Sunday Night Movies

I've been in Perth for the last week but I get the impression it has been flat. Here's a selection of some of the best videos from WA recently surfacing on the net.

Pumping waves down south

Brenno Dorrington // North Point from Tom Jennings on Vimeo.

Bunny Bay from Taj Burrow on Vimeo.

And up north

Low tide delight..gnaraloo from nate brejnak on Vimeo.

And a bit of both

Bummer

I've got another day off because I'm in Perth for work for the rest of the week. I was hoping to get wet after deciding to wait out yesterday's crowds. Unfortunately it's basically flat with strong offshores.

Still waves

Still some waves about especially at Juniors again. The wind was a bit stronger and more south.

Got a new camera so expect some better quality photos in the future.

Grey

Grey and drizzly today but that also means light winds and glassy.

I was surprised by the lack of people surfing because there was still some swell about.

I had a late session of the Juniors to again. The swell was slightly smaller but with frequent sets. The lefts were a bit better but the rights were just a little closer to the rocks. Unfortunately this meant that the best section for a move was right on to of the rocks. Still it was worth the paddle.

The down side was that after the others went in I was alone and wishing I hadn't read about the shark attack at Rotto before I came to the beach.

It's my birthday tomorrow so I might be able to eke out another session after the morning festivities.

Spring break

I ended up with a surprise day off and some nice little waves at Juniors. The rip was causing an A frame peak and the swell was only about two feet but it kept coming.

The rip was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that it made the waves break and that you could let it drag you back out if you caught a right. The curse was that it moved the take off around a little and it pulled you to far out and pushed you north.

I tried a couple at BP Reef. It was breaking way inside but one rock just after the take off was nearly dry sucking and that tended to ruin it.

The crowd maxed at four while I was there but that was about the limit it could take. Luckily everyone was pretty cruisy because one wave hog would have ruined it for everyone.

Looks like rain for the next few days.

Slater close to 11

By making the final of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal, Kelly Slater is a ninth away from an eleventh world title.

After winning two heats with last minute waves Taj had the tables turned when Slater pulled out a 10 in the last minute of their semi. Ironically Slater had joked in his interview after the quarters that he would have to beat Taj in the last minute again after the two have had some epic heats this year go to the wire each time.

The waves and surfing at this event were some of the best I have ever seen in years of watching pro surfing. On the last day most people lost heats holding at least a nine and some, like Julian Wilson, holding a ten ! Even though most scoring waves were tubes it wasn't boring pull ins like Chopes and the easy paddle out meant plenty of waves were caught. Despite the long days the webcast/broadcast was top quality and the commentators did a good job







Taj has moved to fifth with his third and Adriano up to third with his win. In reality Kelly would have to crash very early in the next two events and Owen Wright win for him not to be world champ yet again.

Next event San Francisco. I bet Kelly would love to have win a world title in mainland USA.

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.67
2 – Kelly Slater (USA) 14.73

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.50 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.87
SF 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.83 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.03

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.94 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.50
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 7.67
QF 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.60 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 17.53
QF 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.10 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.60

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING HEAT 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 6.83 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 3.50
Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 15.40 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.74
Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.93 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 17.96
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.44 def. John John Florence (HAW) 17.06

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.13, Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.70, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.10
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.30, Heitor Alves (BRA) 17.20, Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.40
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.30, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.64, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.67
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.00, John John Florence (HAW) 17.84, Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.10

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.60 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.10
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.56 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.30
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.27 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.54
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 17.33 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 16.96

ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (after Rip Curl Pro Portugal)
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 58,150 pts
2. Owen Wright (AUS) 45,650 pts
3. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 42,450 pts
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 41,100 pts
5. Taj Burrow (AUS) 40,950 pts

Bazzas

Portugal is pumping again and there are nines and tens everywhere. Currently it is the quarter final between Slater and Alvez.

Already they have finished round three, all of rounds four and five and the first quarter. The current plan is to crown the winner today.

Taj had surfed twice for two wins including in round four where he got a high eight with less than 30 seconds to go. In his quarter he beat Julian Wilson by 0.4 with a nine on his first wave and a high eight in the last minute to match a killer from Wilson that scored a ten.

