MOST ANTICIPATED YEAR EVER?
Get Ready For Fantasy Surfer 2008
The 2008 season kicks off at Snapper Rocks this weekend. If ever there was a year to get hooked on pro surfing, this is it.
DIAL M FOR MAKAHA
A First-Hand Account Of The Makaha Ku Ikaika Challenge
Most Southern Californians aren't "big wave" surfers. It's not that we're not capable, there are great examples out there: Mike Parsons, Greg Long, Rusty Long. But for most of us, no matter what delusions of grandeur we harbor, the hard fact is that where we surf the waves are small.
BORDER LANDS
Search For Surf Along Mauritania's Invisible Frontier
The characters painted alongside the hull are barely visible on the stern of the rusty shipwreck. In between sets I look up to the prow of the fishing boat and try to find a meaning in the articulate potpourri of letters and symbols piled up quite randomly: Arab, Chinese and western words seem to tell a story about people, cultures and far away harbors that ended so ingloriously on this reef along the edge of the western Sahara.
NIXON HIGH TIDE HOLD 'EM
Adventure Begins On Day One
So, Day 1 of the Nixon High Tide Hold 'Em is in the books. Just assembling the crew and getting to the island seems to have been the biggest mission thus far, but then again, once you set foot on Tavarua there's not much else to worry about.
NIXON HIGH TIDE HOLD 'EM
Getting Acquainted On Day Two
It's pretty damn easy to be cynical about a trip like this. I know I'm just as guilty as anybody. I mean, really, who wants to hear about a bunch of pro surfers and celebrity types hanging out at a plush island resort, living the easy life, surfing perfect waves by day, clinkin glasses by night.
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
Aaron Napoleon Claims QuiksilverEdition Ku Ikaika Challenge
In a winter of disbelief and major lack of swell conditions (so far) there was yet another moment of history made yesterday with 41 year old Aaron Napoleon winning the inaugural QuiksilverEdition Ku Ikaika Challenge, presented by C4 Waterman and Red Bull.
NIXON HIGH TIDE HOLD 'EM
Let The Games Begin!
For all of us sporting a ridiculously pasty coat of skin and stuck groveling over the inside scraps at Salt Creek, things may seem a little, well, bleak. But what are you gonna do about it?
BIG NIGHT, BIG CHARGERS
Paradisis Claims Prize at Oakley Surfing Life Awards
The nation's top big wave surfers were bracing for a long night on the town after Western Australia's Alex Alfy Cater took out the coveted Oakley Surfing Life Biggest Wave Award at a gala presentation evening in Sydney's Bondi.
GETTING NUCLEAR: San Onofre Power Plant Crackdown
Last week, Southern California had a tremendous environmental victory. With an 8-2 vote by the California Coastal Commission opposing the proposed Toll Road, Trestles and the surrounding area received a marvelous new breath of life.
FREEWAVE CHALLENGE
Jamie O' and Timmy Reyes Win Big
Hawaiian surfer Jamie O'Brien was announced today as the big winner at the first-ever Billabong Freewave Challenge, capturing both First and Second Place in the Best Performance Ride category and collecting a whopping $14,444.43 for two waves' work.
SPEAK YOUR MIND! What's Your Ideal Wave Size?
In this edition of SPEAK YOUR MIND! SurferMag.com asks readers, "What's Your ideal wave size?"
JACK IS BACK
Jack Johnson Returns With Sleep Through The Static
For those of you chomping at the bit to hear surfing's most acclaimed musician's latest album, wait no more.
OAKLEY PRO JUNIOR: Local, Lincoln Taylor, Defeats Julian Wilson
You couldn't have dreamed up a better final day for the Oakley Pro Junior at North Stradbroke Island today. Six-foot conditions were some of the best Queensland, Australia has seen in a year and the morning heats surfed better waves than any WCT contest last year.
MONSTER PANCHO
Sullivan Wins the Monster Pro at Pipeline
Hawaii's Pancho Sullivan wiped out the opposition to claim his second Monster Energy Pipeline Pro, presented by Billabong, at Backdoor Pipe today in barreling waves of six to eight feet (wave face heights).
COASTAL COMMISSION VOTES TO SAVE TRESTLES
TCA Dealt Major Body Blow
A series of heated shouting matches kicked off the 9am meeting. "Build the Road! Build the Road! Build the road!" yelled hundreds of paid members of the Local Labor Union 652. "Save Trestles! Save Trestles! Save Trestles!"
WHERES WARDO?
Chris Ward Withdraws From First World Tour Stop
ASP World Tour surfer Chris Ward has relinquished his spot in the first event of the year, the 2008 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, to replacement surfer Nic Muscroft.
MONSTER PRO LURKS ON
Pray For Surf
With the surf just hinting at existence and a (surprise-surprise) 'blip' of a swell catching the inside reef, Jamie "Pipe" O'Brien presented the hard core beach crowd with a short seminar on stuffing your body into waist-high soup cans.
HIGHER MORAL GROUND
Op/Ed on The Trestles Toll Road
I won't sell the San Mateo creek down the river, and neither should you. Opposing the 241 Foothills South Toll Road is a pretty easy decision for a surfer, especially in light of three crucial questions:
HANDS ON
10 Questions w/ M-10 Shaper Geoff Rashe
Santa Cruz's Geoff Rasch crafts high quality surfboards under his M10 label. Since we sometimes appear SoCal centric in our subject matter, we thought it appropriate to touch base with the man behind the 10 for a quick 10 questions regarding the state of the surfboard industry in NorCal.
MONSTER ENERGY PRO
Centeio Seizes the Day
The day finished like it started: waves every few minutes, a ton of wind chop where you didn't want it and a draining tide that kept everyone looking down for those rail road tie reef heads that were gurgling just short of the surface.