Surfing America, the National Governing Body (NGB) for Surfing in the United States, announced today that Ian Cairns has been appointed as Head Coach of the PacSun USA Surf Team.
 
Cairns appointment comes after the resignation of former Coach Joey Buran who held the position for the past two years.  Buran left the position in good standing to pursue a worldwide tour and ministry for his new documentary film Beyond the Dream: the Joey Buran Story.
 
"Ian Cairns is a powerhouse coach and Surfing America is extremely fortunate to have someone of his caliber step into the role," said Mike Gerard, Surfing America's executive director.  "Not only does Ian bring a wealth of experience to the position, but he also has some incredible new ideas and concepts that will surely help lift the USA Team program to new heights.  I expect we'll see some tremendous developments in the very near future."
 
In a surfing career of over 40 years, Ian Cairns twice represented Australia on their National Team and won 6 WCT level events, usually in the big waves of Hawaii.  Also, he was 2nd in the world in the first year of organized rankings in 1976. Changing gears, Ian moved onto event production and founded the Op Pro which led to founding the Association of Surfing Professionals in 1983.

Following a sabbatical in Australia, he returned to the United States in 1991 and took over the reins of the PSAA leading to the launch of the US Open of Surfing and a resurgence of American surfing. For the past two years Ian Cairns has been focused primarily on coaching--and is working with many of the top American athletes on the Association of Surfing Professionals' World Qualifying Series.

Blake Thornton, the 24 year old from Maroubra, Sydney, surfed the perfect final in epic Cape Town conditions to knock out local favourite Royden Bryson, and take victory at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa.

“I am so excited to win this,” said Blake. “Royden fell on his wave at the end. I think maybe the cold was getting to us,” he said shivering in his wetsuit. “I am sorry for him, but so glad I won.” 

In victory, Blake lifted the CWC South Africa trophy – a replica shark’s jaw – high above his head on the shoreline at Kalk Bay.

“Thankfully this is a fake jaw,” said Blake. “Hopefully I won’t see any real ones. There was actually a seal swimming around out there with us in the final,” he said. “Everyone knows that sharks love seals, but actually in a heat you’re only worried about what’s going on in the heat.”

After a lay day yesterday which saw everyone hiding away from the storms, conditions came together perfectly on the eastern side of the Cape with offshore winds and a solid six-foot swell.

Rip Curl International has today officially announced that the coastal town of Peniche, Portugal, will host this year’s Rip Curl Pro Search, Stop No. 9 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour - to be held October 19 to 30.

The location has been a mystery to most all season, but today’s official press launch in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon unveiled the secret to media and the surfing industry.

"We’re excited about today’s announcement and even more excited to see the industry’s reaction to our decision to hold this year’s Rip Curl Pro Search in the beautiful country of Portugal," said Scott Hargreaves, Rip Curl Event Manager. "The country has a lot of great waves and we’ve decided to lock in Peniche’s ’Supertubos’ as our event spot. It’s a five-star wave and one of the best beachbreak tubes in the world!"

Supertubos is a powerful A-frame barrel that feeds off deep Atlantic Ocean swells and handles waves up to the 12-15ft (4-5m). Many surfers have nicknamed it the "European Pipeline" due to its similarities to Hawaii’s infamous Banzai Pipeline.

"The wave breaks all year, but the North Atlantic Ocean swells peak in the later part of Europe’s summer," continued Mr. Hargreaves. "This is why we’ve created the event window in October, instead of the June-July period we’ve had for the past four years."

The change of schedule will also make this year’s Rip Curl Pro Search the second-to-last event on the ASP Men’s World Tour calendar, meaning for the first time it could be the event where this year’s ASP World Champion is crowned.

A group of indigenous children, from the state’s north-west, today had a day they’ll never forget, learning to surf and meeting their heroes.

