Red Bull Rider's Cup In Santa Cruz It was mid afternoon on Monday when my phone rang, it was O-Dog. "Hey DK, The Red Bull Riders Cup is going down this week, you should come down to the Point". So I jumped in my car and headed over to the contest to watch Brad Gerlach's brain child unfold. The Red Bull Rider's Cup is a surf contest that involves high schools assembling teams to compete in a structured game format complete with coaches, referee's, a score board, time outs and substitutions. Now don't get me wrong, I love surfing...but contests don't always work out for the crowds pleasure. More often than not, its a cold, dreary day with barely a rideable wind swell pushing through. Did I mention it was cold and windy with barely a rideable swell on Monday? Once I arrived and did the high five, shaka shake with all the boys...my interest in how The Game is played caught my attention immediately. Surfers are on a team that all works together to maximize the quantity and quality of waves. In a normal contest if your friend is going for a wave, you will try to block them or weasel the wave. Not so using The Game format. I was hooked, it didn't matter that the waves were smaller than what I would normally hang out and watch..I was enthralled by the kids working together to spot the best waves and help their team. The spectators were on their feet screaming and yelling. To be honest, you know when you are watching a ball game and someone cracks a double...same energy is going down at The Red Bull Rider's Cup. Red Bull flew in young gun Jamie Sterling to hang out all three days, pro surfer coaches were Jason "Ratboy" Collins, Homer Henard, Matt Rockhold with Omar Etcheverry announcing with a couple guest appearances from Homer and Austin Smith Ford. On Thursday, I grabbed Omar, Gerr and Jamie Sterling and we headed down to KDON 102.5 to do some interviews with my boys The Morning Madhouse. Later that day, the finals were going off and it came down to Harbor High VS. Soquel High..Ashton Madely of Soquel High could not be stopped and lifted Soquel High to the National Red Bull Rider Cup Championships to be held later this summer. After all the excitement wound down, we all headed over to Aloha Island Grill for the awards ceremony and video recap. Tons of food and stories later, I parted ways with the Red Bull crew realizing there may be a major switch in the way surf contests go down in the future.
Labels: brad gerlach, danny keith, homer henard, jamie sterling, kdon, Omar Etcheverry, red bull riders cup, santa cruz, the morning madhouse
Saturday, January 12, 2008 2:10 PM
Mavericks Contest Winner Greg Long 2008 Omar Etcheverry, Kevin Delaney, Cyrus Staaz and Steve Blankenship broadcast live from the beach at Half Moon Bay where tow dozen of the worlds best surfers had been on 24 hour standby to compete in the premier big wave event better known as Maverick's. Jeff Clark made the call a couple of days ago after tracking the storm that would produce the world class quality of waves necessary to make Maverick's legendary. There are three awards for the contest, Clif Bar's the Green Room where the winner of the best barrel gets $10k, the worst wipeout of the day and the ultimate champion of the day. Rumors has been swirling in for over a week and it finally came together...
Clif Bar Green Room presented by Jeff Johnson goes to Grant"Twiggy" Baker $500 to Twiggy and $500 to Save the Waves.
Jay Moriarty Award goes to Jaimie Sterling.
6 Finalists:
1. Orange Greg Long
2. Yellow Grant "Twiggy" Baker
3. Red Jaime Sterling
4. Blue Tyler Smith
5. White Grant Washburn
6. Green Evan Slater
Greg Long the winner gets a $4000 diamond encrusted Reactor Watch and $30,000 cash, states "biggest dreams of mine since I began surfing, all of these guys that I am standing up here with are the best waterman in the world. To be standing with them I am very humbled. In the final we were sitting out there and discussing what we share today, someone threw it out there, its not about the money it is for the love of it. We all decided to split the money 6 ways."
What a great contest on a perfect day.
Check out this video: Mavericks Profile -- Meet The Wave
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Labels: Action Sports, Big Wave Contest, Cyrus Staaz, Darryl Virostko, Greg Long, Kevin Delaney, Maverick's, Omar Etcheverry, Steve Blankenship
Wednesday, December 26, 2007 8:15 AM
Surfboards.com Omar Etcheverry commentating at this years Pipe Masters Dream Come True!
