Posts Tagged ‘surfers’

Surfing is all about balance and skill and difficult enough to master with panache as it is – but TANDEM SURFING? Sort of like ice skating on waves? Now that really is extreme… does it classify as an extreme sport? That’s up to you to decide…

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Tandem surfing is not something new, and in fact the photograph below is positively modern. It is known to have been practiced as early as the 1930’s.

Begun in Waikiki where men and women surfed endlessly (nothing’s changed!) it seemed only natural to try surfing together and so tandem surfing was born. To really show off, the Waikiki boys would take tourists out for rides on their boards and to give them a more exciting ride they would pick the girls up into a shoulder sit or shoulder stand. Actually, no-one was aware of this, but it was easier for him to tandem surf with an untrained girl if she was ‘off’ the board. It is harder to turn and control the big tandem board with her standing on the deck. As soon as she is hoisted up on to his shoulders, he can ride and turn the board as though he were surfing alone. And so a new competition event was born.

Initially, tandem lifts were very basic and relatively easy, so normal size girls could partner the man. Now, more than 50 years after competition events first began, the lifts have evolved into complicated routines with intricate balance that requires small athletic women or girls. The rules are strict though: the girl cannot be lighter than half the bodyweight of the man, so if he weighs 200lbs she can be no less than 100…

The sport really developed in the 1960’s thanks to people like Pete Peterson and the Steve and Barrie Boehne of France. Peterson brought many new lifts that he had learned from  Muscle Beach – a famous place at the time where acrobats and weight lifters used to work out. The lifts grew from the basic 6 to over 25 by 1970. The Boehne’s were the first to combine several lifts on one ride. They specialized in transitioning from one lift to another while Barrie remains in the air without restarting from the board, and so the sport became much more interesting to do and watch.

It is interesting to note that nearly every lift that is being done today had been done by 1970.

Tandem surfing briefly died out in the late 1970’s, but Steve and Barrie decided to actively recruit new people into it and subsequently spent 25 years teaching new teams all the techniques and secrets that they had developed  over their competition years. “We help anyone, even our competitors, because once there were no competitors and we have learned that it is better for the sport to grow than to keep our techniques a secret just so we can win contests,” they said.

By 1995, tandem surfing had returned to Hawaii and there were dozens of teams in California.

And by 2007 the World Tandem Tour was taking place in 5 different countries: Maui, Hawaii; Noosa, Australia; Seignosse, France; Huntington, USA; Santander, Spain.

2009 saw the World Tandem Tour maturing yet again. More competitions have been devised and a specification book has been created and coefficient (stars) will be given to the contests. Professional judging and prize money are the rewards.

ITSA is the official international standard board for the sport and each major country gets its own representative. The main goal of ITSA is to develop the activity of Tandem surfing, promote it and professionalize it. Thanks to rorycad for the above video.

The best surfers from more than 32 countries are meeting in the perfect warm waves of Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica, to decide the winner of Team World Gold medal, as well as the ISA world champions in the Open Men, Open Ladies and Longboard divisions.

Billabong prides itself on being the most cosmopolitan of all the surfing events, attracting athletes from the four corners of the world.

The Billabong ISA World Surfing Games began in 1964 under the name ISF World Championships run by the International Surfing Federation, the first surfing international organization in history. In 1976 the ISF gave way to the ISA.

In 1996, a year after the ISA was recognized by the International Olympic Committee, its President, Fernando Aguerre, proposed a name change to World Surfing Games. He also created the Sands of the World Ceremony and the Parade of the Nations, to highlight the importance of the union of nations through surfing.

This is the first time in history that a Central American country has hosted the event and Costa Rica is the perfect choice.

So why Costa Rica?

Costa Rica, which translates literally as “Rich Coast”, was the first country in the world to constitutionally abolish its army. It has consistently been among the top Latin American countries in the Human Development Index. It’s ranked 5^th in the world, and 1^st among the Americas, in terms of the 2008 Environmental Performance Index. In 2007 the Costa Rican government announced plans for Costa Rica to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021. According to the New Economics Foundation, Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index and is the greenest country in the world. The HPI measures how much of the Earth’s resources nations use and how long and happy a life their citizens enjoy as a result.

And there’s great surf and howling monkeys. So why not Costa Rica!!!

Billabong, one of the greatest surfwear brands in the planet, is the new official event sponsor. Billabong’s trust is a new recognition to the ISA-sanctioned championships, providing additional promotion resources to the ISA’s work for a better surfing future.

The format of the event has changed after the announcement that the bodyboarders will have their own Bodyboarding World Championship. The teams will include  eight athletes of which four are Open Men, two Open Girls and two longboarders. Additionally each teams includes Managers, Coaches and other technical staff.

