If the ‘08 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast was any indication of how the rest of this years ASP tour will go, there is much to look forward to. The conditions all week at Snapper Rocks and D-bah were average at best. The competition itself however, was exceptional.

THE KING - When it was all said and done, it was a familiar face on the podium. With so much focus on many of the other surfers, he decided to give us all a reminder of what it is that makes him so great. The man has ice-water in his veins. In almost every heat he surfed at the Quik Pro he seemed to pull out huge scores right when he needed them most. He seems to be leaning toward not going to Bell’s, or so he says, but here’s to hoping he shows up. It is a completely different tour without Kelly, and we’ll all be better off if his lead-off victory at Snapper will fuel his fire to continue on in search for his 9th world championship.

THE OTHERS - Although I’m sure its of no consolation to Mick Fanning, Slaters uncommitted stance on surfing a full schedule in ‘08 combined with his runner-up finish at Snapper leave him in a solid position as he starts off his campaign to defend his title. In fact, if the ASP judges continue to reward Mick’s mechanical surfing as much as they did in the Quik Pro, Slater may be the only surfer capable of taking his crown. There is no denying the judges are quite taken with Fanning’s style.

Last years rookie of the year Jeremy Flores picked up right where he left off and has made it known that he deserves to be considered among the title for this year and years to come. He surfs like a young Kelly Slater and will start seeing more and more of the winners circle as he polishes his game. We all know he wants that world title more than anything and it’s only a matter of when he wins it, not if.

Both Parko and Taj came into this year with added pressure and while they killed it early on, both were looking for better results from their Snapper runs. The way they respond at Bells will tell us just how serious they are at making a legitimate title-run.

THE JUDGING - Slater won yesterday, but had Mick pulled off the 8.61 he needed to come out on top at Snapper there would have been a lot more made of the questionable judging. While I’m not sure it’s intentional, there seems to be some real issues with how each judge is scoring a wave. Slater opened his bag of tricks and was surfing creatively while Manning stayed with his conventional massive bottom turns and snaps. Mick’s conventional style scored very well and go towards demonstrating the issue that surfing is facing. Even the judges themselves seem to be at a crossroad when it comes to how they score each maneuver. It will be impossible for the style of surfing on tour to progress if the progression isn’t rewarded. Surfing is headed for a revolution of progression and innovation, and hopefully the ASP judges will begin to see that.

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Leading up to the 2008 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast all of the talk and hype was centered around the ‘Coolie-kids’ as well as Jordy and Dane’s first full year on tour. That was just fine with Kelly as it took much of the focus and pressure off of him.

Eight-time world champion Kelly Slater started of this years ASP world tour on top with an unbelievably impressive performance at Snapper Rocks. Making this victory all the more impressive is the fact that Slater had to face 3-time world champ Andy Irons and then follow that match-up with a semifinal battle with last years rookie of the year Jeremy Flores just to make it to the final.

In the final, Slater overcame hometown favorite (as well as some hometown judging, but more on that later) Mick Fanning 17.94 to 15.23 to claim his second Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast title and position himself atop the ratings for the first time since claiming his last ASP World Crown in 2006.

Where does that leave the future of Slater as far as the tour goes? That seemed to be the question on everyones minds following his triumph. The way it’s looking, with it apparent that not even Slates knows if he’s going to be at the next stop at Bells, that question won’t be answered until the last few days leading up to the event.

So will he continue on to number 9? Who knows. But for now, Congratulations Kelly Slater, the 2008 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast Champion!

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Snapper Rocks is definitely heating up. Round 3 of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast came to an end yesterday and saw all of surfing’s heavyweights aligning themselves for a winning run at the WCT’s opening event. Misdirected swells and swinging tide have kept the conditions at Snapper fluctuating and was the motive for an extra five minutes tacked on to every heat. For surfers like Mick Fanning, Taj Burrow, and Andy Irons who came out absolutely firing, five minutes was all they needed to seal their spot in the 4th round. For others like Bruce Irons and Bobby Martinez, even with the extra five they could just not get their game going.

RISERS - There were several heats in round 3 that were over just as quickly as they started. Within minutes of making it out to the line-up for their respective heats, Jordy Smith, Fanning, Burrow, and Irons, and many of the other favorites found themselves with nearly insurmountable leads. This early aggressiveness was key in round 3 as the surfers who fell behind early spent the rest of their heats searching for waves that could produce the massive scores needed to compete. With Snapper breaking like it has been, it has made it quite difficult to tell which waves will set up for big rides and which will simply fade. Smith, Burrow, and Irons in particular really unleashed incredible performances in their heats. Taj’s 9.87 was wave of the day as he unleashed an assault of 15 or so brutal turns and snaps on an unsuspecting wave. This guy really looks to be in top form as we move into the 4th round. Slater, Parko, and Dean Morrison all looked as solid as ever in Rd. 3 as well.

