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The top pro wakeboarders on the planet are set to battle it out on the waters of Sparks Marina in the greater Reno area of Sparks, Nevada on August 14-16 for the fifth and final stop of the 2009 MasterCraft Pro Wakeboard Tour.

Snow - Friday August 07/2009

The 2009/2010 Swatch TTR World Tour is officially underway with the first major event of the Southern Hemisphere leg will take place next week.

Snow - Wednesday August 05/08/2009

Two high-profile US snowboarders, confirmed to be 26-year-old Danny Kass and 21-year-old Louie Vitto, have been charged with the illegal possession of cannabis in New Zealand.

The pair are set to appear in the Queensland District Court on Monday, after being arrested in Wanaka on Saturday night at a random roadside check.

Sergeant Paul Crosswell said the pair were allegedly caught with "not an insignificant amount" of cannabis in their car.

At this stage neither US snowboarding halfpipe head coach Mike Jankowski nor representatives from the United States Ski and Snowboard Association in Utah have released a statement or made any comment on the incident.

Both these guys are set to appear in the Olympics as part of the US team, and it remains to be seen how the charge could affect their chances. Here's hoping they won't be doing hard time come February.

Surf - Wednesday August 05/08/2009

It was announced yesterday at the International Surfing Association's Annual General Meeting that the 8th Edition of the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship will be held in the perfect waves of New Zealand.

The dates have been set. The event will begin on January 20 with the Parade of the Nations and the Sands of the World Ceremony with the competition starting on the 21st and ending on the 28th.

The event will be held at the famous surfing beach of Piha in Auckland. It will be organized by Surfing New Zealand, the National Governing Body of Surfing in the country, recognized by the ISA and sponsored, of course, by Quiksilver.

"We're really happy to announce that New Zealand will be the 2010 location for the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship. It is an amazing location with perfect waves and a great surfing culture. It's really important to notice that this is the first time after more than 25 years that the ISA holds an event of this magnitude in the Australasia zone", said the ISA President, Fernando Aguerre.

"Securing this top ranked world event is fantastic for the city of Auckland, and for the sport of surfing in New Zealand," says, Greg Townsend, CEO of Surfing New Zealand which organized and led the bid process. "We are excited to have been given this huge opportunity to showcase our unique culture and our beautiful environment to the world while at the same time giving New Zealanders a taste of the very best the sport of surfing can deliver."

Luke Watson, Marketing Operations Manager of Quiksilver Australia, said: "We are very excited to have the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship in New Zealand. NZ is such and amazing place, great waves and awesome weather that time of the year. Every body involved will have a ball."

The 1982 edition of the ISA World Surfing Championship was held in the Gold Coast of Australia. Tom Curren won the Open division, Jenny Gill won in the Women's, Bryce Ellis won the Junior, Michael Novakov won the Kneeboard and the Champion Team was Australia.

Surf - Wednesday August 05/08/2009

The first-ever Quiksilver Pro Puerto Escondido comes to Playa Zicatela's famous 'Mexican Pipeline' this August. The event is an ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) 3-Star contest and is the first ASP event ever to be held during Puerto Escondido's peak swell period. The event will run from August 12-19 and will be webbed live at Quiksilver.com.

To accommodate the anticipated large surf, organizers have scheduled an eight day holding period window for the contest as opposed to the usual three days. Surf heights could reach above 20 feet. With waves this huge, expect a full-on assault by the best big wave local chargers and international talent.

Quiksilver Latin American team-riders Cristobol de Col, Gabriel Villaran, Martinez and Ramon Navarro are set to compete along with Quiksilver Young Guns Clay Marzo and Tyler Newton out of Hawaii and Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Invitee Mark Healey.

Newton will be gunning for a pro win and a piece of the $50,000 cash prize purse up for grabs. The young rippers will be joined by legendary Northern California Mavericks charger Peter Mel who is signed up to compete as well as co-host the contest's web feed.

Wednesday, August 5/08/2009 Viewed 106 times
Now is the trail French Connection fully completed. The trail is an important link in the Contest Avalanche Trophy connects the trails Bräckebäcksleden and Solstigen.

The trail is about 1.5 kilometers long and relatively flat or slightly down hill for the most part. Severity is also red (advanced) but as it wears in, we believe that it will be classified as blue (intermediate). The style is single track and is hand built all the way except on the ski slopes, where we used an excavator. The trail is really fun to ride as you pedal up the pace a bit and then meanders among the spruces and natural terrain variations in the form of stones and roots. So not just a trail to ride at the time of the race.

