The opening day of the 2009 ASP World Tour season got underway this morning, with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast presented by LG completing Round 1 in clean two-to-three foot (1 metre) waves at the backup venue of Duranbah Beach.

Event No. 1 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast opted to mobilize from the primary site of Snapper Rocks to nearby Duranbah Beach this morning to take advantage of the increased wave heights on offer, and despite conditions being challenging at times, the world’s best surfers delivered an explosive opening day of competition.

Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning and nine-time ASP World Champion, took to experimenting with his equipment during Round 1, opting to ride an unconventional self-shaped, 5’4” round-tail quad en route to victory over Dayyan Neve (AUS), 30, and Daniel Wills (AUS), 33.

"I am surfing a little 5’4" - a board I made actually – a pretty drastic change to what I normally ride but the tail is very similar,” Slater said. “This is the step I wanted to take when I went [to shorter boards] last year from 6’1" to 5’10" and I thought I was kind of stopping there but we’ll see. 5’4" is too short and I might end up with a 5’6" or a 5’7"."

Historically candid about his intentions to compete full-time on the ASP World Tour, Slater has since committed to his interest in acquiring a 10th world crown, albeit with guarded apprehension.

"It looks good on paper but honestly I am not that consumed about it,” Slater said. “The only time I talk about is when people ask me. It’s just a nice round number, double digits, and it’s rare for people to get that in sports so it will be nice to make it."

Julian Wilson (AUS), 20, gained entry into the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast as a wildcard, and went on to cause one of the biggest upsets of the day, defeating current ASP World No. 2 Bede Durbidge (AUS), 25, and Mikael Picon (FRA), 29, in Round 1 of competition.

"I had a little bit of pressure before that heat,” Wilson said. “I was anxious to get out there and get it done. But when I walked down before my heat, I saw my friends and family so I kind of relaxed and then went out there and got a couple of waves and made it. I haven’t made it passed the third round so I am really fired up to getting pass that round. I’ll probably get Kelly (Slater) in the third round so I’ll see what happens."

Riding a fluorescent pink surfboard to raise awareness about breast cancer, Wilson’s progressive approach saw him execute a number of technical aerials and fin-free maneuvers before breaking his equipment in half during the latter stages of the heat.

The first ever college-based Surf Academy on the south coast is being launched at The Bournemouth and Poole College.

The exciting project is expected to attract students from across the southwest region to take part in full time study as well as honing their surfing techniques, skills and qualifications.

The Surf Academy is a great opportunity for youngsters looking at going into the ever expanding surf industry. Beginners and advanced surfers are welcome to apply and will be invited to attend an interview.

The College is ideally placed to launch this Academy not only for its close proximity to some of the UK’s finest beaches, but also for its closeness to the UK’s first ever artificial surf reef, which forms part of the Honeycomb Chine development in Boscombe.

Members of the Surf Academy will take a bespoke programme consisting of an academic qualification of their choice plus surf specific courses and activities. They will also receive surf coaching from BSA instructors and specialist sessions in surf fitness, nutrition, psychology, contest techniques and tactics.

Courses

The sports courses available to Surf Academy members are:

BTEC First Diploma in Sport (Outdoor Activities)
BTEC National Certificate Sport (Outdoor Activities)
Academy members will also have access to training towards a broad range of qualifications such as:
BSA Assistant Surf Coach Award
BSA Surf Progression Awards 1-5
BSA Lifesaving Skills Awards 1-5
First Aid Certificate
Community Sport Leader Award

Underdogs Corey Ziems (Currumbin, Qld) and Ashleigh Smith (Cabarita, NSW) will get to surf against the world’s best after winning wildcards into the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro’s presented by LG Mobile at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast today.

Ziems will now face world no.3 Taj Burrow (Yallingup, Aus) in round one of the season-opening ASP men’s world tour event. Smith will also have her work cut out having drawn best friend and two-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore (Aus) at her local break of Snapper Rocks in the ASP women’s world tour event.

