Surf Movie Sunday

Nothing decent last week and slim pickings again. This is the best of a bad bunch.

Parko's world champion video





Super slow mo of Jaws. Makes it look easy enough for mortals to surf.




Now that Kelly is part of the Go-Pro team expect more of these videos.




Bit of Yank action.

Parko World Champ

Slater out thanks to Josh Kerr making Parko world champ for 2012.

Round three

Parko in the water at the moment hoping to get through and closer to a world championship. He is up against Pipe local Kalani Chapman.

In the first three heats of round three all the highest seeded pros have lost, including John Florence and Julian Wilson. Slater takes on Billy Kemper in heat nine, while Taj has Yadin in heat 10 and Mick Fanning has the hard task of Shane Dorian in the last heat of the round.

Conditions are pretty good but a bit smaller than yesterday. There is some wind messing the lefts a little.

Surf Movie Sunday

Missed out last week due to poor selection and this week isn't much better but here we go.

First the local stuff.

A grom deep at North Point.




The Taj footage for the week.




Aussie Anthony Walsh shows just how clear the water is a Chopes.




Some Indo with Julian Wilson.




And finally some high performance longboarding for those with bigger taste.

Pipe Masters

The Billabong Pipe Masters is on with round one in good conditions. Plenty of big sneaker sets landing on the competitors heads.

The double heat format is being used which gives plenty of action. The current rumour is that the swell will hang around and the event will run three days straight.

Parko and Slater don't surf in round one or two. From the WA point of view Taj starts in round three and Yadin has won his heat. He'll meet Matt Wilkinson in round two.

The action is online and on FuelTV but you have to press the red button to get away from the UFC.

Surf Movie Sunday

Not a huge selection again this week.

Gabriel Medina proves that his first back flip was no fluke by doing another one.



And the usual Taj video - this time an interview.




And another Jay Davies video - never gets old.

experiment from Elsegoodproductions.com on Vimeo.

Surf Movie Sunday

There was nothing worthy last week so this week is a bonus edition.

We'll start with the locals.

Dino Adrian




Creed McTaggart




And Jay Davies talking




This is the move of the year. Gabriel Media doing a back flip !!




A mini-movie behind the scenes with Slater at Trestles




And finally some novelty

Free thinker Chuck Paterson skiing Jaws and not jet skiing but snow skis




And some skim boarding

Taj wins

Taj Burrow as won the Coldwater Classic, beating Matt Wilkinson in the final. It's Taj's second win for the season.

Parko made the quarters and Slater round five which means it will all be decided at Pipe. Fanning has a slim chance but would need both of the others to drop out early and while he keeps going. My quick calculations have Slater currently leading on 48450, Parko 44700 and Fanning 38450. To guarantee win number 12 Slater would need to win one more heat than Parko. Parko would need to get at least ninth if he was to go out in the same round.

Lets hope for waves at Pipe.

Classic

Parko and Taj through to the Quarters. Yadin out in round three again. Slater is in a very difficult round five heat against Adriano.

Travis Logie is having his annual good event, into round five.

Matty Wilkinson is the form surfer of the event so far.

The event will run tonight (11 pm our time) to crown a champ. Waves look ok and with a fair bit of size.

Tricked

Looking at the surfcam first thing in the US morning it didn't look like there would be much surfing going on at Steamer Lane overnight but it cleaned up.

Round two and most of round three were done and resulted in the World Title will go to Pipeline, with Slater and Parko through to round four. However John Florence was knocked out of the race and Mick Fanning's chances took a kick with both losing in round two for 33rds.

Round one wasn't good for the top seeds and round two wasn't better. Round three was pretty bad as well.

Taj is still in the event and Yadin is in the first heat of the day.

O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.83 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 12.17
Heat 2: Travis Logie (ZAF) 14.67 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.13
Heat 3: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.53 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 14.77
Heat 4: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.10 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 10.23
Heat 5: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.33 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.30
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.63 def. Nat Young (USA) 12.43
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.84 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 14.77
Heat 8: Michel Bourez (PYF) 12.40 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 5.27

O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 11.20 def. Jason Collins (USA) 9.40
Heat 2: Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.10 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.06
Heat 3: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.50 def. John John Florence (HAW) 8.66
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.43 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 11.50
Heat 5: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 14.44 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.67
Heat 6: Owen Wright (AUS) 10.63 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.27
Heat 7: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.50 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.94
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.47 def. Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.53
Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 18.33 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.60
Heat 10: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.17 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 10.53
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 15.10 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 15.06
Heat 12: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.40 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 9.07

Surf Movie Sunday

Something for a wet and wintery day in the south.


On the subject of weather, you might have heard about a storm that hit the US this week. Heres the silver lining.



With summer very close the idea of 30 days without surfing isn't far fetched.

30 Days without Surfing from Driftwood Collective on Vimeo.

An arty clip of Steph Gilmore.

Break Line: Stephanie Gilmore on Nowness.com.

And thats it for another week.

Lay day

Lay day two at the Cold Water Classic.

