Bring On The Big Stuff
Maverick's Contest opening ceremony kicks off what could be a winter to remember.
November 3, 2009, 5:08 PM
By: Rusty Long
A few times every year many of the most devoted and passionate big wave surfers from around the world congregate and celebrate the activity we all love. Under the baking heat of about as nice a fall day as Half Moon Bay sees, the elite Maverick's crew re-acquainted themselves with one another at the opening ceremony of this year's Maverick's contest. It's an event that somewhat informally kicks off the winter, and puts Mav's back at the forefront of thought...if it hadn't been there already.
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Dawn of Winter at Sunset
Start your engines, the North Shore season starts with the Xcel Pro.
November 3, 2009, 3:03 PM
By: Jake Howard
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Surfer:Pancho Sullivan | Photo: Tom Servais | Location:Sunset Beach, HI
Like leaves turning to brown, when the Xcel Pro sounds off at Sunset you know winter can't be too far behind. The unofficial opening bell for the North Shore season, for the past 26 years the contest has come to represent a coming-of-age trophy for young Hawaiians. Ronnie Burns, the Ho brothers, the Irons brothers, Sunny Garcia, and of course, Pancho Sullivan, they've all started to make their name at Sunset. In fact, besides Gavin Beschen in 2001 and Richard Schmidt back in 1989, every other winner of the Xcel Pro has been Island bred.
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The Best of the Banks
For such a laid back place, things get awful heavy on the Outer Banks.
November 3, 2009, 10:26 AM
By: Jon Coen
Mezz/ESM
When you get south of town, it's basically one road so you can't get lost — unless you want to.
The Outer Banks has to be one of the best places on the East Coast to be a photographer. So what if they just got cable internet a few years ago and you have to hunker down for a hurricane lashing?
It's a tough place to live, especially for a single guy. After September, there are vitually no ladies around. And if you're able to drag one back to your man cave, she's then two hours from the closest Target.
I've been lucky enough to know and work with photographer Mickey '2M' McCarthy for several years.
"What attracted me as a surfer and photographer to the Outer Banks some 29 years ago, was the power and consistency of the surf — the natural beauty,the no man's land of Pea Island
, the wildlife and the sunsets. It's one of the unique places on the East coast that you can actually see the sun set over the water!
I'm also kind of a weather geek,so you really get to see it all on this stretch of glorified sandbar."
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King of Aviones gets scary
Ghoulin' around in Puerto Rico on Halloween.
November 3, 2009, 11:38 AM
By: Jon Coen
Rachel Tanner
Halloween havock.
So the meaty swell that many on the Northwest corner of Puerto Rico hoped would show up for the inaugural Quiksilver King of Aviones contest didn't really materialize. But Aviones has a way producing some kind of a bump. And don't think for a minute the locals didn't have some fun.
This contest, after all, was held on Halloween.
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California By Water
Nothing but Golden State water shots.
November 2, 2009, 9:20 AM
By: Jake Howard
We're not going to over think this. Basically the above video is a sampling of some of the Golden State's best surfers as seen through the eyes of a fish. He's not just a proficient cameraman from land, but as you can see, Matt Wybenga's equally capable of getting the shot from the water. So, as the entire West Coast was plagued by flatness over this past weekend, here's a reminder of how fun it can be.
Blogging From the Banks, Post #1
Never a lack of wind here.
November 2, 2009, 3:28 PM
By: Jon Coen
Jon Coen
Shrimp Burger — duh.
Like pretty much everyone on the East Coast, the Outer Banks was my first surf trip. I was about 14, surfed the infamous Hatteras Lighthouse, saw wild deer, slept in the state campground, and our tent blew down in the middle of the night.
If there's one thing this place has, it's wind. Right now, there's a 20-knot north breeze howling at the window. I love it.
We arrived on Saturday morning, which turned out to be an ephemeral autumn day — 80 degrees, some south swell, trucks on the beach and even some southern ladies getting some late-season basking. Of course, the southwest wind was a bit much and kind of tore the surf apart, but a great day, nonetheless. There was a moderate leftover yesterday morning, but the northerly gales came up by 7:30. Catching the reoccurring theme yet?
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Carving More than Pumpkins
Hewey gets goulish.
November 1, 2009, 3:28 PM
By: Jon Coen
Hewey and his expecting fiance.
Hope everyone had a tooth-rotting Halloween. I don't care how old you are, there's no better way to spend an autumn day than a few hollow ones and a bowl full of candy.
We got this ghoulish shot of Bryan Hewitson
and his fiancé, getting into the spirit. Not quite as scary as if you were a Sebastian Inlet lip and Hewey was coming down the line at you, but solid costumes nonetheless.
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Tofino Local Boy Makes Good
Tofino's Peter Devries wins the O'Neill CWC Tofino
November 1, 2009, 10:10 AM
By: Jon Coen
Jake and I have spent a fair bit of time this year reporting on the
Cold Water Classic Series. As you may know, O'Neill doesn't sponsor a WCT event and this year did a mini-tour within the WQS at some wild, remote, chilly, and epic destinations around the world.
Yesterday, another classic outcome unfolded and the most unlikely champion yet snatched the win. As of yesterday, a Canadian had never won an ASP event. But there are few things that compare to local knowledge as Peter Devries
shocked the establishment by beating Dream Tour soldier, "Bottle Tompson." Right now, he's the Errol Kerr (Jamaican ski team) of the surf world.
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Wrong kind of pipe.
Keep your paraphernalia out of my ocean.
October 30, 2009, 10:59 AM
By: Jon Coen
Are you kidding me with this thing?
The last few days we've had some pretty consistent surf here on my little stretch
of the Jersey Shore. Tuesday was onshore and chunky with those three-foot against-the-grain rights that can be so much fun, especially when it's gray and rainy and no one's around. Wednesday was offshore and a little bit over head-high all afternoon.
On Tuesday, I was walking up the beach and found this contraption pictured to the left. On my walk up I collected a balloon, a piece of string, and this crude paraphernalia (the emphasis on crude.)
OK. From now on, balloons
have to be made out of something biodegradable. I can hear the protest now from kindergarteners everywhere, but you'll thank us for this one day.
The piece of string, I recycled — literally. I threw it in my car and I'm sure I will use it one day when the leash string snaps on my board.
Now on to this awful thing. It was basically a pipe, made of a Staples pen inserted into the side of a pain killer bottle, held together with electrical tape.
Really?
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Santa Cruz in Black and White
Checking out the photographic work of Mr. Patrick Trefz.
October 30, 2009, 11:15 AM
By: Jake Howard
Trefz
Flea, hoppin' through a wild one. Launch Gallery »
In the cold and the fog, the rain and the wind, when most purveyors of "surf porn" won't even extend the legs of their tripods, out there on some cliff in Santa Cruz Patrick Trefz posts up and documents the hometown heroes doing work. Flea, Barney, Ruffo. On this swell he linked up with the boys at their regular wedges. "It was good," he says, "but with all the rain the water looked sh-t brown, so it looks better if we run in black and white...and I like black and white better anyway." You can check out ESPN's Santa Cruz Stomping Grounds to find out what the town is all about, but on a day-to-day, blue-collar basis, the grittiness of Trefz's monochromatic images tells a pretty obvious story: Santa Cruz rules.
Check out Patrick Trefz's black and white perspective. Launch Gallery »
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