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.

Round Three Done

Round three is done and the big casualty was Parko, beaten by Machado. Both surfed well but maybe Rob's hair flicks got him the extra one and a bit points to win.

Slater continues on his winning way beating Brett Simpson and scoring the highest heat score for the round. Slater is riding his little fat board and this trend is being followed by Dane Reynolds. Dane's board was 5'9" and wider than normal.

Parko's loss shouldn't make a lot of difference in the world title race. Unless he cracks in the next few events it will probably be one of his two throw aways. He is recovering from an ankle injury and looked a bit propy in his first heat so maybe this is part of the problem.

The annual Surfer Poll is on today (Tuesday night in US)so it will be interesting to see if this effects any of those still in the contest. Slater must be the favourite for another award. The women could throw up a roughie, possibly Coco Ho but if you had money it would have to go on Steph Gilmore.

HURLEY PRO TERSTLES ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 1: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Heat 3: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 4: Dane Reynolds (USA) vs. Rob Machado (USA)
Heat 5: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 6: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Heitor Alves (BRA)
Heat 7: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 8: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)

Terrible Two for Taj

Round one of the Hurley Pro is done as are the first two heats of round two. The bad news is that Taj has been eliminated after being beaten by two wildcards in a day. In round one he lost to US Open winner Brett Simpson and in round two, former number 2 and Hurley team rider Rob Machado. Taj will now have to keep a 17th for the rest of the year and with Parko through to round three has probably missed out again this year.

Watching the first and second last heats of the day (sleeping in between) the waves changed a little. Apparently the swell is from the wrong direction, throwing up more lefts than the usual rights and it was onshore. Early heats were very low scoring.

Mid days heats seem to have got the best waves. Not surprisingly Kelly Slater ripped it on his mini board. Somehow he was able to get 18+ when everyone else was struggling to get double figures. Watch his first turn on the heats on demand and you'll have to make an appropriate amazed noise.

The last few heats were at high tide slowing down the number of waves. However the waves were still okay. Prediction is for a smaller day today (tonight) and a little pulse from a better direction after that. But with a fairly short contest window there might be a lay day today but expect it to be a single.

Hurley Pro Trestles Remaining Round 2 Match-Ups:
Heat 3: C.J. Hobgood (USA) vs. Marlon Lipke (DEU)
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Luke Stedman (AUS)
Heat 6: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 7: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Drew Courtney (AUS)
Heat 8: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 9: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Greg Emslie (ZAF)
Heat 10: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Jihad Khodr (AUS)
Heat 11: Adrian Buchan (AUS) vs. Aritz Aranburu (EUK)
Heat 12: Dean Morrison (AUS) vs. Nathaniel Curran (USA)
Heat 13: Tim Reyes (USA) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 14: Chris Ward (USA) vs. Jay Thompson (AUS)
Heat 15: Dayyan Neve (AUS) vs. Josh Kerr (AUS)
Heat 16: Dustin Barca (HAW) vs. Ben Dunn (AUS)

US Open of Surfing

The US Open of Surfing has been going for the last few days. It is probably the biggest WQS event as it includes men, womens, juniors, trials and longboards as well as BMX, skateboarding and a surfboard expo.

There is a WPS All Stars tow in expression session, which is scheduled for the middle of the night here. The surfers were selected by Hurley and voted by the public. The All Stars are -
Kelly Slater
Mick Fanning
CJ Hobgood
Andy Irons
Bruce Irons
Dane Reynolds
Rob Machado
Taj Burrow
Jordy Smith
Yadin Nicol

Good to see two WA boys in the lineup.

The main event is down to the round of 16. With a mid-season break for the WCT more than a couple real pros have entered this event. Some because they were there for the all stars event and others because they may need to re-qualify via the 'QS. Nine 'CT surfers are still in the event with the rest being basically seven of the top 10 or so from the other tour. Five Aussies remain including Mick Fanning, who will go up against fellow Gold-Coaster Julian Wilson. Slater is against Nic Muscroft with Hurley legend Rob Machado facing Tahitian Michel Bourez. All these are heats worthy of a WCT event.

In the womens Steph Gilmore was knocked out in the quarters by a unknown Hawaiian. Despite there being an Australian in each quarter final, only Laura Enever made it to the semis where she will meet Gilmore's Hawaiian.

The live web-stream is showing highlights on a loop and will stream the event if your still up. Otherwise there are plenty of video highlights.