Coldwater Classic

The O'Neill Coldwater Classic at Steamer Lane has started in pretty decent surf. Taj has just won his round one heat and is only the second top seed to make it straight through to round three so far. Parko was the other one.

That means that the other three title contenders (Slater, Fanning and Florence) are into the elimination round two.

The webcast is at http://www.oneill.com/cwc/ and its live on FuelTV. Being in the US its late at night going into the early morning.

Surf Movie Sunday

Another small batch to pick from this week. The end of summer in the northern hemisphere means a drop in the number of quality clips.

Here's part four of Yadin's journey.



Fractions.



Dane Reynolds and friends in Indo.



And some high-def women's longboarding to finish.

Surf Movie Sunday

Better late than never.

Start with the lovely Kassia Meador leaving summer as we move into it.

Kassia Meador & Mikey DeTemple - Farewell to Summer from The Avant/Garde Diaries on Vimeo.

No Taj this week so we go back to Jay Davies for our local footage. Produced by his brother his clips just get better each time.



Bit of re-mixed of the John Florence footage from last week's Vans release GetNClasic 2.



Jordy and Julian Wilson air it out on Paradise Isalnd.



And one for the multi-board waterman. One European mixing up the boards. Just missing the hand plane.

Julian Wilson wins

With a wave in the last 30 seconds.

Parko gone

Gabriel Medina will meet the winner of Wilson v DeSouza. Julian has thrown down two nines already so I'm leaning his way.

Final day

Pretty clean conditions for the final day of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal.

Mick Fanning was taken down in round five, giving him a ninth and 2250 more points than Slater in this event. Parko met John John in the quarters and won. This gives JJ a fifth and 3450 points over Slater and 1200 over Fanning.

Parko will meet Gabriel Medina in the semis, with the other between Julian Wilson and the winner of the quarter in the water at the moment.

At this stage the Mick's ninth is a keeper, John John will have nothing lower than a fifth. Regardless of what happens from now on Parko will have nothing lower than a third.

My literally back of the envelope calculations tell me that Parko would have to win to overtake Kelly after dropping the worst two events to this stage.

Kelly Slater - 45 400
Parko - 3rd 43 500, 2nd 45 000, 1st 47 000
Fanning - 43 500
John Florence - 38 600

Kelly's two bad events (really three) only drop his raw total by a small amount compared to the others (especially Parko) who drop big points. His four finals and three wins are keeping him in the race against the consistent but not winning Parko. Looks like it might go down at Pipeline, hopefully in some decent waves.

Insults

It's cleaned up since they went on hold and while it is still inconsistent there is enough tubes to make it fair.

Yadin in the water against an over scored Fanning.

Stupid

Just watched the Taj and Kelly heats on demand. What a joke.

Taj only got two waves in the whole heat, neither much chop. Kolohe got a clean throaty barrel and came out clean so deserved his 7.0. Compared to what was to come it probably should have been an 11.

Kelly's heat was worse. Both surfers had a wave in their two scorers that was a close out barrel that they didn't make it out of. Raoni's was a 3.7 with one judge giving it a 4.0. If there were decent waves he would have been lucky to get a two. He just took off and stood straight while the wave collapsed on his head. He was never ever getting out. His second scoring waves was three little lip hits that I could do and he gets a 5.5 with one judge giving it a 6.0 !

Kelly got a little backhand coverup, coming out clean and got less than the close out he pulled into and almost made out the doggie door. He had more chance that his opponent's 3.7 and got  a 2.67. Neither surfer deserved to win because they shouldn't have been out in those conditions but Slater's made wave was probably a 0.1 better than the Brazilian's.

They put the event on hold straight after the heat.

This ridiculous heat could have cost Slater his 12th title.

Upset

Slater out, losing to Raoni Monteiro. Bad waves cause these types of upsets. Slater's scoring waves were both twos and the Brazilian didn't even get a double figure winning total. Days like this suck badly and aren't good for surfing.

Parko is already through to round four, Mick takes on Yadin in the last heat and John Florence got through last surfing day. Slater will now have to hold a 13th in his final eight scores.

Portugal On

Portugal has started in pretty marginal surf. There is size but it is messy from yesterday's storm. Winning heats will come down to fluking the two good waves a heat. Or if you are Brazilian claiming after each wave (Alejo Muniz) !

Unfortunately as predicted yesterday Taj was sent out to test the conditions and lost. This will basically knock out his slim chances of winning the title this year as he will need to hold a 13th and two 9ths.

As usual its on Fuel TV or webcast.

Hold

The Rip Curl Pro in Portugal is burning through the waiting period. No consistent surf for a few days and now a massive storm is bering down on the contest site. The commentators are trying to talk it up but they are also trying to lay the foundations for a move to one of the back up venues where the wind will be side rather than onshore.

It's day 8 of 11 and they still have the bulk of round three to go. Even though it stays light for ages they still need a solid two days to run the event. It will be hard to squeeze out any extra time as the Cold Water Classic starts in the US on 1st November.

