March 2009 Archives

In an event that's not going to be soon forgotten, Jordy Smith has taken out the WQS 6-Star O'Neill Cold Water Classic Tasmania. With the final day going down in pumping surf at Bluff Reef, Jordy narrowly defeated fellow ASP Dream Tour traveler Damien Hobgood in the Final.

In solid 8-foot swell, offshore winds, Smith and Hobgood showed just why they are two of the top ASP World Tour surfers at the moment. "It was good to get a win," Smith said. "It's been a while. Damo's been ripping this whole event. I looked up to him as a kid so it's great to be out there with one of your heroes."

The Golden State Regional Championships, the second event of the 2009 Red Bull Riders Cup season, took place this week in Ventura, California.  This stop of the Red Bull Riders Cup, the nations' premier high school surfing competition, saw The Golden State region's best high school surfers battle it out in fun but challenging conditions.  Participating high schools included Ventura High, Santa Barbra High, Carpinteria High and Malibu High School.  The week's competition varied from major whitewashes to nail biting close finishes but was fierce at all times.  In a repeat of last year's regional title, it was Malibu High snatching victory and taking the win over Carpinteria High.  Malibu has now booked a spot in the Red Bull Riders Cup National Championship, which will be held on June 6-7 at Upper Trestles in San Clemente.  The series now moves east to central Florida's Pelican Beach Park on March 31 - April 2.

Today, the Olympic Museum recognizes what surfers worldwide and Peruvians have known for years, Sofia Mulanovich is a hero. The Lausanne, Switzerland-based museum's exhibition called "Heroes" focuses on the athlete star system from different eras. Sofia represents the global heroes of modern times alongside Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Diego Maradona, Carl Lewis and Roger Federer.

"Even though surfing isn't in the Olympics yet, it is a true global sport and connects people worldwide," says Sofia Mulanovich. "It is a huge, but humbling honor to represent surfing on this global stage alongside the best athletes of all time."

Among the items being shown for Sofia will be a Red Bull Customized Channel Islands surfboard designed by a young fan in Peru during one of a series of the Red Bull Customized design contests, aka "Pimp my Board with Sofia series".  In addition to the board, the museum will display Sofia, the award-winning, 60-minute documentary on her influence on surfing in Latin American, it's awards, her Reef Signature Sandal and just a few of the trophies from the World Championship Tour.

So, what do world tour surfers do when they're not flaring up in the world's best lineups? Well, from the looks of things they manage to stay pretty busy. Between the Quik Pro and the upcoming Rip Curl Pro at Bells, Jordy Smith found his way down to Tasmania for the first stop of the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Series. After a couple impressive days of surf he's into the Round of 48, surfing against good bru Travis Logie, as well as Dusty Payne and Brad Ettinger. There seems to be a whole army of South Africans in Tazzy at the moment, as Red Bull's Rudy Palmboom is also still in the running, and will be surfing against the likes of Damien Farenfort and Warrick Wright. We'll keep you posted as things progress down there.

Also worthy of note, Adriano De Souza seems to be getting attention for leading the Brazilian charge on tour. ESPN.com just posted a story that's definitely worth a read if you get a chance. In short, the world better look out for Adriano this year. Coming off of the best result of his career, there's no question his pump will be primed for Bells. And speaking of Bells, you know Mick Fanning's going to be ready to go. Who knows, by season's end both Adriano and Mick could be in a dog fight for the world title?

Red Bull Riders Cup Second Stop will be at Seaside Park in Ventura on March 24-26

The first event of the 2009 Red Bull Riders Cup season, the nations' premier high school surfing competition, got off to a dramatic start this week as the best high school surfers in Santa Cruz battled it out under sunny skies and solid conditions.  Participating high schools included Santa Cruz High, Aptos High, Scotts Valley High, Harbor High and Soquel High School. 

The competition was fierce, but in the end Aptos High took the victory from runners-up Santa Cruz High.  Aptos High's win earned them a spot in the Red Bull Riders Cup Championship, which will be held on June 6-7 at the Upper Trestles in San Clemente.  The series' next Regional Title will be up for grabs on March 24-26, when the Red Bull Riders Cup travels to Seaside Park in Ventura.

The first three days of the four-day competition were held at The Hook, and it was local favorites Santa Cruz High and Aptos High that came through the early rounds to advance to Thursday's regional finals at Pleasure Point.  In the final game Aptos High won the toss and sent Santa Cruz into the water first.  Santa Cruz got off to a good early start, posting a respectable 21.1 in the top of the first period.  Aptos High's decision to surf second proved a great one when they hit the water and were greeted with very solid set waves to take the lead with a score of 23.8.

Ian Walsh's 6th annual Menehune Mayhem Surf event will be held Saturday, March 28th at Maui's Ho'okipa Beach Park. Walsh, an advocate for introducing and instilling a passion for surfing in Hawaii's youth, created the free event with the help of O'Neill and Red Bull as a way giving back to the children and teens of Maui as well as showcasing what the surf culture and sport have to offer.

