Surfing

Ever wanted to ask former Surfer Magazine editor and Encyclopedia of Surfing author and “biggest surf nerd on the planet” Matt Warshaw a question?

Now’s your chance. He’s on Reddit/r/Surfing and he’s said, “As Me Anything. . .” So far people wanted to know about Andy Irons, gender balance in the ASP, filmmaker John Milius and the “gnarliest situation” he’s ever been in. Warshaw’s answer?

I surfed Mavs three times, and was so fear-sick that I almost cried with relief once I got back to the beach. But I also remember a couple of gnarly moments as a kid, just getting in way over my head on days that I shouldn’t have been in the water. I got rescued a bunch of times, by lifeguards and other surfers, and each time I thought I was going to drown. I’d go home and cower for a day or two, then come back and try again.

For the rest of the AMA, click the link.

[Link: Reddit Surfing]

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Some would say it was closer than the 15.90 to 12.44 score would suggest, however, the ASP judges saw Michel Bourez win the 2014 Drug Aware Margaret River Pro on Sunday, April 13, 2014. And for the second year in a row, Josh Kerr ended up in the runner up position. As can be imagined, he was not happy about it.

I just tried to relax going into the Final,” said Josh Kerr. “It was a rough Heat but I wanted to put a show on for everyone. It hurt last year getting runner up and it hurts even more this year. I made a few errors at the start of the Heat by falling on the inside and I definitely didn’t chose the right waves. The Heat came down to strategy and things didn’t got my way. It’s pretty annoying to make the Final and surf really badly. I’m stoked with the result though, the West has been good to me and I enjoy being here. I’m happy we have a WCT event here and it was great to surf at The Box. I’m going to take the year event by event and I’m excited to move on to the next one.”

Congrats for Bourez for sticking out what seemed like a really, really long contest. He is The Spartan, after all. For the official word from the ASP including full results, follow the jump.

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Carissa Moore marched right on through to the finals of the Drug Aware Margaret River Womens’ Pro, but don’t think for a minute that Australian Tyler Wright just handed over the title. Nope she hit it hard early. And from then on it was back and forth until currently ASP world champion Moore finally finished Wright off with an 8.23 to.

“Tyler Wright looked awesome today and she’s a tough competitor,” said Carissa Moore. “I think any time any of us are in a Final we really want to win it and take it home. I was really excited and told myself ‘come on, it’s time’. It’s a very challenging wave here at Margaret River and I’m constantly learning so I’m thankful to be able to win here again. I love this place and I love Western Australia. It feels good to be up there at the top of the rankings with Stephanie (Gilmore) and I can’t wait to see how the rest of the events unfold.”

For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump.

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The ASP fired up their jets again in Australia for the first day of the Drug Aware Pro Margaret River. Wildcard Yadin Nicol, knocked Kelly Slater into Round 2 in their Round 1 match-up, but the question on everyone’s lips was: what was Mr. Slater wearing? The answer: a contest jersey, a wetsuit with no logos, and a Jake Burton Channel Islands sticker on his surfboard. Yadin, was happy with his performance against the Quik-free Slater.

“It felt great to beat Kelly Slater,” said Yadin Nicol. “I wish I could have done that last year or the year before. I felt comfortable out there. I usually don’t start out that well so I’m happy to have one under my belt. There wasn’t much going on in that Heat so Slater and Durbidge didn’t have much of a chance to fight back, so I was lucky in that sense.”

Hometown hero Taj Burrow (above) blasted through his Round 1 heat ahead of Brett Simpson and Quiksilver’s new number 1 Fred Patacchia. For the official word from the ASP and complete heat results, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Hobie Alter, the man most responsible for the modern age of both surfing and sailing, died yesterday (Saturday, March 29, 2014). He was 80 years old. According to a story on SurferMagazine.com:

A true waterman, Alter competed successfully in the Makaha International Surf Contest in 1958 and ’59, won a trio of tandem surfing championships from 1961-’63, and was elected to both the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame (1997) and the National Sailing Hall of Fame (2011). But Alter’s legacy will always be that of a pioneer of surfboard and sailboat production, called “the Henry Ford of the surfboard industry” by Steve Pezman, for his contribution to the large-scale manufacture of surfboards.

We had the honor of interviewing Alter for a surf magazine nearly a decade ago. It was a phone interview and he was sitting on the front porch of his home in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. We hit him with questions he’d been asked thousands of time before. But he didn’t seem to mind. At one point, we heard him say,” Whoa.” And we asked, “What just happened? You okay?” He laughed, “A Bald Eagle just got a big one.” We knew then, that Alter was living right. Our thoughts are with Alter’s family and friends.

[Link: Surfer Magazine]

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