As usual Taj will be in the guinea pig first heat of whatever day they run. He always seems to end up going first and when the conditions are likely to be suspect he draws someone who can fluke a few waves and win. This time its Kolohe Andino who is desperate for any sort of result after not living up to his publicity so far. He is in danger of falling off the tour so will be a danger man for TB.

Yadin has Mick Fanning. The waves could be big and lean toward Mick because his poo stance isn't as suspect as in smaller waves. Parko will have to watch out for Dusty Payne and the rest of the heats are pretty even and could go either way depending on wave size and quality.

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 5: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Raoni Monteiro (BRA)
Heat 8: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 9: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 10: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 11: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)
Heat 12: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)

Surf Movie Sunday

Another crappy Sunday so here's something to do -

Can't go a week without another Taj clip ! This time in France.



A short film (25 minutes) on Greg Long and his approach to big waves from the guys at theIntertia.com. You can download it from their site for a short time.



The first Jaws session of the season.



Part three of Yadin's story.



And that's it for the week.

Portugal starts

Round one and half of round two of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal were run overnight. Jordy Smith was the only real shock elimination so far. Both Taj and Yadin are through to round three after dropping round one.

The waves were a bit mixed but if you got the right one it was worth a nine plus.

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 6.30, Brett Simpson (USA) 5.06, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 3.67
Heat 2: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 14.33, Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.36, Jadson Andre (BRA) 6.73
Heat 3: John John Florence (HAW) 14.73, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 7.34, Kai Otton (AUS) 4.13
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 9.67, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 9.70, Dusty Payne (HAW) 2.33
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) 13.67, Dillon Perillo (USA) 6.60, Damien Hobgood (USA) 5.90
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.17, Kolohe Andino (USA) 15.36, Pierre Valentin Laborde (FRA) 2.96
Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS) 16.26, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.94, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 7.65
Heat 8: Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.70, Taylor Knox (USA) 7.43, Heitor Alves (BRA) 5.53
Heat 9: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.50, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.83, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.67
Heat 10: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.00, Adam Melling (AUS) 11.87, Michel Bourez (PYF) 9.67
Heat 11: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 13.73, Travis Logie (ZAF) 12.83, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 11.03
Heat 12: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.53, Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.27, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 3.13

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.17 def. Pierre-Valentin Laborde (FRA) 6.17
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.33 def. Dillon Perillo (USA) 10.37
Heat 3: Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.80 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 10.77
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 18.50 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 17.73
Heat 5: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.73 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 10.93
Heat 6: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 15.00 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.93
Heat 7: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 16.10 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.24
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.63 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 12.33

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 9: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 11: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 12: Kolohe Andino (USA) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)

Surf Movie Sunday

Bit of everything.

Some stand up body boarding !!!

Turbo Stoog Division from Ryan Timperley on Vimeo.

Another Taj video



Another Chopes video



And finally episode two of Vans Get N Classic. If you like it you can download it here.

Round two finally done

It seems to have been going for ever but the Quikie Pro in France has only just finished round two and then went on a break.

Taylor Knox continues his run beating Adriano De Souza and he'll take on young gun John Florence in the first heat of round three.Yadin Nichol is out as are both Hopgoods and Josh Kerr.


Taj takes on Kolohe Andino, who finally made it into the third round. Slater has Jadson Andre, Joel gets Pat Gudaskas but Mick Fanning has dangerman Dane Reynolds. A loss here would hurt his title run but not be fatal.

With five days left and nothing perfect on the forecast expect the event to be a bit of a luck fest.

Round 1 done

They have finished the remaining round one heat in France and moved on to the King of the Groms event. There is a fair bit of swell but 90% close outs.

All of the heats in the main event today were won by the only surfer with a two wave total over 10, except the second last one where no one could get into double figures. Julian Wilson and Owen Wright were the only top seeds losing today.

The industry people talk up the France event every year but it is always crappy. The waves are so flukey that you need as much luck as you do ability to get through. If Europe wasn't one of the traditionally strongest markets for surf ware I'm nor sure we would still be watching this event.

Quik Pro starts

The Quiksilver Pro France started two days ago in its usual iffy surf. Its a bit hard to get excited about a non-elimination round one held in close outs.

Parko was the only surprise losing to Dane Reynolds but he will have a decent shot in round two. Reynolds could be the fly in the ointment as he is likely to come up against one of the title contenders in round three.

It was a lay day yesterday and the next call will be early afternoon our time. You can watch it at the normal places.

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.16, Kai Otton (AUS) 11.03, Taylor Knox (USA) 7.00
Heat 2: Jadson Andre (BRA) 9.04, Adriano De Souza (BRA) 8.70, Damien Hobgood (USA) 8.20
Heat 3: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.70, John John Florence (HAW) 11.67, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 6.86
Heat 4: Kelly Slater (USA) 12.06, Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.74, Tiago Pires (PRT) 4.16
Heat 5: Dane Reynolds (USA) 10.66, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 9.90, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 5.40
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.50, Wiggolly Dantas (BRA) 12.10, Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.56
Heat 7: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 14.83, Kolohe Andino (USA) 12.97, Josh Kerr (AUS) 10.00
Heat 8: Brett Simpson (USA) 11.67, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 10.70, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 7.83,
Heat 9: Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.43, Owen Wright (AUS) 8.30, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 5.77

REMAINING QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 10: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Heitor Alves (BRA), Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS), Adrian Buchan (AUS), Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 12: Gabriel Medina (BRA), C.J. Hobgood (USA), Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)

Surf Movie Sunday

Nice day and a hot one tomorrow. When you need some shade check out this week's selection, starting with some west aussies.

