Manoa Drollets Wins Air Tahiti Nui/Von Zipper Trials

Manoa Drollet, from Tahiti, defeated Anthony Walsh, from Australia, in the finals of the Air Tahiti Nui Von Zipper Trials.

The day was filled with 8 foot barrel waves creating the perfect surfing conditions. On the last wave of the final Drollet went into a heaving tube to get a 9.6 out of 10.

Walsh achieved a secondhand score of 8.57 and the local Tahitian took the trials title.

Both surfers will continue on to compete in the Billabong Pro from May 4th to the 14th.

Nathan Hedge Wins WQS 6* O'Neill Highland Open

At the final day of the WQS O'Neill Highland Open Saturday, Australia's Nathan Hedge takes the crown winning $15,000 and 3000 WQS ratings points.

Hedge 'Hog' sealed the win against USA's Shea Lopez in the quarter final heat moving him to face former top 45 surfer Kirk Flintoff. Flintoff was defeated by Hedge moving Hedge to the finals.

Hedge then faced Jarrad Howse from Australia for the win, 13.50 to 10.93.

Other than winning $15,000 from O'Neill, Hedge also won a sword. "I'm not sure how I'm gonna get this sword home-- I think I'll need to check it in cargo."

Results:
FINAL
Nathan Hedge (Aus) 13.50 pts beat Jarrad Howse (Aus) 10.93 pts

SEMIFINALS
Jarrad Howse (Aus) 15.83 pts beat Ben Bourgeois (Usa) 14.66 pts
Nathan Hedge (Aus) 17.40 pts beat Kirk Flintoff (Aus) 12.03 pts

QUARTERFINALS
Ben Bourgeois (Usa) 17.50 pts beat Jay Thompson (Aus) 17.04 pts
Jarrad Howse (Aus) 11.27 pts beat Jordy Smith (Zaf) 9.34 pts
Nathan Hedge (Aus) 15.16 pts beat Shea Lopez (Usa) 13.30 pts
Kirk Flintoff (Aus) 14.84 pts beat Asher Nolan (Usa) 9.67 pts

The Jetset Collection Party

Etnies and Stereo had a get together April 22nd showcasing their Jetset collection of collabo shoes and to show the new Stereo video, A Journey Through Sound.

The new Jetset shoes had a pair of slip ons with Jason Lee's photographs repeated on them. Also some of Stereo's new "funky shaped decks" were put on display. The new video from Stereo was also looped through the whole party. The video was good and was filled with new footage from the team.

Fishbone performed as one of the entertaining acts. They have been credited a lot with the skating world and it was a real honor for Etnies and Stereo to have them. They played an almost hour long set with the Stereo video looping through each plasma screen.

Jeep Body Glove Surfbout Round 4 Update

In San Clemente, California round 5 of the Jeep Body Glove Surfbout will take place. The waves will be showing about a 2 - 3 foot surf.

"The waves are a bit sloppier today and slightly smaller," ASP North America Tour Manager Mike Martin said. He says that the Surfbout will continue and it should make it a bit more contestable. They plan on running through all of Round 4 and halfway to Round 5.

The ASP World Qualifying Series 4-star event will begin this morning with 16 heats in Round 4 and completing 8 heats in Round 5. The top seeds will take the water first in the opening heats of Round 5. Major players include Mike Losness, Anthony Petruso, Gabe King, and Damien Hobgood. Also surfing, will be the Surfbout's defending champion Dustin Cuizon.

ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS
Heat 1: Julian Cuello (CNY), Kieran Horn (USA), Jeremy Sherwin (USA), Heath Walker (AUS)
Heat 2: Chris Waring (USA) Kahea Hard (HAW), Wesley Larsen (HAW), Charlie Carroll (HAW)
Heat 3: Brad Ettinger (USA), Aaron Cormican (USA), David Rutherford (MEX), Ted Navarro (USA)
Heat 4: Tonino Benson (HAW), Tommy O’Brien (USA), Peter Mussio (USA), Dillon Perillo (USA)
Heat 5: Mikey Bruneau (HAW), Bobby Morris (USA), Kilian Garland (USA), Jason Collins (USA)
Heat 6: Jensen Hassett (HAW), Matt Keenan (USA), Micah Byrne (USA), Devon Tresher (USA)
Heat 7: Eric Geiselman (USA), Sterling Spencer (USA), Cory Arrambide (USA), Peter Mel (USA)
Heat 8: Josh Montgomery (USA), Chaz Chidester (HAW), Granger Larsen (HAW), Bud Freitas (USA)
Heat 9: Gavin Beschen (HAW), Nick Rozsa (USA), Chris Abad (USA), David Giddings (USA)
Heat 10: Dean Randazzo (USA), Randall Paulson (HAW), Adam Virs (USA), Jason Miller (USA)
Heat 11: Justin McBride (USA), Liam McNamara (HAW), Travis Beckmann (USA), Corey Garcia (AUS)
Heat 12: Matt King (USA), Noi Kaulukukui (USA), Brandon Ragenovich (USA), Adam Wickwire (USA)
Heat 13: Dane Johnson (USA), Love Hodel (HAW), Ricky Whitlock (USA), Tevita Gukilau (AUS)
Heat 14: Flynn Novak (HAW), Peter Devries (CAN), Chris Dennis (TTO), Sean Hayes (USA)
Heat 15: Gavin Gillette (HAW), Blake Jones (USA), Layne Harrison (USA), Jesse Heilman (USA)
Heat 16: Tyler Anderson (USA), Mitchell Coleburn (AUS), Brandon Guilmette (USA), Wesley de Souza (USA)

