Gabriel Medina: Thirteen is an unlucky number to some, but I don’t believe in luck. We make our own luck, and Medina has been working his ass off his entire life, preparing for the moment when his incredible consistency will come through in a pinch—when a big heat, contest, or world title is on the line. We've already seen him win the big heats, and contests, the world title is his next goal—anything less will be a letdown in his career.
Newport Beach is made of opposing pieces, sewn together like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. Crusty old surfers carry sun-yellowed boards down the beach searching for waves, while affluent housewives lay on the sand in a Xanax-induced haze, killing time between collagen injections. With the amount of exposure Newport receives, and the fact that it has more pro surfers per capita than anywhere else on earth, you might expect consistently good waves—but you’d only be half right. There’s usually something to ride in front of the thousands of vacation rentals lining the coast between Crystal Cove and the Del Mar River Jetties, but paddling out will seldom be a life-changing experience. The surf industry loves Newport because it is the industry’s playground. When evenings run late, you’re seldom concerned with the surf at sunrise.
Alex Knost chugs through his hometown in a mildly-creepy van, scouring the coast for waves in the early hours, and always with interesting (and often self-shaped) crafts in tow. On this particular summer morning, I met up with Alex and fellow log-master Jared Mell in the parking lot at Blackie’s. It was mid-morning and the lifeguards were perched like dubious sentries—megaphones in their hands, and a desire to blackball in their hearts. In an hour the ocean would be overrun with inland adventurers and kids with neon water wings.
The scene was typical for this time of year in Newport: slightly bumpy, mostly gutless rights and lefts with a fair amount of people bobbing through the lineup, vaguely interested in their present activity. But therein lies the advantage to riding a single-fin plank. Alex and Jared split peaks, sliding their logs over flat sections like cubes of butter across hot frying pans. They’re stylish nearly to the point of parody, but were clearly having the best time of anyone in the lineup. Alex stood up on a wave, cross-stepped to the nose, turned around and hung his heels over, before nimbly moving back to the tail and whipping a smooth carve. Jared did one better than a fin-first takeoff, stroking backwards on his stomach into a left-hander with his feet toward the beach. He stood up as the board rotated and kept complete control as he spun around and started his line.
The piercing distortion of a lifeguard’s megaphone ended our session, and sent us off in pursuit of lunch. We went to Mother’s Market in Costa Mesa where we were joined by several of Al and Jared’s friends. It was health-conscious fare, where organic sprouts and kale-infused smoothies abound. We left with the intention of a second session, but the wind had picked up and what was playful mediocrity an hour before had mutated into full-blown dog shit.
Luckily, a foolproof coping mechanism came to mind, and we headed to a local pub for a few pitchers of Sierra Nevada, and discussed the best way to kill time in the Newport area.
Waves:
Although Newport is most consistent during the winter, its exposure to both north and south swells means there are usually rideable waves somewhere year-round. “I usually surf in front of Ford [Archbold]’s house, at River Jetties,” says Alex. “The shape isn’t necessarily as good as 54th Street, so, if you’re reading this, you probably don’t want to go there. There are less people at River Jetties, but it also gets really swamped out with the high tide. It gets too high tide for people to ride your average shortboard, but it works out pretty good for flat rockers and single fins—you can surf through the high tide and it won’t be as crowded. It’s a little more closed out at River Jetties, but there’s more face, so it’s easier to ride bigger boards, whereas 54th street has such a compressed take-off spot. So, if you’re riding bigger boards, you can’t help to feel some sort of an inconvenience. I usually surf River Jetties or Newport Point. Newport Point gets really good, but it’s probably the least consistent wave, in terms of getting it really good. If there’s wind swell, Newport is kind of the place to be in some weird way. You surf a lot of other areas that are really nice during long-period swells, but Newport gets pretty closed-out on those. Wind swell helps break it up and make it peaky.”
