by The Editors on April 23, 2014
Good on ’em, hey? Both Carissa Moore and Mick Fanning were over the moon with wins in the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach and Tyler Wright and Taj Burrow added another second place finish to their surfing resumes.
Fanning said:
“After that result (13th) in Margaret River I went home and worked really hard and I’m so pleased that the hard work paid off. Congratulations to Taj (Burrow), I’ve never been so nervous for nine minutes of my life, he surfed amazingly,” said Mick Fanning. “We got to surf everywhere at this event which was awesome, we got to surf the Bowl, Rincon and to finish at Winkipop. It’s always been my dream to surf a Heat at Winkipop. This is such a special event for me and I feel comfortable here. With the calibre of surfers on Tour at the moment there’s never an easy Heat and it keeps it so exciting.”
Moore said (after claiming to be “speechless”:
“That was an amazing Final,” Moore said. “We were having such a blast, I just wanted to talk to Tyler (Wright) because the waves were so fun and it felt like we were having a fun free surf. I know she’s such an amazing surfer and will be in ASP World Title contention at the end of the year, so I knew I had to be at my best. It’s been a long Australian leg with three events in a row and it couldn’t have been much better for me, two wins and a quarterfinal and to finish by winning at Bells is so unique and special.”
For what the ASP said about the contest and the complete results, please follow the jump, won’t you? [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 17, 2013
Kai Otton, may have won the 2013 Rip Curl Pro Portugal today over American Nat Young (in tiny surf), but the bigger news is that after dispatching Mick Fanning in Quarter Final two, Otton pushed the ASP World Title race between Fanning and Kelly Slater to the Banzai Pipeline in December. While we were all thinking about the ramifications of that, Otton was reveling in the moment of a win that was a long time coming.
“It’s the weirdest feeling ever, I just can’t comprehend it,” an ecstatic Otton said. “I really want to dedicate it to my Granddad, he passed away the year I qualified and never saw me on tour so this is for him. It seems like this event was a little bit of a grind, every heat the tide changed so dramatically you never really knew what was going to happen!”
For the official word from the ASP and complete results, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 15, 2013
The 2013 Rip Curl Pro Portugal just can’t seem to get a break. After spending most of the morning (October 15, 2013) on hold hoping for the conditions to improve, organizers finally had to pull the plug on the day’s surfing.
“Swell and conditions have not aligned for us today so we have called competition off for the day,” Rich Porta, ASP International Head Judge stated. “We’ll reconvene tomorrow morning at Supertubos to assess our options and move forward from there.”
As a reminder, the contest window has been open for six days and only Round 1 and two heats of Round 2 have been completed. The biggest news from yesterday’s two-heat event was that Kelly Slater is out and Mick Fanning is in. Guess there’s still hope for a Fanning to wrap up the 2013 title race in Portugal.
For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on October 9, 2013
Unless you’re staying up all night, it’s difficult to catch much of the European leg of the ASP World Tour. But thankfully, the events are on full replay. And we just hooked up our Chromecast so we should be all good of for the remainder of the 2013 Rip Curl Pro Portugal. What did we miss during today’s Round 1 action? Well we missed Matty Wilkinson (pictured above) sending Quik Pro Champ Mick Fanning right into round two. We also missed Jacob Willcox getting past Kelly Slater and Kolohe Andino in their H1R5 heat. Wilko was pretty happy with his R1 win.
“I knew where I wanted to sit and I was just hoping that the conditions wouldn’t change too much,” Wilkinson said. “I got a few okay ones at the start and it was kind of scary I saw Mick (Fanning) get a wave before my last one and I thought it might be the score so I didn’t know if I was chasing a score or not. That last one, I knew I was deep, I took off and was just pumping as hard as I could cause I really wanted to make it, I was stoked.”
For the official word from the ASP and R1 results, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on September 27, 2013
Rip Curl founders Claw Warbrick and Brian Singer have apparently “stepped down” from the board of directors at Rip Curl ending 44 years behind the brand, according to a story on Business Day.
Documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission show Mr Warbrick and Mr Singer ceased being directors of Rip Curl International last month, although they will retain a very large interest in the future of the surf wear retailer with a combined 72 per cent stake.
Guess we’re not the only one who feel the surf fashion biz just isn’t that much fun anymore.
[Link: Business Day]
by The Editors on April 1, 2013
After the top contenders got knocked out in earlier rounds of the 2013 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, it was Adriano de Souza who knocked out American tour rookie Nat Young to became the first South American to win the event in its 52 year history.
“This is the most important event on tour to me,” De Souza said. “Guys like Andy Irons, Kelly Slater, my hero Mick Fanning, they have all rung the Bell. I have been coming here a lot of years. I love the place. It has been a tough time for me recently. I started 2013 without a sponsor for the first time in many years. I had to believe in myself that a company would believe in me and one did. I have to say thanks to Pena for believing in me. I have a lot of people to thank, but all I want to do right now is ring the bell.”
For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on March 25, 2013
Mophie Outride cameras will be getting a work out at Bells Beach as the 2013 Rip Curl Pro kicks off on March 27, 2013. The Outride cameras turn Apple iPhones into completely protected action POV cameras and Mophie as signed on as an official sponsor of the vent.
“The Rip Curl is an iconic platform for us to gain global exposure for the OutRide iPhone mounting system and add international footage to the community sharing video using the OUTRIDE app,” said Ross Howe, vice president of marketing, mophie. “Our company has grown up in the surf community of southern California and it’s fitting that we have a presence at this legendary event.”
We haven’t tried the Outride yet, but from the looks of the set-up it could be really cool. Follow the jump for the official word from mophie. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on March 5, 2013
With all that’s been going on with Billabong and Quiksilver lately, it probably isn’t the best time for Rip Curl to find a $400 million buyer and the owners have reportedly abandoned the sale, or at least that’s what co-founder Brian “Sing Ding” Singer is telling The Australian.
“I doubt (the sale) is going to happen,” Singer said. . . “The public market looks like a bit of a cesspit at the moment. . . But Mr Singer, who set up Rip Curl with Torquay surfing buddy Doug “Claw” Warbrick in 1969, said a sale was still on the longer-term agenda. . . He predicted the founders would exit “at some point in the next few years”.
Then again, if someone were to offer them $400 million right now, we’re guessing they take it.
[Link: The Australian]
by The Editors on November 2, 2012
Thanks to a strong dollar (hard to believe we know) Rip Curl is getting yanked into the same undertow that’s been chewing on Billabong for the past 10 months, according to a story in the Herald Sun.
The prominent Victorian company is being buffetted by the strong dollar and weak consumer sentiment and will start to cut jobs and close stores overseas. . . BusinessDaily can reveal Rip Curl, which is privately owned, suffered a net loss of $4.1 million for the year to June. A year ago, it recorded a $7.9 million profit, and three years ago its profit clocked in above $30 million. . . Finance director Lachlan Farran said the group had shouldered one-off costs for a European restructure and to meet accounting rules linked to its purchase of the Ozmosis and Waves brands.
Guess this wave of bad news is continuing to roll.
[Link: Herald Sun]
by The Editors on October 14, 2012
Travis Logie (ZAF), 33, took out Damien Hobgood (USA), 33, in Round 2.
Props to anyone who was able to stay up through a full night (at least in the US) of Rip Curl Pro Portugal holds. But finally, as the sun dropped low over the Atlantic, Brett Simpson and Matt Wilkinson finally got into the water to kick off the final four heats of Round 2.
“We’ve been down since 6:30am assessing the conditions,” Simpson said. “Wilko (Matt Wilkinson) and I have been having fun all day as he was here too – we’re friends out of the water, but we were just trying to catch the best waves we can. I had a really good opportunity solidify my lead out there more, but was unable to.”
Simpson slipped through that one, but in round three he’ll meet Gabriel Medina and that could be even more challenging. For the official word form the ASP follows the jump. [click to continue…]
