Plenty of action in the water with real whales, dolphins and some fat old bloke that looked like a whale (me).
The swell had dropped off again but the wind was offshore. BP had some fat but fun waves on the beachie. The really low tide made the reef and Juniors no go zones.
It is still offshore and probably the warmest it has been all day. Get out in the sun because the rain is not far away again.
Another almost perfect spring day. The winds have been light but onshore and thee is still plenty of swell rolling through.
BP was the pick today with rideable waves from Barnacles to the groyne. Juniors was nice with some lefts and rights off the rip and a few wider ones. The low tide made the reef pretty sketchy but the odd one pushed off the bubbles for a short ride.
I surfed a couple off the reef and then a few out of a rip a little further north.
There was one guy at Juniors getting nice waves for his drop knee style and he was joined by some kids wagging school.
Looks like tomorrow might be similar but with light se winds early before a sse change. The swell is meant to still be hanging around the two metre mark at Naturaliste.
Another slow start to the morning for me and it seems that I might have missed a few waves. The wind is onshore and looking like it will strengthen over the afternoon. The swell has dropped but there is still plenty of it with the rips along BP beach making for some rideable corners (between the close outs).
The tide and wind will be against you unless you get on it very soon.
The wind stayed light but onshore and with the low tide the conditions were worse than they looked. The smaller ones looked ride-able but to get anywhere near them you would wear all the sets on the head.
Earlier in the day I had commented to someone that the groyne looked ok if you were doing tow ins. Someone must have heard us because there was a tow crew out this afternoon and finally they were a crew that knew what they were doing. No full speed slingshots or dug rails, these guys towed in at the speed of the wave and were able to take off way outside. This gave them enough speed to beat the sections but not too much to prevent them actually riding the waves.
The winds are pretty light onshore and there is plenty of swell. Apparently there were some reasonable waves in between the closeouts before the tide dropped.
If you haven't already got some you might have missed it for today. Tomorrow morning looks ok and then rain and onshore next week.
For the third event in a row Kelly Slater and Owen Wright have faced off in the finals. This time is was Slater showing that he is still better than yet another generation of rippers by riding the winning wave in the last minute and with a mix of air and full rail vertical surfing.
Josh Kerr continued his career season as is now in fifth. Julian Wilson has finally found some form and is starting find his feet (getting revenge on Parko for his last wave loss in round four). Slater has pulled just a little closer to his 11th title and Taj is now sixth and hoping for a miracle. Jordy's injury has dropped him to 8th but he can throw both of these events away at the end of the season.
The next event is the Search in San Francisco.
HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES FINAL RESULT:
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 17.50 2 – Owen Wright (AUS) 16.74
HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.40 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 16.57 SF 2: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.74 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 10.04
HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:
QF 1: Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.77 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.50 QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.60 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.07 QF 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.67 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.67 QF 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 18.23 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.93
HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Heitor Alves (BRA) 12.74 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.80 Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.27 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.97 Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.23 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.27 Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.67 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.37
CURRENT ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 10 (After Hurley Pro at Trestles)
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 44,950 pts. 2 – Owen Wright (AUS) 39,900 3 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 35,400 4 – Adriano de Souza (BRA)31950 5 – Josh Kerr (AUS)30,800 6 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 29,250 7 – Mick Fanning (AUS)28,200 8 – Jordy Smith (ZAF)27,500 9 – Jeremy Flores (FRA)23,700 10 – Michel Bourez (PYF) 22,250
Plenty of choc milk swell and southerlies early. A few people have been tempted into the water by the odd clean looking wave but it is pretty marginal.
In the hour it took to look everywhere and walk to the Bay and back the wind had started to swing to the south west and the conditions will get worse.
Taj got stuck with the first heat of the day again and has lost to Hetor Alves.
The heat was really slow for waves and neither surfer really got anything great. Alves probably got the best waves of the heat in the first couple of minutes while Taj was left waiting for a wave that didn't come.
He was massively under-scored on his last wave (probably by about two points) but it still wouldn't have been enough.
Josh Kerr is in the water now against Jeremy Flores.
Not surfing news but close enough. Donnybrook local Josh Sheehan double back-flipped his way to the Red Bull X-Fighters title in Sydney on the weekend.
The promises of high performance round four heats was finally met last night. With sets around head height and runners both ways there were plenty of big hacks and airs. Unfortunately the judging continues to baffle everyone and feed the conspiracy theorists (see this post from philosurfical). There seems to be bonus points given to the top 10 (except Bede Durbridge). The judges have obviously decided that anyone can do an air but not everyone can do a reo. Even I can do a reo (every now and then) but I'm will never do an air (on purpose).