Red Bull and the National Surf League are kicking off the 4th annual Red Bull Riders Cup at the Hook and Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz, Ca. March 16-19, 2009.

The schools are fired up with Harbor High looking to avenge their close loss to Soquel High School in last years regional final. With previous experience under their belt, Aptos and Scotts Valley High will be ready with fresh Game strategies.

"We're fired up," said Santa Cruz High head coach Joe Hudson who is looking to regain respect after a shocking overtime loss in the first round last year "The team has been practicing hard and we're gunning for the title."

By now we all know what a dynamic tow team Carlos Burle and Maya Gabeira make. He knows all there is to know about tackling the biggest waves in the world and she looks good doing it. But it's not always huge tubes and glorious post-session stories. Sometimes things go tragically wrong, like the above photo. Red Bull Surfing caught up with Carlos to find out exactly how him and Maya ended up getting sucked over...with their ski. Here's his take:

"Long story short, these jet skis are not designed for tow-in and have a key that was designed with the intention to minimizing risks. You wear the key on your right wrist, and in case you fall the key is pulled and the ski stops. Because you move a lot when you are driving the ski during a tow session, sometimes the key comes off. It's happened a few times with me before, but I always managed to get out of the situation. What was bizarre this time was that when we started the session the key came off and Maya said to me, 'This is dangerous and it may happen in a situation that you won't be able to restart it.'

It's baaaaaack! The Red Bull Riders Cup is back for another season, so hold on to your graduation caps and get ready. Last year it was Carlsbad High School that took top honors. Who will it be this time around? Amassing over 34 high schools from eight distinct surfing regions around the country, the Red Bull Riders Cup is the premier high school surf function. While 34 teams will enter, only one will hoist the cup. The season is coming on quick, so be ready.

Stay tuned as the season gets underway in Santa Cruz next week.


What is Red Bull Riders Cup? Here's the skinny:

The Tournament: Using the National Surf League's "Game" format, in a single-elimination "march-madness" style battle royale 34 high schools are entered into 8 regional qualifiers. Four high schools from each region make it to the national championships.

The Format: Start time is at 4pm after school, and the entire Game spans under 2 hours. 3 total periods, 2 heats per period, teams alternate surfing each heat. Each heat is 12 minutes long. Each team is allotted 5 "time outs" per game of 2 minutes each.

The Team: Teams of 12 Athletes max: 4 starters, 2 substitutes and 2 non-active reserves (2.0 GPA min) Head coach with at least 1 assistant coach (water coach). Each team has 2 substitutes in the water ready; subs can sub in only once per heat.

It was a long hard slog to get to the end of the Quiksilver Pro, but for Adriano De Souza and Joel Parkinson it was well worth the effort. Adriano finished a very respectible second, while Parko took his first event win in 26 attempts. Both are now squarely in the driver's seat with the 2009 ASP World Tour season underway.

With the effects of Cyclone Hamish pounding the Gold Coast, early in the week contest organizers made the call to move the event site from Snapper Rock down to Kirra, which obviously got everybody good and frothy. By the time the final day of competion rolled around the surf was a tumoltuous six to eight feet. "Cyclone Hamish turned it on for us," reported Mick Fanning, who fell to Parko in an epic semifinal duel. "It's one of those days where you can have one of the best surf's of your life and one of the worst surf's of your life, it wasn't the best surf of my life but it was definitely up there."

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"It was a fun heat," said Mick Fanning, still dripping wet after his quarterfinal against Damien Hobgood. "I was lucky to get the jump on Damo at the start. I wanted to wait for a good opening wave and it came. On that 9.93, I went into it and saw it chandelier'ing so I reset my feet and just tried to hit it strong. It went all white and I was lucky it had an opening. It was pretty fun."

With thumping, short-interval swell, contest organizers had moved the event site at Snapper down to the big groin at Kirra, which suited Mick perfectly fine. And now, with his win against Damien, and Joel Parkinson's win over CJ Hobgood, the two old friends will square off in their own backyard. They take to the water for the first semifinal, which will also happen to be the first heat of the day when things resume.

With the wrath of Cyclone Hamish hitting the Gold Coast right now it would appear we could be in for a stormy, albeit interesting, conclusion to the Quiksilver Pro. Event organizers haven't officially called the contest on yet, but that's the early world out of Australia.

"No rain yet, but it's not far away," wrote photographer Peter "Joli" Wilson in an email I just received from him. He's lived on the Goldy for years and has seen all its various moods. "The comp will probably wrap up today. Overcast and very windy. The weather maps look radical, especially the cloud map. Surf is big and washy and it looks like the contest will run at the Coolangatta/Kirra big groin."

