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)