Taj was fairly beaten by Adriano de Souza with both going to the air. Julian Wilson couldn't beat Parko's re-entries with am air where he switched the board around, landed surfed goofy, switched back and threw and air reverse. Owen Wright beat John Florence who surfed well in his maiden event (he made the tour due to Yaden Nicols broken leg).
The internet rumours are that the event will finish tonight as the forecast if for a dropping swell.
Head to the website and watch the heats on demand. They have built on the format from the Quikie Pro so you can watch entire heats or any of the scoring waves. You can also select your favourite surfer or only waves over a certain score. And unlike the Quikie it actually works and streams nicely.
UPCOMING HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 5 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA) Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA) Heat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS) Heat 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)
HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 16.33, Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.93, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.23 Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.90, Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.60, Heitor Alves (BRA) 11.77 Heat 3: Owen Wright (AUS) 16.73, Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.20, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.46 Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.06, Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.77, Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.50
HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.50 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.97 Heat 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.50 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 13.10 Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.27 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 9.57 Heat 4: Heitor Alves (BRA) 11.63 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 11.43 Heat 5: Josh Kerr (AUS) 12.33 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 11.83 Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.64 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 12.93 Heat 7: Owen Wright (AUS) 17.84 def. John Florence (HAW) 17.13 Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.13 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 8.17 Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 15.80 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 10.40 Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.00 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 16.80 Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.23 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 9.00 Heat 12: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.93 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 13.17
Round one of the Hurley Pro was run overnight in small, slightly fat but contestable waves. The standard of the surfing was good but the judging was completely unfathomable. One surfer seemed to get a seven for some standard reos and someone else would get five for the same turns but an air reverse as well. The only consistencies were that vertical re-entries that popped the fins out the top of the wave were scored high and the top seed in each heat seemed to get the bonus points.
Watch the heats on demand that Parko, Taj, Slater and Julian Wilson won. They all did enough to win but compare their scores with the others in their heats. Jadson Andre in Parko's was throwing fins out turns for no return, yet Travis Logie was getting better scores for rides that I could have pulled off.
The judging just seems to get more confusing every event. One day airs are scored high, next its floaters, then its reos, then airs again, no wonder the ASP struggles to reach their dream of "mainstream audience" appeal. If someone who has surfed for 25+ years and watched competitive surfing for as long can't get close to working out the score then how do they expect a footy fan from Northam to understand it ?
It seems that there might be a lay day tonight but if not and you're up around 11.00 pm onwards then FuelTV is broadcasting plus a good webcast and iPad apps. HURLEY PRO TRESTLES ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 11.96, Travis Logie (ZAF) 11.53, Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.00 Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.43, Heitor Alves (BRA) 14.13, John Florence (HAW) 9.43 Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.66, Adam Melling (AUS) 12.36, Chris Davidson (AUS) 9.80 Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) 13.60, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 13.37, Conner Coffin (USA) 11.87 Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) 14.57, Rob Machado (USA) 13.50, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 12.40 Heat 6: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 13.67, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.10, Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.13 Heat 7: Taylor Knox (USA) 13.70, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 13.50, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.80 Heat 8: Michel Bourez (PYF) 15.40, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.50, Kai Otton (AUS) 9.83 Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.17, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 14.87, Dusty Payne (HAW) 8.77 Heat 10: Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.60, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.33, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.53 Heat 11: Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.00, Damien Hobgood (USA) 9.90, Daniel Ross (AUS) 6.75 Heat 12: Brett Simpson (USA) 12.40, Tom Whitaker (AUS) 11.94, Mick Fanning (AUS) 11.90
The Hurley Pro at Trestles is just starting with the trials final. After that it is straight into round one.
The conditions look nice but the swell is small. Jordy is still out and Dane Reynolds isn't coming.
This is the first event since the mid season cut. Bobby Martinez and CJ Hopgood are gone and three rookies are in. WA's Yadin Nicol is meant to be one of the but had given his spot to John Florence due to a Artois injury. He had worked so hard to make the tour it must be very disappointing.
Webcast and decent iPad app are available. Hopefully the webcast is better than Quiksilver's attempt in New York
With the crappy weather it seemed to be a perfect time to start bashing away at my next attempt at a hand plane (or hand board whichever). This one has started life as a couple of broken breeze boards off my house and a piece of packing material. I'm not overly confident that the old glue I used will hold it all together as I lacked the necessary clamps. I'm thinking of ways to get around that.
