“For fifty gees, a kid will try and change the world.” - Andy Irons

Dusty Payne was no doubt stoked beyond belief upon claiming the win at the Oakley Pro Junior Challenge in Bali this past October, pulling in $20,000 for a few days at the beach will do that for you. However, it turns out the next morning’s session, held in an alcohol-induced haze fueled by the previous evening’s debauchery proved to be a lot more fruitful for the 20 yr. old from Maui. On his second wave, Payne unknowingly secured another $50,000 as his massive launch has been deemed the winner of the 1st ever Kustom Airstrike. $70,000 in the span of two days isn’t too bad and Dusty has been on a tear ever since. Following his shenanigans in Bali, Payne barely missed out on becoming the youngest Triple Crown winner ever. In short…Dusty Payne is blowing up.

“Dustin is wearing beige athletic shoes, black jeans and a t-shirt with the world Volcom spelled out above the heads of drunks. “That’s me,” he says, pointing to a stout redhead. He doesn’t know how right he is. We knock on the shelf of the hidden bookcase, the agreed signal. Harry the man from Kustom, steps out, hands over the monied coat and says: “Congratulation, you fruit, you’re fiddy gees richer.”

On a side note….it’s absolutely incredible to see the next generation of surfers explode right before our eyes. Kelly Slater just got taken out by a wildcard contestant for the second time in as many events (Julian Wilsen, Owen Right). Jordy Smith is on a tear and meeting the giant sized expectations that have been heaped on his shoulders. And guys like Payne, Dane Reynolds, Clay Marzo, Kai Barger, and so many others that make up the Under-25 crew just keep blowing minds in every direction. It’s an exciting time for surfing…so get out and surf!

For whatever reason, Maui’s group of young talent just continues to blow up harder than anyone expected. The latest of the Valley Isle’s rippers to officially make his claim as one of the elite under-22 surfers in the world: 19 yr. old Kai Barger.

Word of Barger’s victory at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships came as a surprise to most of us, probably even all of us. If a surfer from Maui was going to become the new ASP World Junior Title holder, chances are it was going to be Dusty Payne or even Granger Larsen. And Barger apparently felt the same way. “I’m as high as Saturn’s kite baby!” Barger said after his monumental victory. “Out of all the incredible surfers in this event, like Dusty and Granger and Julian Wilson, I probably had the least amount of confidence, but I guess this goes to show that every dog has his day and today’s mine!”

The fact that Kai was an afterthought as far as Maui’s surfers go is a testament to how stacked the line-ups must be over there. As far as making names for themselves, you would be hard-pressed to find two surfers who did more to announce their arrival in 2008 than Dusty Payne and Clay Marzo. Payne’s win in Bali and nearly becoming the youngest Triple Crown of Surfing winner went right along with Andy Irons and Kelly Slater labeling Marzo as the best 18 yr. old surfer in the world in Marzo’s Just Add Water. Now, Barger’s huge win to kick-off 2009 will keep the spotlight firmly on Maui’s young crew for years to come.

There’s something special going on over on Maui. If anyone has any idea just what it is, I would love to hear why…..

19 yr. old Dusty Payne was doing a fine job of making this year’s Vans Triple Crown of Surfing his coming out party. If you had yet to hear of the young ripper from Maui, you have now. Heading into his Round 3 heat at the Pipeline Masters yesterday, there was loads of hype surrounding the possibility of Dusty becoming the youngest Triple Crown winner ever. Payne unleashed stellar performances at Haleiwa and Sunset, he surfed the early rounds at Pipe in a way that left many calling him a young Bruce Irons….and then Parko happened.

To say Joel Parkinson came into their Round 3 match-up under the radar would be an overstatement. It would be impossible for a surfer with the resume of Parko to do so. But this being the end of, by Joel’s own standards, a disappointing 2008, it seemed possible that the smoking Payne could continue his run all the way to Triple Crown glory. Not very far into their heat, Parko slammed the door shut by coming out of a “there’s no way in hell he’s making it out of this one” Backdoor barrel. The second he slipped out from under the wave, everyone knew it, perfect 10. A few minutes later he did what only Kelly Slater and Shane Beschen had done before him, he smoked another Backdoor pit for a second 10 and essentially closed the door on the young Hawaii upstart. “I couldn’t have done anything,”said Dusty,”It’s hard to get 11s.” While Joel was obviously stoked beyond belief, he was quick to put it all in perspective, “I never thought I would get two perfect 10s,” Parkinson said. “It’s not something you hear about every day, so I’d never really thought about doing it. I definitely claimed it like I had won an event for a second, but then I had to settle down and tell myself, ‘All you did was make a heat!’ The next heat I paddle out for, I’ll have to remember that.”