Already last year, we had parts of the trail open for the race Avalanche Trophy. Now is the most of the uphill biking gone which was also by far the most annoying part of the track for those who do not like to cycle uphill. It should be a bit uphill in the contest form as Avalanche Trophy has but it is not too much left of it now. Furthermore, most of the Avalanche track have the same stretch as last year. Main difference is that we move the finish line from the lake side to Åre town square.
It is also time to register for the competition.
Link to registration page here>>
http://saabsalomonavalanchetrophy.com/uk/events/are-presentation.html

Surf - Wednesday August 05/08/2009

The Relentless Boardmasters in association with Vans, an ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) 5-Star men's event, kicked off yesterday at Fistral Beach, the main venue of the 28th edition of England's biggest surfing event.

With consistent three to four foot waves greeting Round 1 competitors, the prestigious event could move straight into business completing sixteen heats of world class action led by the favourites.

With most of the event top seeds securing their ticket through to Round 2 of competition, the day was marked by several high performances, Patrick Beven (FRA) and Travis Beckmann (HAW) taking control of proceedings to confidently advance through their heats with respectively the day's highest single ride and highest heat result.

Beven (Biarritz, FRA), 31, event seed No. 12, came up with impressive surfing to open his British campaign in style, the French representative posting an outstanding 16.33 point heat score (out of a possible 20) to win his first encounter ahead of reigning ASP European Junior champion Maxime Huscenot (REU), 17. Beven, who found a couple of 8+ scores to set pace, was unstoppable throughout the 25-minute decider, a promising start.

"I am happy to get on with the event with a strong start," Beven said. "The waves improved a lot by the time my heat was paddling out and I had a good time out there. It's good to be back here in Newquay and catch-up with all the local legends Spencer (Hargraves) and Grishka (Roberts)."

Beven, who hasn't had any significant result so far this year, is counting on a good European run starting in the Relentless Boardmasters, an event where he has had several keepers in the past including an equal 9th last year. Having not qualified for the ASP World Tour since he started competing on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), Beven will be looking for a solid second half of the year with the series of five consecutive events coming-up in Europe.

"I have been changing a few things this year like not going to all big events," Beven said. "I am more focused on enjoying the tour, and I am looking forward to the next events. I remember the one year I got close to qualifying and I was in the same kind of situation halfway through the year so I know it's makeable."

Unexpected in the day's top statistics was Travis Beckmann (HAW), the Hawaiian surfer posting the day's second and fourth best wave scores to easily lead his battle with former ASP European Champion Spencer Hargraves (Newquay, GBR) and Portuguese veteran Ruben Gonzalez (PRT). Beckmann, 21, who came to Europe for this one event only, left the water with a confidence boost before he surfs amongst the last 48-men in the event, possibly today.

"I felt good competing out there and I just got a fantastic board ten days ago," Beckmann said. "I feel like I have glue on my feet on this board and it definitely helped a lot to score those two eight pointers during my heat. I am super stoked to start this way."

Beckmann, who has been touring for a couple of years on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), has had a mellow year competing in a few events only and giving priority to free surfing. Having surfed in Scotland in April in the ASP WQS 6-Star Prime event at Thurso, Beckmann's first trip to England starts off perfectly and the Hawaiian native will try and repeat his good performance when Round 2 commences.

"This year is like a cool relaxed year for me, just doing the events I really want to go to" Beckmann said. "I am more focused on me and on what I really want to do for the year which is more about getting back to what surfing really is. I will be off to Mexico to get barreled as soon as I am done here."

Much expected for his start in the Relentless Boardmasters in association with Vans, current ASP WQS ratings' No. 1 and event top seed Daniel Ross (Angourie, AUS), 26, managed to avoid an early upset elimination and advanced through to Round 2 with an average score. Ross, a former ASP World Tour campaigner who ped back down to the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) in 2009, has dominated the international stage thus far with impressive consistency at all events he has attended.

"There is always a little bit of pressure when you start in an event," Ross said. "It was fun to surf out there and the waves were pretty good. It's good to get rid of this first one and hopefully move forward."

Ross, who is considered one of the most trained athletes on tour, should be at ease when the expected new swell hits Newquay in the five to six foot (1.5 to 2 meter) range, the more solid the conditions get, the better it suits Ross's surfing.

"All these years of training and learning seem to be paying off," Ross said. "I am trying to put all I've learned in practice this year. I am just going to attend Lacanau after Newquay and hopefully get a couple of good results to wrap it up after these two."