Sustenance:
Newport and Costa Mesa are joined at the hip, and between the two there are more quaint cafés than you can shake a vegan scone at. “I go to Mother’s after surfing usually. They have good food, and I have friends that work there, so it’s nice to visit them. The food there seems to give you a little bit more momentum for the rest of the day, rather than eating a giant burrito that puts the day on hold—you don’t really feel like doing much of anything after that. Mother’s has some food that gives you some fuel. It’s more like food and less like eating, you know? But there’s also lots of like really nice coffee shops. Alta down in Newport is pretty good. If you want to stay near the beach, they opened up a couple of expensive spots, but then there’s also really cheap donut places, which are nice for coffee, bananas, bran muffins, and stuff like that.”
After Hours:
Anyone who has ever spent a weekend in Newport will tell you that it’s a town that loves its booze. Alex is an early-riser, but he knows where to find a good time after the sun goes down. “I like going to Blackie’s, just because that’s where my Dad goes,” says Alex. “But if you’re looking for the nightlife action, it’s probably not there. Jared loves going to Cassidy’s. I live in Costa Mesa so I tend to go out up the hill and see live music. Avalon bar has really great live bands that come through there. I think that’s probably the easiest and they have cheap drinks—like one- or two-dollar Pabst. There’s a pool hall down the street here in Costa Mesa, on 19th street, called Games Plus. They have two-dollar Tecate Tuesdays, and they’ve got tons of pool tables, so that kind of makes for a nice social time.”
Miguel Pupo needed a near-perfect heat to advance past Yadin Nicol into Round 3. Photo: ASP/Kirstin
It’s Friday afternoon in Tahiti and, like on building sites all across the world, next door the work has stopped and tools have been set down and beers are being drunk. The scene doesn’t look dissimilar to how it did at lunchtime, the Tahitians never likely to rival the Japanese for efficiency, however after a week of toil the cinder block shell of a dwelling stands and the stout men who put it there toast the achievement.
Workmen of another kind meanwhile are laboring out on the reefs in front of the village, workmen with soft hands but hearts hardened by their adventures on the same reef last year. After a lazy opening day, the Billabong Pro Tahiti notched up a gear or two today. With man-on-man heats beginning and the sword of Damocles hanging above them, a trip back to Faa’a International Airport awaiting the losers, things got a little spritzier out on the reef. It doesn’t seem fair to dispatch anyone from this sylvan paradise after only two days, but the forecast is a demanding mistress and the forecast here is demanding heats are run before this lick of southwest swell fades away. Today heats were won and heats were lost and the fine line between winning and losing, barely the thickness of a cigarette paper, was made patently clear.
Losing after scoring a perfect 10 takes a special skill, and Kai Otton has it. At this event last year, he opened his heat against Matt Wilkinson with a perfect 10. He then, somehow, conjured a way to lose after being unable to find a three-point backup score in half an hour of surfing. It still haunts him. “That was pretty much rock bottom for me,” he recalls. “Melling (Kai’s roommate in Tahiti who he’s christened Prince Joffrey after watching Game of Thrones together) still laughs at how sour I was after that. That was pretty shocking cause I needed a result at that time and it was the first wave of the heat so I had 30 minutes to find a three and I just couldn’t. I raced home, packed my boards as fast as anyone has ever packed a boardbag, and drove straight to the airport. I was straight out of there.” The thing with Teahupoo is that the dark, deep waters beyond the break—as deep as the mountains behind the village are high—have the ability to deliver a Hail Mary or a left hook, depending on who gets it. “It’s never over out there,” offers Kai. “It never is. Someone can turn around and get two nines in two minutes cause it’s a 30 second paddle out, and the wave is coming out of deep water so you never know what’s going to show itself.”
Kai lost here last year, and perfected the skill of losing with a perfect score when he did it again just two months later in Portugal, opening with a 9.97 against Julian Wilson before capitulating in a bad dream, one where you’re being chased by a malevolent pursuer but are running in honey. The two losses developed a special form of neurosis in Otto which results in sweating whenever he scores anything above a 9.5. I Google searched “perfection phobia” but no such condition exists, so Otto’s condition I believe is unique. Today against Travis Logie, Otto had flashbacks of last year when he opened with a 9.43, before again searching for a backup score that he just couldn’t find. “To be honest I didn’t think about it, I just tried to better a score. It took me about an hour, but I did eventually.”
