Archive for the ‘Surfing’ Category

This is Cut Across Shorty a VS 4c climb, courtesy of The Jersey Rock Climbing Club:

I was going to tackle the British Isles as a group, but Jersey has so much to offer – great climbing, surfing and scuba diving to name just a few of the recommended activities, that I am going to go no further than this jewel of an island where a weekend full of action is waiting for anyone looking for a variety of extreme sports in one small area.

Climbing is a great way to get a body workout, while at the same time challenging your mind, and Jersey has a wide selection for you. The island has some of the best climbing areas in Europe and the variety of rock and unspoilt scenery make it a spectacular experience for beginners and experienced climbers alike.

It’s an ideal place to visit: perfect days, un-crowded cliffs and great climbing, regular dips in the sea to cool off and great pubs to retire to at the end of the day.

From the impressive 50m tower of The Pinnacle to the extensive and confusing buttresses of Grosnes, through the delightful ‘mini-cliffs’ at Corbiere and out to the north coast, there really is plenty here to keep you busy.  Homesick Angle on The Pinnacle is one the the best HVS (hard very severe) routes you could possibly hope for.

All the routes on the island (there are 1100 listed in the book) are trad and most of them are on high quality granite. The island has long been a bolt-free zone – the local climbing club originally had just two rules for the members – abide by the Country Code, and no fixed protection!

If you want to arm yourself in advance with some useful information, ‘Jersey Climbs’ is the first guidebook to be produced for Jersey in twelve years. It has 188 pages with lists, grades, advice and details of the 1100 routes  to be found there.

And then there’s the surfing…

Jersey’s shores are bombarded by waves and not only are they some of the best waves in the British Isles but they are also some of the warmest… always worth bearing in mind.

And there are great scuba diving opportunities here too, whether you want to investigate an old wreck or float amongst black faced pennies, corals and luminous jewel anemones in pinks, blues, greens and oranges. The summer months are even more interesting when the warm waters bring in  exotic marine wildlife  such as sea horses, dolphins and basking sharks. Jersey’s coastal seawater is of award-winning cleanliness and this is reflected in the abundance of sea life to be found there.

Other things you can do in Jersey besides rock climbing, abseiling and surfing are BloKarting on the beach, Sea Kayaking, Caving, Coasteering, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Cycling, Golf, Powerboat Trips, Fishing Excursions, Horse Riding and Zorbing. I’ve probably missed some out.

Not just a banking paradise then…

And we’re talking about a surfing competition here…. However, we are also talking about a juvenile competition so perhaps that makes a difference? Juvenile being under-18’s. In this particular case we are talking about the ISA Quiksilver Juvenile Surfing Championships in New Zealand. But what about everyone else?!

Interesting combination the New Zealanders – well at least today has been interesting from a news point of view: first they publicly photograph and name their most famous soldier in action in Afghanistan – almost definitely to the detriment of his safety, and yet they proclaim a total ban on alcohol for a sport renowned for its laid-back-ness and total cool factor.  Hmmmm…… Is there an anomoly here?

But back to the extreme sport we are meant to be talking about and not the extremeness of a country’s reporting quirks…

The Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, an Olympic style event, is the biggest annual surfing event in the world for Under 18 surfers, considering the surfing level, amount of competitors and participating countries. This is the pinnacle of the juvenile career of every junior surfer around the planet.

The 21 participating countries in New Zealand 2010 are: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Fiji, France, Great Britain, Hawaii, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Tahiti, United States of America, and Vanuatu.

This is the first time it has been held in the Australasia region. New Zealand being a natural choice because of its coastline packed with consistent waves.

It is reported that police are stepping up their presence for the championships at Piha Beach, west of Auckland, to ensure the event is trouble free and enjoyable for everyone.

The championships started on Thursday and up to 15,000 people are expected to crowd south Piha during the week long event.

“The primary focus of police will be on enforcement and compliance of the 24 hour liquor ban that is already in existence, the increased traffic flows to and from Piha, a zero tolerance to speeding driver behaviours, and merging with the daily crowds,” they say.

Officers from throughout the Waitemata and the Auckland police districts plus highway patrol, traffic alcohol group and team policing units will be on duty.

Ouch!

Behave everyone!!!

Piha Beach is a great location as it is considered to be one of Auckland’s most adventurous playgrounds for keen surfers. It was the birthplace of New Zealand board riding in 1958, and has been the scene of both New Zealand national and international surfing championship competitions.

However, it is a dangerous coast, the rip currents along this section of coast are very unpredictable and can shift with little warning, but the surf is relatively predictable and the life-savers very good at their jobs! Obviously they are not imbibing alcohol when on duty!