Defending Relentless Boardmasters champion Wiggoly Dantas (BRA), 19, advanced as well, along with several top seeds including current ratings' No. 11 Joan Duru (Ondres, FRA), Blake Thornton (New South Wales, AUS), Gony Zubizarreta (Vigo, ESP) and local representative Matt Capel (GBR) and Brazilian native Jorge Spanner (BRA)

Parkinson Claims Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, Solidifies ASP Ratings Lead

by Press Release [July 20, 2009]

JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa (Wednesday, July 15, 2009) – Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, has claimed the 2009 Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay in clean three-to-five foot (1 – 1.5 metre) surf over Damien Hobgood (USA), 30, strengthening his stranglehold on the ASP World Tour ratings lead.

Stop No. 5 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay will go down as one of the finest in history, with the two final days of competition enjoying pumping surf and amazing performances, culminating in today’s exciting finale.

Parkinson wasted no time in the 40-minute Final, smashing an excellent 9.47 out of a possible 10 on his opening wave. The wave exhibited the Australian’s unparalleled mastery of the Jeffreys Bay lineup, a symphony of beautiful forehand arcs and committed barrel riding, taking off from “Boneyards” section at the top of the point and riding well over 200 metres to the eruption of crowds on the beach.

“I knew the waves were dying down towards the end of the day and it was going to be important to get on the board early in Final,” Parkinson said. “I’ve been sitting up the point at Boneyards for most of the event and trying to find the ones that would run all the way down the point – that one was no different. As I stood up I had a really nice line on it and I tried to make the most of it. Turned out to be a crucial part of the heat.”

Today’s win comes 10 years after Parkinson’s inaugural victory at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, last ascending the winner’s dais in 1999 when he competed as a wildcard.

“Wow – 10 years seems to go by really fast,” Parkinson said. “I’ve enjoyed coming here every year since that first one, and it’s been a pretty incredible trip since then. To bring it together 10 years down the track, it’s a pretty special feeling and all I can say is that it’s a fantastic event and I’ll be coming here as long as I can.”

Throughout the competition, time-and-again, Parkinson proved to be the form surfer, collecting two Perfect 10s (Round 3, Semifinals) as well as several 9-point plus rides as he deftly advanced through five heats of battle. This victory marks the phenomenal natural-footer’s third ASP Dream Tour win this year alone, strengthening his position as frontrunner in the race for the ASP World Title.

“The conditions for this event were just unbelievable and the surfing speaks for itself,” Parkinson said. “The past two days are a bit of a blur – so many massive scores and barrels from everyone. In terms of the world title, I do my best not to think about it. In the past, I’ve done my head in by wondering how many points behind or ahead of someone I am, and this season, I’ve just focused on the task at hand. I’ve had a good start, but it’s a long year and a lot can happen. I’m looking forward to heading home to see my family and training hard for the next one.”

Unfortunately for Hobgood, inconsistency plagued the back half of his Final clash with Parkinson, and the Floridian was unable to find a rhythm in the challenging conditions. However, today’s Runner-Up finish marks second career result at the venue for Hobgood (the other to Slater in 2003), an impressive feat for a goofy-footer.

“It’s an honor to come here every year,” Hobgood said. “The place is magical and it’s just so beautiful. It’s easy to get distracted by how beautiful it looks when waves are coming down the point. Joel (Parkinson) opened up with that really good wave and at that point, the only thing I could do was pray for an 8-footer to come through. It’s not an easy wave for goofy-footer’s to excel at, but I feel really fortunate to finish in the Final. It’s a great result for me.”

Hobgood’s route to the Final was no easy feat, navigating through a bevy of in-form surfers: Bede Durbidge (AUS), 26, in Round 3, Taylor Knox (USA), 38, in the Quarterfinals, and Dane Reynolds (USA), 23, in the Semifinals. Today’s result bolts Hobgood from 10th to 5th on the ASP World Tour ratings, putting him in excellent position to contest the back half of the season.

