ASP World Tour: January 2009 Archives

Michel Bourez, 23, second Tahitian ever to enter the ASP Top 45 elite circle, will head for the Gold Coast of Australia in a month to surf his first Dream Tour event as a fulltime touring competitor. Bourez, who will be part of an unprecedent 7-Man European contingent on this year's ASP World Tour, is seen as one of the best newcomers and is expected to cause some serious damage against the big names. Here is a post he sends from French Polynesia.

"Since the win at the ASP WQS 6-Star Prime Reef Hawaiian Pro, so many things have changed in my life and it seems like everything is different now. There has been big talks with sponsors, I feel like people see me differently now but above all is the fact I have achieved my dream by qualifying for the ASP World Tour. I am going to compete against surfing's best athletes and I now have the possibility of winning a world title. How is that!

This fall Tim Boal was well on his way to qualifying for the ASP World Tour when he was sidelined by a broken foot. Lucky for Tim he was sitting high enough in the ratings that even with the injury he was able to qualify. And now, after over three months out of the water, Tim's finally paddled back out and is eagerly anticipating kicking off his 2009 rookie campaign on Australia's Gold Coast. But don't just take our word for it, here's Tim's take:

"The injury is getting better, I should be at 100% in two weeks. I have already surfed a few times and I am starting to train again to get my fitness level back to where it needs to be. Hopefully it all goes good in the next few weeks and I can be on the Goldy ready to go and I am looking forward to it.

It's been good and bad at the same time. It's been really good to get some time away from surfing but three months is a bit too long... I would have liked it to be a bit shorter but that is life and there is nothing you can do about it. It was good to think about something else, get back into books and other things that you need time for, so that was great. The bad side is that I was not able to train and surf so I kind of missed it.