Yallingup's Jay Davies spend lots of time in Bali. Here's why.

i love bali from Elsegoodproductions.com on Vimeo.

Yadin's ongoing bio-series hits episode two where he talks about his broken leg.



Some new perspectives -
Mavericks from above


And a Slater eye view on Trestles (and the closest most of us will get to doing an air !)

Surf Movie Sunday

Slim pickings again this week.

Irish surfer and filmmaker Mickey Smith has recently posted this award winning short film



Yet another take on Shipsterns. Watch for the guy getting sucked over the falls around two minutes in.



And for something different a bit of body surfing.



And a history lesson.

Hurley burly

Slater's win at Trestles was his third title in a row, his 50th career win and continues his almost ridiculous winning streak there. He has moved up to third with four very winnable events to go in Europe, mainland US and Hawaii. If you drop the worst two results of the surfers Kelly is actually leading by 700 points. If he was to match or beat Parko and Mick for the rest of the season he would be the winner.

Taj dropped one spot to fall out of the top five with his fifth place finish. Yadin stayed out 27 and hadn't made it past round three this year.

The next event starts at the end of next week in France, followed two days later in Portugal.

Slater Wins

Beating Parko in nice waves.

Second Quarter

Slater v Ace Bucchan.

Bit of controversy when Slater lost priority duck diving a wave. Regardless Flores didn't do enough to win anyway.

John Kerr and Jordy Smith. Will be another burster but I can be up this late two days in a row !

Quarter Final 1

Will be Mick Fanning v Taj as Mick has just narrowly beaten Julian Wilson.

This will be a tough draw for the West Aussie as Mick has been getting over scored consistently in the last few events.

Waves are good but inconsistent. The event will finish today.

Tired

Sat up (really laid in bed) watching the first three heats of the Hurley Pro last night. The waves early were clean and glassy but a little funky. Everyone was blowing moves and needed to be a bit conservative to get the scores. By afternoon it was onshore and ramping, making airs the go.

In heat two of round three Julian Wilson won riding the wining waves as the siren sounded. Next heat Taj won with the winning wave coming in the last 30 seconds. No surprises in the rest of the round with Yadin losing to John Florence.

Taj won his round four super heat against Slater and Julian Wilson, heading straight to the quarter finals. Wilson will take on Mick Fanning and Slater has Jeremy Flores.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 5 MATCH UPS:

Heat 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)

Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Kelly Slater (USA)

Heat 3: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Gabriel Medina (BRA)

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES NON ELIMINATION ROUND 4:

Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.93, Julian Wilson (AUS) 12.60, Kelly Slater (USA) 11.20

Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 17.23, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.97, Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.17

Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.87, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.40, Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.63

Heat 4: John John Florence (HAW) 18.57, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.27, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 12.67

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.70 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.00

Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.03 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.34

Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.60 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 14.30

Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 16.20 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.23

Heat 5: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 18.13 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 8.93

Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.34 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 13.33

Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.33 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 13.33

Heat 8: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.37 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 17.06

Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.53 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 9.67

Heat 10: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.20 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.77

Heat 11: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.67 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 10.90

Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 14.44 def. Yadin Nicol (AUS) 9.90

Starts soon

Round three starts at 11.00 pm our time. The pre-contest warm up session makes you reconsider what you call crowded.

Round Two

Round two is done as well, again in reasonable waves. The only real upsets were Owen Wright going down to the old man power turns of Taylor Knox. Knox is having a bit of a resurgence this year and while he might not throw airs all the time he can out hack the new school. Both Hopgoods are out as well.

Taj is against Adam Melling in the next round and Yadin has a very challenging heat against John Florence. That will be the last heat of the round and if the conditions are right could be a classic.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.83 def. Conner Coffin (USA) 10.73
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) 14.37 def. Evan Geiselman (USA) 13.93
Heat 3: Taylor Knox (USA) 12.16 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 10.60
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 17.63 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 16.93
Heat 5: Julian Wilson (USA) 14.63 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.27
Heat 6: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.66 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 11.30
Heat 7: Heitor Alves (BRA) 14.50 def. Kolohe Andino (BRA) 14.33
Heat 8: Adam Melling (AUS) 17.30 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 17.13
Heat 9: Travis Logie (ZAF) 12.93 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.77
Heat 10: Brett Simpson (USA) 15.83 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.70
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 16.30 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 15.90
Heat 12: Kai Otton (AUS) 16.50 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 16.27

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 5: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 8: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Bede Durbidge (AUS)
Heat 10: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 11: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)

Parko safe

Parko was a bit over scored but deserved to win heat one of round two. The waves are nice but inconsistent.

John Florence is in the water now as has just cranked out a solid first wave.