“This is definitely my best result of the year and moving up to 5th puts me in good position for the back half of the season,” Hobgood said. “I opened up with a pretty good result on the Goldy before having some average outings in the last three. Today’s finish definitely gives me a lot of confidence heading into the next few events, and I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Dane Reynolds (USA), 2008 ASP World Tour Rookie of the Year, lost a wave-starved Semifinal to eventual Runner-Up Hobgood, but impressively stamped his authority on today’s proceedings, besting 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie Michel Bourez (PYF), 23, in the opening heat of the day before taking down giant-slaying wildcard Sean Holmes (ZAF), 31, with the highest-scoring heat total of the event, a 19.20 out of a possible 20. The feat included an incredibly long barrel punctuated with a high-risk floater for his second Perfect 10 of the event, as well as executing a mind-blowing fin-throw: exploding through the lip, grabbing rail and landing in reverse before pulling his board around to recover.

“It was a bit of a bummer to have things die down like that after the Quarterfinals,” Reynolds said. “I’m still happy to be here though. The waves were so much fun that it didn’t even really feel like a contest. (On that 10) There were a couple of moments when I didn't think I was going to make it. It was really difficult to navigate, but I punched through and was stoked. I also got to do a pretty big turn in the Quarters, and I kind of wanted to do one of those this whole event, but didn't have a lot of opportunities – when you're on a wave like that one though, you start gaining some confidence and I just tried to do a big turn. Worked out pretty well.”

Today’s equal 3rd place finish is not only a personal best for the young Californian, but rockets Reynolds up from No. 34 to No. 20 on the ASP World Tour ratings, a major relief following three, consecutive equal 33rds prior to the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay.

“This event was obviously a welcome change in my year so far,” Reynolds said. “I didn’t have a good start to the season and came here a bit more motivated to compete. But then I started out pretty slow with some board problems and stuff, so I don’t know. I don’t do well when I think about what I need in heats and that, so I just go out to surf. This result takes a bit of pressure off in terms of ratings and stuff so hopefully I can get a few more before the year is done.”

Kai Otton (AUS), 29, was another goofy-footer to bust through Jeffreys Bay’s challenging walls on his backhand, besting Dean Morrison (AUS), 28, in the Quarterfinals before going down in a tit-for-tat shootout with eventual winner Parkinson in the Semifinals. Otton’s equal 3rd place finish bumps him from 27th to 19th on the ASP World Tour ratings.

“I came to Jeffreys really trying to focus on getting a result here,” Otton said. “For me, that means not thinking in heats, and just surfing, so that seemed to work out pretty well. It can be a difficult wave for goofy-footer’s to do well at, but I really think the size helped throughout the event. It allowed us to open up a bit more as it wasn’t breaking really fast on the bricks. I’m looking forward to heading home and training hard for the next event.”

Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion and past four-time winner of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, fell to compatriot Knox in their Round 3 bout this morning. Starting the year with three uncharacteristic 17th place finishes, Slater rebounded with a win in Brazil last week, and was poised to threaten the current tour frontrunners with a strong showing in South Africa. However, today’s equal 9th place finish and current ASP World No. 8 rating make a potential charge for an unprecedented 10th ASP World Title much more challenging for the Floridian.

“I’m going to probably have to win three straight now to get back in this thing,” Slater said. “If you do the numbers, I think before this contest, Parko (Joel Parkinson) was ten heats ahead of me, and if I want to contend, I need to catch up. That obviously wasn’t happening for me today.”

The next stop on the 2009 ASP World Tour will be the Hurley Pro Trestles in Southern California from September 13 – 19, 2009.

Highlights from the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay will be available at www.billabongpro.com

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY FINAL RESULTS:

1 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.97

2 – Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.94

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY SEMIFINALS RESULTS:

SF 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.83 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 16.47

SF 2: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.73 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 13.67


BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY QUARTERFINALS RESULTS:

QF 1: Kai Otton (AUS) 16.17 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 10.83

QF 2: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.66 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 10.83

QF 3: Dane Reynolds (USA) 19.20 def. Sean Holmes (ZAF) 9.84

QF 4: Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.73 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 14.30


REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 3 RESULTS:

Heat 6: Dane Reynolds (USA) 15.66 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 10.83

Heat 7: Taylor Knox (USA) 12.57 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 6.04

Heat 8: Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.60 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.97

2009 ASP WORLD TOUR TOP 10:

1 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 5076 pts

2 – C.J. Hobgood (USA) 3672 pts

3 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 3613 pts

4 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 3460 pts

5 – Damien Hobgood (USA) 3374 pts

6 – Bobby Martinez (USA) 3357 pts

7 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 3350 pts

8 – Kelly Slater (USA) 3030 pts

9 – Tom Whitaker (AUS) 2942 pts

10 – Jordy Smith (ZAF) 2896 pts

HERE ILL POST SOME OF MY FAVOURITE CLIPS.