Do you sometimes ever wonder why a large finger will occasionally point down from the clouds Monty Python style and touch one surfer on the crown of the head, a guy who will proceed to surf with divine mojo and wheelbarrows of good fortune, while the other guy is left living in a cardboard box? The heat where the paper-thin line between winning and losing was made patently clear today by featured Tour rookies Miguel Pupo and Yadin Nicol. Yadin came into Tahiti after an unlucky year. He’d lost in the second round in Fiji to Gabriel Medina, who opened the heat with a perfect 10 and, unlike Otto, had no problems backing it up. This morning had been slow, and so when Yadin opened with an 8.67 his fortunes looked to have turned. Queue the finger from Heaven touching Miggy Pupes on his young and wooly Brazilian noggin, followed immediately by three waves all topping nine-point scores. It was orchestral. Yadin lost with a heat score that would have won every other heat, and he was last seen headed north in the general direction of the airport in Papeete. “I got out there to see one of Yadin’s eight point rides and one of Miguel’s nines,” says Otto. “I know it’s Yadin’s first year and it’s just one of those things. I remember my first year; I started good but went shocking after. He can turn it around.”
Tomorrow the third round is likely to run. At dark here at Teahupoo, there is still enough juice in the swell to get it done if it can prevail through the night. Heats to note include two that have overtones of retribution. Mick Fanning has Fred Patacchia in the first heat of the round, a replay of a Round Three heat last year that effectively ended any chance Mick Fanning had at a third World Title. Joel Parkinson meanwhile has Taylor Knox, who beat him in 2009 and started the rot that would eventually cost Parko a first World Title. The Owen Wright/Miggy Pupes, Damo Hobgood/Josh Kerr, and Kelly Slater/Ricardo dos Santos heats all hold mondo interest, while Kai Otton has drawn good mate, Taj Burrow. If Otto opens with a 10, go to the fridge, grab a beer and sit down, because the following 20 minutes will be entertaining one way or another.
Surf News, 30 July, 2012 : Huntington Beach, California/USA – The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime rated Nike US Open of Surfing hosts nearly 30 elite ASP WCT surfers at Huntington Beach Pier as they do battle at one of surfing’s most prestigious events from July 28 to August 5.
The Nike US Open of Surfing is the sixth of nine ASP Prime events on the 2012 calendar and plays a crucial role in surfer’s qualification campaigns to join the 2013 ASP WCT.
Taj Burrow, Mick Fanning, Taylor Knox, Owen Wright are all out...GO LIVE HERE
Julian Wilson (AUS), 24, current ASP World No. 14, is used to the pressure that comes along with surfing in high-profile events, but admits the massive crowds that produce a stadium-like atmosphere in Huntington Beach add an extra dose of excitement while competing.
Nike US Open of SurfingPresented by Hurley & Converse
ASP Prime Men's event
ASP Women's World Tour event
ASP 4-Star Pro Junior Men's event
ASP 4-Star Pro Junior Women's event
Huntington Beach California
28 July - 5 August 2012
“Surfing in front of the crowd at the US Open makes it extra exciting,” Wilson said. “It’s the closest thing us surfers get to feeling like you’re trying to make that putt on 18 to win surrounded by crowds or hitting the winning run in a ball game, I love it! I’m just excited to get back to US Open and try to do better than I have in the past.”
Patrick Gudauskas (San Clemente, CA), 27, who is in his third year on the elite ASP WCT, has been a part of the Nike US Open of Surfing for over a decade and is hoping his veteran experience coupled with the local support will carry him to the podium this year.
“I’ve been surfing in the event since I was about 15 either in the trials or juniors and it’s one of the most iconic events in surfing,” Gudauskas said. “Being from Southern California, it’s one I’ve always wanted to win and with the huge crowd behind you and 10 years of experience, I’m hoping to do well this year.”
Gudauskas admits that tackling a draw that consists of nearly all of his ASP Top 34 compatriots and the finest pedigree of ASP Prime rated talent will call for his best effort and the San Clemente talent is excited for the challenge that lies ahead.
