Joel Parkinson gets in altercation with bodyboarder

Things are getting heated up in Portugal. The world´s best surfers are currently competing on the waves of Peniche, Portugal, for the last European leg of the ASP World Tour, but the last events have been of trouble for two of the world´s surfing superstars: Kelly Slater and Joel Parkison. Both surfers habe been involved in two minor altercations.

The first incident involved Kelly Slater. The american all-time record champion changed some heated words with a photographer after almost running him over.



The second altercation got a bit more serious. Joel Parkinson got almost physical with a local bodyboarder. Next time Parko should be more careful, Peniche surfers are known in Portugal for being ferociously hostil to any non locals. Local elitists of that small fishing city can indeed ruin all the fun.

More on Nazaré´s waves: Praia do Norte

People have been asking about the waves Garrett McNamara has recently given worldwide recognition. Nazaré is a small town about 1.5 hours north of Lisbon, Portugal´s capital city. Actually, it is not far away from the country´s other two surf meccas: Ericeira and Peniche (where the ASP tour takes place). Those three world class waves are not more than 200 km apart from each other.
 For locals Nazaré has had a cult like following for years but it was with the arrival of Garrett that the mainstream surf community got amazed by the massive quality of its waves. The almost extraterrestrial size has an explanation: a 16.000 feet deep and 140 miles long undersea canyon is the responsable for these high breaking waves. Finally I leave you a video that took place on Nazaré´s top of the crown beach: Praia do Norte. It shows a bunch of world class surfers just enjoying an out of competition surf session.

Kelly Slater will probably not revalidate his title

After the long wait, competition resumed in Portugal. The third round of the eighth stage took place today in the crowded beach of Supertubos.

 The surprise of the day was the early elimination of Kelly Slater. The american was unable to reach the next phase, obtaining a final score of 5.27. As for his opponent, Brazilian Raoni Monteiro, the round could not have been better, achieving a final score of 9.20.

 Slater has therefore lost almost all the chances he had on achieving yet another world title. It should be remembered that last year, the campion in title lost the final in Peniche for Brazilian golden boy Adriano de Souza.

 With these surprising news the most strong contenders for the title will be John John Florence, Gabriel Medina, Kolohe Andino, Australians Josh Kerr, Adrian Buchan, Joel Parkinson and Owen Right and Brazilian Raoni Monteiro. Things are getting quite interesting. It is one of the most disputed title races in recent years and the only true winners as for now are the hardcore surfing lovers all around the world.

Kelly Slater reaches the third round in Portugal

The best surfer of all time showed once again why he is undoubtedly the king of the waves. The american sportsman reached the third round of the Rip Curl Pro Portugal 2012 (follow the action live here). He won heat number 5 with 13,67 points, beating that way Damien Hobgood and Dillon Perillo.

Who also reached the third round was John John Florence, world´s number 4, by leaving out of competition fellow american Pat Gaudaskas and aussie Kai Otton.

In the first days of competition, and because the sea was not providing the best of conditions, surfers made a freesurf session in Supertubos, one of the best spots in the portuguese coast. Check it out.
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Home Win!

It was a clash of titans: the two best surfers in these last years of pro surfing confronted for an epic final. It was after all what many experts considered to be the best final in the history of surfing. Mick Fanning, the australian thunder claimed a deserved victory over the best surfer of all time, Kelly Slater.

This win marks the 14th victory by Fanning in the pro circuit, and the first win since 2001 in Bells Beach. Unfortunate to share the same surf era with Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning is not so bad when it comes to count the results in the heat matchup history between the two surfers: 7 wins for the ozzie and 8 wins for the american.

To the events official site Mick Fanning revealed what he felt at the moment of winning."I am just stoked because it is been so long. It does not seem strange that it has taken so long to win another one when you have got other guys like Joel Parkinson, Jordy Smith and Kelly Slater on tour and I usually come up just a bit short. Usually against Joel, but I got him today!".

There was big controversy tough on Fannings victory. Kelly made a perfect 10 air 360 in the final and decisive heat and many fans considered the result injust for the american.

Check out a video that sums up the incredible heat

Here are the complete results:


RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.80
2 – Kelly Slater (USA) 18.07

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.10 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 7.83
SF 2: Mick Fanning (AUS) def. Joel Parkinson (AUS)

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.06 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 13.66
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.97 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 16.10
QF 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.00 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 10.27
QF 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 14.63 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 14.63

RIP CURL PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.93 def. John John Florence (HAW) 14.00
Heat 2: Josh Kerr (AUS) 17.40 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.36
Heat 3: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.27 def. Brett Simpson (USA) 12.90
Heat 4: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 17.27 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 9.04

CURRENT ASP TOP 3 (After Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach):
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 13,200 pts
2. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12,000 pts
3. Taj Burrow (AUS) 11,750 pts
3. Mick Fanning (AUS) 11,750 pts

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Sarah Mason (NZL) 15.84 def. Paige Hareb (NZL) 13.94
Heat 2: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 17.17 def. Laura Enever (AUS) 8.90
Heat 3: Coco Ho (HAW) 15.77 def. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 14.50
Heat 4: Lakey Peterson (USA) 15.43 def. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 11.73

RIP CURL WOMEN’S PRO BELLS BEACH QUARTERFINAL MATCH-UPS:
QF 1: Tyler Wright (AUS) vs. Sarah Mason (NZL)
QF 2: Malia Manuel (HAW) vs. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
QF 3: Carissa Moore (HAW) vs. Coco Ho (HAW)
QF 4: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) vs. Lakey Peterson (USA) 

2012 Quicksilver Pro Australia Goldcoast has begun!

The worlds best surfers are competing again for another world title. This year the season will begin in Australia with the Quicksilver Pro Australia Goldcoast 2012. Check out all the action here.

