Posts Tagged ‘Surfing’

In the latest round of the  ASP World Champioship it was the Brazilian girl Silvana Lima who dominated the Australians in Peru. The surfers had gathered at San Bartolo in the last scheduled event before a 3 month break and after 5 events it was the Brazilian’s turn to show how its done.

This leaves Aussies Stephanie Gilmore (4716 points) and Sally Fitzgibbons(4224 points) still in first and second place for the 2010 World Championship but Lima is pushing them all the way. After her victory she has 3612 points and will not be taking the summer break lying on the sand and soaking up the sun.

Silvana Lima of Brazil winning the Movistar Peru Classic presented by IPD – photo courtesy of ASP

The win marks Lima’s third elite victory of her career and vaults the South American from 7th to 3rd on the ASP Women’s World Tour ranking.

“It’s the biggest result I have had since last year,” Lima said. “It’s really good for me. I feel like I have been surfing well this year but haven’t been making heats. This is very good for my confidence and the rest of the season. I wish we didn’t have such a big break though.”

The Movistar Peru Classic culminated in dramatic fashion with some major upsets and stunning performances. Sofia Mulanovich of Peru the former ASP Women’s World Champion (2004) and 2009 Movistar Peru Classic winner, once again pulled out some late heat heroics to best Chelsea Hedges of Australia  in the quarterfinals but was unable to overcome Sally Fitzgibbons in the semifinals.

Stephanie Gilmore of Australia and reigning ASP Women’s World Champion suffered a last-minute defeat at the hands of Lima in their Semifinal bout. It was therefore down to Lima and Fitzgibbons to fight it out in the final. Lima wasted little time in the final, assaulting the glassy righthanders with a barrage of hi-fi fin throws and searing carves, amassing the highest heat total of the event, a 16.50 out of a possible 20, to best her young Australian opponent who scored 10.77.

MOVISTAR PERU CLASSIC FINAL RESULT:
1 – Silvana Lima (BRA) 16.50
2 – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 10.77

MOVISTAR PERU CLASSIC SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Silvana Lima (BRA) 11.77 def. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 11.00
SF 2: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 14.60 def. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 11.56

MOVISTAR PERU CLASSIC QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Silvana Lima (BRA) 13.43 def. Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 11.23
QF 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 11.86 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 10.50
QF 3: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 15.27 def. Coco Ho (HAW) 13.70
QF 4: Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 14.14 def. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 13.43

Current ASP Women’s World Tour Top 5 (After Peru):
1 – Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 4716 pts
2 – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 4224 pts
3 – Silvana Lima (BRA) 3612 pts
4 – Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 3588 pts
5 – Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 3180 pts

The action comes from San Bartolo thanks to OlasPeruTV and shows Julia de la Rosa (Peru), Paige Hareb (New Zealand), Rossane Hodge (South Africa), Sage Erickson (USA), Silvana Lima (Brazil), Sofia Mulanovich (Peru) in the first round heats

Further footage from emfocosurf shows Silvana Lima, Jessi Miley-Dyer (Australia) and Nikits Robb (South Africa) in the first round at San Bartolo.

The next stop on the 2010 ASP Women’s World Tour will be the Rip Curl Pro Portugal from October 7 through 11, 2010.

You might have heard about the seriously extreme weather we had here in the South of France last week. Here at our home we had 230 mls in a few hours, but luckily we live in a very old house and those old Paysans knew where to situate their homes some 300-odd years ago. Slightly further north from us they had more than 300 mls and the devastation was and is appalling.

The Med comes up beautifully in bad weather, but pretty well the best we can hope for is 3m high waves and that’s pretty extreme for us. Nothing like this gorgeous video. Feast your eyes on surfing on Jaws (mauicoconuts)….

There are some sports where you just don’t get the chance to discuss every move, savour every glorious minute, dissect in detail the fabulous day you just spent – because there was no-one there to witness it!