My rough plan is for a "stinger" shape with a fin. It will be longer than the other boards and with less rocker. I'm trying for more volume, a longer rail line and flatness to give more speed in fatter waves.
It might already be jinxed though. The initial photos were on the camera that got stolen from my garage, some of the tools I had out were used to steal my bike and I went to use my drill (the tool I needed the most) it has stopped working !!!
It won't stop me giving it bash though. I can always fall back on version two or the Hydro plane or make another one. Version three won't be the last.
A crappy end to a crappy week. As well as there being nothing worth surfing (except for the desperadoes) some bastard broke into my garage and stole my bike and under-water camera.
Its a long shot but if anyone notices a scum bag riding a white and blue Giant XTC mountain bike, complete with disc brakes, the mounting for a speedo and a LED front light (no back light) in almost new condition, please ring the police.
Looks like you might be keeping your boards in the shed for a few more days. With the winds from the south it will be hard to find somewhere sheltered enough to make it worth it.
The continuing spring weather has straightened the banks and covered most of the beach in weed.
I got wet out of the rip at Juniors on the in-betweeners as the rest closed out. There were a couple of groms on the reef and the very odd fat burger at the groyne.
Apparently Marges was 10 foot yesterday and classic. Check out Coastalwatch for the story.
For the second event in a row Owen Wright and Kelly Slater have fought it out for the title. However this time the young Aussie was successful, easily winning after a blitz in the first few minutes.
Slater holds onto his number one spot and moves a little further away. After his first win on the big boys tour Wright has moved to number two.
QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK FINAL:
1 – Owen Wright (AUS) 17.90
2 – Kelly Slater (USA) 14.53
QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK SEMIFINALS RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.07 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 18.33
SF 2: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.84 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 9.63
QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.77 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 14.37
QF 2: Kelly Slater (AUS) 15.50 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 15.00
QF 3: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.10 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 10.10
QF 4: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.93 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 12.44
ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 10 (After Quiksilver Pro New York):
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 34950 pts
2. Owen Wright (AUS) 31,900 pts
3. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 30,200 pts
4. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 27,000 pts
5. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 26,750 pts
6. Josh Kerr (AUS) 25,600 pts
7. Taj Burrow (AUS) 25,250 pts
8. Mick Fanning (AUS) 23,000 pts
9. Michel Bourez (PYF) 20,500 pts
10. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 19,700 pts
Taj has lost to Slater again despite holding a nine and leading with just over two minutes to go. The margin was less than a point.
Needing better than a mid seven Slater has taken off on a decent sized wave, pumped for speed and blasted a huge air 360 landing no hands and claiming. For that single move he got a 10 ? It didn't deserve a 10 but was probably a high 8. Taj came back with another nine but it just wasn't enough after the overscore.
Owen Wright is in the water now against some Brazillian. I hope he wins. If he does expect the final to be won above the lip. I won't be awake to see it.
Slater has beaten Josh Kerr by half a point in another close final. Both went to the air but Slater lucked into a deep and clean backhand barrel.
This means that TB and KS will face each other in another semi. Taj will be keen on avenging his loss at the US Open a few weeks ago when he was underscored in front of a big crowd.
The webcast is so dodgy it is impossible to watch. It seems to stop everytime there is a wave about to be ridden. It then jumps backwards and shows the same footage over and over. Its really disappointing as the surfing is so good and the webcasts from Billabong at J-Bay and Chopes were so good. I even tried my computer and two different iPad apps but neither worked very well.
Final day starts in a few minutes in New York. Taj is first up against Jadson Andre. Slater is the only American left in the contest with the rest of the spots filled by Aussies or Brazillians. He will take on Josh Kerr who has been racking up huge airs and nine pointers all contest. Watch his round four heat for his "varial", punting, spinning his board under his feet and landing goofy (he is a natural). He followed it up with a huge alley oop.
With Parko out and Jordy not competing Kelly can consolidate a bit of a lead, especially if he wins. Taj can also make up some points after a couple of bad results.
Potentially one of the best heats is the fourth quarter between Owen Wright and Julian Wilson. Both will go big.
Looking at the webcast it look like there are still waves and at the moment it is offshore.
The rest of round two and some of round three was run in slightly bigger but messier waves in New York last night. It was pouring down with rain at times and the event (like the US Open tennis) has a break mid morning to let it pass.
Bobby Martinez won his heat and gave a heart felt post heat interview where he expressed his disgust at the state of the ASP and the mid season cut which happens after this event.