As a young up and coming surfer at such a young age and a professional surfer for the last 13 years, you could say I looked up to the Pipe Masters for a good part of my life.This year I was invited to commentating it. You can imagine the emotions and flash backs that went through my head. Sitting on the beach as Kelly won his 6 world title at the Pipe Masters and all of the magazines and TV that I had seen covering the pipe masters over the last 18 years. The images so vividly burned in my head for a life time! It was a dream and a honor. Then when I got there they made me even more nervous and excited then ever. My commentating assignment was to interview every heat winner to the beach audience. It was such an awesome experience. To be able to interview some of my personal heroes live to a few thousand people at the most famous surf event in the world The Pipe Masters! Wow! Until next time Rock on and thanks for reading!
Omar AKA Odog Etcheverry
Labels: 2007 Pipeline Masters, Hawaii, Omar Etcheverry, Rusty
Saturday, December 08, 2007 9:37 AM
Mavericks Contest window is open.... Mavericks Surf Contest window opens Friday December 7th and remains open until March 31st 2008. Even though last years contest went asunder due to lack of a big swell this year has already shown that we might be in for a good winter. December 4th proved that the boys are ready with wave faces reportedly in the 50 to 60 foot range, there were dozens of surfers at Ghost Trees and Mavericks checking the scene and getting ready for this years event. Maverick's founder Jeff Clark stated that he is ready to go when the right swell comes and will be alerting 24 of the top big wave surfers that its game on. Here is a list of invitees.
Labels: Big Waves, Darryl Virostko, Jeff Clark, Mavericks, Peter Mel
Tuesday, December 04, 2007 8:32 AM
Big Drops and Thick Lips at Macking Sunset (Article/Photos courtesy of aspworldtour.com)
SUNSET BEACH, Hawaii (Monday, Dec. 4, 2007) - The 2007 edition of the O?Neill World Cup of Surfing has been a saga, Sunset Beach throwing up a mighty configuration of challenges for the elite field. From the second day forward it has been solid Sunset, from the "as good as it gets" arvo session in the Rd of 128 to fun size, although at the upper spectrum of challenge for the Women, to some macking days as we enter the second week of the waiting period.
So far Sunset has been the master, the guys in the critical Rd of 64 have had to surf with intelligence, bravery and great instinct, positioning themselves for scoring opportunities in between massive sets that not only washed through the line-up but mowed everything down in their path, transforming modern day surfing gladiators into just some more flotsam and jetsam.
It took two half day efforts, both of which were blown out of the water by, well, too much water, to get the event down to the Top 32. It has been anything but a cakewalk out there. Sunset never is, but these past days have been particularly vicious, as bombing sets reigned down on the contestants, the whole horizon seemingly moving closer to shore as booming sets erupted on outer reefs.
The guys had to be so cool under fire, hanging tough in the pit as the outer reefers backed off and roared into Sunset proper. There was every conceivable situation happening, from incidents like Bruce Irons and Kieren Perrow having their boards blasted from them on the outside west peak, to guys getting taken out of the line-up without catching a wave.
Every mistake and mis-judgement was punished severely, usually with a sapping 10 minute rotation through the impact zone, into the channel and back into the loop on the outside. Recognizing both the time consuming element and potential for danger Head Judge Perry Hatchett, surfer rep Kieren Perrow and personal watercraft captain Terry Ahui conferred early in the morning and came up with a savvy safety plan.
The execution of this well orchestrated plan served the event well, allowing the guys to swap boards, exchange caddy boards and get back in the line-up with minimal fuss and little loss of time. The first thing the guys did was keep the caddies on the beach, the swell being so wild that the channel was periodically closing, making it both difficult to make the surfer/caddy connection and adding to Terry?s woes by having more unsecured bodies in the arena.
The deal was that Terry would coordinate his water patrol team using bino?s from the judging tower, spotting a surfer in distress or a broken board then honing his boys to the spot. They would get zoomed to the deep water just beyond the shorey while the caddy battled through said shorey, which was mean, delivered the back-up board, then the surfer would be delivered to the outer section of the channel and make his way into the line-up on his own steam.
It worked a treat, it was comforting to have such a proficient team of watermen looking over the battling pros, and watching Perry and Terry in action was like watching two masters, in their element, at the top their game. It has been a couple phenomenal days, the agony of defeat etched in the eyes of those whose whole year got obliterated in the maelstrom of Sunset, the deep satisfaction of those who survived to fight another day.
