More than 120 people were killed after a series of tsunamis hit the South Pacific.

The huge waves were triggered by a magnitude 8.0 earthquake in the region.

Reports indicate that at least 100 people were killed in Western Samoa, an island with 200,000 citizens.

Several tourist resorts and villages were destroyed.

In the neighbouring American Samoa, reports speak of 19 people losing their lives.

Another 10 deaths were reported on Tonga's northern island of Niuatoputapu.

The devastation in Samoa is huge and the population needs urgent support from the international community.

In the Lalomanu beach resort, more than 20 people were reported killed. This is a very popular destination for New Zealand and Australian holidaymakers.

The opening day of the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic saw current ASP World No. 5 Melanie Bartels (HAW), 27, and reigning two-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 21, lead the world’s best women’s surfers through Round 1 in two-to-three foot (1 metre) surf at Dee Why.

Gilmore stayed busy throughout her entire Round 1 heat today and emerged victorious in a tough battle over defending Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic champion Tyler Wright (AUS), 15, who eliminated Gilmore in Round 3 of last year’s competition, and 2005 ASP Women’s World Champion Chelsea Hedges (AUS), 25, to advance directly through to Round 3 with a solid 14.00 out of 20 heat total.

“I wasn’t really focusing on redemption over Wright, but it was more about shaking off the first heat nerves,” Gilmore said. “Chelsea (Hedges) and Tyler are a couple of my favorite surfers and Tyler did so well here last year, so I guess it felt good to come back with a win after a long break. It’s a bit disappointing that we’re not surfing at the point this morning, but it’s (Dee Why) a great wave and who knows what’s going to happen later in the week, maybe we’ll be up at the point for the Final, that’d be awesome.”

Although the talented regular-footer felt pressure entering the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic after a long mid-year break, Gilmore showed no sign of nerves and the poise shown by the defending ASP Women’s World Champion carried her directly through to Round 3.

“I think there is pressure after such a long break,” Gilmore said. “There’s sort of that safety net of Round 2, but I wanted to go out there and surf hard and my equipment is amazing at the moment and I’m stoked to be through to Round 3.”

Aside from the pressure of returning to contest mode after a long break, Gilmore also expressed the weight of entering an ASP Women’s World Tour event as the top seed.

The 2009 ASP WQS 4-Star Billabong Tsurigasaki Pro recommenced this morning for the final day at Tsurugasaki Beach with the Quarterfinals kicking things off this morning.

The local weather at Tsurigasaki Beach, Ichinomiya was fair this morning. The surf conditions were two-to-four feet (1 to 1.5 metre) with onshore winds. Event director Toshiyuki Tanaka called this morning at 8am to get the final day’s action underway.

Two Japanese, one Hawaiian, and one Australian: Parrish Byrne (AUS), Izuki Tanaka (JPN), Teppei Tajima (JPN), and Joel Centeio (HAW) made it to the Semifinals.

In Semifinal 1, Byrne overcame Tanaka to move to the Final. In Semifinal 2, Tajima overcomes Centeio to move to Final.

Teppei Tajima held the lead for the majority of the Final with Parrish Byrne. With only a few minutes remaining, Byrne fights back strong with an excellent 9.33 to take the lead over Tajima. Tajima strikes hard back with an excellent 9.00, but not enough to take the lead once again. With a total point of 16.83 to 16.50 for Tajima, Parrish Byrne of Australia is crowned the 2009 Billabong Tsurigasaki Pro Champion.

Jamie Mitchell, big wave surfer and winner of the 32-mile Molokai to Oahu paddle race, in Hawaii, had a close encounter with a pod of whales.

Eight-time World Paddleboarding champion saw the huge mammals surfacing close to his paddleboard.

Mitchell was filming off the Northern NSW coast for his new television project “Living in Liquid”.

According to scientists, up to 13,000 humpbacks make the journey along the eastern seaboard each year.

The pro surfer has already ridden 60 foot waves off the coast of California, will attempt to dive without oxygen to 100 foot and will also try to stand-up paddleboard a 50-foot wave.

Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, has just claimed his second consecutive ASP Dream Tour event, taking out the 2009 Quiksilver Pro France presented by Orange over fellow Finalist Bede Durbidge (AUS), 26, in punchy one-to-three foot (0.5 – 1 metre) waves at Les Bourdaines.

Event No. 7 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Quiksilver Pro France opted to utilize today’s swell to complete the event given the dismal surf fore for the remainder of the waiting period. Despite today’s challenging conditions, the world’s best surfers d well, blending their rapid-fire approach with progressive fin-free and aerial surfing.

Fanning continued to build momentum through the final day of competition before erupting in the Final with a flurry of excellent scoring rides, a 7.83, an 8.83 and a 7.33 in the opening half of the competition.

“I was really fortunate to get those couple of good ones at the start because I really ran out of gas there at the end,” Fanning said. “It’s two back-to-back events where I have had to surf four heats on the final day to get the win and it takes a lot out of you. The conditions were deteriorating and I was fortunate to get those scores on the board early on.”