Hurley Pro

Round one is over and it was a good day for the west Aussies with both TB and Yadin Nichol winning their heats.

The waves were nice little peaks made for throwing fins. Big airs were getting the big scores, especially  if they were no-handers. Seems that claiming an air was given a scoring bump as well.

Amongst the others most of the heats went as expected. Parko missed out and will take on Connor Coffin in round two. Coffin will be in with a chance if Parko isn't on his game. John Florence didn't surf well and will take on another wildcard. Owen Wright was just beaten by Yadin by less than half a point and will meet tour vet Taylor Knox. Knox is one of the few remaining power hackers so his future relies on what the judges are picking on the day.

I put some punters club money on Julian Wilson so of course he lost badly and will have a difficult round two against Jadson Andre.

As usual the contest website is top notch with a good webcast (in the middle of the night here) and heat analyser heats on demand. Fuel TV is showing every heat live for those with Foxtel.

HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.30, Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.10, Brett Simpson (USA) 7.94
Heat 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.00, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.57, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 7.37
Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.66, Tiago Pires (PRT) 10.90, Taylor Knox (USA) 8.10
Heat 4: Dusty Payne (USA) 12.47, Kai Otton (AUS) 12.00, John John Florence (HAW) 9.00
Heat 5: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 14.16, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.87, Evan Geiselman (USA) 12.50
Heat 6: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.60, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.60, Conner Coffin (USA) 12.16
Heat 7: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 17.57, Owen Wright (AUS) 17.17, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 11.67
Heat 8: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.20, Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.63, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 8.00
Heat 9: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.20, Kolohe Andino (AUS) 13.30, Jeremy Flores (PYF) 12.70
Heat 10: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.50, Adam Melling (AUS) 13.57, Julian Wilson (AUS) 9.66
Heat 11: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 16.30, Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.87, Heitor Alves (BRA) 13.83
Heat 12: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.90, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.17, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 8.20

UPCOMING HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Conner Coffin (USA)
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Evan Geiselman (USA)
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 5: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 6: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Heat 7: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)
Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 9: Miguel Pupo (BRA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 10: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 11: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 12: Tiago Pires (PRT) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)

Surf Movie Sunday

Got a busy day ahead so the movies are in early.

Analog have released their latest movie with plenty of waves from around the world.



Mick Fanning, Owen Wilson and others at Trestles. The Trestles Pro starts tonight.



Dean Morrison in the WA desert.



And finally a Greg Long profile for the big wave heroes.

Surf Movie Sunday

Better late than never. Too nice a day to have spent it inside anyway.
It has a fair bit of a WA flavour except for the last one.

Dave Mac shows that getting older doesn't reduce your surfing ability.



The WA link is Taj and Jay Davies. Watch TB, Julian Wilson and co smashing Trestles, the site of the next WCT event later this month.



A secret slab that everyone knows down near Demmark.



And finally something different - longboarding and fin free at the wave garden.

Surf Movie Sunday

Bit of mix for the first Sunday of spring

Start with a bit of GoPro longboard action.



And a short piece of girl footwork with Kassia Meador



Rob Machado riding some weird boards



Ian Walsh steps you through the process of surfing Jaws.



And finish with some wipeouts.

Judge for yourself

Does claiming pay ?




Chopes is such a one dimensional wave that judging is so difficult. Every pit that someone makes is basically the same so winning is more pot luck that really beating someone. I don't think Fanning's waves were better or worse than Parko's but I much prefer Parko's smooth style to Mick's poo stance.
Chopes is a world class wave on it's day but is it a world class competition wave ? Especially when we move on to two more barrel riding contests before years end, Supertubos is Portugal and the real left hand tube riding test Pipeline.

Mick Wins

Mick worked his way out of a combo with 4 minutes to go to beat Parko at Chopes.

As predicted the surfer making claims after each wave came out on top. Mick could have been Brazilian ! The super deep tubes helped as well !

Mick v Joel

Joel just beat John Florence and will meet Mick Fanning in the final after a short rest.

The waves are nice but inconsistent. As usual with Teahupooo each ride is either a eight or a two so its anyones event.

Finals

Second semi in the water.

Mick Fanning is the first finalist up against either Parko or John John.

Up to five

The Billabong Pro finally got back in the water in inconsistent but contestable waves. With one wave sets and every wave being either a 8+ or a shut down winning has a little luck involved. It does seem that claiming gets you an extra point as was seen by Ricardo dos Santos' Slater killing wave.

Taj is in round five against dos Santos so will need to do something he never does and double pump after every coverup. The lineup remaining is probably the highest class seen in ages. Basically the top ten minus Slater and adding Perrow and the Brazillian. Hopefully the waves will improve.

