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.

Some vids to pump you up

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

Parko is back

After getting a 10 on his first competition wave since his massive fin chop, Parko has blazed through the first contest of the Hawaiian season, the Reef Pro winning easily a few minutes ago.

The waves have been big, small, offshore and crumbly over the contest period. Steph Gilmore won the womens event a few days ago with WA's Felicity Parmenteer doing really well to reach the final rounds.

The legends heat was one of the best. Surfed on the best day in the biggest waves, Tom Curren won from Occy, Sunny Garcia and Tom Carroll. They will be surfing at each event. Can't wait for Pipe !

ASP is over for 2009

With the end of the 2009 WCT the seeded surfers for next year have been released. Lots of the bottom rung of WCT surfers have disappeared after failing to back up on the 'QS and there are some exciting rippers taking up rookie spots next year. Owen Wright made the WCT and Andy Irons was given the ASP wildcard he was promised before taking a break in 2009.

Taj finished fifth ater his win at Pipe and a reasonable year. Four of the top five were Australian but the rest of the top ten were Yanks and Adriano DeSouza.

On the womens side Steph Gilmore ended up winning easy. WA's Clare Bevilacqa made it back to the 'CT with a strong WQS season. Jessie Miley-Dyer back up on the QS to keep her spot and will be joined by super-grom Carissa Moore and Tom's little girl, Lee-Ann Curren. Unfortunately Alana Blanchard is out.

Next year both a new seeding system and the number of surfers in each event will change after Tahiti. Eventually there will be a single rating system but that will be fully implemented in 2011. After Chopes the number of surfers will drop from 45 on the 'CT to 32 plus wildcards. Anyone on the WCT in that bottom 13 will be back on the WQS. From then on the events will have 36 surfers (top 32, 2 ASP wildcards and 2 event wildcards) basically cutting a day off the running time.

Mundaka has been cut with the licence moving from Billabong to Rip Curl but remaining in Europe.

The Mens and Womens WCT surfers are -

ASP Top 27 (ASP World Tour)
Mick Fanning (AUS)
Joel Parkinson (AUS)
Bede Durbidge (AUS)
Taj Burrow (AUS)
Adriano de Souza (BRA)
Kelly Slater (USA)
C.J. Hobgood (USA)
Bobby Martinez (USA)
Damien Hobgood (USA)
Dane Reynolds (USA)
Jordy Smith (ZAF)
Taylor Knox (USA)
Tom Whitaker (AUS)
Kieren Perrow (AUS)
Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Dean Morrison (AUS)
Kai Otton (AUS)
Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Mick Campbell (AUS)
Chris Davidson (AUS)
Michel Bourez (PYF)
Ben Dunn (AUS)
Adrian Buchan (AUS)
Tiago Pires (PRT)
Jeremy Flores (FRA)
Roy Powers (HAW)
Drew Courtney (AUS)

Top 15 (ASP WQS)
Dan Ross (AUS)
Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Jadson Andre (BRA)
Adam Melling (AUS)
Owen Wright (AUS)
Luke Munro (AUS)
Jay Thompson (AUS)
Nathan Yeomans (USA)
Dusty Payne (HAW)
Brett Simpson (USA)
Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
Tanner Gudauskas (USA)
Travis Logie (ZAF)
Marco Polo (BRA)
Blake Thornton (AUS)

ASP Wildcards:
Andy Irons (HAW)
Luke Stedman (AUS)
Neco Padaratz (BRA)

The national breakdown for the 2010 ASP World Tour is:

Australian: 46.7%
American: 22.2%
Hawaiian: 11.1%
Brazilian: 8.9%
South African: 4.4%
French: 2.2%
Tahitian: 2.2%
Portuguese: 2.2%

Top 10 (ASP Women’s World Tour)
Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
Silvana Lima (BRA)
Sofia Mulanovich (PER)
Coco Ho (HAW)
Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
Melanie Bartels (HAW)
Chelsea Hedges (AUS)
Paige Hareb (NZL)
Rebecca Woods (AUS)
Rosanne Hodge (ZAF)

Top 6 (ASP WQS)
Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)
Carissa Moore (HAW)
Claire Bevilacqua (AUS)
Lee Ann Curren (FRA)
Bruna Schmitz (BRA)
Nikita Robb (ZAF)

ASP Wildcard
Amee Donohoe (AUS)

The national breakdown for the 2010 ASP Women’s World Tour is:

Australian: 41.2%
Hawaiian: 17.7%
Brazilian: 11.8%
South African: 11.8%
Peruvian: 5.9%
New Zealand: 5.9%
French: 5.9%

Parko Rules Again

For the third time this year Parko has smashed his way into first in a WCT event. Parko started the final with a 9.47 and backed up with a 6.5. Damien Hobgood was chasing at least a high 8 from halfway through the heat and spent the 3 minutes in combo land.

Parko deserved to win and had been on all contest. He had two 10s and two of the ten highest heat scores. Only his semi-final was close

Yesterday was a classic day of contest surfing. The waves just got better and better and almost everyone was going off.

Slater was unbelievable in his round 2 heat against Nic Muscroft. He scored 18.84 out of 20 and had a throw away score of 9 ! If you only watch one heat on demand then make it this one. In round three he got a total of six and his 10th title might be on hold till next year despite there still being enough events.

Dane Reynolds just missed the final by a smidge but as a consolation won the hugely expensive Nixon watch for the highest heat total. One of his round two waves was so long he got dropped in on by a free surfer way down the line.

Not surprisingly Occy won round two of the Icons clash by less than a point. Just gives them an excuse to try again at Mundacca, a left.

The next event is the Hurley at Trestles in the US from 13th September.

Jennifer Smith from the US won the WLT title for the second time at the Roxy Jam in France. She beat Chelsea Williams in the semis in waves that looked fun but no more special that a pretty average beach break.

Round 2 and onwards

Round two at J-Bay is on. The waves are really good but not that big. They are a little inconsistent but there are long, long, long walls and some great barrels.

So far Taj has lost to a local wildcard after spending much of the heat in combo land. This is his second 17th so he will have to have excellent results for the rest of the year.

2008 WQS Champ Nathaniel Curran has finally won two heats in a row.

Mick Fanning just gotten beaten despite holding an 9 and a high 8 in the highest scoring heat so far.

Parko was on fire but is so smooth he hardly looks like he is trying.

The next heat is a killer Jordy Smith vs Dane Reynolds, the battle of the next generation. Both have smashed their first waves with huge carves, barrels and floater. 8.50 vs 7.83.

Slater will be in the heat after. It will be interesting to see what he rides.

In round one of the "Clash of the Titans" Curren beat Occy. The next heat is just before the final. Bet Occy wins for one all.

J-Bay WCT Starts This Week

One of the best WCT events of the year starts later this week. The Billabong Pro usually scores decent waves on most days and they are perfectly suited to the styles of Taj, Parko, Mick, Jordy and Slater.

Unlike the last event, the webcast for Billabong events is always top class, as is the website and heats on demand. Click here for the web-site.

The organisers have added a special heat - OCCY v Tom Curren. Both were fierce competitors at the height of their competitive careers, both drifted off the circuit in the middle and both won world titles on their return. Also they have both won 8 of the 16 heats they have had against each other.

You don't have to search far to see that both are still surfing at a very high level and if there are decent waves this will be an exhibition you won't want to miss.