June 2008 Archives

It was time to clear out. "Let's go free surfing, let's go find some waves, that's as good as it gets in surfing," frothed Kauai's Gavin Gillette, and he was spot on. Competition wise everything may have not gone exactly to plan, but with the swell switch seemingly stuck on "four-foot and pumping," and with foam fringed coral reefs sluicing in every direction, it was time to find some waves and unleash some free surfing action.

Aboard the Teate, we set sail for north, away from the tropical resorts with their aqua marine bays and blinding white beaches and up to a few hidden waves in the northern atolls. A couple of hours later, we motored into a large channel and almost screwed our collective necks, frantically looking between a perfect reeling left, and a spitting hollow right on either side of the channel.

See photos of the carnage here...

The flames of rivalries were stoked, lines were drawn in the sand (only to be erased by the high tide), and it came down to brother against brother (sort of) at the 2008 Red Bull Riders Cup National Championships. Held on the cobblestone point at Trestles known simply as "Church" (a fitting name for any western shoot-out), the swell poured through all weekend long, giving opportunity to the best high school surf squads from around the country to test both their mettle and manhood. But come finals time, crosstown rivals San Clemente High and Carlsbad High would be the only two standing.

Story By Ben Mondy

“I’m going to sleep well tonight,” Michel Bourez is sitting on top of a Dhoni, a traditional Maldivian boat, and the transport equivalent of a truck in these parts. “I’ve tried to just two hours a day surfing, but I must have done at least four hours today, the surf was too good.”

We were chugging along a glassy Indian Ocean on the roof of the Dhoni, under a molten pink tinged sky, five minutes before dusk, heading back to the Teate, a sweet boat, Maldives Red Bull Rising HQ and our home for the week.

It had been another epic freesurfing session, as Michel was joined by Tim Boal, Clint Kimmins and Gavin Gillette, in a tune up session for their heats in the Sri Lankan Airways Pro, a six star WQS event being held in the turquoise waters, tropical heat and ruler edged reefs of the Maldives.

Last January 19 of the world’s leading junior surfers were invited to the Red Bull WQS Selection Camp held in Australia. After an intensive selection phase only four made the cut into Red Bull Rising, Red Bull's high performance program. The surfers that made this unique elite athlete surfing development team were Brazilian Wiggolly Dantas, the Hawaiian Gavin Gilette, Clint Kimmins from Australia and Frenchman Tim Boal. The fifth surfer, Michel Bourez from Tahiti was nominated through a wild card due to his outstanding talent.

Story By Cassio Cortes
Brazilian Peterson Crisanto defeated Tahitian Tamaroa McComb twice during the ISA World Junior Surfing Championship’s Under 16 competition on his way to the grand final, but unfortunately for the Red Bull athlete, the Tahitian picked up his top form in the final heat, and won in a very tight final.
    Tamaroa began with an 8.10 that slotted him into first place. Peterson scored a lesser 6.20. A few minutes later, the Tahitian scored a near-perfect 9.10 after having executed a huge off-the-lip, followed by five big maneuvers that took him all the way to the beach. Not to be defeated, the Brazilian then scored a high but insufficient 7.54, which left him searching for a very difficult 9.66.
    Crisanto very nearly got the score when he pulled off two stylish roundhouse cutbacks, a tailslide 360 and two off-the-lips onto the sand, which gave the Brazilian a 9.62, just 0.04 below what he required. With this score, he needed precisely 7.92, which unfortunately he never quite found. Still, it was a career-best result for Crisanto.
Boys Under 16 ISA World Junior Championships Results
Gold: Tamaroa McComb (TAH)
Silver: Peterson Crisanto (BRA)
Bronze: Matty Costa (HAW)
Copper: Ian Fontaine (FRA)

Story Courtesy Jamie Sterling

“There haven’t been this many soldiers flailing in the surf since the invasion of Normandy.” The veteran looked a lot like Sergeant Rock. He was big and tough and had a giant tattoo on his back and when you looked up from the tattoo you couldn’t help but see a giant, jagged canyon of a scar that started at the base of his neck, went straight up the back of his shaved skull and then branched off to the left. There was a bad story behind that scar, but the veteran was trying to leave that story behind.