John John Florence had treated the place like Backdoor Pipe without the consequences and getting shacked of his nut. However he just lost to Bede in a close heat that was starved a little for waves.

The swell is dropping but there are enough waves that almost every losing surfer has at least two eights and every winner a nine.

With Owen Wright and Jordy both out Kelly can put one hand on number eleven with a win.

Six more heats or 250 minutes of water action left. The webcast is consistent as is coverage on FuelTV.

Wow !!!!!

The Rip Curl Pro is turning on one of the best days of pro surfing in ages. The waves are grinding beach break pits breaking a few metres from shore and going both ways.

Round two has finished and they are well into round three. Taj has won both his heats today.

The last heat Kai Otten and Julian Wilson was all time. Both started with a nine. Otten's first wave looked like he had been caught in the tube twice but he busted out for a deserved claim. Wilson backed his nine with one of the biggest waves, a solid six foot plus and a deep, perfect tube ride.

There is another two or so hours of surfing left in a marathon day. They have talked about knocking over the event tomorrow which could see the winner surf six times !

FuelTV and the webcast are amazing.

Round two

Taj through. No upsets yet.

Live on the web and FuelTV

Taj third

Heat three and Taj suffers from an interference in a heat slow for waves. He gets a second chance against Taylor Knox and Dan Ross goes through.

Owen Wright in the water against Pat G and the local wildcard.

Dane Reynolds has decided not to turn up again.

Portugal is go

Round one has hit the water a few minutes ago in some clean beach break waves. The swell is expected to build over the day and Parko has already got barrelled.

Rip Curl's webcast is on and working and it is being shown live on FuelTV for those with Foxtel.

Swell

Plenty of swell around. The major buoys are all over four metres. It's already 21 degrees so it might be a big day for the clubbies.

Don't forget that the fun run is on this morning so Ocean Drive is closed and the carparks full.

Too late

The breeze did a 180 about noon and it is blown out.

It looks like another bigger swell is in the water and overtaking the first one. The forecast for tomorrow looks good for swell and winds again.

Before it got too bad I snapped a few picks of a guy at the Groyne and some groms at Fraggles.

Made the drop and got smashed in the tube

A micro second before getting smashed

One of those day

Sunny, offshore and bulk loads of swell locally. A front that didn't do much weather wise is pumping a solid swell at our corner.

I haven't had time for a good look but there does seem to be some waves between the close outs. The only real negative is that the tide is pretty low

Rookie wins

In the battle of the next generation Gabriel Medina has beaten Julian Wilson. Medina has only just made the tour at 17 and two years ago he won the "King of the Groms" section at this same even two years ago.

Wilson has had a second half comeback after a poor start to his rookie year.

Next event - Portugal

Taj out

No old bulls left. Taj lost to Julian Wilson and Taylor Knox has just been beaten by Media. Gabriel had a neat perfect 19 plus semi score.

Julian and Jordy are part way through the other semi.

Old bulls v Young Bulls

Today is finals day in France and its young versus old for each heat except the one in the water at the moment. So far its one all. Taylor Knox has continued his run beating Michel Bourez but in an upset 17 year old rookie Gabriel Medina has thrashed Slater 16.66 to 8.60.

The current quarter is Jordy v Alejio Muniz followed by the old bull Burrow and young bull Julian Wilson.

I would love to recommend that you watch it on the webcast but again it just jumps backwards and stops then jumps backwards again. It is 100% unwatchable. Shame Quiksilver shame.

Finals Day ?

Round four is over with Kelly and Taj both through.

The webcast is a disgrace again and it is impossible to watch as it skips backwards and plays the same minute over and over. From the two minutes I could see it seems that Slater got another over score to beat rookie Gabriel Medina, who was on fire.

The judging is a joke. It seems to change from event to event and sometimes heat to heat. Some of the top ten appear to be getting favourable scores every time they take on the newbies. Every wave takes forever to be scored, making it appear all the more suss.

The contest is on hold for the tide. Days are long in France so it might finish today is some contestable waves.

More of the same

Taj, Slater, OwenWright, Julian Wilson and Jordy Smith are all through to round four. Taylor Knox is having his best contest for ages and new boy Gabriel Medina is also through.

