Extremehorizon surf blog providing: regular surfing news, updates, stories, surf pictures, product reviews, surfer interviews and anything from the world of actions sports which is begging to be blogged!
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) today announces a 16.5% drop in the number of UK bathing beaches recommended for excellent water quality in its annual Good Beach Guide (www.goodbeachguide.co.uk), compared to last year. In total, 370 (47.5%) UK beaches are ‘MCS Recommended’ this year out of 777 tested, compared to 444 last year. This is the biggest year-on-year fall in the guide’s 22 year history and the first time since 2002 that MCS has recommended less than half of Britain’s bathing beaches.
The latest bathing water tests, conducted from May to September 2008, coincided with the seventh wettest British summer on record. Beaches failing the minimum legal standard jumped almost 50% from 53 to 78. MCS blames this steep drop in water quality on a combination of flood water mixed with sewage gushing from combined sewer overflows and polluted storm water running off farm land and city streets into rivers and the sea.
Thomas Bell, MCS Coastal Pollution Officer, said: “Today’s results reflect last summer’s heavy rain which swept waterborne pollutants like raw sewage, petro-chemicals and farm waste into rivers and the sea. MCS is now recommending 25% fewer beaches than three years ago and we’re becoming concerned that the existing infrastructure for handling storm pollution may not be up to the job.”
Teahupoo, Tahiti -- Bobby Martinez (USA), 26, has taken out the Billabong Pro Tahiti presented by Air Tahiti Nui, defeating fellow Finalist Taj Burrow (AUS), 30, in clean three-to-five foot (1.5 metre) waves at Teahupoo.
Event No. 3 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Tahiti survived a marathon waiting period, culminating on the second-to-last available day in improving conditions that peaked for a climactic Final.
Martinez surfed a near-flawless heat, opening up with an impressive 8.73 out of a possible 10 before putting his opponent in a combination situation with a Houdini-esque 9.73 out of a possible 10. Netting the highest heat total of the event, an 18.46 out of a possible 20, Martinez claimed his second Billabong Pro Tahiti and fourth elite tour win, establishing himself as one of the premier tube-riders in the world.
“I feel great and a bit emotional,” Martinez said. “I feel wonderful. I waited for the good ones out there and just got lucky. There weren’t too many waves and I was lucky enough to get a couple of good ones and not fall. Things just seemed to work out for me today. I really don’t know what to say. It feels really special.”
Next stop on the ASP tour- Santa Catarina Brazil in June 09
OK we do distribute Gliders products in Europe so we are going to give them a big shout, but whats not to like, they're fun, funky, a cool gift and a great way to show your affiliation to the boardriding fraternity. Check the video below to see the range:
Waveriders premieres for the first time in France at the St jean De Luz International Film Festival. Waveriders reached top 5 at the Irish box office after cinema released across UK and Ireland!
WAVERIDERS is the previously untold story of the unlikely Irish roots of the worldwide surfing phenomenon and today's pioneers of Irish big wave surfing. The story unfolds through the inspirational and ultimately tragic history of Irish/Hawaiian legendary waterman, George Freeth, the son of an Irishman, who was responsible for the rebirth of this sport of Hawaiian kings in the early twentieth century. With its distinguished cast of world-renowned Irish, British and Irish/American surfers WAVERIDERS journeys full-circle from Hawaii to California and back to Irish shores following Freeth's wave of influence. The journey reaches a spectacular climax when the surfers conquer the biggest swell ever to have been ridden in Ireland by catching monster waves of over fifty feet.
Stars Kelly Slater, Gabe Davies, Chris, Keith & Dan Malloy, Richard Fitzgerald; Written by - Lauren Davies; Narrated by- Cillian Murphy;
The Billabong Pro in Teahupoo kicked off with perfect conditions on Saturday but Sunday was taken as a lay day as the surf dropped. Heres the news:
"TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Sunday, May 10, 2009) – The Billabong Pro Tahiti presented by Air Tahiti Nui has been called off for the day, with lumpy four-foot (1.5 metre) swell and onshore winds replacing the near-perfection of yesterday.
Stop No. 3 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Tahiti saw the opening 14 heats of the man-on-man elimination Round 1 completed yesterday, and with the projections calling for improved conditions in the coming days, event organizers opted to hold competition off for the day.
“We obviously don’t have the idyllic conditions that graced us yesterday with the swell a bit lump and the wind onshore,” Luke Egan, Billabong Pro Contest Director, said. “We’ve called competition off for the day, but are monitoring swell and winds for the coming days and it looks like we may be running again soon. We’ll be back tomorrow morning to make another decision.”
Event organizers will reconvene tomorrow morning at 6:30am to assess conditions for a possible 7am start."
To follow the action go to http://www.billabongpro.com/tahiti09/news.php
Check out this impressive footage of a South Pacific wave filmed by the BBC as part of their new series which shows for the first time unique action of a wave inside the barrel. (Words courtesy of the BBC)
"A huge ocean wave has been filmed from beneath the surface, revealing features never before captured on camera.