DROPPERS - The struggles of Julian Wilson against Fanning was understandable. Before he even knew what hit him, Wilson was facing a combo situation as judges had heavily rewarded the world champ for his series of trademark ‘Fanning swoops’. Possibly cracking under the hype that has surrounded Jordy as well as surfing a break that does not favor goofies, Bobby Martinez really struggled to get anything going whatsoever while Jordy simply did what Jordy does and blew minds. With that being said, Bruce Irons gave what had to be the most disappointing as well as uninspired performance of the round. Paddling out into deteriorating conditions in what was the last heat of the day, Irons look disinterested from the outset. Adrian Buchan put together a solid, but not amazing combination of waves and held an early lead that someone of the caliber of Irons should have easily been able to overtake. But Bruce just sat and sat. It wasn’t until around the 12 minute mark that he finally took off on a wave. Even once up and riding for the first time in the heat, the disinterest was apparent and his body language screamed he would rather be someplace else. Irons finished his Quiksilver Pro bid with a meager score of 6.44 in his outgoing heat. The 3rd round also saw rookie Dane Reynolds get taken out by local Dean Morrison. Reynolds had one wave that scored very solidly, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Morrison’s knowledge of a break he has surfed thousands of times before.

KEY MOMENT - I’m not sure how many who were watching the webcast caught this, but the scoring of Andy Irons top wave in heat 15 surely has to raise the eyebrows of the ASP as well as everyone on the ‘CT. Iron’s wave was definitely on the more ‘unconventional’ side as he followed some vicious snaps with a straight-air and closed the wave off with a 360 off of the lip. He ended up with a 9.17 on the wave which seemed about right. It was how the judges ended up with that score that shows that even they are confused on how to score progressive surfing. Three of the judges gave Irons scores that ranged from 9.6-9.7, and the other two had it at 8.0. How is that possible? In all my life I don’t think I have ever witnessed a range of scoring that large while watching sports that use human judging to decide their winners. There is a clear philosophical difference on the criteria that is being used to score waves as evidenced by a nearly 2 pt. swing in scoring. Obviously there is confusion amongst surfings hierarchy on which direction the sport is moving and what constitutes a championship surfer.

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It’s official, there will be no Eddie. The 23rd annual Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau officially came to a close this weekend. In a year that will go down as the worst ever for waves on the North Shore, it never really had a chance.

The Eddie has always been more than just a big-wave contest. Aside from giving surfers from around the world a chance to prove themselves against the original “big-wave”, it provides a yearly opportunity for the surfing community to honor the legend that is Eddie Aikau.

Since it’s inaugural running in 1985, the Eddie has only actually ran seven times. Event organizers are as strict as any when it comes to making the call to hold the contest, as evidenced by the words of contest director George Downing;

Of course, we would love to have had the contest this year, but the one thing we’ll never do is compromise the standards we have set. It’s that 20-foot-plus standard that sets Waimea apart from other big-wave venues and that made the place special to Eddie.

I guess when you are honoring a man whose countless acts of heroism and big-wave prowess inspired the most famous three words in surfing, “Eddie would go”, compromising your standards is simply not an option. And that is what gives the Eddie the prestige that it holds. It’s more than just a big-wave event, it’s a tribute to a legend.

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The second round of the Quiksilver Pro found Snapper Rocks coming back to form following several days of small-surf and uncooperative conditions. Snapper wasn’t alone in returning to it’s form as 2 time world-champ Andy Irons opened up and let loose in the opening heat of the day to put a quick end to 16 yr. old trials winner Tamaroa McCombs run and avoid what would have been an absolutely disastrous T-33rd finish for A.I. in the inaugural event of the ASP Tour. In a stark contrast to his demeanor in and out of the water during the opening round, the former world-champ sounded quite pleased with the way he surfed Tuesday, and after posting a 9.70 to seal his spot in the 3rd round he has every reason to be.

I haven’t gotten a 9 in about six months so it felt unreal. I haven’t made heats in a while and I guess I just haven’t been into it. In the offseason I really had to think about that and now I’m really psyched. I want to be here and I want to do well. I like to win heats and it feels good. It’s my new buzz.

ROOKIE WATCH - The frosh class pulled off some very impressive victories Tuesday, setting up some interesting match-ups in the upcoming 3rd round. Jordy Smith surfed a flawless heat and Dane Reynolds fired away and both move on to face Bobby Martinez and Dean Morrison respectively. Julian Wilson narrowly edged out Pancho Sullivan to move onto the 3rd round as well. This was a particularly surprising result to me as I really expected Pancho to do well with the way he had been surfing as of late.

INJURY WATCH - Fred Patacchia was unable to get the his ankle back into good enough condition and Jay “Bottle” Thompson moved on as a result. Aritz Aranburu also wasn’t able to go, giving Neco Padaratz (my dark-horse contestant) an easy pass into the next round of action.