 THIS POST WILL BE UPDATED


The Quarter Finalists are:


Adriano de Souza vs Owen Wright


Kelly Slater vs Josh Kerr


Jordy Smith vs Joel Parkison


Taj Burrow vs Adrian Buchan

Hang Loose Pro 2012 - Live

 One of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil is about to host the 2012 edition of the Hang Loose Pro Contest. Ninety six surfers from all over the globe will compete for the first very important surf trophy of the season, where 6500 competition points and a prize money of 250 k dollars are in dispute. Cacimba do Padre beach, on the island of Fernando de Noronha is well known for its incredible tubes and challeging waves.

Interested in following all the live action? Watch it here.

The competition is over. Thanks for watching the broadcast. Meanwhile there are more good news for Kelly Slater. The north american surfer won his fourth award for best Action Sportsman.

Rip Curl Pro Search 2011 - Slater is one step away from winning another world title

Kelly Slater confirmed all expectations and is now one single tournament win away of reaching the 11th world title of his career. He simply dominated the 4-6 feet waves of Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California.
A great mass of public attended the premiere of San Francisco in the ASP World Tour calendar, mainly to see the best surfer of all times. Kelly did not disappoint his fans and made the highest score of the day - 16.03 points.
"I just want to stay relaxed about it, because it is a situation where you may be tense, just wanting to get over with," said Slater.
"The reality is that others now have to win both events with my victory, so the pressure is on them. I just need to get good waves in this event to win the title. " added the world champion.
Slater noted that this Wednesday, November 2, marks the one year anniversary of the death of Andy Irons."Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the passing of Andy. It will be a sad day for all the memories. If I win the world title on the same day, it will certainly be in memory of Andy. "

Supertubos Revisited

After having some of the best waves ever seen on competition this year and having been  proud hosts to world class surfers such as John Florence, hearing him say that he loves our country, worships Supertubos and compares it with the most photographed wave in the world, Backdoor / Pipeline, is just wonderful.  Just check the video and  hear the boy talk...

Rip Curl Pro Portugal 2011 - Adriano de Souza aka Mineirinho wins in Peniche

You won´t forget Supertubos that soon will you Adriano? (image copyright by ASP)

The Brazilian, sixth in the world ranking, won the Rip Curl Pro, by winning the legend of surfing Kelly Slater.

With thousands of people in Supertubos beach, Adriano de Souza, who had already won this year in Rio de Janeiro, scored 15.67 points. Slater, 10 times world champion and winner of last year in Supertubos, only made 14.73 points.

Adriano did not hide the emotion about his return to winning a stage, the third in the world circuit. In his winning speech, Adriano said he would take Portugal forever in the heart.

Slater took small compensation as the prize for best tube of the Rip Curl Pro surfing was awarded to him. The current world champion stressed that the Supertubos waves "were perfect."

The usual suspect - Kelly Slater and the Rip Curl Pro Portugal 2011

Is Kelly going to conquer his 11th title? The legendary American surfer is coming to Portugal for the Rip Curl Pro 2011 with 50.150 points. That is, he has a 60250 point advantage for 2nd placed Australian surfer Owen Wright. It is astonishing to think that a 39 year old Kelly Slater defies all younger surfers and continues to show a surf that is only capable by the world´s very best. From the 15th to the 24th October I am going to give all the news about this magnificent event, keep tuned! And to give you a taste of Europe´s best waves I leave you a video of last year´s event. Enjoy!

Shelter (2001)

 There is just something about 16 mm that makes it the perfect film for every surfing movie. The light takes on a nostalgic tone and makes the flicks look like the great classics of the 60´s. But not only the type of film used takes us back to the past. The objective of joining a bunch of great surfers in an isolated house on the australian coast, without any competitive or commercial reasons and just being there to surf for the surf´s sake, is one more peculiar feature to add to this movie with a touch of surf´s glorious past.

 But unlike other surf movies, the film´s quality is not only supported solely by magnificent filming techniques or a solid soundtrack headed by Joachim Cooder (from the award winning documentary "Buena Vista Social Club"), but by a true meeting of giants. What a cast you can expect to find: Rob Machado, Taylor Knox, Joel Tudor, Mick Fanning, Kelly Slatter, Joe Curren, just to name some of the few. And what better reason could there be to join so many big names than to make them just enjoy themselves, taking the waves without the pressure of competition and the feeling the surf with the detachment of ten year old kids.

I recomend this flick to all who expect to find in every surf movie an ecletic piece of art of its own. Taylor Steele and Chris Malloy had to face very difficult choices on editing the whole thirty hour footage and very good material had to be put aside to fit in the 42 minutes duration of the film (undoubtedly the biggest flaw of Shelter"). Like a fine piece of swiss chocolate you will have to bet satisfied with a tiny little bit of the stuff, but what great sensations it will produce. Verdict: 7/10