The world champs of the last event in Costa de Caparica, Portugal, October 2008 were:

• Open:    CJ Hobgood (USA)
• Women:   Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)
• Longboard:     Matthew Moir (RSA)
• Bodyboard:     Marcus Lima (BRA)
• Bodyboard Women:    Natasha Sagardia (PRI)

At the end of Day 5 in Costa Rica, Billabong’s update on the current situation is as follows:

“Big surf powerhouses Hawaii, Australia, France and the USA all placed Longboard team members into the next round, making up for costly losses inflicted yesterday. Both Hawaiians Kekoa Uemura and Bonga Perkins advanced to the next round after Hawaii lost two of its stars in Tuesday’s final eliminations elevating them into 3rd place with 16,960 points. The Americans and Australians also advanced both their longboarders, and are in a first place deadlock with 19,080 points each. France was helped hugely by early wins from both their Longboard teammates, but South Africa and Costa Rica were hurt when their men did not make the cut. Brazil and Costa Rica are neck and neck with 15,890 and 15,640 respective points.(I have to admit I hesitated printing Poo’s comment because of the lovely potential misinterpretation!)

Unexpected wins from complete dark horses were still a frequent result in the repercharge heats. Great Britain got both their men through, and surprise chargers like Tahiti and Argentina are also qualified. Bombshell surprise Mexico blasted through two repercharges and still fighting to make the next round. “The deciding factor for me was doing some really big floaters” said Tzabui Poo, from Mexico. “Earlier I was falling when I tried them, but in this heat I went big and landed them!”

The biggest upset of the day was Dieter Gerards from Cologne, Germany, who made it through round 1 and 2 of the main event.

“I’m really amazed that I was able to beat to Brazil and Tahiti,” said a still stunned Gerards. “Ten minutes went by without a wave late in the heat – but I stayed calm, waiting for the waves and watching the other surfers very carefully. When a good wave finally came my way I just tried to do put it all together,” said Gerards.”

Here’s a long, but mesmerising video from josemarketing showing us some of the action out there at the moment…

“Oh man it is not easy out there with the cold and the paddle, no jet-ski assist, massive paddle, freezing, but man, the waves are insane!” said Kekoa Bacalso, Hawaii.

A late start, but off at last, the Billabong Pro is starting its second day today. The waves at the legendary South African pointbreak yesterday were clean three-to-five foot (1.5 metre) and the world’s best surfers reveled in the opening day of competition.

Event No. 5 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay chose to make the most of the conditions on offer, opting to run the new competition format of man-on-man elimination matches from the outset, completing 18 heats of competition, highlighted with some incendiary performances.

“We’re sending Curren and Occy out there right now for the Clash of the Icons, starting around 7:15am and then we’ll be straight into Round 2,” said Mike Parsons, Billabong Pro Contest Director, when explaining why they had decided to go with the new format. “We’ve got some nice waves this morning, but the consistency isn’t quite there to call on the dual-heat system for now. We’ll monitor conditions and if it seems viable, we’ll pull the trigger.”

This video of the 2008 highlights (billabongbrasil) is the sort of wave the competition are hoping they will get before time runs out:

However, in the meantime, this competition has begun and so has the fun.

The world’s 45 highest ranked surfers, including 8X World Champion and current run-away ratings leader Kelly Slater (Florida), reigning World Champion Mick Fanning, defending event champion Taj Burrow (AUS) and former 3X World Champion Andy Irons (Hawaii) are all here.

Also in Jeffreys Bay are a whole panel of A-list surf journalists, photographers and videographers documenting, for national and global distribution, TV footage of each day’s action, saturating websites (including ours!) and webcasts worldwide with live video images and scoring accompanied by expert commentary in English, Spanish. Portuguese and French.

Although the waves were not memorable yesterday, rookie Nic Muscroft, who progressed to the second round after downing compatriot Josh Kerr in their Round 1 bout, had this to say: “It’s still a pretty challenging wave here though, especially with the sand build-up at the moment. It’s really fast.”

Heath Joske and South African veteran Sean Holmes are the only two wildcards through to the second round.

The forecast for the next three days … hmmm, not increasing it seems:

Well that’s bad news, but it seems to be the case.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, there is the possibility of a very small south 2- to 3-foot wind swell appearing Friday afternoon, which will be your best bet for a surf session before the upcoming doldrums.

So, as it’s Saturday and we’re off to do something exciting (though not surfing as the sea today is like a swimming pool down here in the Med), I thought I would just put a couple of teasers on the page for you… something you can dream about… for the next time.

It’s cheating rather as these fabulous waves are, of course, Teahupoo, with thanks to skatesurfsnowcom, and Teahupoo3.

For a bit of variety, have a look at some extreme Tasmanian slabs (AshBur7).

And we’ll end with a video from nzheraldtv showing the Billabong XXL nominees for 2009 on big extreme waves around the world:

Did I say a couple of teasers? Sorry, just couldn’t resist them…

The Billabong Pro (BillabongUSA) is being held at the iconic Jeffreys Bay from July 9th – 19th.

Jeffreys Bay is the heart of South Africa’s surfing spots and offers some of the country’s best and most extreme waves. Well, normally it does, but today is another lay day for the competition because of abnormally dismal waves – 2-3ft or just about 1 metre only.