Beginning with a session with the NRL’s One Community, entitled “Eat Well, Play Well, Stay Well”, presented by Rugby League legend Mario Fenech, the kids were afforded the opportunity to attend South Sydney First Grade Training Session – a dream for many of the disadvantaged youths.

Culminating with a surfing lesson, in which Fenech took the main stage, the day was focussed upon promoting healthy lifestyles and educating positive lifestyle choices.

“It was a magical day all around,” Fenech said after his first ever-surfing lesson.

Hailing from Brewarrina, a small town 800 kilometres north-west of Sydney, the group of approximately 20 children made the long trip down to Sydney to meet their rugby league heroes and try their hand at surfing for the first time.

“Sending out the message of “Eat Well, Play Well, Stay Well” is very important for these children,” Fenech continued.

“If we can make a difference in just one persons life days like today are definitely worthwhile.”

Selected on their school attendance and good conduct around town today was a break from their sometimes troublesome life as most of the children had never before seen the ocean, let alone stand on a board.

The much anticipated storm has finally hit the shores of Cape Town with howling winds and wild seas forcing a lay day on the fourth day of competition at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa.

Most of the competitors have hidden away in the warmth of their houses as the seas deteriorate and the wind and rain relentlessly pound the shores. However big wave surfer and O’Neill South Africa brand ambassador, Chris Bertish is getting excited about the swell being generated out to sea right now.

“There should be some pretty exciting waves,” he said. “The competition will hopefully have its last day in some epic conditions at Kalk Bay, then they are calling 25 to 30 foot swell on Thursday and Friday, which would equate to 60 to 70 foot faces.”

“I would like to say that’s an average big wave day but actually that would be pretty exciting,” said Chris. “It gives you a few nerves - you hope that you’ve prepared yourself well and hope that from all the experience you’ve got from the past everyone is ready to take what the ocean is going to throw at you… and you hope for the best.”

Before the serious big wave surfing begins, there is still one day of competition to finish off – starting with the Round of 16.

It was an easy call for contest director Matt Wilson this morning; “We knew pretty much as soon as we stepped out of the door what the score was,” he said. “We did a loop around the reefs which were pretty wild, and went down to see Misty Cliffs for a comparison – which was just complete white water.”

Mavericks Surf today announced that the official waiting period for The 2009/2010 Mavericks Surf Contest® will open on November 1, 2009.  Mavericks CEO Keir J. Beadling summed up the excitement, saying, “We’re thrilled to announce that this year’s big-wave contest season will begin earlier than ever before.  We have long understood the importance of increasing the size of the contest window, but haven’t been able to do so.  Last season’s events further highlighted how valuable a November opening date can be.  Now, thanks to the support of everyone involved with the contest, we will make the November opening a reality.”  

Today’s announcement was especially meaningful to the athletes who surf Mavericks.  After watching the last contest season come and go without any contestable surf, the competitors are more eager than ever for the 2009/2010 contest season to begin.  Beadling added, “Last season was obviously very difficult for both the surfers and the fans.  This year, we are going to do all we can to ensure that the surfers and fans alike get to experience a memorable contest.  While we are still at the mercy of Mother Nature, we can now say that we are better prepared than ever for what she throws our way.” 

Beadling also thanked the sponsors who made the November 1st opening date possible.  “We are grateful to our sponsor partners whose support was vital to making the opening of the contest season in November a reality, and for ensuring that the surfers will be competing for a record-breaking $150,000 prize purse.  We are fortunate that all of our sponsor partners recognize the importance of opening the contest window on November 1st, and that they have demonstrated their commitment to making sure we are able to do so.” 

Wave Tribe team rider Mercedes Maidana became the first woman to surf epic El Buey in Chile this week. It was her first time to tow-in, a new experience that this Hawaiian local said she was very excited about—we’ll see lots more of Mercedes charging big tow-in surf around the globe.