Tut-tut… I must be serious…

I am able to report that there was plenty of swell about for the first day of surfing, although it was a bit crumbly… possibly due to too many mixes and not enough spirit?

Enough, enough. Good luck everyone. Hope you have fun.

Stand up paddle surfing, or SUP, is a surface water sport, a variant of surfing where the surfer uses a paddle to move through the water while standing on a surfboard. Stand up paddle surfing is derived from its Polynesian roots. The Hawaiian translation is Ku Hoe He’e Nalu; to stand, to paddle, to surf, a wave.

The popularity of the modern sport of SUP has its origination in the Hawaiian Islands. In the early 1960s the Beach Boys of Waikiki would stand on their long boards and paddle out with outrigger paddles to take pictures of the tourists learning to surf. This is where the term “Beach Boy Surfing” originates, another name for Stand Up Paddle Surfing.

In the early 2000s Hawaiian surfers such as Dave Kalama, Brian Keaulana, Rick Thomas, Archie Kalepa and Laird Hamilton started SUP as an alternative way to train while the surf was down. As the years went on they found themselves entering events such as the Moloka’i to O’ahu Paddleboard Race and Mākaha’s Big Board Surfing Classic. Now you can find Stand Up Paddle Surfers in many of the Outrigger and Paddleboard races as participants within their own division.

One difference between the modern idea of surfing and SUP is that the latter does not need a wave. In SUP, one can paddle on the open ocean, in harbours, on lakes, rivers or any large body of water. One of the advantages of Stand Up Paddle Surfing is the angle of visibility. Because of the standing height over the water one can see both deeper into the water and further across the surface of the water, allowing better visualization of features others lower above the water may not be able to see, whether it is the marine life in the harbors, lakes and coves or the incoming swells of the ocean marching on the horizon.

We have used the material above from www.supglobal.com who claim to be the best stand up paddle website in the world which we most certainly agree with and therefore have much pleasure in directing you to their website – the link for which follows:  http://www.supglobal.com/

This great video below from rorycad shows what the sport is all about and gives you some basic lessons. Looks incredible fun and a must ‘to do’ for our next trip out west.

We always show the surfers at their best, but it is worth remembering that even they make mistakes!

Thank you ASPWorldTour for the video.

But what a great year it was for the ASP World Tour contestants.

Mike Fanning of Australia was crowned ASP World Champion 2009 after a dramatic late season run, winning an incredible 3 out of the last 5 events.  What made it all the more interesting was that early in the year, Fanning’s good friend and fellow Coolangatta resident Joel Parkinson won three of the first five events. All eyes were on the two friends on the last event of the season at the Billabong Pipeline Masters on Hawaii’s North Shore (tristan10brito).

The ASP Surfing Champion award is a title awarded annually to the best competition surfer for the year, today based on points earned for placings at events on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour. A qualification system decides who can compete on the tour, for a total of 44 men (called the top 44) and 16 women.

Australia ruled the day… Stephanie Gilmore was crowned the ASP Womens Champion.

World titles began as early as 1964 and America and Australia have dominated the score tables with South Africa coming a distant third:

Country	Total
United States	49
Australia	46
South Africa	3
Peru	2
Brazil	1
United Kingdom	1

The ASP itself was only formed in 1982.

As with almost every any sport there’s an element of luck needed in surfing competitions – surfing perhaps more than most. The competition format, types of waves and human judging all have an effect, which leaves plenty of room for speculation about excellent surfers who never won a title, or could have won more.

Four months ago Joel Parkinson seemed unstoppable winning the first two WCT events at the outset, followed by a ninth and a third. When he took his third victory with perfect scores at big Jeffery’s Bay South Africa, the media pundits dubbed 2009 “The year of Joel”. But fate, as so often happens, had other things in mind – in this case, a nagging ankle injury that would break Parko’s stride mid-season and Fanning moved steadily to the front of the pack eventually overtaking Parko with event wins at Lowers, France, and Portugal.

Stephanie Gilmore, meanwhile, at the age of 21, has claimed her third consecutive ASP Women’s World Title today, making history as the only surfer ever to win the prestigious crown each year they have competed at the elite ASP World Tour level (men’s or women’s).

On the last day of the competition there were 6 women in contention for the ultimate prize which makes Stephanie’s win all that more commendable. With each heat advancement and the narrowing of the field at the Gidget Pro Sunset Beach, Event No. 6 of 7 on the 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour, the irrepressible Gilmore navigated her way to her third ASP Dream Tour Title.