“First of all, I’d like to say (an the ASP are going to fine me) ‘cuz I don’t want to be a part of this dumb f***ing wannabe tennis tour. All these pro surfers want to be tennis players. They want to do a halfway cutoff. How the f*** is somebody who’s not even competing against our caliber of surfers ahead of 100 of us on the one world ratings. They’ve never been here. They’ve never f***ing made the right to surf against us, but now we’re ranked upon them. Come on now. That’s Bullshit. That’s why I ain’t going to these stupid contests no more. This is my last one because FTW, my sponsors is here and I just tell it like it is. This is my last one and I don’t like tennis. I don’t like the tour… Who gives a f***? You know what I mean?”
“I’ve been here before. I love this city. I’ll tell you right now, if my sponsor wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be here for this dumb contest. ASP? They f***ing…surfing’s going down the drain thanks to these people.”
This has been his line for a few weeks and he does have a point. He doesn't think that someone on the world tour should be dropped because someone on the lower level, who never surfs against the best in the world happens to get a better one world ranking off that tour.
There is the odd surfer like Owen Wright or Julian Wilson that you think could go straight to the top level tour but even they have struggled in the big time. When you look at the ratings people like Bobby, CJ Hopgood and Freddie P might be dropped for some no name Brazillian who can throw airs and claims in hip height surf.
Regardless of the truth of the matter he was disqualified for "damaging the image of the sport". It will last until the ASP can decide if to ban him for the rest of the year. It is probably academic as he will miss the cut and is not likely to chase points in the prime events.
The ASP emailed Bobby his suspension notification. It seems to be spiralling out of control at the moment. There apparently will be no Triple Crown in Hawaii this year, the womens tour has already finished and the top surfers are choosing not to turn up to events. The judging is inconsistent at best and the administration seems to wander between press releases that make matter worse not better (eg: remember this one after the Owen Wright "commitment" debacle in Brazil or click here to see their email to Bobby). The ASP need to be careful as their core audience is starting to get annoyed and will start watching something else.
On the positive side Taj is through easily to round four but will probably draw his nemesis Josh Kerr. Being a non-elimination round their might be some big airs being thrown down. Mick Fanning lost to Freddie P this morning and Slater got a walk through due to Bobby's naughtiness.
The event is on now and rumoured to finish tomorrow. It is still brown and small enough for you to imagine that Bunno could hold its own world tour event. The webcast is patchy again.
QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK REMAINING ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 5: Josh Kerr (AUS) defeated Raoni Monteiro (BRA) Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Bobby Martinez *Will not be surfed. Martinez disqualified from competition. Heat 7: Mick Fanning (AUS) lost to Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) Heat 8: Kieren Perrow (AUS) lost to Alejo Muniz (BRA) Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA) Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS) Heat 11: Julian Wilson (AUS) vs. Brett Simpson (USA) Heat 12: Owen Wright (AUS) vs. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Taj has won his round one heat in New York, beating Pat G and Bobby Martinez. The waves look like a good day in Bunbury, muddy, brown and hip height. Most of us would struggle to get past the first section in the offshore mush.
Taj got a big score for a single air and then probably just a little overscored on a couple of backhand hacks. Regardless he deserved to win (Pat was overscored too) and he will have no problems in both the small conditions and if the waves pick up. The forecast is for a rising swell from a hurricane that is travelling along the coast.
As usual the Quiksilver webcam is a bit patchy and there is no live coverage on FuelTV.
The Quiksilver Pro New York starts tonight. First call is around 10.00 pm our time so most will have to watch via heats on demand.
Plenty of injuries with Jordy Smith the biggest. He obviously hasn't recovered from his broken ribs caused by big Chopes. This has given Travis Logie another event as an injury wildcard.
QUIKSILVER PRO NEW YORK ROUND 1 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Brett Simpson (USA), Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Dane Reynolds (USA), Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 3: Taj Burrow (AUS), Patrick Gudauskas (USA), Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS), Jadson Andre (BRA), Bobby Martinez (USA)
Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA), Asher Nolan (USA)
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA), Daniel Ross (AUS), Balaram Stack (USA)
Heat 7: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Cory Lopez (USA)
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS, Chris Davidson (AUS), C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Heat 9: Michel Bourez (PYF), Raoni Monteiro (BRA), Adam Melling (AUS)
Heat 10: Damien Hobgood (USA), Matt Wilkinson (AUS), Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 11: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Josh Kerr (AUS), Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 12: Julian Wilson (AUS), Kieren Perrow (AUS), Taylor Knox (USA)
I'm posting these Chopes videos because I'm predicting Sunday will be crap and hoping that I jinx myself and the offshores mention in one weather report come true.
Or if you've got a spare three hours view the tow day as streamed live