Over the past few days we have witnessed the 07 campaigns of Nic Muscroft, Dayyan Neve, Daniel Ross and TJ Barron go from hanging by a thread to flying home on a wet sail, all prevailing in clutch situations to edge their way ever closer to that magic marker. The real rattler is how far down the list the final qualifier will come from. We know 15 will make the cut, but right now there are no less then six surfers double qualifying, but we will not know until after Pipe what the magic number is.
Spare a thought for those who are out of Sunset, are outside the WCT bubble heading into Pipe, and who can only sit back and play with their rosary beads while their fate is decided by the fortunes of others. Luke Munro, Gabe Kling and Shaun Cansdell are in such a space. They either need the likes of Muscroft, Ross, Neve and Barron to not progress any further or require Adriano de Souza and Roydon Bryson to hang in there in the WCT Top 27 and thus not have o rely on their WQS ranking to re-qualify.
So far the stand out performer has been the unheralded Dan Ross. He not only has the op two highest heat scores to his credit but handled the wild and woolly going of yesterday like a north shore veteran. Local surfer TJ Barron has also shone in the heavy water, the look of deep satisfaction etched on his face as he conducted a beach interview after the last heat before victory at sea was declared.
Another surprise stand-out was Adrian Buchan, who is not only in a late season ascension but handled the outside peak with aplomb, quite an impressive performance, as was that posted by former 6 times Triple Crown champ Sunny Garcia. The elimination of Roy Powers, Joel Parkinson and Sean Moody has thrown the Vans Triple Crown into chaos, Bede Durbidge the only survivor from last weeks epic Haleiwa final.
So the drama builds as we anticipate more bombing swells out of the North Pacific. Contest Director Bernie Baker was talking with surfing sage George Downing this morning. Nobody is more tuned to the thrust and parry of Pacific storms, jet stream anomalies and the vagaries of local weather and nobody has been a better student over 40years then Bernie Baker, except for maybe his running mate Triple Crown Director Randy Rarick.
Bernie relayed that George reckons it was a great move to run yesterday, that there is a new, more intense west front closing in on Kauai and with nothing under 12? of swell for the remainder of the window; calm windows will be precious and should not be missed. Randy and Bernie know this scenario well, they may have successfully whittled the O?Neill World Cup down to a one day package but it might have to be eked out over several half days.
The stark reality facing the 32 guys still in contention is that it might be just as big as yesterday but with way worse surface conditions for the remainder of the window. All the best to all still in contention may the best Sunset Master prevail.
Tuesday, November 06, 2007 7:32 PM
Mick Fanning is the 2007 Foster's ASP World Tour Champion (article courtesy of aspworldtour.com)
IMBITUBA, Brazil (Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007) - Australian Mick Fanning clinched his maiden Foster's ASP World Title after winning the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro in Brazil today. Fanning was in the water about to surf a semifinal heat against childhood friend Joel Parkinson (AUS) when Taj Burrow (AUS) was eliminated by Tom Whitaker (AUS) and his lifelong dream was realized.
"I woke up this morning and I just had a good feeling that it was going to happen today," Fanning said. "It was so amazing to be out there with Joel. When I realized I'd won I went, 'What do we do Joel?' and he was like, 'I don't know!' I was just so stoked to share my first ever heat as the World Champion with him. It was amazing."
Fanning surfed a signature heat to beat Parkinson 18.70 to 12.84 in Semifinal 1 before defending his Brazilian title by beating rookie Kai Otton (AUS) in the final to win the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro. The win marks his 9th Foster's ASP World Tour event win.
Americans Kelly Slater and Andy Irons have monopolized the World Title for the last five years but Fanning's win today makes him the first Australian to clinch a men's ASP World Title since Mark 'Occy" Occhilupo did so in Brazil in 1999.
"To take the reins over from Oc is incredible," Fanning said. "He is pretty much the legend of the sport. He's such a character and such a cool guy. Even when I've been on tour with Andy, he's such a determined guy as well and I was there for his first world title. And then there's Kelly &ndash the guy who gave inspiration to every kid who surfs today, he's amazing."
The 26-year-old's ascent to ASP World Champion has not transpired without tribulation. Raised by a single mother who now manages his career, Fanning lost his older brother Sean, also a gifted surfer, in a car accident as a teenager. The two were extremely close and Fanning felt his presence in the water today.