ROUND 5 MATCH UPS
Heat 1: Gabe Kling (USA), Jesse Merle-Jones (HAW), 1.1, 2.2
Heat 2: Shaun Burrell (USA), Daniel Jones (HAW), 1.2, 2.1
Heat 3: Dustin Cuizon (HAW), Mike Losness (USA), 1.3, 2.4
Heat 4: T.J. Barron (HAW), Che Stang (USA), 1.4, 2.3
Heat 5: Shaun Ward (USA), Cheyne Cottrell (USA), 1.5, 2.6
Heat 6: Joel Centeio (HAW), Ian Walsh (HAW), 1.6, 2.5
Heat 7: Kyle Garson (USA), Anthony Petruso (USA), 1.7, 2.8
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA), Myles Padaca (HAW), 1.8, 2.7

WMG Signs 9-year-old

Kalani David, 9-year-old surfer from Oahu, Hawaii, has just been signed with the Wasserman Media Group under Director of Surf, Blair Marlin.

He is not only a professional in the surfing industry but also in the skating industry. His days consist of surfing and school during the day and at night he goes to the local skate park. He is respected by many of the top surfers in the world as he can surf the North Shore with ease.

He has even caught the eye of 3-time ASP world champion, Andy Irons. "I can't believe Kalani is only 9. He goes out and rips Backdoor, does huge airs at Off the Wall, and then comes in and plays tag with all the little girls from his elementary school on the beach. The kid is classic!"

Both, Irons and David, are signed to WMG.

David is sponsored by Monument Clothing, Nike 6.0, Sobe Energy Drink, and Santa Cruz Surf and Skate.

Virginia Tech Shootings

I know this is a blog about surfing, skating, and extreme sports, but this also has to do with humanity so just bear with me about this topic.

I was very shocked when i saw the shootings on the internet and on TV. I didn't know what to think but I researched and researched and RESEARCHED this topic.

The shooter has been identified now as a South Korean, 23-year-old undergraduate majoring in English named Cho Seung-Hui. The story the police want to go by is that he went to West Amber Johnston Hall and shot the girl and male R.A. The reason why is still yet to be determined.

Earlier in the month 2 bomb threats had been made on the school which they presume to be Cho's doing. Their reasoning behind this was to check the security of the campus and to his delight, the cops did not do much about it.

At 7:15 A.M. the first shooting occurred and 7:19 A.M. a 911 call was placed. At this time no warning or e-mail had been sent out to students. At the time President of Virginia Tech, Charles Steger, and his staff were finding a way to let all students know including ones on the way to school.

Around 9:00 A.M. the wave of second shootings began in Norris Hall. Cho ran through the first floor in classrooms shooting and then, to the second floor doing the same. At this point students knew there was gunfire and some began jumping out windows and many tried to escape from the terror, but their doors were chained shut. One student had heard Cho running down the hall and heard him coming closer to his room so he ran to the door barricading the door but Cho managed to squeeze his hand and gun in the room and fired shots hitting a couple students. He then went to the last classroom. He shot and killed some and then turned the gun on himself.

This just came as a shock to me. I could not get my mind off of it. All I did Monday after my classes is watch FOX News.

This can happen anywhere. There are people out there that are like this. They are depressed or angry with society because they are not accepted. I'm not blaming society for this, but they did play a role in Cho's personality. What he did was terrible and should have seeked therapy or something, but what we need to do now is to respect all types of people, even the ones that you think are the weirdest on campus.

