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!
Tsunamis triggered by a strong quake in the South Pacific have killed at least 65 people in Samoa and more than 20 in American Samoa, say reports.The Samoan authorities say at least another 145 people have been injured and whole villages destroyed.
American Samoa's delegate to the US Congress said thousands of people had been left homeless in the territory.
An 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT on Tuesday, generating 15ft (4.5m) waves in some areas of the islands.
The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities - the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory. The total population is about 250,000.
A general tsunami warning was issued for the wider South Pacific region but was cancelled a few hours later.
Sunshine Coast surfer Mark Visser has caught one of the biggest waves in Australia for 2009. Battling chaotic and gusty winds, along with rain, the big wave surfer rode a wave with a 36 foot face last Thursday.
The waves were surfed at Cowbombie, a break about 2.5km offshore from Western Australian suburb Grace Town. "The weather was unbearable out there. It was very windy, around 30 knots," Visser said. "Along with the wind, the water was icy cold. My feet ended up getting numb."
The Cowbombie break is gaining itself a reputation as one of the hot spots for big wave surfing, not only attracting Australian dare-devils. With news of the big swell in Western Australia, surfers from around the world came to check it out, including big wave specialists Grant 'Twiggy' Baker (SA), Doug Young (NZ) and Ross Clark Jones (sometime resident of Aus).
"I heard about the big swell on Wednesday morning and we arrived in Perth Wednesday night," Visser said. "On Thursday we got these monster waves and then backed up on Friday. The waves weren't as big, around 25 foot. I went in with a paddle board, but got smashed a few times."
The stories of big ocean predators arriving on our British shores are increasing and each one always makes headlines. We're just not used to being conscious of a shark threat so evidence of their existance in the South West is always a bit of a surprise. This story below is from the Telegraph and whilst Thresher sharks patrol deeper water and this one looks to have just washed up, it might just have you checking the water for fins next time you paddle out!
A group of surfers spotted the 6ft thresher shark- a close relative of the deadly great white - beached at Hayle near St Ives in Cornwall on 25th Sept, and called the coastguard.
Thresher sharks are predators known for their very long, powerful tail which they use to stun their prey.
Dave Jarvis, from the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, said the sharks can cause serious injury to humans.
He said: "It's in good condition physically, so we're going to take some measurements and see if we can make some arrangements for post-mortem."
Thresher sharks feed on fish and are normally found in coastal waters of North America and Asia.
28 September, 2009 : - - Seignosse, France – Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, has claimed his second consecutive ASP Dream Tour event, taking out the 2009 Quiksilver Pro France presented by Orange over fellow Finalist Bede Durbidge (AUS), 26, in punchy one-to-three foot (0.5 – 1 metre) waves at Les Bourdaines.
Event No. 7 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Quiksilver Pro France opted to utilize yesterdays swell to complete the event given the dismal surf forecast for the remainder of the waiting period. Despite today’s challenging conditions, the world’s best surfers executed well, blending their rapid-fire approach with progressive fin-free and aerial surfing.
Fanning continued to build momentum through the final day of competition before erupting in the Final with a flurry of excellent scoring rides, a 7.83, an 8.83 and a 7.33 in the opening half of the competition.
“I was really fortunate to get those couple of good ones at the start because I really ran out of gas there at the end,” Fanning said. “It’s two back-to-back events where I have had to surf four heats on the final day to get the win and it takes a lot out of you. The conditions were deteriorating and I was fortunate to get those scores on the board early on.”
The tiny Pacific nation of Palau in the Western pacific is creating the world's first shark sanctuary, a biological hotspot to protect Great Hammerheads, Leopard Sharks, Oceanic Whitetip Sharks and more than 130 other species fighting extinction in the Pacific Ocean.
With only one boat to patrol 240,000 square miles (621,600 square kilometers) of Palau's newly protected waters — including its exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, that extends 200 miles (320 kilometers) from its coastline — enforcement of the new measure could be almost like swimming against the tide.
Palau's president, who will announce the news to the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, acknowledges the difficulty of patrolling ocean waters nearly the size of Texas or France with a single boat. But he hopes others will respect Palauan territorial waters — and that the shark haven inspires more such conservation efforts globally.
Event No. 7 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Quiksilver Pro France was treated to some fantastic surfing throughout the opening day of the waiting period, with the world’s best surfers letting loose in the playful beachbreaks while the event wildcards stamped their authority as real contenders amongst the ASP Top 45.
Dane Reynolds (USA), 23, current ASP World No. 11, is coming hot off the heals of his best results on the ASP Dream Tour, a 3rd in South Africa and a 2nd in Southern California, and continued to push the limits of high-performance surfing today at the Quiksilver Pro France.
Opening with a blistering 8.83 out of a possible 10 with some rapid-fire forehand surfing, Reynolds then fell behind fellow Venturan Nathaniel Curran (USA), 24, who posted an impressive heat total of a total 15.40 out of a possible 20. Needing a score in the dying minutes, Reynolds detonated another roping righthander for grab and 8.50 and the advancement to Round 3.
The Quiksilver Pro France, Stop No. 7 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, in ON this morning with Round 1 of competition heading out in clean three-to-four foot (1 .5 metre) waves at Les Bourdaines.
“We have some very clean three-to-four foot waves this morning at the main site of Les Bourdaines and we’ll be getting underway at 8am,” Rod Brooks, Quiksilver Pro Trestles Contest Director, said. “
Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion and current ASP World No. 6, has been clawing his way back into contention over the last three events, following an uncharacteristically slow start. With four events left on the 2009 ASP Dream Tour, the Floridian admits that France is critical to his bid for an unprecedented 10th ASP World Title.