To this day, Slater talks about his perfect 10’s at Teahupoo in ‘05 as a turning point for him as he was making his way back to the top. Will it be the same for Parko? Who knows, but yesterdays performance at Backdoor by Joel Parkinson was a site to behold, and one that will remain in the record books for years to come.

Sunset Beach put it’s best face forward for nearly the entire second leg of the Vans Triple Crown, so much so that many are calling this one of the all-time great events ever held at Sunset. As amazing as the conditions were throughout, the performances unleashed by the competitors were even more remarkable. And while guys like Jordy Smith, Dusty Payne, Tom Whitaker, and Joel Parkinson surfed the burly right-hander with as much style, power, and grace as humanly possible, it was the performance of goofy-foot surfer C.J. Hobgood that ended up standing above all as the 2001 ASP world champion pulled out an unexpected victory yesterday on his way to winning the O’Neill World Cup of Surfing.

With the win, Hobgood became the first goofy-footer in 11 years to win at Sunset Beach. It goes without saying, C.J. was through the roof following his performance at a firing Sunset. “It’s perfect size and really clean. There was probably one or two sets a heat that were too big,” Hobgood said. “Just some macking nuts waves out there. “My usual experience out at Sunset is just getting worked pretty much. This ranks up there with my WCT wins and everything else because I never totally pictured myself winning this contest so it ranks that much higher.”

With O’Neill’s own Jordy Smith just completely blowing up throughout much of the final day, no one really saw C.J. coming. Jordy surfed at such an amazingly high level throughout that it almost seemed pointless to run the final. But what Sunset giveth, it taketh away. Jordy injured his leg and snapped his board in the final heat; Hobgood pounced on the opportunity to take over.”That just shows you what Sunset can do. You just roll the dice, go out and sometimes Mother Nature is good to you and other times it just beats you down. “There’s four guys out there, but you never really see your competitors the whole time. It’s Man versus Nature out there and that’s what makes Sunset so challenging and appealing.”

Congratulation’s C.J. Hobgood, winner of the 2008 O’Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach!

FINAL:
1st- CJ Hobgood (US) 15.00 (8.5 and 6.5) $15, 000
2nd- Tom Whitaker (Aus) 12.67 (7.67 and 5.00) $7,500
3rd- Marcus Hickman (HI) 8.33 (6.33 and 2.00) $4,500
4th- Jordy Smith (Zaf) 2.86 (1.73 and 1.13) $4,400

SEMIFINALS:
H1: CJ Hobgood (US), Marcus Hickman (HI), Dusty Payne (HI), Mick Fanning (Aus)
H2: Jordy Smith (Zaf), Tom Whitaker (Aus), Joel Parkinson (Aus), Ian Walsh (HI)

QUARTERFINALS:
H1: CJ Hobgood (US), Dusty Payne (HI), Yadin Nicol (Aus), Rhys Bombaci (Aus)
H2: Mick Fanning (Aus), Marcus Hickman (HI), David Weare (SAf), Torrey Meister (HI)
H3: Jordy Smith (SAf), Joel Parkinson (Aus), Kamalei Alexander (HI), Bede Durbidge (Aus)
H4: Tom Whitaker (Aus), Ian Walsh (HI), Greg Emslie (SAf), Dion Atkinson (Aus)

The prestigious Sunset Beach has a way of separating the men from the boys. And that’s exactly what the famous North Shore right-hander is doing for the early rounds of the 2008 O’Neill World Cup of Surfing.

The scene at Sunset today was heavy. A building swell was adding to the already 7-10 ft. waves that were rolling through the wind and the rain. It was the type of Sunset that leaves many of the contestants wondering why in the hell they even signed up for this event in the first place. And that’s just how the Occy’s, Bruce’s, Sunny’s, and Kamalei Alexander’s of the world like it.