20-year-old Smith proved too good in the highly-anticipated Roxy Pro trials final, going from strength-to-strength to beat Coolangatta surfer Ellie-Jean Coffey (14, Qld), Gold Coast based Kiwi surfer Sarah Mason (13, Tugun, Qld) and Lennox Head star Tyler Wright (14, NSW) to secure the lone wildcard into the world tour event.

In winning the final 13.85 to Coffey’s 11.75, Smith overcome three much younger opponents.

With the average age of professional surfers getting younger each year, Smith was pleased to end the run of her teenage opponents.

“They’ve all been ripping out their,” said Smith.

“I just went out and had fun and kept doing what I was doing.”

“I wasn’t even expecting to win. I can’t believe it’s happened. It’s crazy.”

The Cabarita natural foot, who went to school with Gilmore at Kingscliff High in the state’s north, says they’ve been dreaming of the day that they could surf at their local break with just two of them out.

“We’ve been saying since we were grommets that we would love a heat at Snapper together,” she said.

“It’s finally going to happen. It’s so cool.”

The world’s best surfers congregated at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre last night for the ASP World Champions’ Crowning.

Surfing’s “night of nights”, the ASP World Champions’ Crowning would prove an emotional evening, with a final farewell from a sporting icon and the acknowledgement of two surfing dynasties.

Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew (AUS), 54, will be stepping down from his post as ASP International President at the end of March, and last night’s ASP World Champions’ Crowning would prove a fitting farewell for the legendary sportsman. As Bartholomew finished a heart-warming diatribe chronicling the rise of professional surfing, the former world champion received a raucous standing ovation by the 600 strong in attendance.

Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning ASP World Champion, was awarded with a phenomenal ninth World Crown, and thanked his fellow athletes for pushing the high-performance boundaries of competitive surfing as well as announcing his intentions for a tenth ASP World Title campaign in 2009.

Other ASP World Tour athletes awarded last night were 2008 ASP World Tour Runner-Up Bede Durbidge (AUS), 25, Rookie of the Year Dane Reynolds (USA), 23, and a tie for ‘Most Improved’ with Adrian Buchan (AUS), 26, and Adriano de Souza (BRA), 22.

Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 21, was both articulate and poignant in her acceptance speech for her second consecutive ASP Women’s World Title, and her professionalism, both in the water and in front of the microphone, was heralded by audience members throughout the evening.

Other ASP Women’s World Tour athletes awarded last night were 2008 ASP Women’s World Tour Runner-Up Silvana Lima (BRA), 24, Rookie of the Year Nicola Atherton (AUS), 22, and ‘Most Improved’ Melanie Bartels (HAW), 26.

Bonga Perkins (HAW), 36, and Joy Monahan (HAW), 22, took home the ASP World Longboarding and ASP Women’s World Longboarding Titles respectively, while Nathaniel Curran (USA), 24, and Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 18, received honors for ASP WQS No. 1 finishes in 2008.

Kai Barger (HAW), 19, and Pauline Ado (FRA), 18, were crowned ASP World Junior Champions and are now recognized as being leaders in the assault of the next generation.

Stan Couper was today posthumously inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame at Surf World, Torquay.

Vi Couper, Stan’s wife was on hand to accept the Inductee trophy along with daughter Gail and son Geoffrey. Stan Couper is the 31st Inductee into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame and now joins his daughter Gail Couper who was inducted in 2000.

1988 Australian Surfing Hall of Fame Inductee Wayne Lynch presented the trophy to Vi on behalf of the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame along with Gail Couper. Geoffrey Couper spoke on behalf of the family ‘offering his thoughts on his father and his love of surfing’. The induction ceremony was attended by a number of those who have had a bearing on the development of surfing including former Australian Surfing Association President Tony Olsen, Rip Curl’s Brian Singer amongst others.