“This event really acts as a kickoff for the rest of the season and I looked at the draw and it’s basically a ‘CT event in a Prime, everyone is in the draw,” Gudauskas said. “I love that about the US Open and you really want to beat the best if you’re going to win. I can’t wait for it!”
Andrew Doheny (Newport Beach, CA), 19, a standout on the ASP World Junior stage and a leader of the next generation, has been awarded a wildcard into this year’s Nike US Open of Surfing and is excited for the opportunity to assert himself against the world’s best surfers.
“I’m really happy to have a wildcard in to the US Open,” Doheny said. “It’s definitely an honor. Huntington is right down the street and the waves get pretty fun this time of year so it should be a really fun contest and hopefully I can get through some heats surfing against some the best surfers in the world.”
Doheny, current No. 5 on the ASP North America Pro Junior Series, also has his sights set on the ASP 4-Star Nike US Open of Surfing Pro Junior, where he knows a standout performance will be beneficial in his campaign towards qualification for the 2012 ASP World Junior Tour.
“The Junior event is also a focus of mine and I’m going to try my best in both events,” Doheny said. “I’m looking forward to it all. This Junior contest has a lot of qualifying points to get into the worlds, so it’s equally important for me to do well in it.”
Top ASP surfers including 11-time ASP World Champion and defending event champion Kelly Slater (USA), 40, Australian icons Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, and Taj Burrow (AUS), 34, and the likes of elite ASP WCT rookies John John Florence (HAW), 19, and Gabriel Medina (BRA), 18, are just a few additional elite names in this year’s draw at the Nike US Open of Surfing.
Accompanying the men’s ASP Prime and ASP Pro Junior events will be the final stop on the ASP Women’s World Championship Tour and the ASP 4-Star Nike Women’s US Open Pro Junior as well.
While the action in the water is guaranteed to provide plenty of entertainment, the Nike US Open of Surfing, owned and operated by IMG, a global leader in sports and entertainment, is part of a major action sports festival that includes skateboarding, music, art and more.
Nike US Open of Surfing competition will begin on Saturday, July 28, 2012. LIVE streaming will begin on Monday, July 30 viawww.usopenofsurfing.com
The first great white shark of the Cape Cod summer season has been photographed just 50 yards from the coast off Chatham.
The 16-foot shark, estimated to weigh more than 2,000 pounds, was seen hunting seals near the shore by the Cape Cod Shark Hunters.
'I spotted a couple yesterday,' said pilot George Breen. 'One was about a quarter mile offshore and the bigger of the two was about 50 yards off.'
The 16-foot long, 2000 pound great white shark was spotted of the coast of Chatham, Cape Cod
Chancing upon the shark during the routine flight on Thursday, Cape Cod Shark Hunters are a research and public information group that tracks the infamous and misunderstood great white sharks all year round off the coast of New England.
'We know the areas where they hang out,' said Breen. 'Basically they hang out with the seals... their food source.'
The group issued a warning to beach-goers to be aware of where they are swimming off the beach and not to go out at dusk or dawn or near any seals.
'The shark was located just north of the Chatham Harbor inlet in close proximity to popular swimming beaches,' said the group.
'The sharks have returned to the area, so swimmers are asked to use caution.'
The deadly fish was photographed swimming near to seals, its natural prey
The director of Chatham's parks and recreation, Daniel Tobin, said to the Boston Herald that there are no plans to close any beaches.
'We're aware that there are sharks off the waters of Chatham and we're keeping an eye on things,' said Tobin.
'We're still evaluating the situation; we haven't closed any beaches and we don't expect to imminently unless more data proves it prudent.'
The sharks were spotted exactly at North Beach Island, which is part of the Nauset Beach chain and not far from where the Jaws movies were shot, on the picturesque island of Martha's Vineyard.
Cape Cod Shark Hunters provide an invaluable service to researchers as to the whereabouts of great white sharks especially during the busy summer vacation season
Tagging sharks and great white since 2009, the Cape Cod Shark Hunters work closely with the state Division of Marine Fisheries.
'Not only is he helpful for us in terms of telling us where and when he sees sharks so we can use that information to go ahead and implement our research program and tag the sharks,' said Greg Skomal, the state’s top shark researcher.