Those four, along with a couple of young hawaiian upstarts in the form of Dusty Payne and Torry Meister, stood out from the rest today as the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown got moving. The first two rounds of the event are now in the books and Rd. 3 will likely get the call tomorrow morning. Forecasters expect the swell to continue building throughout the night. If the weather clears up, we could be looking at an epic Sunset tomorrow. With some juicy heats on tap and everyone scratching for points in the final WQS 6-star event of the year, here is to hoping Mother Nature cooperates.

In what was supposed to be an event that saw those atop the WQS standings solidify their positions and inch ever closer to a 2009 Dream Tour berth, the Reef Hawaiian Pro instead saw opportunities open up for those still trying to make their way into the Top 15. With half of the 32 top seeds for the event in Haleiwa crashing in the Round of 64, the doors flew open and surfers like Dusty Payne, Kekoa Bacalso, Jihad Khodr, and Reef Hawaiian Pro winner Michel Bourez all took advantage of the valuable ‘QS points left on the table by the surfers who bowed out early in the event.

Time is running out on the year, and the WQS situation just got a whole lot more interesting. Here is how things are looking now for those trying to seal their spot on the 2009 Dream Tour-

The current WQS ratings Top 20 are:

1 Curran,Nathaniel USA 13200
2 Bourez,Michel PYF 12775
3 Davidson,Chris AUS 12525
4 Kling,Gabe USA 12476
5 Khodr,Jihad BRA 12150
6 Kerr,Josh AUS 12075
7 Bacalso,Kekoa HAW 11913
8 Muscroft,Nic AUS 11900
9 Boal,Tim FRA 11888
10 Pires,Tiago PRT 11750
11 Barca,Dustin HAW 11726
12 Emslie,Greg ZAF 11626
13 Courtney,Drew AUS 11600
14 Lipke,Marlon DEU 11450
14 Weare,David ZAF 11450
16 Gudauskas,Patrick USA 11438
17 MacDonald,Phillip AUS 11263
18 Bettero,Hizunome BRA 11125
19 Romao,Simao BRA 11000
20 Simpson,Brett USA 10838

The deep pockets of Nike accelerated the integration process of their Nike 6.0 brand into the surfing industry. Their willingness to dig into those deep pockets means they’re probably going to be around a while.

16 yr. old Carissa Moore appears to be the latest of surfing’s bumper crop of young phenoms going with the brand that Jordan built. Evan Slater from Surfing wrote that “according to her longtime agent, Bryan Taylor, she’s agreed to terms on two major deals – one with Red Bull and the other with Nike 6.0….All said and done, the 16-year-old Punahou junior will likely be enjoying one of the most lucrative contacts in female pro surfing history (estimated to be in the range of three-quarters of a million dollars by one anonymous source).”

Nike 6.0 has already grabbed onto a solid number of up and coming rippers, such as Dusty Payne (recent winner Oakley Junior event in Bali), Koa Smith, and Nat Young (recent winner at O’Neill C.W.C.). They held nothing back and brought out all the stops (phone calls from Tiger, soccer kicks from Ronaldinho) in an unfruitful and well-publicized attempt to sign Jordy Smith last year. Their first ASP surf comp., the 6.0 Lowers Pro, went off smoothly in May and becomes a 6-star ‘QS event in ‘09. Now with the addition of Carissa to the women’s side of things, there are plenty of clear indications that Nike’s venture into the surf industry is one they are seriously committed to.

What does all of this mean? Nike wants in on the surf industry and is willing to freely drop the money to do it. By snagging onto as much of the junior talent as possible, as well as getting involved with the ASP tour circuit via the WQS, they are hoping to set themselves up for big things down the road. Will it work? It’s hard to say right now. While it’s cool to see surfing’s youngsters get financially rewarded in ways we’ve never before seen, the surf industry as a whole can be pretty fickle and it’s going to take more than star power and loads of cash to get the respect of surfers worldwide.

Whatever the outcome, Carissa Moore has to be seriously pumped on her huge new deal. She’s definitely quick to realize the magnitude of joining forces with a company that has all of the assets that Nike currently holds, even if they are unrelated to surfing, “It’s just an honor to be a part of such an incredible team. It’s very humbling when you look at the caliber of the athletes Nike sponsors.” Carissa Moore is now the newest one of those high caliber athletes and we all look for big things from her in the years to come.