The final day of the Quiksilver Pro France presented by Orange has been called on this morning, with the opening heats of Round 4 heading out in clean one-to-three (0.5 - 1 metre) surf at Les Bourdaines at 8:30am.

Stop No. 7 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Quiksilver Pro France saw one of the most exciting days of competition yesterday, and with little swell fore for the coming days, event organizers have opted to utilize the swell on offer today to complete the event.

“The surf is actually better today with clean lefts coming down the bank and we’ll be starting at 8:30am,” Rod Brooks, Quiksilver Pro France Contest Director, said. “As always, we’ll be monitoring conditions, but the plan is to crown a champion by day’s end.”

Up first this morning will be event standout Dane Reynolds (USA), 24, against Bede Durbidge (AUS), 26, in the opening heat of Round 4.

The event be web LIVE in French, English and Portuguese at www.quiksilverlive.com

The Quiksilver Pro France will host the world’s best surfers from September 23 to October 4, 2009.

Professional surfer Milton Willis was sentenced to four years in prison, after a drink-and-drive fatal accident killed his 24-year-old passenger in Del Mar, California, USA.

Willis, a tow-in surfer aged 53, pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol.

The accident occurred when he lost control of the Toyota Avalon while driving about 65 mph in a 25-mph zone.

The Quiksilver Pro France presented by Orange is back ON with Round 3 heading out into the glassy two-to-three foot (1 metre) surf on offer at Les Bourdaines at 11am.

Event No. 7 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Quiksilver Pro France assessed conditions this morning before determining the activate the world’s best surfers for Round 3 of competition.

“We didn’t expect these conditions today,” Rod Brooks, Quiksilver Pro France Contest Director said. “It’s very clean and very contestable and seeing as how the fore for next week isn’t looking very promising, we’ll be starting Round 3 at 11am this morning. We’ll be closely monitoring the conditions throughout the day and making adjustments accordingly.

Up first this morning will be Bede Durbidge (AUS), 26, up against 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie Nic Muscroft (AUS), 27, in Heat 1 of Round 3.

The event be web LIVE in French, English and Portuguese at www.quiksilverlive.com

Excellent waves and high scoring performances culminated an outstanding final day to the opening event to the Rip Curl GromSearch 2009/2010 Series presented by SNICKERS at Jan Juc Beach in Victoria.

With a new solid groundswell and clean offshore winds lighting up the entire Surfcoast region Australia’s top 16 year and under surfers were able to unleash all their talents and high scoring performances were the only way to win.

The Blue ribbon Boys and Girls 16 and under finals  were both high scoring with the Boys final getting down to a wave for wave close battle which saw Cronulla’s Connor O’Leary take the win by just 0.25 points ahead of Byron Bay’s Soli Bailey with Tasmania’s Hamish Renwick 3rd and Lennox Head/NSW surfer Nikki Hoskin in 4th.

“So pleased to win the first event of the series, it takes the pressure off by winning this one as I’m now qualified for the national final” said O’Leary after his win.

“It’s my second win on the GromSearch series, I won in Cronulla last year and now I’ll aim to try and win the series for this year” added O’Leary.

The girl’s final saw a dominating performance from Phillip Island’s Nikki Van Dijk who scored the days highest wave score of a 9.2 early in the final to take a massive lead that was never seriously challenged.

Van Dijk is the defending GromSearch Girls 16 international champion and she’s very keen to defend that title next Easter.

“Great to win the first event on the series and I’m looking forward to the final now – I’ll compete in a few more GromSearch events this year but winning today is great as I’m qualified and can relax and concentrate on defending the title next Easter.”

Van Dijk defeated fellow Phillip Island surfer India Payne who found a strong 6 point ride late in final to move into second place ahead of interstate surfers Brodie Doyle (Qld) and Lauren McAleer (NSW).

Soli Bailey’s performance today was exceptional, despite losing the closest final in the 16 Boys, he took a convincing win in the 14 Boys final where he posted two excellent 8 point plus rides to defeat Jake Thompson (NSW), Chris Robertson (NSW) and Kai Hing (Qld).

The Girls 14 and under final saw another great performance from Victorian Phillip Island region surfer Kelly Laity (Sandy Point) who won the final over Indiana Green (NSW).

The Quiksilver Pro France presented by Orange, Event No. 7 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, has been called off for the day, following the completion of Round 2.

With only small, two-to-three foot (1 metre) surf on offer today at Les Bourdaines, only three heats were completed today, with event organizers opting to hold for better conditions in the coming days.

Ben Dunn (AUS), 23, current ASP World No. 26, surfed one of the strangest heats of the Quiksilver Pro France thus far. His opponent, Chris Ward (USA), 30, who had already missed his Round 1 heat due to scheduling confusion, overslept this morning and failed to show up until 15 minutes into the 30 minute heat.

“Well, it definitely plays with your head,” Dunn said. “Wardo missed his Round 1 heat and I thought he was going to show up for today’s heat because I saw him yesterday, but he said he overslept or something. It was still pretty even when he arrived though as I couldn’t get any waves.”

With half the heat remaining, Dunn would ignite, seamlessly blending high-speed floaters and rapid-fire turns on his backhand to amass the day’s highest heat total, a 14.50 out of a possible 20.