So why go all the way to Jeffreys Bay?

Well, for a start it has South Africa’s premier wave – the Supertube. Since ‘Supers’ as she is colloquially known, is the best wave on the coast, there can be quite a crowd. Getting out to it is a challenge and, if you have never been there before, it is best to watch how the locals do it otherwise you could end up being pounded. Locals have learnt to tolerate the invasion but they will not tolerate bad manners. However, if you wait your turn and show respect you will end up getting waves.  It might take a few sessions but once your face is recognized and you earn a reputation for being respectful, you won’t have any problems.

A SW wind is best for Supers and because of the sand dunes, the break is protected no matter how hard the SW blows.The wave is best in the 4 – 8 ft category.  On the better days the wave breaks from the top of the point and winds all the way along the reef, past the car park to an awesome barrel section.  Then its kick out time before the wave closes out at Impossibles.

Further down the point, one comes across a fun barrely wave called Tubes.  It is a short and sometimes intense ride but loads of fun. The wave is best in the 4 – 5 ft category and it is useful to know that on the bigger days there is a strong rip. Best when it’s offshore on a SW wind, it also likes a S or SW swell direction.  There is relatively small take off section, which means Tubes cannot hold a large crowd.

Point was the first wave discovered by long boarders in the early 1960’s.
Not as protected as the other waves on strong SW day’s, but it does handle a large swell.  The bowl offers some heavy take-offs, but after that the wave mellows out and becomes a bottom turn, cut back combination wave.  On a really good day, barrels can be found here as well.  A low tide means waves break right on the ledge and you can get fun waves here when it is too small to surf anywhere else. Point is best in the 3-8 ft range.

And then there’s Albatross. This wave is slightly out of town and works best on a NW wind and at low tide. It can be epic but it is usually better somewhere else – no doubt that’s why it’s called Albatross!

Boneyards is Boneyards for a reason – it breaks in very shallow water. It can be found at the top section of Supers and breaks both left and right. It works best with a  light NW wind.

Magnatubes is probably the heaviest wave in Jeffreys Bay. It’s gnarly, unpredictable and sometimes just plain nasty! It’s best at 3-5ft, needs a NW, and likes high tide.

Kitchen Window, or ‘Kitchens’, is a mellow reef break which is very underrated. A light SW wind is best on a mid tide.

Main Beach is the least exciting of them all and generally closes out.

You might now understand why the  Billabong Pro surf contest is held each July at Supertubes…  Despite the inconsistent conditions today, improved swell models indicate a better outlook for the coming days.

And it’s not only surfers who enjoy Jeffreys Bay. Watch this lovely video from scubaduck, and with thanks to David Attenborough for his, as always, fine production.

You might have noticed something new on our sidebar. SocialVibe has created a way of helping good causes and charities, and we have chosen to support a project that is close to our hearts – the protection of our oceans.

The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit, grassroots, environmental organisation dedicated to protection and enjoyment of our oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of surfers in Malibu, California, the organisation has grown exponentially.

So you see, surfers are not just beachbums!

Apart from being avid followers of the surfing life, why choose this particular project?

Well, this is something we’ve ranted about before – but did you know that there is a plastic soup in the middle of the Pacific Ocean – known as the dead zone? Here’s a depressing, but important short video from StrangeDaysAction spelling out a few facts for us:

Marine scientist Captain Charles Moore of the Agalita Marine Research Foundation describes a dead zone, an oceanic desert, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean which he calls: Plastic Soup. This trashbin is a huge – I mean seriously HUGE – deep churning cesspool of plastic bits definitely bigger than the state of Texas, and, some say, even bigger, possibly, than AFRICA ! These plastic bits are ingested daily by marine life. And guess what? Who eats marine life? We do.

Scary stuff hmmm?

Captain Moore has measured 6 pounds of plastic for every 1 pound of plankton. He predicts that, unless we do something, in 30 years there will be 60 pounds of plastic particles for every pound of plankton.

And what eats plankton? Plankton is literally the food of life. It is vitally important in the food chain of all marine life.

And lest you are a bit casual about this topic and shrug your shoulders and say, “well, it’s only the Pacific. It’s not our problem, someone will be able to sort it out in due course…” Don’t be misled – there is a similar cesspool in the Atlantic.

Here’s a photograph from National Geographic of an open-air garbage dump which tarnishes the sapphire coast of Barrow, Alaska. Disgusting, isn’t it.

And why should we get personally involved? Well, if you windsurf, kitesurf, scuba dive, snorkel, surf, sail, kayak, freedive, deep water solo to name but a few – you should be concerned. It concerns you directly.

This problem is very nearly out of control. We seriously need to do something about it. And we need to do something NOW.

So click on the sidebar please!

Thank you.

And I’ll leave you on an equally miserable note. Here’s a video from seareport01 on the problem in the Pacific…

So come on guys, let’s do our bit to save our oceans…