It had been more than eight years since Hawaii’s 19 yr. old surfing prodigy Dusty Payne last won an event. Although he’s finished near the top many times over this span, most recently with his 3rd place finish at the Oakley Pro Junior Challenge this past May at Trestles, the highly-touted Payne has been unable to find his way to the top of the podium. That streak came to an abrupt end today as Dusty surfed like a seasoned pro on his way to a huge victory at the Oakley Pro Junior Challenge in Bali. “I haven’t won an event in so many years,” said Payne. “It’s the best feeling in the world. That’s why I still compete.”

Keramas was firing near 6-8 ft. surf for the final, and the chance to surf the flawless right was as equally rewarding for Payne as the $20,000 prize Payne will be taking back to Maui. “It’s the best contest I’ve ever surfed in,” said Payne,”It’s been my dream to surf a contest at Keramas. The waves were just so good, I’m so stoked with how it turned out.”

Almost as stoked with the results of the event was runner-up Marc Lacamore from France. Lacamore, a goofy-footer from Hossegor, jumped out to an early lead in the final but was unable to withstand Dusty’s methodical shredding at Keramas. Although he won’t be going home with the win, Lacamore was all smiles after the event and received $7,500 from Oakley for his efforts. “I’m really happy right now,” said Lacamore. “Although I didn’t win I still posted a really good result against the world’s best juniors. Dusty has been surfing amazingly all week, so to go up against him in the final was incredible.”
All of the boys put on quite a show in Bali and our hats are off to every one of them. Congratulations to Hawaii’s Dusty Payne on his impressive victory at the Oakley Pro Junior Challenge in Bali!

If you’ve yet to see just why it is Dusty Payne is turning heads with every wave he takes off on, take a look at this dirty little diddy from the Surfline Rising Stars series. The Nike 6.0/Volcom/Body Glove ripper is pure fire when he surfs!

For someone taking part in only his second event in the 2008 year since coming off a major knee injury, Maui’s Dusty Payne is doing quite alright. Payne has unleashed his arsenal on Keramas and now sits as the favorite heading into the quarterfinal rounds of the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge taking place in Bali. One of the faces of a seemingly brilliant future for Hawaii surfing, the 19 yr. old Payne didn’t appear to be feeling the pressure of surfing for the $20,000 payoff bring offered up by Oakley (the richest ever for a junior event). “Everything is a bonus from here,” he said. “There’s no pressure on me. I’m surfing with my friends and having a blast. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Payne found himself in a hole during his highly anticipated battle with Australia’s Lincoln Taylor. Dusty kept his cool and put down scores of 8.90 and 8.80 in the 6 ft. surf, and in doing so he sealed himself a spot in the quarterfinals. “Lincoln had a really good start and got the first good wave of the heat,” said Payne. “I got one right after him and stuffed it up. After about 10 minutes I finally got one good score, so I just kept busy and kept that rhythm right through to the end of the heat.”

Dusty faces South African Nick Godfrey in the final heat of the quarter’s tomorrow. Shaun Joubert, Miguel Popo, Marc Lacamore, Made ‘Garut’ Widiartha, Peterson Crisanto, and Mitch Crews round rest of the Oakley Pro Junior field.

* In its inaugural year, the 2008 Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge has travelled the globe since February. With a total of six events for junior surfers to qualify, the Global Challenge Championship will connect four days of competition during a 10-day waiting period, October 7-17 in Bali, Indonesia. The series kicked off at North Stradbroke, Queensland, Australia, followed by, New Pier, Durban, South Africa; Lower Trestles, San Clemente, Calif., USA; Itamambuca Beach, Ubatuba City, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Shidashita Point, Chiba, Japan and Grand Plage, Lacanua, Gironde, France.

Photo 1: Brazil’s Peterson Crisanto takes to the sky over the Keramas tarmac en route to defeating Hawaii’s Kai Barger in their round three face-off at the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge at Keramas in Bali, Indonesia today. Image: Russ Hennings

Photo 2: Hawaiian ace Dusty Payne (Maui) staking his claim as the surfer to beat, exploding to life en route to eliminating Australian Lincoln Taylor in their round three face-off. Image: Russ Hennings