Many of our extreme sports are individual sports – no team effort required. There might be other people out there on the same wave, but they are thinking only about themselves and the next move and will only be keeping an eye on you to avoid crashes etc, certainly not to enjoy your miraculous moments but endeavouring to create their own!

So what can you do about it? The best thing I’ve come across to date is, of course, a GoPro Headcam – the handiest little sports cam ever. It got the top selling Product award from Dealer News Top 100 Retailer Poll (Motorcycle Industry)in both 2008 and 2009.  “I can see GoPro completely dominating the POV market,” said Ben DeCamp, Staff Photographer of Surfer Magazine. But check it out for yourself in the following video from curlcurllocal.  It gives you a very clear idea of what this little ‘gadget’ is all about.

Alternatively, who says you only have to have one on your helmet… if you wear one.. a helmet I mean? You can put one of these great little things pretty well anywhere: on the sail, your board, your car, your bike, wherever you want. As Mark Anders from Surfline.com says  “…after testing it for the past six months I can honestly say it’s one of the coolest, handiest little cameras I’ve ever used.” Thanks to tomasleeman for this fun video:

GoPro are understandably proud of their product and consider it the world’s highest performance-wearable 1080p HD video and stills photo camera on the market. It gives professional quality picture and records at 30 and 60 frames per second. It’s battery time is pretty impressive too – it will record up to 2.5 hours on a single charge and up to 9 hours total on a 32GB SD card, although this card is not included in the price.

What is included, though, are mounts for attaching the camera to three helmets and two pieces of gear or vehicles, as well as a head strap allowing you to wear the camera like a headlamp. You can also pull this strap over helmets for easy camera sharing between friends. One of the above mentioned helmet mounts is a lace-through strap-mount designed for vented helmets.

GoPro are proud to say that they are also shockproof, bombproof and waterproof! As self-confessed sports geeks, and needless to say extreme sports are in there in spadefuls, they have made sure that this little number will impress even the most exacting customers.

Perhaps you should go check out the GoPro Helmet HERO WIDE Waterproof Digital Camera for Sport at Amazon.com yourself and make up your own mind…

With four events now completed in the women’s Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) world tour it looks as though the 2010 season is going to be a repeat of the 2009 season. Can anyone knock Aussie Stephanie Gilmore off her throne?

Gilmore is now in her fourth season of the ASP world tour and she is yet to be bettered – winning the title in her rookie year and to date she has retained that title.

This year she has won three of the four events – all in her home country – and has to date amassed 3960 points. Her nearest challenger is compatriot Sally Fitzgibbons on 3252 points who has been putting in some consistent performances and is the main threat to taking the crown.

Stephanie Gilmore of Australia – ASP world champion – photo courtesy of goldcoast.com.au

Sally Fitzgibbons, above, is Stephanie’s nearest rival in the points score – photo courtesy of etnies.com

The girls will now take a rest until June 5th when the tour moves to Peru but with a total of 5 ASP world tour events to come, after Peru there is Portugal and Puerto Rico in October before the final 2 tour events in Hawaii in December, those chasing Stephanie are going to have to produce some spectacular surfing.

The top 10 in the Women’s ASP world rankings for 2010 as of todays date are as follows:

• Stephanie Gilmore – Australia – 3960 points
• Sally Fitzgibbons – Australia – 3252 points
• Sofia Mulanovich – Peru – 2832 points
• Melanie Bartels – Hawaii – 2628 points
• Chelsea Hedges – Australia – 2628 points
• Carissa Moore – Hawaii – 2472 points
• Silvana Lima – Brazil – 2412 points
• Coco Ho – Hawaii – 2220 points
• Rebecca Woods – Australia – 1824 points
• Paige Hareb – New Zealand – 1632 points

The video below comes from ASPWorldTour and shows the two main protagonists, Stephanie and Sally, surfing at Bells Beach,Victoria, where the girls met in the semi finals.

Its going to be another great year for the ASP women’s world tour – we will keep you posted.

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.