When Mercedes first approached Wave Tribe we asked her why she was interested in partnering with the world’s first green surf company, her stoke for surfing and her passion for life was as evident in her answer, “surfing is the love of my life. I would not know what to do or who to be if I didn’t have it. As any loving relationship, I think that it has to have a balance of giving and receiving. The ocean gives me more gifts than I could ever reciprocate.”

Wave Tribe team riders are more than surfers, they are conscious beings that recognize the importance of helping to transform the surf industry and when we asked Mercedes why green surf products were important to her she responded, “One way for me to keep the balance is to start doing small changes in my life to preserve what I love the most. That’s why sustainability is so important: it is the simplest way to be thankful to nature.”

Jordy Smith was greeted with howling winds and the onset of one of Cape Town’s biggest storms as he got into the water on this third day of competition at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa.

Flying in straight from the Reunion Island, Jordy was not about to be deterred by the extreme conditions – pulling out a score of 8.5 on his first wave back in his home country.

“It is pretty wild and cold,” he said. “It’s like gale force winds out there. I got on a few waves and couldn’t even move for the wind - but there are some fun rides out there.”

The O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa ambassador is the name to look out for in this competition, but he’s not thinking too far ahead. “Right now all I’m looking forward to is getting out of this wetsuit and getting warm,” Jordy said.
 
“I’ve seen a few storms like the one coming in when I was younger,” he said. “You need to just hide away indoors for the day with a jacuzzi and the heating on.”

Ned Snow (Waialua, HI), 23, won the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) 1-Star Yakult HB Pro today over former ASP World Longboard Champion Colin McPhillips (San Clemente, CA), 34, in two-to-three foot surf at South Huntington Beach Pier. Cori Schumacher (Cardiff, CA), 32, took out her fellow finalists to claim the ASP LQS 2-Star Gidget PLA Pro, which ran in conjunction with the men's event.

Surfers competing on the ASP LQS are eligible to earn a spot on to the prestigious ASP World Longboard Tour by finishing within the top two on their regional tour by year's end. Once qualified, all surfers compete for the chance to be crowned ASP world Longboard Champion.

Snow proved to be unstoppable throughout the event's entirety and successfully tackled the tough afternoon conditions on offer at South Huntington Beach Pier to top McPhillips by a score of 13.67 to 10.66.

"Being able to surf in the man-on-man format really helped my mindset," Snow said. "Surfing against guys like McPhillips, I can just go out there and I feel like it's me against the ocean instead of battling a bunch of other guys. I'm really happy that I was able to come over here and get the win at Huntington since there is no U.S. Open for Longboarding this year."

McPhillips dominated his early round heats, but was unable to find a rhythm in the hard Final against Snow. The San Clemente local's second place finish at the Yakult HB Pro keeps him on top of the ASP North America LQS ratings.

With an epic storm fast approaching, the surfers indulged in the clean, fast, heavy waves of this second day of competition at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic South Africa.

Back at Misty Cliffs, with a cleaner but similar size swell to yesterday, it was the 16 year old Hawaiian surfer John John Florence who had the crowds gathered on the cliffs above cheering loudly as he got a barrel on almost every wave he took off on.

His final ride, as he tucked into his last barrel of the day, earned him the highest wave score of the competition so far – a 9.6.

“It was good out there today,” said John John. “I was battling against Hedgy and saw this big wave come in at the end and just went for it.”

It was the final two waves of John John that nudged former World Tour surfer Nathan Hedge out of this third leg of the O’Neill Cold Water Series as the event moved into the round of 64.

“I don’t usually like when it is that close,” said John John on his battle with Nathan. “I usually get really nervous, but today it worked out ok.”

Nathan’s surprise exit as he battles through a back injury opens up the CWC Series ranking list and the chance of the $50,000 prize money that little bit more, as the Australian surfer had been sitting in fourth position following Tasmania and Scotland.

Another surprise from today’s competition was the departure of South African surf champion, Sean Holmes, who was knocked out by the local talent of Josh Salie.