Ireland appears to be delivering another wave into XXL contention according to a story in the Irishtimes.
The latest wave, dubbed “Prowlers” by the hardy crew of Irish, British and South African surfers who first ventured out on it yesterday, breaks on an undersea reef about 2km (1.2 miles) off the west coast. While they are refusing to disclose its exact location, the surfers, including Andrew Cotton, reveal they have been waiting five years for the type of conditions required to surf it.
They’re saying this new spot bumped up some 40-50 foot faces thanks to Hurricane Tomas. Looks pretty amazing.
686 has come up with a a pretty simple way to increase their social media reach—free stuff. Each fall they use their email list, facebook and twitter accounts to give products to the kids. They call it 686 Day. This year the day has been extended to three days (November 12-14, 2010).
With two feet of fresh snow in the last 24 hours it looks like Mammoth Mountain is going to have a real winter opening when they fire up the lifts for the first time this year on Thursday, November 11, 2010. But the mountain doesn’t want everyone to just come up for opening day. No, they’d like us all to stay all weekend. And to make it more enticing they’ve hooked up Maja Ivarsson and The Sounds to play Canyon Lodge on Saturday night (following the premiere of the Unbound Terrain Park movie Another Day In Paradise).
Ever been in the snowed in parking lot of your favorite resort and not known which goggle lens is right for you? No? Us neither. But for those sad, ignorant masses who have so many lenses that they’re never really sure which to use, anon has the perfect app. It’s the Lens Visualizer.”
The standout feature of the new anon App is the industry’s first-ever live-view ‘Lens Visualizer’ tool that lets riders virtually test which anon lens is best at any given location in a matter of seconds. . . Here’s how anon’s exclusive virtual tool works: Once a rider selects the anon Lens Visualizer, their iPhone will use the camera lens as a view finder to capture their actual surroundings. Then, riders can point the phone at whatever they want (say the base lodge or the mountain) and see how it would look under six different anon lens tints. The tool allows riders to swipe from the darkest to lightest lens tint so they can see which color lens they prefer for the day’s conditions.
Tool, being the keyword here. If only they had a visualizer that could show us which pair of stinking, rotted socks had the fewest days on ’em. That would be something truly useful.
Tony Hawk held his Stand Up For Skateparks event at The Wynn resort in Las Vegas on Satruday (November 6, 2010) and all we can say is: where else would we ever see a photo op that included Shaun White, Tony Hawk, Holly Madison, Eric Estrada, and Kevin Staab. Seriously. If Andre Agassi had been in the shot it would have been all time.
We’re pretty sure the event raised a lot of money for the Tony Hawk Foundation and may have even moved a few units of Tony Hawk Shred. Click here for the full slideshow from the Las Vegas Weekly. Follow the jump for the official press release.
Kelly Slater didn’t stop with his 10th World Title. Nope. He rolled right on past Taj Burrow in the semi final. Then dominated Bede Durbidge in the final with a perfect 10 on 10 day at the Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico.
Kelly seemed relived that this contest was over, but he was still as gracious as ever on the podium, even thanking the Puerto Rican fans in Español. “This is the only event close to my home,” Slater said. “When I was a kid growing up in Florida I spent a lot of time in Puerto Rico. I surfed a lot of contests at Jobos and Wilderness. So this is like my home away from home. We’re all surfing for Andy and we’re all feeling a special feeling in the water. I want to thank all of you for taking the moment of silence before the heat. And that crazy rainbow out of now where.”
We all have a November week to remember and it’s great that we can finish it off with all these good memories.
Full results and a word from the ASP after the jump.
The world was expecting an epic heat when 38-year Kelly Slater faced Brazilian Adriano DeSouza in the Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico quarterfinals with a 10th ASP World Title on the line. But nothing will ever compare to the explosive reality Kelly Slater delivered. It was almost as if God realized the world needed a boost after what we’d all been through this week.
Kelly was visibly nervous as he paced the competitors’ area before the heat. He surveyed the ocean, spoke with Quik team manager Stephen “Belly” Bell for a moment, then put his jersey on and waded out through the ecstatic Puerto Rican crowd to the water. Once his feet hit the warm water, however, it was full guns blazing.
On the first wave de Souza took a look but didn’t paddle and mistakenly let Slater take it. Kelly dropped in a little behind the peak, pulled in under the lip and got barreled for days scoring a 9.0. While the crowd was still reeling from that wave Kelly paddle back out and into another even longer barrel for a 9.87. And all this happened in the first five minutes of the heat. The whole time de Souza was out the back wondering what happened.
On Kelly’s sixth wave he surfed near world number two Jordy Smith, and Smith was able to give Kelly a high five congratulating the new ASP World Champion as he slipped by. It was a perfect moment, in a nearly perfect heat. And will likely go down as one of the most historic heats in ASP History.
On the podium an emotional Kelly Slater was uncharacteristically tongue tied as he tried to come to terms with his week and his 10th World Title. With tears still rolling down his cheeks he dedicated his win to Andy Irons.
“I just want to send my condolences to Andy’s family,” he said. If it wasn’t for Andy I wouldn’t be in this situation right now. So I really don’t know what to say. I’m a little overwhelmed right now. . . . I want to dedicate this to Andy and to my family.”
It will likely take time for Kelly (and the rest of us) to sort out all the events of this week, but there is one thing: So Kelly, what about that number 11?
October 27, 2010 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming brought three feet of fresh snow, bluebird skies. Rob Kingwill and Kevin Jones got at it on Teton Pass. Can you taste it?
[Editors’ Note: This story has been updated with all today’s action]
What should have been the most joyous week in professional surfing history, turned to the opposite with news of the tragic death of Andy Irons. While the weight of that loss is hanging heavy on everyone in the surf world it hasn’t stopped the ASP’s top 24 from soldiering on in the Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico.
Taj Burrow (pictured above) and Dusty Payne kicked off Round 3, but what most everyone is waiting for is Heat 6 when Kelly Slater faces event wild card Dylan Graves and Heat 7 when Jordy Smith faces Gabe Kling. Kelly’s number 10 clinching hangs in the balance. As a reminder, here’s how it looks:
• If Slater finishes Equal 3rd or better, he clinches the 2010 ASP World Title.
• If Slater finishes Equal 5th or Equal 9th, Smith must win the event to send the ASP World Title Race to Hawaii.
• If Slater finishes Equal 13th or Equal 25th, Smith must finish Equal 3rd or better to send the ASP World Title Race to Hawaii.
• Essentially, if Smith fails to finish higher than Equal 5th, Slater claims the 2010 ASP World Title.
[Update 11:06 AM PST: Both Kelly and Jordy won their round three heats and the battle moves on to the quarterfinals.]
Ireland appears to be delivering another wave into XXL contention according to a story in the Irishtimes.