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.17 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 8.34
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.83 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 9.37
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.04 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 11.00
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) 18.30 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 17.50
Heat 5: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 18.30 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.17
Heat 6: Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) 18.34 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 16.44
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.83 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 4.47
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.60 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.60
Heat 9: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.10 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.93
Heat 10: John John Florence (HAW) 13.30 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 13.17
Heat 11: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 13.60 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 4.73
Heat 12: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 16.87 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.67

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 4 RESULTS:

Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.60, Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.10, Julian Wilson (AUS) 2.80
Heat 2: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.76, Owen Wright (AUS) 15.60, Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) 9.67
Heat 3: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.23, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 17.77, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.47
Heat 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.83, John John Florence (HAW) 7.00, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 3.23

BILLABONG PRO TAHITI ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: Ricardo dos Santos (BRA) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)
Heat 2: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Heat 4: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)

Surf Movie Sunday

I know its really late but that's what you get for free. Mainly American's and Hawaiians this week.

Bit of old school big wave riding.



POV tubes at Desert Point.



Timmy Reynes in Mexico.



And finally if you don't like any of these why not DIY.

Lay Days

If you're wondering where the Billabong Pro updates are the event has been on hold since day two due to a complete lack of swell. The forecast is for a bump over the next two days, the last of the waiting period.

Surf Movie Sunday

Decided to take the handplane and mal our for a little play so the movies are a little late. Anyway you should be outside doing jobs and leaving this pretty poor collection to this afternoon when the weather moves in.


Jay "Bottle" Thompson launched his new website bottlesurf with some WA goodies.


Some arty tropical shooting



When Teahupoo goes wrong



And that will have to do you for this week.

Billabong Pro

Inconsistent waves for day two and round two. Most of the top ranked surfers got through with the exceptions being a rapidly fading Bede Durbridge and Jordy Smith, who would have been to big for the little tubes. Yadin Nichol also dropped out and adds another 33rd to his season.

Round three looks like this -

Heat 1: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 5: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Ricardo dos Santos (BRA)
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 8: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 9: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)
Heat 10: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 11: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Alejo Muniz (BRA)
Heat 12: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)

Much will depend on the conditions but Mick Fanning and Joel need to look out. If it is big Taj and Adriano will have a tougher day.

Watch the highlights from the first two days and look for Josh Kerr's double barrel right on day one !

Surf Movie Sunday

Bit of a mix of longer videos for a wet, stay at home Sunday.

We'll start with the second episode in Billabong's pre-Chopes series



Bruce Irons got smashed during last year's massive Chopes session. He talks to Surfer Magazine but I can't embed the video so click here.

Fox has released a feature movie of its sponsored surfers.



And finally nothing to do with surfing other than it was in the water. Regardless it is pretty amazing !

Surf Movie Sunday

Here's this weeks efforts

Dean Morrison in Africa



Ry Craike in Java



And finally the Billabong has released the first of its pre-event videos before Chopes (which is two weeks away). Something warm for when the wind and rain comes here.

Surf Movie Sunday

Not much to pick from this week either

Some big waves on the east



Yanks in WA and NZ



Josh Kerr in Indo

Surf Movie Sunday

Not a lot to choose from this week.

Last week was classic rides at Cloudbreak. This week it is bone crunching wipeouts from the swell during last month Volcom Pro.



Some 1994 footage of deep Indo by Sonny Miller.



Like I said, I'm scratching for clips so here's something to make you feel better when it's less than classic.

Surf Movie Sunday

Ry Craike and Clay Marzo surf some crap in WA



Jay Davies at Rabbit Hill



One for the girls - Laura Enever ripping



And a nice 18 minute edit from last years massive swell, the best until this year's swell during the Volcom Pro

World Champ

Steph Gilmore has won another world title, winning the Roxy Pro in France last night.

The waves so bad early that I couldn't be bothered watching for more than a couple of minutes in the first round so can't tell you how she surfed or anything else.

The stupid thing is that it is July and the world champ has been picked and there is only one event left.

Surf Movie Sunday

Taj and friends up north



Night surfing in South Africa (could be called - The night a shark ate me ! )



Trailer for Storm Surfers 3D



And finally some smoothness from Joel Tudor

Surf Movie Sunday

Because the real stuff is crappy.


Even better than real surfing.

A sneak peak of the WA section from Billabong's upcoming movie Daze at Sea. And a free downloadable movie from Surfer Magazine. If you want to keep it click here.

Weird model

Another front on the way tomorrow with damaging winds. Good job I didn't put the outdoor furniture back after the last one.

There are some weird blobs on the Stormsurf wave models for the next week or so. It has a 30 foot swell hitting Marges in 72 hours with Perth getting 18 - 20. Forty seven feet of swell is passing the south coast. There are then two follow up 15 to 20 foot swells in the following few days.

The model for Wednesday is totally weird. Lots of pretty colours.

WEATHER SITUATION
A cold front moving over the area during Tuesday is likely to cause WIDESPREAD
DAMAGING WINDS to 100 kilometres per hour that could result in DAMAGE TO HOMES
AND PROPERTY. In isolated areas DANGEROUS GUSTS in excess of 125 kilometres per
hour could cause SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OR DESTRUCTION TO HOMES AND PROPERTY.
DAMAGING winds are likely to develop about the Capes early on Tuesday morning
and extend to remaining parts later in the morning. Thunderstorms are also
possible.

Higher than normal tides may result in flooding of low-lying coastal areas in
the Geographe Bay area, including Busselton and Dunsborough, on Tuesday morning.