'We also share the information with the harbor master, and he then uses it as he sees fit to make decisions about beach management.'
COSTA MESA, California/USA (Wednesday, June 20, 2012) – Is Kelly Slater (USA), 39, the greatest athlete of all time? 49 elite ASP World Tour victories, 11 ASP World Titles, surely his competitive accomplishments go unmatched in the world of surfing, and when you stack Slater’s dominance up amongst the rest of sporting’s greats, the result is the same. Slater’s winning history over the last 20 years dwarfs the competition and Quiksilver recently broke down traditional sporting greats to put Slater up against the rest. What do you think? Do you think Kelly Slater’s the best the sporting world has ever seen? Check out the link below the see Quiksilver’s detailed comparison of Kelly’s accomplishments.
Fifty years into their career, the Beach Boys are still making waves on the Billboard charts. This week, they bested the Beatles for a Billboard 200 album chart record. As their reunion album, "That's Why God Made the Radio" (their first album of all-new material since 1992), bursts onto the chart at No. 3, the Beach Boys break a record by expanding their span of Billboard 200 top 10s to 49 years and one week. They first graced the top 10 with "Surfin' U.S.A." the week of June 15, 1963.
The Beach Boys' stretch between their first week in the Billboard 200 top 10 to their most recent is now the longest among groups, passing the Beatles, whose top 10 span covers 47 years, seven months and three weeks.
The Fab Four first entered the top bracket when "Meet the Beatles" rocketed 92-3 on the Feb. 8, 1964, chart at the blastoff of Beatlemania. The group most recently appeared in the top 10 with "1" the week of Oct. 1, 2011. The Rolling Stones are pushed to third among groups with the longest top 10 span on the Billboard 200. Their 45-year, six-month top 10 span ranges from the week of Dec. 12, 1964 ("12 x 5"), through June 12, 2010 ("Exile on Main St.")
Among all acts, Frank Sinatra boasts the longest top 10 span on the Billboard 200: 52 years, two months and one week. Sinatra first entered the top tier with "Songs for Swingin' Lovers!" the week of April 7, 1956, and last ranked in the region on June 14, 2008, with "Nothing but the Best." The Billboard 200 launched as a weekly chart in the pages of Billboard magazine the week of March 24, 1956.
Upon its arrival, "Radio" becomes the Beach Boys' highest-charting album since 1965's "Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)," which reached No. 2. The new release is their 14th top 10 and first since 1976's "15 Big Ones." The Beach Boys have topped the Billboard 200 with two titles: 1964's "Beach Boys Concert" (for four weeks) and 1974's "Endless Summer" (one week).
(CBS) –Garrett McNamara now has the Guinness World Record for the
largest wave ever surfed after riding a 78-footer in November off the
coast of Nazare, Portugal.
Mike Parson had the previous mark, riding a 77-footer off the Southern California coast in 2008.
The ruling became official on Friday by a panel of experts for the annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards.
McNamara
told Petethomasoutdoors.com, “It’s amazing we get to do what we do, I
am so grateful. The world record doesn’t mean as much to me, this is for
the town of Nazaré and Portugal and for all my family and friends
there.
“To be able to give them something to be proud of and
inspire them… I didn’t want to get caught up in it all, but I have to
tell you the truth, when they announced my name I got a bigger rush than
probably on all the waves I rode this year.”
That's
the word Al Jardine not-so-jokingly uses to describe the latest Beach
Boys reunion – this one consisting of himself and fellow founding Beach
Boys Brian Wilson and Mike Love, as well as longtime players Bruce
Johnston and David Marks.
After
decades of prolonged separations, legal spats and near reunions, the
core Beach Boys are back together, both on stage and for an upcoming new
album. Their rebirth, which became a reality earlier this year when the
group performed "Good Vibrations" with Maroon 5 and Foster the People
at the Grammys, has reawakened musical memories for 69-year-old Jardine.
"When
I'm rehearsing over there, I'm hearing stuff I haven't performed for
many years," Jardine said during a recent break from rehearsals for the
iconic band's 50th anniversary tour, which kicked off last week in
Tucson, Ariz.