Taj just made it after beating Travis Logie by a fraction of a point. Taj's two scoring waves were short on manoeuvres but those he pulled off were massive. Martin Potter and the other commentator didn't think he got the score on his last wave, a big backhand smash and finished the heat off talking up Logie. Unfortunately for them the score on Taj's last wave took forever to get locked in and wasn't final until seconds after the heat finished.

Logie is one of my least favourite surfers on tour. For years he clung to the bottom rung, barely winning a single heat all year but to give credit where its due his surfing this year has improved massively. He had a third in Tahiti and is only just losing a couple of other heats.

After some fog this morning France time a lay day has been called.

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.70 def. Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 12.60
Heat 10: Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.53 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 6.50
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) 13.76 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 7.67
Heat 12: Kieren Perrow (AUS) def. Chris Davidson (AUS)

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 9.77 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 6.50
Heat 2: Michel Bourez (PYF) 13.76 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.60
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.34 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 12.00
Heat 4: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.83 def. Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 10.26
Heat 5: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.56 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.96
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.90 def. Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) 6.90
Heat 7: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.16 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.83
Heat 8: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.60 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 8.76
Heat 9: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.33 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 7.07
Heat 10: Taj Burrow (AUS) 15.47 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 15.34
Heat 11: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.00 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 11.34
Heat 12: Owen Wright (AUS) 15.17 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.57

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA), Michel Bourez (PYF), Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Heat 2: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Gabriel Medina (BRA), Kelly Slater (USA)
Heat 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF), Alejo Muniz (BRA), Julian Wilson (AUS)
Heat 4: Taj Burrow (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Owen Wright (AUS)

Windows

It was offshore this morning with some small swell but by lunch time the wind had swung southerly and got stronger. There was a small window just as the wind was changing where the rip bowl at Juniors started to throw up some fun waves for the two guys out.

BP reef almost came to life and there were a couple of bombs that near the old outside take off point. People who have surfed around here a long time will remember the days when the ride at the reef was twice as long because the wave broke on the outside ledge. In those days you wouldn't bother paddling out if it was only breaking in the currents spot. No one seems to know why the wave has stopped but there doesn't seem to be as much sand movement as in the past. Perhaps we are wearing the consequences of construction and dune stabilisation around Dallyellup.

I just missed the window so went for a hand plane session at Barnacles on version two. I got a few fun lefts but the rip and the drift were pretty bad so I found myself getting washed to the edge of Juniors a couple of times. Still worth the effort.

The forecast for tomorrow is moderate easterlies before a SSE change. More importantly Bathurst is on and it is the one day a year where I sit on my fat arse and watch sport. Go Skaffie (or any Holden).

Live blogging

Can't get much more up to the minute than a posting from the BP carpark.

Great conditions today, sunny, offshore and plenty of swell. Mostly closeouts in town but if you have the time head south, even if it is only to Capel.

Quikie Pro France

The Quiksilver Pro has started in France. Round one is done and round two is in the water right now.

Taj is through to round three as is Slater, the back from injury Jordie Smith and Fanning. Young guns Owen Wright and Julian Wilson also topped their first heat.

The big casualty so far is Parko, who has just been eliminated by a Moroccan wildcard in a heat where neither had a double figure two wave score.

The waves have some size with sets in the eight foot range. However there is plenty of crap amongst the nuggets.

As usual the Quiksilver webcast is terrible. It doesn't stream properly, keeps stopping and jumping back to repeat the same footage over and over. It didn't happen at the Trestles or Chopes or any contest not sponsored by Quiksilver.

Handplane Three

Had an unexpected day off today but there was no surf. I have all but finished hand plane three. All I need to do is add the strap.

I have kept it flat across the bottom with no concave or v and the only rocker is in the nose entry. I'm hoping that will give it extra speed and the stinger design with a fairly straight outline will put a bit extra rail in the water for control. More than likely is the fin will act as a brake.

It's 100% recycled material but I have some concern about the strength due to the age of the glue and lack of proper clamps.

Now all I need is to wait for a clean day and for the sand around Barnacles to move onto summer configuration.

Disappointing

All psyched for another small day of surf locally but found nothing but closeouts. Still a little swell but the tide isn't helping and it's not worth the bother, despite it being 25 degrees.