I won't get into all the intriguing match-ups that we're looking at in Round 4--namely Jordy Smith vs. Bede Durbidge, Julian Wilson vs. Damien Hobgood, and Mick Fanning vs. Jeremy Flores--so for now just stay close to the computer.

"I'm over the moon right now," stammered Julian Wilson, shortly after dispatching reigning nine-time world champ Kelly Slater in their Round 3 duel at the Quiksilver Pro. "I was so nervous before that heat just thinking about what I could do to beat Kelly. For so long, he has been unstoppable. I started the heat on the inside and got the first wave, which is what I wanted to do. It feels so good to beat him."

Julian's experienced his fair share of success against the champ (or at least as much as anybody else on the planet). Last year, in their Round 1 meeting at the same event, he also bested Kelly...although truth be told, Kelly would surge back in Round 3 and exact his revenge on the phenom from the Sunny Coast. But the past is the past, and the present is the present, and presently Julian's riding a career high, not to mention enjoying a surge in popularity amongst World Tour competitors, among them Mick Fanning, who also appeared exceptionally in form in his Round 3 win over tour rookie Kekoa Bacalso.

As we speak Category 5 storm Cyclone Hamish is bearing down on the Gold Coast, which means a surge in swell size, but could also bring heavy winds and rain. With a day and a half left of competition there's no doubt it's going to be a wild ride to the winner's podium.

Help establish successful Marine Protected Areas by CLICKING HERE AND TAKING THIS SURVEY.

The Surfrider Foundation is currently working with a wide variety of individuals and organizations on the Marine Life Protection Act --or MLPA. The MLPA is a state law that requires establishing a "network" of marine protected areas along the California coastline. This law is currently being implemented in Southern California.

Much like our National Parks protect special places on land, these Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) offer heightened protection for marine life to thrive and people to enjoy. In short, MPAs protect special places for their "intrinsic value"--preserving ecological abundance for generations to come. MPAs around the globe have become popular attractions for people to enjoy nature's beauty and abundance.

Jamie O'Brien Turbo Bodyboarding Pipeline Pro from Waldron Bros Production on Vimeo.

Besides the party scene, things have been relatively quite since the Quik Pro got underway. Without much surf on offer, some have taken to the road. Tim Boal and Michel Bourez are among those who are tired of being cooped up and felt the need to put some kilometers on the odometer and stretch the legs a bit. Yesterday the two Red Bull Rising stars found there way south to the quiet town of Ballina, where yes, they actually found enough surf to keep them entertained for awhile. "It was fun there, it's good to be able to find some better waves than Snappers or D-Bah when the swell is that small," Boal said. "Snappers was barely breaking yesterday and D-Bah is just packed."

We'll keep you posted as things develop at the Quiksilver Pro.

A lot of congratulations coming down the chute here courtesy of the good folks at Surfing Australia. At the Australian Surf Awards ceremony just last night, Red Bull's own Julian Wilson (pictured left with Tom Carroll) was recognized as Rising Star of the Year. With his innovative arsenal of maneuvers and easy-going personality it's little surprise that Australia--not to mention the surfing world in general--has become infatuated with the young phenom. Also a bright point of the night was the award for Photo of the Year. Shot by the incomparable Peter "Joli" Wilson, the shot features a dueling tube scenario with both Mick Fanning and Benny Dunn pulling into their own respective cylinders at D-Bah. With so many good images out there these days, the moment captured by Joli, as well as his brilliant composition, was definitely unique...and definitely a good indicator of what happens when the Red Bull Surfing crew paddles out. A hearty pat on the back and "good on ya" goes out to everybody.

Stay tuned as things pick back up on the Gold Coast for the conclusion of the Quiksilver Pro.

Irons Brothers' Pine Trees Classic has celebrated another year, and once again the boys have out done themselves. The waves were fun, the weather was nice, all in attendance had themselves a wonderful day, and everything from surfboards to seemingly limitless surf swag were dished out to the keikis. With Bruce not committed to being on the Gold Coast for the Quik Pro, the man himself was able to put more time and energy into matters on the home front, which as you'll be able to tell by the following photo gallery, is paying off. Stay tuned to RedBullSurfing.com as we follow Bruce around the world over the course of the next year, but for the moment just enjoy a happy day on Kauai with the Irons boys and a few dozen of their most faithful admirers.

Check out the Pine Trees Classic gallery courtesy of Transworld's Zak Noyle.

It may not have been classic Snapper Rock, but for the start of the Quik Pro D-Bah did serve up some fairly decent surf...or at least enough for wildcard Julian Wilson to fire past Bede Durbidge and Adriano and Jordy to lock antlers in a classic, full-rail duel. Mick Fanning also found his world champion form, while Tim Boal proved to the world that the Euro invasion is most definitely for real. But enough rambling, check the lightlights from the first day of the 2009 season.