This is typical weather for this time of year.

Surf Movie Sunday

Kassia Meador in super slow mo for Coley And some big barrels from the Goldie

International Surfing Day 2012

Slideshow of the Smiths Waterman Experience.

Surf Movie Sunday

Some cold waves for a winter's day.

Slater wins

Kelly has won his 49th WCT title in Fiji just minutes ago. He is the fourth winner of an event out of the four so far in 2012.

He easily beat Gabriel Medina who couldn't find a back up wave.

Over

Taj lost his semi in wind blown conditions at Cloudbreak. Taj was beaten by goofy Medina.

The wind picked up towards the end of round five and it really favoured the goofies. It has gotten so back they have called it off for the day with two of the quarters to run.

Live blogging

Taj has beaten Parko and moves into a semi against Gabriel Medina. With Slater still in the event this is a bit of a short term blow to Parko but nothing to get very stressed about.

Next heat is Julian Wilson and Owen Wright. Could be another cracker.

Surf Movie Sunday

Some Yanks enjoy some West Oz hospitality. Novelty surf. Waves off the Sydney Opera House ! This one has nothing to do with surfing but I thought it was funny.

Chow down

Volcom Pro Fiji had a late start but is on in clean 4 - 6 foot Cloudbreak. Taj and Parko are in the water as I type mixing big backhand whacks with some pig dogging. 11.27 to go and Parko is in front with neither holding a decent backup wave.

Watch it online and on FuelTV.

How good was Restaurants yesterday ? Look at the highlights.

All you can eat

After yesterday's massive swell caused the comp to be called off after two heats the event moved to Resturants today. No surprises. Taj faces Parko in round five which will be a cracker. VOLCOM FIJI PRO ROUND 3 RESULTS: Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.00 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.00 Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) 19.30 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.67 Heat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.73 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.06 Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.00 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 2.36 Heat 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.93 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 7.80 Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.00 def. Mitch Coleborn (AUS) 15.00 Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.14 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 12.50 Heat 8: Heitor Alves (BRA) 13.90 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.87 Heat 9: Owen Wright (AUS) 19.27 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 4.00 Heat 10: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 17.33 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.13 Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.83 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.34 Heat 12: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.66 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.87 VOLCOM FIJI PRO ROUND 4 RESULTS: Heat 1: John John Florence (HAW) 13.17, Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.94, Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.13 Heat 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.16, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.17, Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.50 Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.33, Owen Wright (AUS) 17.90, Heitor Alves (BRA) 10.86 Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.40, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.80, Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.40 VOLCOM FIJI PRO ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS: Heat 1: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS) Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS) Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA) Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)

Round Two

After yesterday's massive swell caused the comp to be called off after two heats the event moved to Resturants today. No surprises. Taj faces Parko in round five which will be a cracker.


VOLCOM FIJI PRO ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.00 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.00
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) 19.30 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.67
Heat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.73 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.06
Heat 4: Mick Fanning (AUS) 13.00 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 2.36
Heat 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.93 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 7.80
Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.00 def. Mitch Coleborn (AUS) 15.00
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.14 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 12.50
Heat 8: Heitor Alves (BRA) 13.90 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.87
Heat 9: Owen Wright (AUS) 19.27 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 4.00
Heat 10: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 17.33 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.13
Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.83 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.34
Heat 12: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.66 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.87

VOLCOM FIJI PRO ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: John John Florence (HAW) 13.17, Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.94, Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.13
Heat 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.16, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.17, Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.50
Heat 3: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.33, Owen Wright (AUS) 17.90, Heitor Alves (BRA) 10.86
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.40, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 12.80, Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.40

VOLCOM FIJI PRO ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)
Heat 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)

Surf Movie Sunday

Quiksilver's new movie - Moments 2. Fifteen minutes of goodness. And Moments 1 from last year if you missed it.

Fiji on

The Volcom Pro is on in vicious double overhead Cloudbreak. Luckily round one is non- elimination as it is a very fluky.

Taj had a total of four in his heat and came last. Yadin was leading his with less than a minute to go before Owen Wright chucked a huge cuttie between two tubes.

The webcast is very high quality but the commentators aren't. You can watch it at the normal places, they are about five hours in front.

JJ

John Florence has just beat Parko in the final by going to the air.

John John is the full package and has been a standout all contest. He can find a tube anywhere and throws massive airs.

With Slater a no show and everyone above him falling earlier Parko has gone to the top of the ratings.

The waves weren't good no matter how the sponsors talk it up. Billabong had pulled out of the WCT at J-Bay but could find the money for Rio. This event should have been down graded to a six star and J-Bay left alone. The ASP suffers from being controlled by the big surf companies and this is an example of putting sales before the sport.

Nearly over

First semi in the water. Parko vs Mick in glassy waves. Plenty of closeouts but some barrels and ramps.

Second semi John Florence v Josh Kerr.

Watch it on FuelTV and the net.

Men on in Rio closeouts

Shitty waves for the Billabong Pro again today. There is a bit of size (5 foot pro size) but is is messy, wobbly, rip filled close outs. The first couple of heats had the odd decent little tube but with the dropping tide they have disappeared.