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It was a super windy day throughout the opening round at the Quiksilver Pro today. With steadily building winds whipping around and changing directions throughout the day there were tricky conditions prevalent throughout the opening heats at Duranbah. The locals held their own as expected with Parko, Fanning, and Dean Morrison all winning their heats. Here are a few of todays highlights from D-bah:

Top Heats - There were a number of exciting battles throughout the day, but heats 7 and 15 were the two that caught my eye the most. Parko ripping it up in tailor-made conditions for him at a break he’s surfed many many times was no surprise. However, watching Brazilian Neco Padaratz put a couple of very solid waves together was a welcome site as I really see this being a huge year on tour for Neco. Dane Reynolds in heat 15 was everything everyone expected and more. After going for a couple of huge moves early and not quite pulling them out, he settled down and put together one of the most impressive run of waves seen all day. Unfortunately for Dane he was in the same heat as Aussie Luke Munro who was absolutely on fire and put on one of the top performances of the day. Munro finished off his scores with a 9.50 to pull out the win and move on to the 3rd round.

Not So Top Heat - Heat 5 ended up being a 2-man event right from the beginning. Trying to rest the leg he injured at Pipe recently, Fred Patacchia was content to paddle out and enjoy some rays for a half-hour while hoping the condition of his leg improves before the second round. With Freddy P taking it easy, it left Andy Irons and french-man Mikael Picon to battle it out for the second-round bye. It may have had something to do with the drilling he took on the rocks earlier in the week, but Irons just did not look himself at all and was visibly frustrated as Picon ended up outsurfing him to take the heat. Although he looked out of sync today, he is A.I. and I’m sure he will be just fine as he moves on through the following rounds.

The Rookies - With all of the hype and hoopla surrounding the full-time arrival of Jordy Smith and Dane Reynolds (I’m as guilt of it as any), I was very interested to see how they would hold up under the pressure. While it’s still too early to say and this was only one heat here are my thoughts. Dane easily had the better heat of the two and was really catching his rhythm as the heat progressed. Jordy looked solid early on in his heat but just could not do enough with the waves he caught to catch Luke Stedman. Overall it was an impressive opening to the season by both Reynolds and Smith and both appeared largely unaffected by the pressure.

Kelly Slater - Watching Kelly today and seeing him fall a little behind early on in the heat to Rodrigo Dornelles I once again had the same feeling I commonly had when watching the Chicago Bulls during the Jordan-years. With the clock ticking and Slater needing a 6.54 to overtake Dornelles and bypass the second round, Kelly sat calmly in the water and everyone watching knew what was about to happen. With about two minutes left in the heat, Slater ripped off a smooth 7.10 ride to take the heat and move straight into the 3rd round. Just another case of Kelly Slater doing what has made him the living-legend he is. When asked about his plans for the tour beyond the Gold Coast, Slater replied nonchalantly: “Well I got a heat tomorrow or the next day and that’s it, I’m definitely not going to surf all the events, that’s for sure.” Kelly also spent a few heats up in the booth at Snapper announcing with Tom Carroll. With 10 world championships between the two it was great to hear their points of view for a while, especially on the future of Dane Reynolds during his heat. It was also quite entertaining to watch their reactions as the cameraman seemed to increase the shots of backsides of some of the Gold Coast’s finest with Carroll and Slater on the call.

Forecast - While the swell that has left over what was surfed on today will continue to diminish, Ben Macartney from Coastalwatch appeared very optimistic about a swell that is building and likely to move through next weekend. The Superbank is in fantastic condition and if this swell comes through as expected it will provide an unbelievable arena for a display of world-class surfing at what will more than likely be Snapper Rocks as the contest moves into the later rounds.

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The 2008 ASP World Tour is officially upon us and round 1 of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast is officially on and will be starting at 2:00p.m. (PST). Although they held the Komunity Project trials at Snapper Rocks yesterday they have opted to hold the lead-off round at nearby Duranbah with the surf coming in around the 2-4ft range but conditions are clean.

I imagine ‘The King’ has to be stoked on D-bah being the call for now. As I mentioned earlier his ‘06 victory, as well as the only victory by a foreigner in this event took place at this location.

