Jennifer Smith (California, USA), 23, won the Roxy Jam in Biarritz today to claim the second ASP Women’s World Longboard title of her brilliant career after defeating fellow finalist and outsider Coline Menard (Reunion Island, FRA), 21, in the final exchange of the 2009 edition. Smith, who dominated the final bout from the beginning until the end, confirmed her stellar Semifinal run where she managed to score a 9.25 point ride, the highest wave score of the event, defeating Menard confidently. (more…)

Mini-groms take to the waves for A1Surf.com & Alder Under 8s Groms Comp

Last weekend (Saturday 4th July) saw the A1Surf.com & Alder Under 8s Groms Comp take place on the beach in Brighton. It was just one of the events that made up the huge Paddle Round The Pier beach festival. (more…)

Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion, has claimed the 2009 Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro over an in-form Adriano de Souza (BRA), 22, in clean three-to-four foot (1 metre) waves at the main site of Praia Vila. (more…)

Aritz Aranburu eliminates Kelly Slater in Round 2

Aritz Aranburu (EUK), 23, current ASP World No. 39, caused the upset of the event, eliminating reigning nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 37, in Round 2 of the Billabong Pro Tahiti.
Following four consecutive lay days, the event roared back to life this morning, with the world’s best surfers tackling the three-to-four foot (1 – 1.5 metre) waves on offer at Teahupoo.

After surprising eliminations of Euroforce members Jérémy Florès, local surfer Michel Bourez, Miky Picon… at the very beginning of the event, Aritz Aranburu and Tim Boal were the last two european surfers still on course last night. (more…)

A1Surf.com, the original website for the UK and Irish surfing community, has announced it has become a media partner with the UK Pro Surf tour for the 2009 season. (more…)

What a way to work up an appetite for Christmas dinner! Nike 6.0 rider Ben Haworth shreds the waves down in Cornwall last weekend.

HONOLUA BAY, Maui (Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007) – Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) has just made ASP History as the first-ever surfer to claim the ASP World Title in their rookie season, having bested fellow contenders Sofia Mulanovich (PER) and Silvana Lima (BRA) in Round 3 competition today at the Billabong Pro Maui at Honolua Bay.

The 19-year old from Coolangatta, Australia, blitzed past opponent Rochelle Ballard (HAW) with a stunning performance to advance through to the Quarterfinals of the Billabong Pro Maui after rival Mulanovich went down to wildcard Keala Kennelly (HAW) in a surprise Round 3 elimination.

“Surprisingly, I did quite well to not watch Sofia’s heat at all, and I didn’t even know that Keala (Kennelly) had won until right before my heat was about to start,” Gilmore said.  “That was interesting.  I guess it was awesome for me.  I was stoked.  It pretty much just fired me up when I heard that, and then the next wave I got barreled.”
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Staff at a Watergate Bay extreme sports business are celebrating triple success with two champion surfers and a prestigious tourism award.

Surfers Harry Timson and Chris Thomson, both sponsored by the Extreme Academy, have won their divisions on the 2007 UK Pro Surfing Tour following the final event of the season earlier this month.

This success was further boosted last week when the Extreme Academy won a Gold award in the Cornwall Tourism Awards 2007.

“We would like to congratulate both Harry and Chris on becoming the UK Pro Surf Tour champions for 2007,” said Will Ashworth, Managing Director of The Hotel & Extreme Academy, Watergate Bay. “Then for the Extreme Academy to win gold at the Cornwall Tourism Awards is just fantastic. We have had an incredible year on the beach, and to cap it all with success on three fronts is excellent.”
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Sam Lamiroy wins 2007 UK Pro Surf Tour at the Gul Newquay Open, on Fistral Beach last weekend, 10/11 November.

Sam defeated Llewellyn Whittaker by only 12points, the narrowest margin for victory in tour history. The title on the final day of the Gul Newquay Open could have gone either way, but because of Sam’s marginal lead going into the final event on the tour he had the advantage and used all his experience to achieve his goal.
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Newquays Alan Stokes beat of a highly talented field to clinch victory at the final event of the UK Pro Surf Tour

Alan Stokes won the hotly contested Gul Newquay Open, the final event on the UK Pro Surf Tour 2007, ahead of Matt Capel, Russell Winter and Johnny Fryer. Fistral beach provided testing conditions for the UK Pro Tour title decider on the 10th and 11th of November. The Open event was a high-tension affair with all six of the top seeds on the tour still in with a chance of taking the tour title coming into the final event.
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MUNDAKA, Spain (Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007) –What started as a dream became reality when defending champion Bobby Martinez (USA) became the first surfer in the history of the Billabong Pro Mundaka to post back to back victories at the reeling lefthander today.

“I had a dream that I won the event about a week ago,” Martinez said. “I didn’t even tell my fiancé Cleo, but I didn’t want to wake up from the dream. It felt so real and now it has come true, it’s just so weird how it all ended up. It’s good to win an event wherever it is, but winning here last year and then winning here now… it’s just brought back so many great memories.”

Martinez beat Foster’s ASP World No. 3 Taj Burrow (AUS) in a closely fought Final to defend his Billabong Pro Mundaka title and post best result of the season. Burrow lost the final by less than three-tenths of a point, despite posting an excellent 9.33 (out of 10) wave score toward the end of the heat. Martinez bettered his low score by catching the set wave after Burrow’s and the Australian was unable to answer back.

“Taj surfed really well, he got the best wave of the heat,” Martinez said. “Thank goodness there was that wave that I caught right after his because it ended up being one of my better waves. When the announcers said he got a 9.0 something, I knew he had to have gone into the lead, but then my score was an 8.27 and the situation didn’t change. I was just thinking the whole time, ‘How much more time is left, let’s get this thing over with!’

Martinez jumped from 13th to 6th on the Foster’s ASP World Tour ratings with the win. Previous to his win today, the Californian had posted one 3rd, one 5th and five 17th place results on the 2007 tour. He finished World No. 5 last year to become the 2006 ASP Rookie of the Year.
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