I know this is an overused quote, but it does help... "Put yourself in their shoes."

Fisherman Dies Due to High Surf

In Corona del Mar a body was discovered from the surf on Friday. The body has been identified as Sean Shungfei Yeh, 53, from Fremont, California. He and a companion had been missing since Tuesday and were expected to be dead due to drowning.

The police received many 911 calls around 11:15 a.m. about the body near Inspiration Point. Two lifeguards found the body an hour and fifteen minutes later. The body was found underneath a lookout point in a rocky area. The other body is yet to be found.

4 Million Gallons of Raw Sewage Dumped In Oceanside

Surfing wont be as beautiful as it used to be at Oceanside for a while. Over 4 million gallons of raw sewage was dumped into Oceanside on April 2 to wipe out 5 species of fish in the area.

A main sewage valve broke Sunday night.

The spill has closed over a mile of the beach and officials are warning tourists and citizens to not fish, swim, surf, or go in the water until it has been cleaned up.

There hasn't been any sicknesses or effects to humans caused by the spill although over 5,000 fish have died. The spill will be cleaned up but at the time it is just asked that no one be in the area of the spill.

The spill ranks as one of the worst spills in North County in the last decade.

Jordy Smith: 1st WQS Win at Hot Tuna Central Coast Pro

Jordy Smith, the reigning junior champion of the ASP, won his first WQS event at the Hot Tuna Central Coast Pro in Soldiers Beach, Australia.

Smith beat out Brazilian, Neco Padaratz, by just a point to take home his win.

The 19-year-old surfed 5 different heats with some of the biggest waves Soldiers Beach had seen in a long time.

Padaratz scored a second highest wave score 9.33 to be defeated by Smith said he applauds Smith for his win and hopes to compete with him again real soon. Padaratz tributed the end of his heats to his grandmother who had passed away during the competition week. He said while receiving his second place check, "Everything I have, everything I know and the strength I have needed these past few years is all down to her."

Smith won also after the competition the Tooheys Dry Expression Session proving that he has the ability of "high performance and futuristic surfing".

The next ASP event to qualify for WCT is the 6 Star WQS Drug Aware Pro starting immediately. The end of the professional surfing tour in Australia will end at Bells Beach in Victoria.

ASP - Association of Surfing Professionals
WQS - World Qualifying Series (if you're not on the WCT and you surf WQS events and place well in them you can be recommended for next years WCT surf tour)
WCT - World Championship Tour

Tampa Pro 2007: One To Remember

The 2007 Tampa Pro was held and it will be remembered now as one of the craziest Tampa Pro's ever.

Not only did MTV film a new episode of Rob Dyrdeck's Rob And Big show, but Rob skated the competition and finished in a well-placed seventh.

After one heat Dyrdeck climbed to the deck and threw out $5,000 in one dollar bills to the crowd. Once it was thrown the crowd turned into greedy monsters.

Bill Weiss performed his signature naked, yes naked, 540 on the vert ramp.

With Nike SB now the sponsor of the competition, not only did the Nike skate team compete but Nike's sponsorship increased the 1st place purse value to $20,000.

Greg Lutkza was to show at the competition, and it seemed as if he wouldn't due to the cancellations of flights and affecting other flights around the country due to the massive snow storm in New York. Lutkza decided to drive from his hometown of Milwaukee instead and made it to Tampa just 2 hours before he was to skate his first heat. He placed sixth in the finals.

Erik Koston showed up and skated like it was just a day at a skatepark with some friends. He was cracking jokes, playing around with friends, skating, and overall just having a good time. He would place first and win the overall competition. And when announced he had won, he stage dived into the crowd.

This was a Tampa Pro 2007 to remember.

[photo is Bill Weiss dropping in to perform the naked-540]

Dumb A** Of The Week: Shark Bite On Tape

Kiteboarding never really leads to shark bites, but in this case it does. Andy Hurdman, a Florida kiteboarder, was kitesurfing when he saw dark shadows in the water. He noticed they were sharks. Hurdman became interested and wanted to "see what kind of shark it was, just a catch and release technique".

Hurdman and friends gave kiteboarding a rest and grabbed a kayak to fish out a shark. Within two seconds of his bait in the water, Hurdman had caught a shark. Instead of just reeling him in, the shark wanted to take him for a ride. Hurdman eventually got him onto the shore and he and his crew began to examine the shark.