Joe Sweeney who crafts the timber Induction trophy spoke about Stan’s passion not just for surfing but his love of other sports and the region. Also sharing his thoughts on Stan and his contribution to surfing was local legend and Inductee Wayne Lynch.

The induction of Stan Couper previews the upcoming Australian Surfing Awards incorporating the Hall of Fame which is to be held on Tuesday 3rd March at the Stars Room at Twin Towns Services Club in Coolangatta. This awards ceremony is to recognize individuals and organizations that have made contributions to the surfing industry in a number of areas including performance, administration, culture, movies and photos.  These awards will also feature the induction of another “major contributor” to surfing.

The awards will also feature the presentation of the inaugural Stan Couper Administration Award and the Peter Troy Lifestyle Award.

Nine-time world champion Kelly Slater (Florida, USA) looks relaxed and confident heading into this weekend’s Quiksilver Pro presented by LG Mobile.

The defending Quiksilver Pro champion, who was on hand at Snapper Rocks today for the official press launch, declared he’ll almost certainly challenge for an unprecedented 10th ASP world title.

“I think I’m pretty relaxed about it,” said Slater.

“I’ll probably have a few nerves to start. But once you hit the water and start surfing you stop thinking about the big picture.”

“You’ve got to focus on every heat, every wave and every manoeuvre. You really have to break it down to the small details, as they’re the things that win big heats. The big heats are usually close, so you’ve got to be aware of what’s happening around you – It’s a big part to the preparation!”

The reigning world title holder will open his campaign against Byron Bay ace Kieren Perrow (Aus) and the lowest seeded trials wildcard in round one of the season-opening ASP men’s World Tour event.

Recently retired world tour surfer Danny Wills (Byron Bay, Aus) and rising star Julian Wilson (Coolum, Aus), who joined Slater along with 2007 world champion and local star Mick Fanning (Coolangatta, Aus) for the day’s launch, have been awarded main event wildcards into the prestigious tournament.

The third and final wildcard will be granted to the winner of tomorrow’s Quiksilver Pro Trials to be staged in conjunction with the Roxy Pro Trials.

Two-time ASP women’s world champion Stephanie Gilmore (Kingscliff, Aus) will be looking to put successive bad results at the opening event of the year behind her, in her bid for a hat trick of world crowns.

Gilmore shot to fame as a 17-year-old schoolgirl in 2005 when she was the youngest surfer to win the Roxy Pro.

Irons Brothers Productions is pleased to announce our newest project, "A Fly in the Champagne".

The rivalry between Andy Irons and Kelly Slater has been one of folklore for a decade now.

The two most influential surfers of all-time have had a much-publicized dislike for each other over the years.  

Irons Brothers Productions embarked on a two-week excursion to Indonesia with Andy and Kelly to capture what everyone thought could never happen, a trip together. What ensued was groundbreaking and captivating.

Shot from land, boat, and water, Irons Brothers Productions captured history.

This project was shot solely on HD and film cameras.  

With co-sponsoring from Billabong®, Quiksilver®, ESPN® and Transworld Surf®, there is no doubt that this will be a highly successful project.

In Stores March 15th, 2009

The world premiere of the feature-length “Searching for Michael Peterson” will be a highlight of the Global Surf Industries Noosa Festival of Surfing, with the sport’s luminaries from around the world expected to attend.

The premiere, at Noosa Cinemas on Monday, March 16 will be hosted by former world pro surfing champion Peter Townend, and will also feature a live music set from “Morning of the Earth” musicians Peter Howe and Tim Gaze, plus an exclusive encore screening of the American Wide World of Sports special, “Puerto Rico World Titles 1968”, unseen for almost 40 years.

Searching for Michael Peterson, directed by Jolyon Hoff, is a docudrama telling the moving story of one of Australia’s greatest surfers whose career was cut short by mental illness. For five glorious years “MP” led the Coolangatta Kids and won virtually every event he contested, including three Bells Beach Pros back to back. His brilliant, aggressive surfing provided the centrepiece for Albert Falzon’s Morning of the Earth in 1972, and MP never looked back. His final tour victory, at the inaugural Stubbies Pro at Burleigh Heads in 1977, is regarded as the high point of the early professional era. Sadly, a year later triumph turned to tragedy and Michael’s demons claimed him.