"It's
wonderful to rediscover the music that way. When you're recording three
albums a year, as we did in the early days, it's yesterday's news," he
said. "You're on to the next thing. Boom. That stuff gets parked
somewhere though, and now it's becoming unveiled again."
When
the Beach Boys formed in 1961, it was mostly a family affair: school
pal Jardine established the group with Wilson and his late brothers,
Carl and Dennis, and their cousin, Love. Their breezy harmonic tunes and
embodiment of freewheeling West Coast sensibilities captured the
nation's attention just before the Beatles invaded the United States,
and continued for much of the 1960s with timeless songs like "I Get
Around" "Surfin' USA" and many more.
Following
the 1998 death of Carl Wilson, the group fractured and began moving in
different directions. Over the past 20 years, the Beach Boys' legacy has
been mired in messy conflicts that the group's members agreed to squash
in honor of their fans and the band's 50th anniversary, a hallmark
occasion even in this jaded age of reboots and comebacks.
"They
sense that we love each other and that we really want to share that
love with them (the fans)," said 69-year-old Wilson, the visionary
songwriter of such classics as "Help Me Rhonda," "Surfin' USA" and
"California Girls." Wilson, who has released solo albums in recent years
and now speaks with a slight slur, had a turbulent tenure with the
Beach Boys, notoriously leaving then returning to the band at one point
as he battled mental illness and drug abuse.
"When
it comes to the music, all the pretensions are aside," said 71-year-old
Love, who reached a settlement with Jardine in 2008 after launching a
lawsuit against him in 2003 over his usage of the Beach Boys name (he
also has sued Wilson on more than one occasion, most recently in 2005).
"All
the egos are aside. It's just all about those group harmonies," he
added. "The effect that it has on ourselves and other people is just
fantastic."
Love
said that the Beach Boys, who will be supported by a backing band
composed of members from the group's various touring entities, have
rehearsed more than 50 songs spanning all their albums, including "Pet
Sounds" and "Smile." The band noted the biggest challenge has been
figuring out who is singing lead on which songs, not recapturing their
chemistry.
"The
chemistry is there," said 63-year-old Marks, who recorded four Beach
Boys albums and has moved between the band's camps. "We pick up right
where we left off, especially the five of us together. The magic bubble
comes around us. It's the chemistry that's behind all successful bands,
like the Beatles and the Stones. It has to be there. It's special for
us."
The
40-city tour will take the band's members to bigger venues than in
recent years, including headlining performances at the Bonnaroo Music
and Arts Festival. To honor Carl and Dennis Wilson's contributions
(Dennis died in 1983), the band will play alongside videos of the late
founding Beach Boys during a tribute in the show.
"We
haven't gotten the holograms together yet," joked Marks, referencing
the hologram of late rapper Tupac Shakur that appeared at the Coachella
Valley Music and Arts Festival earlier in April.
For
a group who could hardly be considered boys anymore, they're
surprisingly unfazed by the prospect of a sweeping tour that will take
them across North America, Europe and Japan. Johnston noted that "hotels
are great" nowadays, while Marks was reminded that they no longer have
to unload or haul their own equipment in a "U-Haul trailer and station
wagon."
"The
heavy lifting is the writing, arranging and recording," said
69-year-old Johnston, who joined the group in 1965. "This is not the
heavy lifting. This is the chocolate cake for me because we get to pull
all of these magnificently arranged parts out and sing them live. We
don't have to write them now. We just have to pull them out of the
trunk."
The
Beach Boys will stuff more tunes into that trunk with the release of an
as-yet-untitled album of new material this summer. Love said the new
songs will recall their classic harmony-stacked style. The group plans
to perform their new single, "That's Why God Made the Radio," while on
tour and may add new tracks to the set list when the album is released.
"We're
slaves to the Beach Boys legacy," said Marks. "We're just out there
trying to keep that legacy alive. I can't count how many times people
have come up to me after shows and told me that they sing their children
to sleep with `Surfer Girl.' I look in the audience and little children
know the words to `Help Me Rhonda,' and 80 year olds are dancing in the
aisles."