The hook was still in the shark's mouth and Hurdman was trying to get it out. The first attempt was a close call at receiving a shark bite, but the second was no close call. Hurdman's friend, Gregory Kuehlewind, was bitten. The shark's jaws were locked onto his hand. Within moments, Kuehlewind's friends had the shark's mouth open to where he could get his hand out. Jim Heffernan, amateur videographer and friend of Hurdman and Kuehlewind, just so happened to get this all on tape.

Kuehlewind still gets chills and cringes when watching the video, but does claim to have a great story to tell all his friends.

Shane Cross (1987-2007)

Shane Cross, 21, died on March 6th due to a tragic motorcyle accident. He was riding on the back of skating legend Ali Boulala's motorcycle. Boulala is in critical condition, but is expected to recover.

Shane Cross will be remembered as the "hippy" skater who wore a tie-dyed shirt every time he skated. He has won many competitions over the years and has skated with legends like Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, Bucky Lasek, and Chad Muska. Cross has made himself a legend over the years and will always be remembered as the skater that skated hippy.

Irons Knocked Out Of Pro Gold

Aussie native, Jake Paterson, knocked out Hawaii's Andy Irons in Round 2 of the Quicksilver Pro Gold Coast competition. Irons had won the ASP World Championship 3 times and he was beat by a wildcard, Paterson. Paterson just recently announced his retirement from the tour after 17 years. He was given a wildcard and without the pressure of points and rankings Paterson went out and surfed like always. He just never knew it would gain him a spot in Round 3 and knock out a title-contender.

Kelly Slater, 8-time world champion, lost in the first round to wildcard Julian Wilson from Austrailia, but in Round 2 he defeated wildcard Dale Richards to stay in the tournament. Slater will faceoff against Wilson again in Heat 8 of Round 3.

Adriano de Souze from Brazil defeated local Austrailian, Troy Brooks. de Souze was only one of five South Americans to advance to the next round.

Results of Round 2:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.16 def. Dale Richards (AUS) 8.53
Heat 2: Jake Paterson (AUS) 16.00 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 10.07
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.66 def. Luke Munro (AUS) 14.10
Heat 4: Damien Hobgood (USA) 16.43 def. Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 13.07
Heat 5: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 17.17 def. Gabe Kling (USA) 14.60
Heat 6: Cory Lopez (USA) 15.67 def. Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 13.27
Heat 7: Phillip MacDonald (AUS) 13.73 def. Neco Padaratz (BRA) 9.30
Heat 8: Bruce Irons (HAW) 15.67 def. Dayyan Neve (AUS) 8.90
Heat 9: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 17.43 def. Royden Bryson (ZAF) 14.33
Heat 10: Michael Campbell (AUS) 15.26 def. Fred Patacchia (HAW) 11.10
Heat 11: Daniel Wills (AUS) 15.34 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.16
Heat 12: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.57 def. Troy Brooks (AUS) 12.53
Heat 13: Chris Ward (USA) 12.83 def. Victor Ribas (BRA) 10.34
Heat 14: Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 14.76 def. Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 12.80
Heat 15: Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.44 def. Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 12.80
Heat 16: Luke Stedman (AUS) 14.66 def. Michael Lowe (AUS) 14.17

(This is basically like double-elimination. If you are defeated once you go onto the next round, but if defeated again you're out of the tournament.)

Vans Cup Slopestyle

In Truckee, CA the 2007 Vans Cup Slopestyle was held with Andreas Wiig taking the men's title. This was Wiig's first title at the Vans Cup. Wiig had won first place at the X-Games for the slopestyle just months before so this was no real test for him. He placed a 92.1 with the judges winning him the first place title. Wiig won a nice check of $21,000.

The women's slopestyle was won by Southern California native, Hana Beaman. Beaman beat out last year's defending champion and X-Games gold medalist, Jamie Anderson who placed second. Beaman won $17,000 scoring a 75.8 with Anderson behind her scoring a 73.7.

The Superpipe Qualifying and Finals can be watched on www.vans.com and if you really want to watch it in HD or on regular TV, you'll have to wait around til May 7 and 21 at 9 PM on FUEL TV.



Question For Thought:

Why do the women get a lesser pay than the mens?
(ex: Beaman got 17,000 whereas Wiig got 21,000)

Ryan Smith Makes His "Pro" Mark On The Cover of Transworld

In 2003 Ryan Smith was well-known on the Zero skate team and now he is well-known yet again with a rad lipslide on the front of Transworld Skateboarding magazine.

It all began at Black Box when he was shown that he made the cover. "Oh, I'm on the cover, sweet", were his words. With such humbleness he made it onto more covers of other skating magazines and then doors opened up when he got his own show.