Thirty years on, MP is still vitally interested in the sport and culture of surfing and is a fixture at most Queensland events, enjoying the action with his mother, Joan. He is rightly regarded as an iconic figure in Australian surfing, and Hoff’s film, while it pulls no punches, is an intensely moving tribute to the man.

Puerto Rico ’68 was unearthed by producer Larry Lindberg just prior to a 40th anniversary reunion of the event in California last year. This will be the first public showing of a remarkable document of an extraordinary time in surfing, as the shortboard replaced the longboard.

This rare performance together by Peter Howe and Tim Gaze celebrates the release of Peter’s new album, “Postcards from the Coast”, a musical celebration of a year spent sailing along the Queensland coast. Howe’s haunting “I’m Alive (Delightful Rain)” was one of the central themes of Morning of the Earth, and later gave its name to the ABC surf music television special. Gaze, formerly of Tamam Shud, is one of Australia’s greatest guitar virtuosos, equally at home with surf music or the blues.

UK Pro Surf Tour has produced a new website: www.ukprosurf.com . The site will be a corner stone in this years  tour and provide a fantastic resourse for anyone interested in finding information about UK Pro Surf Tour, UK Pro Surf Association, its members, the locations the events visit and what is happening in British surfing.

The site will also become interactive with the opportunity for surfers to become members online and also enter event. This will make the procedure for competing on the tour more efficient and allow surfers easy access with clear guidelines.

Part of the new site will be devoted to UK Pro Surf Association members. All members will have the opportunity to have their own page, with photo’s and a proile about themselves. This will clearly help the surfers get recognition of who they are, who sponsors or supports them and what their achievements have been.

In addition there will be a retail area on the site where anyone can log on and purchase the latest surf goods at very competitive prices with free delivery!

North End Boardriders on the Gold Cast today won their first ever Rip Curl Kirra Teams Challenge.

Regarded as surfings’ most prestigious and sort after national club teams trophy this event pitted 36 of Australia’s top Boardriding Clubs against each other over three days and the final results saw an incredible five clubs separated by just one point with North End victorious on 29 points out of a possible 32 points.

Out of their 8 surfers, surfing in four man heats, North End scored their win with 5 heat wins and 3 seconds .

Tied on 28 points were Le-Ba (short for Lenox/Ballina), Kirra, Noosa and Snapper Rocks with three of those four clubs on five wins, two 2nd’s and a third … these clubs were placed 2nd to 5th based on their surfers cumulative points tally – see below for exact points tally.

The result went down to the second last heat of the day where North End surfer Damon Nicholls surfed his clubs final heat knowing that a 1st or 2nd placing would win the event while a 3rd or 4th would hand it to Le-Ba!

“Unbelievable finish for me, the pressure was amazing and I actually dreamt last night that  it would come to this and being chaired off the beach – just an amazing feeling to be part of a winning team – I surfed a safe heat knowing that second would be good enough and that’s exactly how it panned out – the perfect finish!”

Earlier on North End Surfer Scott Wilden put the club into a winning position when he posted a huge heat win over his opponents – Wilden posting a score of 14.5 while his opponents were requiring combinations of scores on 7.87, 7 and 4.02!”

North End club coach Tai Graham, who played a significant role in today’s win also by defeating the highest rated ASP surfer in the event in Burleigh Heads’ Jay Thompson when Graham won his heat was elated after the win saying – “ We knew we were the underdogs here and felt we had something to prove – The south end gets all the attention with world champions in Fanning and Gilmore and the superbank and all but up our way we have surf too… and some great surfers which we proved today – our zone is from Broadbeach right through to South Straddie and we have pulled off a great win here today – It’s the best teams event to win in Australia for sure and we’ve come close before so today is really special for us.”