"It was so cool with Joel out there in the final and there was a dolphin out there, I'm not sure if it was my brother or what," Fanning said. "Every heat I've had today there has been a dolphin right there in the lineup, just chilling."
Born in West Sydney, Fanning, his siblings and mother moved to Coolangatta on the Gold Coast of Australia when he was very young. He grew up surfing with Parkinson and top rated surfer Dean Morrison (AUS) who are known collectively as the "Cooly Kids."
"Joel and Dean are the reason that I train so hard," Fanning said. "When I was a kid those guys used to smoke me all the time. I was always trying to be better than those guys."
Fanning made his Foster's ASP World Tour debut in 2002 after finishing No. 1 in the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) the year prior. An impressive 5th place finish his first year on the elite tour earned him highest rookie result of all time, an honor he now shares with 2006 Rookie of the Year, Bobby Martinez (USA).
Fanning's six-year professional career has seen him make a steady ascent to the No. 1 position he held for the entirety of the 2007 season. After a 5th place debut in 2002, Fanning finished World No. 4 in 2003, World No. 3 in 2005 and 2006 and World No. 1 today.
Fanning's lowest rating on the Foster's ASP World Tour &ndash World No. 7 in 2004 &ndash came about after he suffered potentially career-ending injury half way through the season. He tore his hamstring from the bone in a freesurfing incident, but came back from that injury to win the first event of the 2005 season at his home break in Snapper Rocks.
"That's what life is," Fanning said. "It goes up and down. You've got to take the good with the bad and even though I was injured it was probably the best six months of my life. I didn't have to worry about surfing. I had fun with my friends and at the end of it I found the girl that I love and want to marry so even though it was bad for my body it was a million more times better for my mind and my heart."
Fanning is engaged to be married to long-time girlfriend and Gold Coast Model Karissa Dalton in February of 2008.
Fanning has epitomized consistency since winning the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay in South Africa in 2006, featuring in seven finals, three semifinals and two quarterfinals in the last 15 events. He won the 2007 Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro today, along with the 2007 Quiksilver Pro France, the 2007 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, the 2006 Nova Schin Festival Brasil, the 2006 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay and finished runner-up in Tahiti this year and in France in 2006.
Parkinson, who didn't seem too fazed by his Semifinal loss was in the water when his close friend won and was moved by their heat together.
"It was pretty cool, we were speechless," Parkinson said. "It was me Mick and a dolphin was circling around us for ages, doing laps. We were like, "Can you even believe this is happening!" He was talking about how the whole last week he's been stressing and how ironic it was that it was us in that heat together."
Occhilupo arrived on the scene to congratulate Fanning after hearing the news.
"I get goosebumps just thinking about it," Occhilupo said. "Yesterday I wanted to go home, but when Mick won the title today I was straight in my car and then jumping over every single heat to give him a cuddle. It's been eight years and we've got it back to Australia. I don't want to say too much, but I think it might stay there a long time."
Otton was another Australian who shone today. Though he was disappointed to lose the Final, the rookie couldn't help but be pleased at cracking the Top 10 on the ratings and surfing in his first ever World Tour final. He's rated 9th now.
"It's been amazing," Otton said. "To make your first final feels good. I thought getting 3rd at Teahupoo was good, now to do this here is just incredible. With all of the circumstances today, Mick winning, it's just been a dream day for Australia really."
Otton is now one place behind first-year surfer Jeremy Flores (FRA) and the two will have to battle it out for 'ASP Rookie of the Year' honors in Hawaii.
"All I wanted was a chance at 'Rookie of the Year' in Pipe so we'll see what happens," Otton said. "I got a bit rattled in the middle of the year thinking about it and I think that's what happened. Then I've come here and I was thinking it was out of reach so I just tried to make heats and now we're going to Pipe, so we'll see what happens."
Australian Tom Whitaker (AUS) earned a Semifinal berth against Otton when he beat Burrow in the Quarters and was in the water when Fanning clinched the title.
"I'm really close with both of those guys," Whitaker said. "I gave Mick a big hug out there. Him and Joel are best mates and they were super stoked. Then I looked around and there's one of my best mates paddling over who I'd effectively knocked out of the world title race."
