “I had my first win here 20 years ago and that’s pretty crazy. Obviously when you go out there you want to win the heat, but I would have been really stoked if Dane (Reynolds) pulled a 10 out of his hat at the end of the heat, it would have been pretty rad.”
Though he didn’t win, Reynolds had fun and that all that he seems to care about.
“That was a lot of fun out there,” Reynolds said. “I just really like these waves and I wasn’t really worried about competing or winning the heat. I always put a lot of pressure on myself, maybe not on winning but to surf well. I’ve liked every day of this event. Yesterday was intense and challenging and the day before was the same. Today was just perfect and fun. Today was a playground, you can’t ask for any better than that.”
This win (his third of the season) puts Kelly Slater firmly in second place in the World Rankings behind Joel Parkinson. And already the world tour numbers man is figuring out his chances.
“When you start working the numbers a little bit, I got that 500 pointer and a 13th, two bad results, already,” Slater said. “Parko (Joel Parkinson) is sitting on a 9th and a 5th. If I couldn’t get past Parko today, it would have put a lot of pressure on me, but this has now put the pressure back on Mick (Fanning) because Parko, John John (Florence) and I did well here at this event.”
For those who didn’t want to stay up until 2 AM PDT to watch the finals, the entire event is online. Watch it here or follow the jump for the official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
When celebrity chef Ludo Lefebvre decided to open one of his pop-up restaurants on the Big Island, Quiksilver jumped right in and offered the services of Mark Healey, Stephanie Gilmore and Reef McIntosh. Check out the video to see how it all turned out.
“Sharks are highly visual animals but the world they see lacks colour and will appear as shades of grey like we see when we watch a black and white movie,” he said. . . “It may be possible to use this knowledge to change the way a shark reacts to certain objects. . . “It may also lead to better design of equipment such as wetsuits and surfboards that reduce the risk of shark attack.” . . . UWA’s Professor Shaun Collin says they plan to create a wetsuit, using particular patterns, that would make the wearer look unappealing to sharks. . . “It makes the wearer appear obnoxious, poisonous or unattractive to the shark, somewhat like a sea snake,” said.
Sounds like a description of half the groms at our local break. . .
There have been easier ASP WCT events to follow. It seems the Quiksilver Pro France 2012 has been sputtering along in snapping little pieces without every spending an entire day in the surf. Today, (October 2, 2012) the afternoon got through seven heats and culminated with Julian Wilson’s perfect 10 wave (the second of the day) in Round 2 Heat 7.
“The 10 felt really good,” Wilson said. “I spent the first quarter of that heat getting smashed. I got smashed on my first wave and then probably got smashed by fifteen more trying to go back out. As soon as that rip kind of cleared out of the line-up we saw some really good waves come through and yeah I was really happy to get that first one, get that 10 and then it up. Melling caught a couple too, he just was unlucky and fell off but it was cool to surf a heat like that coming to France. It’s so much fun.”
There was talk about running the eighth heat of Round 2, but the sun was already down. For the official word, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The sensational and stylistic MR firmly stamped his mark on surfing history by winning the ASP world title four-times. One of only two world champions to shape and compete on his own handcrafted surfboards (PT), the legendary MR will be at The Boardroom to watch six shapers replicate a classic MR twin fin. A board that MR shaped, sprayed, glassed, and sanded all by himself. And oh yeah, then Richards went out and won the Mainstay Magnum 500 (South Africa 1982) ASP event on the board.
Follow the jump for all the official details, ticket prices, live webcast info, and more. [click to continue…]
The SIMA Humanitarian Funds‘ Stokes Me Challenge kicks off its 30-day fundraising contest today. Stokes me pits surfers, shops, brands, etc. . . in a fundraising competition to see who can raise the most money for 10 surf-related humanitarian organizations.
“The Stokes Me Challenge will take place all online and it is super easy to get involved,” said Ross Garrett, SIMA Humanitarian Fund President and Vice President at Surfline. “You have three choices on how you can get involved in Stokes Me. You can become a fundraiser for your favorite surf brand, retailer or partner team; start your own team; or make a one-time donation. All options lead to prizes and we are stoked that this year we will be sending the top fundraiser on a trip for two to Hawaii for the Triple Crown, including VIP treatment to Surfer Poll.”
For step-by-step instructions on how you can get involved and who the money will go to, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