“It’s surreal to win for a third time,” Gilmore said. “It’s amazing! I woke up this morning and knew it was going to be a good day. The waves were building and you sort of get that fuzzy feeling throughout the day. I really don’t even know what to think about it. I just want to thank everyone for the support that I’ve had throughout the whole year.”

She is the most dominant female surfer in the world at the moment.

Steph and Mike come from the same town – isn’t that surreal!

Congratulations to them both for a sterling year.

The following photograph is from 16th December, 2004 and it’s happening again…stunning waves rolling in… Perhaps it’s a 5-year cycle?!

40 ft waves pounded the coast of Hawaii and waves 50 ft or bigger at the outer reefs were expected at Waimea Bay, North Shore until Wednesday. As a result the Quiksilver in memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surf contest was held last week. This competition only occurs when these enormous waves crash on the island’s coast. It’s happened only seven times in the last 19 years. Organized every winter, the tournament has rarely been held because surf at Waimea Bay hasn’t met its requirements: ride-able 20-plus-foot waves measured Hawaiian-style — from the back of the wave — or about 40 feet from peak to trough. The meet was last held 15th December,  2004… nearly 5 years to the day!

“There’s a lot of attention here,“ said Eddie Crawford, manager at the Surf ‘n Sea store in Haleiwa. “People are flying in from all over to surf these big waves.”

Teams of tow-in surfers (those who use jet watercraft to race into waves too big to paddle into) from around the world streamed in to challenge Jaws coming from as far afield as Brazil, South Africa and Australia.

The monster waves are powered by two storms north by northwest of Hawaii that will produced high surf through to Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Maui County officials even had to move the lifeguard tower at Baldwin Beach in Paia farther inland to protect it from wave damage whilst they prepared for exceptionally high surf and Honolulu firefighters stationed a helicopter at the Kahuku Fire Station  for potential rescues.

Professional surfer Garrett McNamara drops in on a large wave as another competitor’s surf board flies in the air at Waimea Bay during the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational surf contest on the North Shore of Oahu in Haleiwa, Hawaii December 8, 2009, but it was Greg Long of California who walked away with the cheque after winning the event.

“The power of these waves is absolutely frightening,” Buzzy Kerbox a Maui surfer said. “It’s like being thrown into a gorilla cage, and the gorilla does whatever he wants with you until you get out.”

In conditions like this a high-surf warning is issued by the weather service through. Lifeguards warn people to avoid entering the ocean in high-surf areas and to not turn their backs on waves while on the shoreline or while standing on rocky coastlines.

From the fusion of mainstream sports, Olympics and extreme sports the Ultimate Athlete will be found.

Athletes have always been strong, fast, and coordinated, but they are mostly specialized.  In today’s sports’ world that is not enough. The best of the best must also be versatile, daring, and able to adapt to all environments and arenas.  The Ultimate Athlete, the one who will win this event, must also excel at riding, swimming, skiing, surfing, climbing, skating, and much more.

I know we’ve previewed that video before, but it’s time to remind you that the search continues, and time is beginning to run out.

The SFUA U.S. championships start in June 2010. It will be a 6 day event featuring 20 sports and disciplines and will have the best all-around athletes, both male & female, going head to head in the same arena. No age category, no division, no invitation… and only one winner.

And ultimately only 24 athletes will compete in the 20 disciplines to discover who is the ultimate one. As one interested observer says “I just hope they include synchronized swimming. I’m not kidding. When I interned at the US Olympic Committee in college, a man in my office used to say he could be good at any sport – give him time and he could be really good. So one day someone invited him to try synchro. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen..” !!!

However, I’m not sure that sychronised swimming will be on the agenda… as, as far as I know, it has not yet been decided what the 20 sports are going to be, but if you think of the diversity of Oregan and cast your mind even further to the Gorge Games where kiteboarding, windsurfing, open water swimming, kayaking, and climbing were all on the agenda – well, the choice is wide. Add to that the perfect location for the already established and popular  sports of trail running and biking plus, it is being presumed, that the event will also bring in a large number of “traditional” sports such as road racing – on both foot and bike, and such everyday sports as golf, basketball and/or tennis.

The organisers plan to take advantage of Portland’s natural wonders – the Gorge and the Coast to showcase their event.

You are going to have to be an all-rounder to qualify in the last 24…

The prize money? A not to be sniffed at  $100,000.

Of slight concern is that there still does not seem to be a registration form so I do hope this event gets off the ground, but if you are interested, as an athlete, in getting more information you could always try contacting athlete@searchfortheultimateathlete.com