Though Burrow's title hopes were dashed by Whitaker earlier in the day, the current World No. 2 was on hand to celebrate with Fanning.
"It took me a little while to smile because I was kind of in shock but I'm obviously really stoked for Mick," Burrow said. "It's an Aussie world champ and if it's not going to be me I'm glad it's Mick. He's showed that much determination and focus that he earned it. I'm really stoked for him and I'm happy with my year. It's the best year I've ever had and I'm going to roll it into next year and realize its there for the taking."
Eight-time World Champion Slater also had a longshot at the title before losing to Otton in Round 4.
"Part of me came here for Mick because I knew he had a really good shot at winning the title in Brazil," Slater said. "But I thought, if I'm going to show up, I'm going to give it my best shot. I had priority with 10 or 11 minutes to go and a left came and I thought there was a better one behind it so I let him go and it really sealed the deal right there. I got KOd, Kai Otton-ed.
The last event on the Foster's ASP World Tour will commence in Hawaii on Dec. 7. Visit the media center online at www.aspworldtour.com for more details as well as www.ripcurl.com.
Fanning's 2007 Foster's ASP World Tour Results:
Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro: 1st
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast: 1st
Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: 3rd
Billabong Pro Tahiti: 2nd
Rip Curl Pro Search Chile: 3rd
Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay: 3rd
Boost Mobile Pro Trestles: 17th
Quiksilver Pro France: 1st
Billabong Pro Mundaka: 3rd
Fanning's Year End Foster's ASP World Tour Placings:
2007: World No. 1
2006: World No. 3
2005: World No. 3
2004: World No. 7
2003: World No. 4
2002: World No. 5
Fanning's Foster's ASP World Tour Victories:
Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro, Brazil (2007)
Quiksilver Pro, South West Coast, France (2007)
Quiksilver Pro, Gold Coast, Australia (2007)
Nova Schin Festival, Imbituba Brazil (2006)
Billabong Pro, Jeffreys Bay South Africa (2006)
Rip Curl Search, Saint Leu, Reunion Island (2005)
Quiksilver Pro, Gold Coast, Australia (2005)
Billabong Pro, Jeffreys Bay, South Africa (2002)
Rip Curl Pro, Bell's Beach, Australia (2001)
Foster's ASP World Tour Ratings after Event No. 9 of 10, the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro:
1. Mick Fanning (AUS) 8136 points
2. Taj Burrow (AUS) 6782 points
3. Kelly Slater (USA) 6516 points
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 6156 points
5. Andy Irons (HAW) 4966 points
6. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 4799 points
7. Bobby Martinez (USA) 4582 points
8. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 4580 points
9. Kai Otton (AUS) 4378 points
10. Taylor Knox (USA) 4309 points
Tuesday, October 09, 2007 3:46 PM
X-Trax Signs Adam Wickwire (article courtesy of twsbiz.com)
Check out X-TRAK on Surfboards.com:
http://surfers.surfboards.com/xtrak
X-TRAK would like to welcome 19-year old Adam Wickwire to the family. Adam, who grew up just down the road from the X-Trak factory in Satellite Beach, Florida, will be joining the ranks of fellow world class surfers such as C.J. and Damien Hobgood. A multiple-time East Coast and U.S. amateur champion with several top three finishes and a first place victory in the Nike 6.0 Pier Pressure Jr. this year, Adam's future is looking bright.
Adam turned professional last year and has been dedicating this season toward winning the ASP North American junior pro championship in preparation for the January 2008 World Junior Championships in Australia. Additionally, he is the only junior pro surfer to win three events this year and is now standing second on the ASP Jr. Pro rankings with a good shot at clinching the championship this weekend during the last ASP Jr. Pro event of the year.
X-Trak looks forward to a long and successful relationship with Adam and hopes to do everything possible to help support and encourage his career. "We couldn't ask for a better addition to the team." said Director of Marketing Jason Gardner in an interview earlier this week. "Adam is a real talent and his future is looking very bright."
"I'm really stoked to be a part of the X-Trak team," said Adam. "In my opinion, there is no better traction pad on the market, and I look forward to using and promoting their brand."
Adam is represented by Board Sports Management and in addition to X-TRAK Adam is sponsored by Rip Curl and Dragon Optics.