The last three heats were all won with less than a 10 point two wave total. They have been close but thats because no one can get more than a four. They are talking about running round three because there is swell. Hopefully they will wait to see if the waves clean up and become more contestable.

FuelTV has the broadcast and their is a webcast as well.

UPCOMING BILLABONG RIO PRO ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) lost to Peterson Crisanto (BRA)
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) beat Tomas Hermes (BRA)
Heat 3: John John Florence (HAW) beat Willian Cardoso (BRA)
Heat 4: Heitor Alves (BRA) beat Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 5: Damien Hobgood (USA) lost to Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 6: Brett Simpson (USA) beat Jadson Andre (BRA)
Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) - in the water now
Heat 8: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Yadin Nicol (AUS)
Heat 9: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) vs. Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 10: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 11: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Kolohe Andino (USA)
Heat 12: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Adam Melling (AUS)

Girls done

Sally Fitzgibbons has won the women's Billabong Pro Rio in more crappy beach break dribble. She beat Coco Ho in a close final. Both surfers got decent scores on waves that normally would be scored a four but got beefed up with the conditions.

This is her second win of the year and she is again a serious contender for the title again this year with just two more events left (France and the US Open).

Hopefully the men will get better waves but don't bet on it. Round two surfers would be getting a little nervous.

I go to Rio

But not today.

After decent waves with a novelty take off on Wednesday and some rubbish that made Trigg look like a dream tour destination the drop in swell has meant a lay day at the Billabong Pro Rio. The "main" break starts with a takeoff in the whitewater caused by the wave hitting a rock headland. Not somewhere you would rank high as a must surf wave.

Mens round 1 ran in the best waves on day one. Taj, Parko and most of the other top seeds made it through the round. Womens round one was next with a couple of stars (like Gilmore) ending up in elimination round two.

Day two was little and they wouldn't dare run the men is these dribblers. Instead they sent out the women in round two. The only surprise was when someone managed three legitimate moves on a wave. Gilmore was happy to get through and hopefully they won't be expected to risk world titles in waves this bad. Slater didn't make the event. Apparently he hurt his foot in some exotic country and can't turn off his rail. ASL suggest he might be a little bit of a fibber !

 FuelTV is showing the mens event live and there is a good stable webcast. We are about 13 hours out so the day usually starts around 8.00pm our time.

Code Red online

Billabong has release the HD version of its Code Red Tahiti video on YouTube. Amazing quality footage of one of the biggest days surfed at Chopes. Worth spending the 15 minutes watching.

Some week day relief

Bit of a range, mostly freaky things.

Sometime you wonder who decided this was a surfable wave.



This is unbelievable and will make you rethink what a skim board can do.



Ry Craike at home on a not so great day !



and a couple of old school shredders

Kelly in the 90s, most of the ASP still can't do this.



and some recent Tom Curren

Hold your breath

The Billabong XXL Wipeout nominations have just hit the net. They are all unbelievable but I'm leaning to Mark Mathews having the whole Indian Ocean folding onto his head.

Bells rolls on

Taj out, Slater double fist claiming and clean well overhead waves, Bells has been cranking again today. Both the blokes and the girls got through a bucket load of heats. There were some massive scores (and some little one - Taj). Jordy's superman air is a highlight.



Its worth going to the event site and watching a few heats.

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.33 def. Yadin Nicol (AUS) 9.60
Heat 2: John John Florence (HAW) 13.97 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 9.63
Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.77 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 7.17
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.17 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 9.07
Heat 5: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.10 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.83
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.00 def. Nic Muscroft (AUS) 16.30
Heat 7: Kai Otton (AUS) 11.83 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 6.54
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.46 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 15.20
Heat 9: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.70 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 15.60
Heat 10: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.43 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.96
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) 15.54 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.53
Heat 12: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.94 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 17.37

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.87, John John Florence (HAW) 15.00, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 14.93
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.50, Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.10, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 9.64
Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.20, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.83, Kai Otton (AUS) 10.33
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.27, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.60, Brett Simpson (USA) 7.00

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: John John Florence (HAW) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 3: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA)
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. TBD
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. TBD
QF 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. TBD
QF 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. TBD

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Tyler Wright (AUS) 16.74, , Sarah Mason (NZL) 14.50, Laura Enever (AUS) 14.00
Heat 2: Malia Manuel (HAW) 18.30, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 17.50, Paige Hareb (NZL) 10.34
Heat 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) 17.94, , Coco Ho (HAW) 12.60, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 5.86
Heat 4: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.90, Lakey Peterson (USA) 15.20, Courtney Conlogue (USA) 14.93

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Sarah Mason (NZL) vs. Paige Hareb (NZL)
Heat 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) vs. Laura Enever (AUS)
Heat 3: Coco Ho (HAW) vs. Courtney Conlogue (USA)
Heat 4: Lakey Peterson (USA) vs. Sofia Mulanovich (PER)

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. TBD
QF 2: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs. TBD
QF 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. TBD
QF 4: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) vs. TBD