The remarkable video, which will be shown as part of the BBC Natural History Unit's new series South Pacific, was filmed in super slow motion using a high-definition camera.
It reveals the hidden power of a four-metre-tall monster barrel wave
It also shows the first images of underwater spiralling vortices created by the wave's action.
The wave was filmed off the coast of Pohnpei in the Caroline Islands, part of the Federated State of Micronesia.
The location is well known in the international surf community. Some of the biggest waves in the world break on South Pacific islands.
The storm swells that create these waves travel more than 5,000km to break on their shorelines.
Super slow mo
"I really wanted to slow the wave down, so it was like being there, immersed in that environment," says the BBC's Huw Cordey, series producer of South Pacific.
"I wanted to capture the scale of the event."
Doing so took special skills and equipment. Australian cameraman Bali Strickland, renowned for filming expert surfers at some of the best surfing sites in the world, had to float in the water as the wave passed over him.
He filmed the wave using a £66,000 ($100,000) high-speed camera that captures the action at 20 times slower than normal speed, and in high definition.
South Pacific: Oceans of Islands will be broadcast on BBC Two from Sunday, 10 May 2009 at 2030 BST
Da Hui has taken to YouTube to share their feelings regarding Billabong and the ASP. Their point of conflict lies with a trials format that only allows 1 local surfer into the main event of the Billabong Pro Tahiti; a far cry from the 16 spots allotted by the Pipeline Masters. In the letter addressed to “Tahitian surfers of the Tahitian Surfing Federation and all it may concern”, a spokesman for Da Hui eloquently refers to the ASP and Billabong as “money-hungry pig idiots” and informed the Tahitians that “its time to stick out your chests, not your asses.”
ASP NEWS: In fading evening light, but clean glassy solid six to eight foot Thurso East, Adam Melling raised the highland sword above his head as the winner of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland by Swatch 2009.
“It feels pretty amazing. I just didn’t want to come second again that’s for sure,” said Adam, who was runner up here last year to Adam Robertson. “That sword is the best trophy ever,” he said. “Last year I was so envious of Robbo getting that. It’s going up on the wall for sure. “
Adam Melling showed his intention from the start - with a wave scoring 6.67 in the first 25 seconds of the heat - and then did not stop from there against fellow Australian Luke Munro. “I’ve been wanting to win a contest for so long and I’ve been pushing myself so hard and today I’ve finally done it,” said Adam.
After standout surfing throughout the event, Luke Munro was disappointed not to walk away with the sword. “That sword did slip away,” said Luke, “but you can’t take anything away from Adam he surfed great all event. “ For winning this 6 Star Prime ASP WQS event, Adam Melling walks away with not only one of the most coveted trophies in professional surfing, but also 3500 WQS tour points as well as $20,000.
The Billabong Pro Teahupoo, stop No. 3 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, will host the world’s best surfers from May 9 – 20, 2009, with a slew of ASP World Champions looking to capitalize at the infamous venue.
Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion, has suffered two uncharacteristic equal 17th place finishes this season (both at the hands of event wildcards), but the allure of an unprecedented 10th ASP World Title has the Floridian geared up and preparing for an assault on Tahiti.
“The pressure of 10 isn’t a bad thing but it’s not something you want to think about all the time either,” Slater said. “I’m not happy to have such a slow start, but it’s good fuel for doing something if I can get motivated for it. It’s all how you view it. I don’t expect to have an easy heat at this event to start, more likely one of the hardest heats to with. If I can get past at least one wildcard this year, I might actually have a chance to get a result!”
Source ASP: THURSO, Brims Ness, Scotland (Thursday, April 30, 2009) – The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland by Swatch got underway in Thurso today, the renowned slab of Brims Ness offering consistent three foot (one meter) clean sets with barreling sections to Round 1 competitors. From deep barrels to vertical re-entries, surfing’s complete repertoire was displayed for the kick-off of the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) 6-Star Prime rated event, a couple of men only breaking the 15.00 point mark with former ASP World Tour member Luke Munro (Gold Coast, AUS) leading proceedings with the day’s highest wave score.
With more points up for grabs than any other ASP WQS event this year thanks to its Prime status, the O’Neill CWC Scotland by Swatch attracted some of surfing’s biggest legends including former ASP World Champion and last year’s equal 5th Sunny Garcia (Oahu, USA).
“The water is not too cold and the waves were fun during the heat,” Garcia said. “It’s always nice to win a heat with a couple of average scores, I can’t complain about that. I just got through knee surgery and I am glad to be back here. I like the waves better that’s why I chose to come here rather than stay at home and surf Trestles.”
Officials are confident the expected new swell starts breaking in the next couple of days with a good chance of seeing the world famous wave of Thurso East deliver excellent to classic conditions soon. Another call will be made at 9 AM today Friday, May 1, 2009.
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