He went to resign his DC contract when they told him that people were asking for a shoe in honor of Smith. DC then told him they were starting a new company, Mystery, and he would be pro.

As he was filming for the The DC Video one of his last tricks he performed was the lipslide. Although he was not expecting to make the cover, he did with great poise. "You're just thinking 'Do this trick because I'm out in California to skate'. Both Smith as well as the rest of the DC skate team and Mystery team can be seen on The DC Video.


Skate Vocabulary:
Lipslide - the "lip" or end of the board is sliding across the rail
Rad - another word for awesome
Black Box - skatepark
DC Shoes - skate shoe/clothing company
Mystery - skate deck/shoe/clothing company

APT North Shore Tow-In Surfing

With a $25,000 purse, surfers did not pass up the oppurtunity to surf the 3rd Annual Bank of Hawaii North Shore Tow-In Surfing Championship. APT, the Association of Professional Tow-Surfers, started the tour with waves in the range of 12-18 feet, the perfect size to kick off the tour.

Teams were out and about at 6 in the morning getting their jet-ski's ready and waxing their boards for the perfect heat. Team Dustin Barca and Sion Milosky pulled off a 720 to advance from that heat, but did not make it to the semi-finals. Every time was doing their best with each having very high scores.

Later in the afternoon the wind began to pick up and a swell had picked up. The average wave came to about 15 feet with faces in 20-30 foot range.

It was the native Hawaiian's competition all day although Team Carlos Burle and Eraldo Gueiros put up a fight to enjoy second place. Team Makua Kai Rothman and Ikaika Kalama were the surfers of the day pulling out an even 27 in the final heat against Team Carlos Burle and Eraldo Gueiros who had a 20.9. "This is for the Hawaiians", said Makua Kai Rothman, a native Hawaiian. Team Makua Kai Rothman and Ikaika Kalama pulled off the win taking in $9,300 each.




Surfing vocabulary:
Heat - preleminary round before the labeled semi-finals and finals

Tow-Surfing - extreme surfing in a nutshell; the strongest surfer cannot catch a 25 foot wave by paddling himself so a jet-ski is used to help him/her catch the wave like it is "towing" the surfer, but the surfer eventually lets go of the rope to the jet-ski

Face of a wave - how tall the wave gets before crashing; the wave gets to a peak height but then gradually lessens in height.

Swell - a period of time where a lot of very good waves are coming in

Waxing - the board is waxed so the surfer does not slip on the board with all the water coming to the board. It's like griptape on a skateboard, just for a surfboard.

Any questions on anything else in the blog just comment and I'll be sure to tell you.
Oh, how's the font and background?

Bachelor Grand Prix - Snowboard

After the Winter X-Games ended just over a week ago, the Mt. Bachelor Grand Prix began yesterday, Feb. 3 and some familiar faces of the X-Games are joining this year's Grand Prix. In the men's halfpipe, Steve Fisher returns after winning first place at the halfpipe competition at the X-Games. Fisher scored a 44.50 to win the competition. Fisher compiled his tricks in the perfect set to win and was able to stay in first place all the way through finals. Louie Vito came in a close second behind Fisher with a 39.60. Vito put together a frontside 10 to a cab 7 to a frontside 9 and backside 9 all in one combo and landed it. Although very difficult to land and pull off, it just wasn't enough to get a first place spot. In the women's halfpipe, Kelly Clark took first place and owned the mountain throughout the whole day. She recieved a score of 46.00 beating out the winner of the men's competition, a first at the Grand Prix. Elena Hight held on to a tight second place race against Gretchen Bleiler with a 41.80 to 41.10. Today, the Grand Prix continues with the slopestyle competition.

SURF WCT Preview

Although it looks like a great surfing season for returning WCT(World Championship Tour) members, there are many new faces that could sweep a huge upset to the faces of riders like Mike Campbell, Neco Padatraz, and Bernardo Miranda. Josh Kerr is a new face that's making surfing look like breathing. He placed second in the Rip Curl Pro Super Series in August 2006 behind Aussie brother sensation Mike Campbell. Kelly Slater is also looking at whether to come back to the tour or not. Slater won his 8th world title in December but, the question is will the surfing phenomena continue on the tour? After quoting to Transworld Surf Magazine that he's competing better than ever, surfing better than ever, and that he could continue, but he is just no sure at this moment. The WCT is on the countdown into days now until the new surfing season begins on February 27th at the Quicksilver Pro in Snapper Rocks, Austrailia. Slater is being expected to come but no official word has been said yet. Even if Slater retires, there is many more surfers looking at their first world title or like Andy Irons who's looking for their 4th.