You can watch live rd.1 action HERE

Rd. 1 Heats-

Heat #1: Bobby Martinez, Royden Bryson, Jihad Khodr
Heat #2: Dean Morrison, Daniel Wills, Kieren Perrow
Heat #3: Jeremy Flores, Bruce Irons, Roy Powers
Heat #4: Pancho Sullivan, Ricky Basnett, Heitor Alves
Heat #5: Andy Irons, Fred Patacchia, Mikael Picon
Heat #6: Bede Durbidge, Leonardo Neves, Daniel Ross
Heat #7: Joel Parkinson, Neco Padaratz, Nic Muscroft
Heat #8: Mick Fanning, Michael Campbell, Tamaroa McComb
Heat #9: Taj Burrow, Adrian Buchan, Julian Wilson
Heat #10: Kelly Slater, Rodrigo Dornelles, Michel Bourez
Heat #11: CJ Hobgood, Adriano de Souza, Ben Bourgeois
Heat #12: Kai Otton, Travis Logie, Aritz Aranburu
Heat #13: Tom Whitaker, Dayyan Neve, Tiago Pires
Heat #14: Taylor Knox, Ben Dunn, Jay Thompson
Heat #15: Damien Hobgood, Luke Munro, Dane Reynolds
Heat #16: Luke Stedman, Tim Reyes, Jordy Smith

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With the 2008 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast rapidly approaching to kick-off this year’s Mens ASP Tour, all attention will be squarely directed at Coolangata in anticipation of who will come out up on top and thus take the pole-position in the what is setting up to be one of the most highly-charged and competitive tours to date.

Just how crucial is it going to be to stand up on the podium and receive an over-sized cardboard check following this event? The last two world-champions(Slater ‘06/Fanning’07) have both started their title-runs with victories at the season-opener. Formerly an ASP WQS 6-star venue, Quiksilver launched their initial Quiksilver Pro ASP World Tour event at Snapper Rocks in 2002. In that time, Slater is the only event-winner to hail from outside of Australia. His victory came at nearby Duranbah after a finals battle with Taj Burrow in three-foot surf. With half of the top 10 seeded surfers on Tour residing in the land down under and the ‘Coolie Kids’ holding a solid ‘home-break’ advantage, it’s going to be super important for any surfer that holds high hopes of taking home surfings crown at years end to start their 2008 campaign off in impressive fashion.

Will a poor showing at the Pro Gold Coast kill the chances of title hopefuls? With the best ‘9 of 11′ results format that the ASP is using to decide this years champ, a bad result here certainly isn’t going to dash any visions of being carried up the beach and showered with goodies, flowers, and champagne. It will just put an unnecessary element of added pressure to let it fly at the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach which follows a few weeks later, which itself has shown the likelihood of an eventual top 5 finish at the end of the year for the events most recent winners.

With as deep and talented a pool as the ASP has ever fielded chomping at the bit and raring to go, anything less than a top 5 result in, at the very least, one of the two Aussie’ events may be prove to be just too big of a mountain to climb as the Tour moves on. For anyone, especially outside of Kelly, A.I.,and the Australian contingent, who plans on coming out of Australia with any dreams of capturing the title, this weekends Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast definitely needs to be the intended site of their coming-out party.

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Last summer I asked if Quiksilver was looking to dump Rossignol, the ski company they purchased for a cool $300 mil back in March ‘05. It’s no secret (as not much is with public companies) that Rossignol has been struggling ever since it became a Quiksilver brand as the first year it went from a profitable company to a money-losing company.

Last week Quiksilver president Bernard Mariette was shown the door and troubled Rossignol was cited as one of the main reasons. Mariette was one of the main architects behind the original Rossignol deal and Quiksilver has speculated that he will likely try to acquire the company from them. I’m sure the shareholders are thrilled with that news. Either way, Quiksilver is definitely looking to get rid of Rossignol.

It’s hard to say at this point whether or not Quiksilver will try to remain in the ski game. I can imagine this has left a pretty sour taste in their mouth. If they do they should definitely purchase a smaller ‘core’ ski company that has the same culture as a surf company like QS.

On a side note: Bernard’s getting quite the severance package…

Bernard will receive $106,726 to serve as a consultant for a year. In addition, he will receive severance pay of $2.8 million.

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With just 16 days of the three-month holding period for the Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational In Memory of Eddie Aikau remaining, the mighty Pacific Ocean is bouncing back to life after what has been, to up until this point of the year anyway, an overall disappointing season on the North Shore. The new swell lifted hopes that the event would be able to run today, however it was called off this morning once organizers realized that although the surf was big, it just wasn’t big enough for Eddie. However, with the new found energy being seen in the ocean and large swells forecast for the next week or so, there are still hopes and realistic chances that one of the premier big-wave surfing events in the world will still be able to run this year.

Although the swell didn’t materialize to the level that many had hoped for, it did carry enough size and was in the right direction to give the the one-day Quiksilver Edition Ku Ikaika Challenge it’s chance to get going and heats began earlier today. The world’s first big-wave international stand-up paddle surfing competition is being held over at Makaha and will give those jonesing for a big-wave surf contest at the very least something to hold them over until the size is up to par for Eddie’s standards. With over 15,000 big ones at stake and the chance to see some of the worlds best paddle-boarders go at it in heavy surf, the Ku Ikaika presents a great opportunity to those able to make the trek out to the west side of Oahu.

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