Boogers !!!

Don't usually like to show pictures of boogers but this is one of ours. Today a horrible collection of craft hit Smiths Beach. The waves were suck and tubing. Body boarding can be like watching grass grow but there was a very talented crew out in waves that were perfect for them but almost impossible for stand ups.

Ben Geissler had to resort to gut sliding after a Bunbury take off smashed his proper board and grabbed a handful of clean tubes. However the spins at the end were a bit unnecessary

I went for the hand plane session down the beach and Gary Carthew took his clubbie racing mal to the shoulder of the reef. Tweeds made do with a session at the Capel Cut on the way home.

More whenever the next newsletter comes out.

Taj robbed again

Round three has hit the water at the back up beachie. Taj scored the guinea pig first heat in okay onshore waves.

It seems again that Taj's opponent was over scored on his best two waves. Variety is meant to be part of the criteria but Matt Wilkinson's three decent backhand reos were all the same but he got an eight. His single move air reverse was a six ! Taj surfered big and smooth with big hacks and held the lead for most of the heat with fives but struggled to find a wave in the back end of the heat. He did get a square up with a wave with three massive smacks getting a nine but he needed a 9.1. That wave was probably overscored to make up but it wasn't enough. It looks like another year without a title for TB. Interestingly he wasn't riding a Firewire but a normal (and dented) board.

With the "swell of the century" not arriving the forecast isn't great and the current word from the contest is for the rest of round three today (six more hours) and then small beachies for the rest of the contest.

Round One has finished

The Rip Curl Pro Portugal ran the non-elimination round one in some pretty marginal waves at Supertubos. Taj continued his habit of winning round one heat this year (the opposite of last year) and Slater continued his habit of losing.

Round two is on at the moment in nice waves. Its probably around four foot and offshore, although the size has dropped with the tide. There are some nice long barrels and enough waves to make it fair for everyone.

So far in round two Slater won easily and Jordy is through to the next round. Dane Reynolds and Adriano DeSouza have pretty much fallen out of the race by losing their round two heats. Adriano was beaten by Dean Morrison who was the injury replacement for Bede Durbridge, who just had a baby last week.

The sun is meant to stay up until after 8 their time which will be after midnight here provided the conditions stay nice.

FuelTV are showing the event live and there is a webcast (if you can stand Jodie Cooper's commentary)

New guard wins in Portugal

Carissa Moore has won the Rip Curl Pro by beating Steph Gilmore. Between them they have won all bar one event this year. Gilmore is set for another World Title but Moore may be the competition she needs in the next few years.

The final were held at a backup venue in waves that were decent and with good size. Although she is small, WA's Clare Bevilaqua, who had a great event finishing third, was taking waves in he quarter final that was easily double overhead. Although the size was there they were a bit fat and sectioning and not giving much room for big vertical whacks. It was a bit like a brown version of the left at Marge's.

The big storm predicted has apparently hit and the swell has jacked. One of those European news programs on SBS had footage of big waves bashing the coast but who knows what they were saying ! The men are set to run today at Supertubos if the wind backs off.

Portugal for men and women

The Rip Curl Pro is on in Portugal  with the women in the water. WA's Claire Bevilacqua is currently in heat four of round one.

The waves look ok, decent size and offshore but they don't seem to allow huge moves. 

The swell forecasts show a massive blob in the swell window and they are starting to talk it up as storm of the century !

Rip Curl have a decent webcast and the men will be shown on FuelTV.

In the Newsletter

Video of the Month - Chuck and his shark


Me my Shark and I from Chuck Patterson on Vimeo.


Wave Skiing


Wave skiing in Cali from Chuck Patterson on Vimeo.


Sipping Jetstreams



Modern Collective



Busting Down the Door



Hawaii 9-0



The Green Iguana

Mick wins

Mick Fanning has just beaten Kelly Slater by a combo score in the final of the Quiksilver Pro in France. The swell had jacked with the tide and it was a solid double overhead breaking onto a shallow bank. Looking at the waves you can see how the French invented the guilotine !!!