“This is probably my last shot to get back in this thing,” Slater said. “The idea is to just focus on one heat at a time and one event at a time, but I definitely need to make up some ground in these next events.”
I've heard of wakeboarders being towed along the shoreline by horses (very eco-friendly!) but this version of horse "Surfing" was new to us here at Extremehorizon. Apparently a business has been set up in Florida which takes paying customers out into the water standing on a horses back which they say is a great viewing platform to watch wildlife.
Could we suggest that a Stand Up paddle board may be an alternative as an SUP doesnt need feeding, stable fees or dump 20lbs of sh*t in the water each session! :)
Swayze had Pancreatic cancer but passed away after fighting the disease for almost 2 years. Most girls will remember Patrick Swayze for his dancing in a certain chick flick, boys are more likely to associate him with a certain Hollywood surfing themed blockbuster and its because of the latter we're placing this post.
Swayze played a character called Bodhi in the film Point Break which was full of classic quotes, but this one is probably most fitting "If you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price. It's not tragic to die doing what you love"
In recent years the surf film market has become like a conveyor belt churning out streams of new titles for a demanding, media savvy consumer, so its ever more the case that a surf film has to be exceptional to stand out from the crowd and establish itself as a movie worthy of owning and watching time after time. In my opinion the few recent films which fall into this category are "One California Day" and "Waveriders" and now "Bustin Down the Door" can be added to this list.
Over the years there have been a number of surf films which have documented the historical and cultural growth of surfing, tracing its origins and exploring its modern re-incarnation but until Bustin Down the Door none have studied the phenomenon which dragged surf culture from the disorganised stereo-typical surf bum culture and exploded into main stream culture. The film delves into this lesser known story of how a small group of Australian and South African surfers helped transform the surfing lifestyle into a recognised sport, a multi-billion dollar industry, a route for surfers to turn professional and the organisation of the pro-surf tours and competitions we know today.
The changes brought about by the sheer force of will imposed upon the North Shore of Hawaii by the likes of Rabbit Bartholemew, Sean Tomson, Ian Cairns and Mark Richards dragged surfing into mainstream consciousness and even though some of their methods were ill advised and not everyone appreciated what they were doing, they helped create what we recognise as modern surfing.
The film interviews every one of the leading players in the story, woven together with awesome footage from the 1970's including the infamous 74 Smirnoff at Waimea, Bustin Down the Door brilliantly captures this pivotal time in surfing's history.
I recently recalled a massive balls up I made by missing an important appointment because there was a decent swell running. It was only 3ft but with light offshores and sunny all other daily concerns were sidelined to get in the water. Without going into detail the missed appointment had some serious repocussions but on that day my mind was squarely focussed on catching some waves!
There have been plenty of other occasions where I have missed less important events but as long as there are waves to ride it will continue to happen!.....so does surfing rule your life?
For fun I've put together a poll below with some likely scenarios that have been missed due to a surf session. Feel free to vote or comment on your own experiences and we can add them to the poll if you like...
The latest book by Tom Anderson landed on the desk of the Extremehorizon office recently and as I enjoyed this authors first publication "Riding the Magic Carpet", I was looking forward to reading and reviewing his latest work, "Chasing Dean- Surfing America's hurrican states":
By accepting a lifestyle which incorporates the full time pursuit of riding waves, surfers become blessed in many ways; the desire to travel, the ability to read the weather like a trained meteorologist and developing an open mindedness to embrace adventure are all attributes dedicated surfers will recognise. Tom Anderson has managed to captured and relay to the reader these corner stones of a surfers world in his new book "Chasing Dean".
The true tale is set around two childhood friends from a small town in Wales meeting in Miami for a summer road trip chasing hurricane swell across and along the Gulf and US East coast States. Their trip, its destinations, time frames and schedule are determined solely by the development and movements of hurricane weather systems. The pair track each new low pressure from its earliest conception and plot their journey upon how and where the storm may develop and where its most likely to send its powerful groundswells.
Woven into the journey is the dynamic between the author and his fellow traveller Dr Marc Rhys as the two re-aquaint themselves with their old friendship after years following very different lives. The story sees the author willing his companion into re-discovering the stoke he used to enjoy in his childhood by chasing and riding waves along the US "right" coast's most famous surf spots and by allowing the road to shape their immediate existance.
Anderson's road trip experiences and surf sessions will resonate with surfers who are going to have a personal understanding of the journey with all of its highs and lows. "Chasing Dean" is a travelogue with depth, viewed with a wonderfully British perspective, surfers will love it.
Fit2surf Ltd have developed a brand new surf exercise product designed to improve and increase surf paddling fitness, strength and endurance. Endorsed by 2 of the UKs top surfers Ben "skindog" Skinner and Oli Adams "The Power stroke bungee cord" is a resistance training tool for improving all upper body strength for surfing.
If used regularly it will improve all the major muscles involved in paddling for surfing. The powerstroke bungee will also improve your aerobic surfing fitness and major muscles for surfing paddle power;
-latissimus doris- major muscles along side the back. -trapezius-muscles that help support the head above the shoulder blades -triceps- back of the arms.
"Power stroke bungee" comes with 2 inter changeable 3m bungee cords with 2x handles the cord can be attached almost any where for a surfing work out!
Tsunamis triggered by a strong quake in the South Pacific have killed at least 65 people in Samoa and more than 20 in American Samoa, say reports.The Samoan authorities say at least another 145 people have been injured and whole villages destroyed.
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