The state of european professional surfing

Europe does not have the galactic stars that dominate professional surfing. Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, Taj Burrow or even the magnific set of brazillians that started to climb the rankings in recent years, all of these surfers belong to a whole other level. In the top 20 you find only one european: Jeremy Flores, and that is it. What makes european surfing performance in the world circuit so poor?

First, surfing is not a major sport in most european countries. It is reasonable to say that it has a cult status in countries like Portugal or France, but it is far from moving the masses that a game like football involves. Its true that the reputation of surfing has began to grow, specially among younger folks, but it is not enough to generate a passion comparable to the one shown by Australian fans.

Secondly, top surfing athletes in Europe are rare and the competition is weak. Recent years have shown that many good surfers have begun to show some good performance in the worlds waves but the overall level is still far from the one that American, Brazillian and Australian surfers can provide.

The verdict is, in my opinion, that European surf has a great potential and recent results show us that greater achievements can be won. What Europe needs is a great sportsman, a contender for the world title that can bring professional surfing to the masses.

European surfers ranking in the ASP Men’s World Ranking:
                           Euro ranking       World Ranking
 Jeremy Flores          1                            15
 Tiago Pires               2                            24
 Glenn Hall                3                            27
 Joan Duru                4                            41

The Surf At Lisbon Film Fest is comming!

The first edition of the SAL will take place in Lisbon between the days 14 and 17 of June. Solely dedicated to show what the world has to offer in terms of surf movies, the festival will be based on one of Lisbons legendary movie teathers: the Sao Jorge. For the last decades, Portugal has established itself as the most important country in Europe regarding the practice of surf and this event will try to reflect the growing phenomenon of surf culture among the portuguese people. Follow Great Surf Movies to get to know everything about this amazing event.

Interested in taking your film to the Surf At Lisbon Film Fest? Check the rules here.

More information is also avaiable here. (in portuguese)

No waves ? Well you can always use other methods...

Some Australian "bros" find a creative way to enjoy some surfing. Do not try this at your local water slide.

Great Surf Movies - Dogtown and Z boys

In the beginning, kids would ride a skateboard emulating the actions on a surfboard

One of the most influential documentaries of the last decade tells us the story of the wild pack that changed the world of surfing forever. You might ask what kind of importance did the z-boys and the zephyr team had on the history of surfing if all  they did was skateboarding. That is a good point, but the real importance of the dogtown bunch goes much further than skateboarding itself. What they did in reality was bring the surf art to the masses. If you think about it, skateboarding is surfing on asphalt. By democratizing something like surf (where you need expensive material and have to do it in a proper place) through the use of the skateboard, what the Zephyr team did was bring to all suburban kids the unique attitude and mindframe of the surf world. Watch this documentary and witness a bit of History.

Rating: 8/10

The incredible story of Bethany Hamilton

Her story is well known among surfing lovers. In 2003, while surfing in Hawaai, Beth was attacked by a shark in an accident that left her without her left arm. Nowadays, almost ten years later, a movie is being released that tells the whole story after the tragedy. "Soul Surfer" shows us how her parents, Tom and Cheri, never gave up and made all the dreams of their girl possible.

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)