Slater pulled off wave of the event in the semis. After taking off under the lip and his board sliding tail first down the face the olny people that thought he had made it were Kelly and the cameraman. Ten points and no claim.




Mick lucked into two surfable waves but took a massive wave on the head and broke his legrope. He deserved the scores he got, especially his last wave but I have two complaints, Mick claims like a Brazillian and has the worst poo stance on the CT.

Mick will go to third, Kelly will stay at number one but with a larger buffer over Jordy. However when you consider that the worst two events are dropped (and there are three left) Kelly pulls away. On my adjusted scores he is 42500 (with his worst two results a 9th and 17th leaving nothing lower than 3rd), Jordy 33750 (drops a 17th and a 5th leaving three 5th, a second and a win), Mick 32000 (dropping 9ths but keeping two 9th in his score), Taj 30000 (having to hold a 17th in his score line) and Dane 28500 (dropping 17th and a 9th but having nothing higher than third). Kelly and Jordy can both afford to have another bad day, especially Jordy whose second lowest score is a 9th but Taj must make finals and hope the others bomb.

Next event is the Rip Curl in Portugal on Thursday. Current rumour is that there will be swell from week one. Supertubes is much like France - closeouts with the odd epic tube, expect plenty of claims. This is the replacement event for Mundacca which has failed to deliver for the last few years.

Too much choice

There is too much live sport right now. I'm flicking between the test match in India, the AFL Grand Final and the finals day at the Quikie.

Swell is big and clean but still thumping. Paddling out is hard but the jet ski is struggling even more. It looks like a crazy beach break version of Pipe and Backdoor

Slater v Bourez in the water at the moment.

Finals Day

Just the finals to run in France. Slater has Michel Bourez, who should have beaten him in round four. If he wins he will get another heat on one of his rivals as Fanning and Jordy battle each other in quarter four.

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Daniel Ross (AUS) 16.40 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.33
Heat 2: Taylor Knox (USA) 8.77 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 7.23
Heat 3: Brett Simpson (USA) 11.34 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.30
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) 16.27 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 6.23
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) 17.00 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 8.83
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.53 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.60
Heat 7: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.84 def. Gabe Kling (USA) 2.60
Heat 8: Jadson Andre (BRA) 15.83 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.60
Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.67 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 9.77
Heat 10: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 8.90 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 7.10
Heat 11: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.50 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 8.66
Heat 12: Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.27 def. Luke Munro (AUS) 5.50

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Brett Simpson (USA) 10.67, Daniel Ross (AUS) 10.53, Taylor Knox (USA) 6.40
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.20, Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.63, Owen Wright (AUS) 9.26
Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.40, Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.37, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 6.73
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.93, Tom Whitaker (AUS) 7.10, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 2.83

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Dan Ross (AUS) 15.07 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 10.50
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 8.30 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 6.50
Heat 3: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 15.23 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 10.86
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.50 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 2.97

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
QF 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
QF 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

Claims

Everyone is claiming at the Quiksilver Pro in France. Round three is into the last heat. The waves are nice when they aren't closing out. It is still one of those day where only one in twenty are surfable but at least its sort of offshore.

Taj lost in the first heat as did the higher seed in the first three heats. You compare Taj and Dan's second wave and see if you think Dan deserved a nine. I don't and think that once again Taj was ripped off. Just like Cheyne Horan before him the judges seem to want to score his competitors higher for smaller moves.






Slater beat Julian Wilson slipping one in under his priority. Jordy is through as is Owen Wright.




Taj's loss just about kills his world title hopes, especially with Slater and Jordy still there. This is part of the unfairness of the current format. Slater loses in round one but is still in the event. He can lose again in round four and win. Taj wins big in his round one heat but is out.

The event is going to blaze on for as much of today as they can. The swell is meant to be up tomorrow but the wind is going to be bad.