Pisco the alpaca rides on a surfboard with Peruvian surfer Domingo Pianezzi, at San Bartolo beach in Lima.
Pianezzi is something of a specialist in the - admittedly small - field of surfing with animals. He's spent the best part of a decade training dogs to sit on his surfboard while he catches the waves, and has also trained a cat called Nicolasa to do the same. But now he's moved up to an even bigger animal.
'I've surfed with a dog, a parrot, a hamster and a cat, but when I was at a competition in Australia I saw people surfing with kangaroos and koalas,' noted Mr Pianezzi.
Pisco is thought to be the first alpaca who has ever been taught to surf. Of course, if you know of any previous surfing alpaca incidents, please feel free to let us know.
Pisco wears a floatation jacket while on the board, given that alapacas - mountain animals bred for their warm, silky coats - are not natural swimmers.
In case you're wondering exactly how drunk you'd have to be to come up with the idea of getting an alpaca to ride a surfboard, it's maybe worth noting that Pisco gets his name from the strong spirit distilled from grapes which is popular in Peru and Chile.
Stephanie Gilmore sent a clear warning to rivals after she and Taj Burrow clinched an Australian double in the season-opening surfing world championship events on the Gold Coast.
Local heroine Gilmore showed she was back in the mood to secure a fifth world title as she snatched victory from countrywoman Laura Enever with a 9.2 wave in the last minute to win the the Roxy Pro final 16.37 to 14.2.
Burrow gave early hope that an Australian can stop Kelly Slater running off with a 12th men's world crown as he won a thrilling Quiksilver Pro final from Brazil's Adriano De Souza, while 40-year-old Slater fell to Gold Coast's Josh Kerr in the quarters.
Gilmore said the new season felt like the reverse of her last season, which was marred by the after effects of an attack by a man wielding an iron bar near her home.
She won only one event while battling to third place in the 2011 series behind Hawaii's Carissa Moore, having won the world crown the previous four years.
''I'm 100 per cent more confident, my strength, my whole knowledge, awareness, everything. I just feel really good,'' said Gilmore after her win.
In the men's event, Burrow grabbed the highest wave score of the final, a 9.43, halfway through but De Souza fought back and the result hung in the balance until the judges tallied their scorecards and the West Australian prevailed 15.86 to 15.60.
An invention by seven surfers from Huntington Beach, California, the Hamboard is a result of combining a skateboard and a surfboard. Not many sports 'mergers' have been successful, but this may be one of the fortunate ones. Here's from the inventors ... "So, I know we make a really big skateboard. Ok, a HUGE skateboard...basically an uber longboard of longboards. And that is what people notice first about our boards - how big they are. And being logical creatures they think that since they are so big they will handle worse than a living room couch on wheels. It is interesting to see folks laugh at how big and clumsy (they think) our Hamboards are. Then they see someone ride one. Crack off a turn. Blow the tail. Walk the nose. Pull a Manual. They see the flow and carve, the grace and power. I love to watch the astonishment wash over people's faces as their perspectives are immediately and drastically shifted. Basically going from "how lame" to "how COOL - how do I get one?" I must admit, if I saw an enormous skateboard - like a Hamboard - sitting there, I would assume it would ride like crap. So, I guess I do understand where people are coming from. Hamboards - not just bigger ... better."
Newport Beach is made of opposing pieces, sewn together like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. Crusty old surfers carry sun-yellowed boards down the beach searching for waves, while affluent housewives lay on the sand in a Xanax-induced haze, killing time between collagen injections. With the amount of exposure Newport receives, and the fact that it has more pro surfers per capita than anywhere else on earth, you might expect consistently good waves—but you’d only be half right. There’s usually something to ride in front of the thousands of vacation rentals lining the coast between Crystal Cove and the Del Mar River Jetties, but paddling out will seldom be a life-changing experience. The surf industry loves Newport because it is the industry’s playground. When evenings run late, you’re seldom concerned with the surf at sunrise.
Gary Trust / Billboard
By DERRIK J. LANG 04/30/12 08:35 AM ET AP
