US Open of Surfing 2009

Check your fear at the pier: young guns dominate the U.S. Open in huge Huntington Beach surf

The waves were the biggest in U.S. Open of Surfing history (50 years), swiping the bottom of the Huntington Beach Pier in Southern California, USA and spitting whitewash on the spectators leaning off the sides. With sets rolling in at 10-12 feet, the young women hopped on the back of the Personal Water Crafts (PWC) against the strong rip currents over the lips of inside waves, to the line up far outside, facing the large crowd on the beach. With thousands of eyes upon them, the women battled the big waves both physically and mentally, concluding with NSSA surfer Courtney Conlogue (USA) taking the win.

READ FULL STORY @ DYLA Magazine 

http://www.dylamagazine.com/news/us-open-surfing-check-your-fear-pier 

Hurley U.S. Open Final:

1. Courtney Conlogue (USA) 17.17
2. Malia Manuel (HAW) 12.67

Maloof Money Cup '09 in 30 Seconds or Less

The calm after the storm

Surfed Southern Los Angeles County this afternoon. It was the calm after the storm, a week after the giant south swell pounded the west coast and left surfers content for weeks.

"It's more of a wind-sport kind of day," I tell the lifeguard after he points out the sailboats racing past the beach. "Well that's okay, after last weekend," he replies.

"If it were like that every weekend, well, we would just be spoiled."

He laughs and pedals away on his dorky lifeguard bike with life-saving-device wrapped over the handle bars. His pot belly tells me he witnessed most of the big waves from his lifeguard stand at the state beach.

The wind was blowing 1-3 foot waves. Occasional fun lefts hit the pointbreak for a couple of surfers to turn off the lip a time or two. I caught a set wave backside, tried to get around a section before I dipped out as the wave crashed onto the rocks.

The local guys were friendly, a dude tossed me a piece of wax when I showed up at the beach with a clean 8'0" (Forgot I cleaned off my longboard for the first time in three years.)

There was a shit-ton of kelp out there though. I don't know if it was because of the big waves (the side of the road was blanketed in tarps) but it seemed like the ocean was a bit stirred up.

After an action-packed weekend with all eyes on the ocean last weekend it's refreshing for a mellow surf session at a unfamiliar spot. Even if it did cost me $6 in parking...only in SoCal.

The End: How ending the ride matters most

Watch how Yadin Nicol, Bobby Martinez, Julian Wilson end a wave. While every maneuver and critical decision made during a ride counts toward the overall score, it’s the way a surfer ends a ride and kicks out of the wave that can be the most memorable, as well as amp their score into the next bracket.

Lakey Peterson scored a 10 point ride on the wave that she finished with an air at the NSSA Nationals at Lower Trestles this year. She was the first female to do so in NSSA competition. The last move is memorable, it’s exciting and it’s the last thing the judges see of a surfer’s performance. Once the people behind the panel know that airs are possible, they are looking to throw more points for them as well.

With young guns such as Coco Ho from Sunset Beach, HI blowing up the competition scene, more airs are likely to be seen in women’s surfing competition. She hucked an air for the sake of showing priority on a wave at the Roxy Jam in Hawaii in a heat against seven time world champ Layne Beachley.

This pushes women surfers to expand their range of maneuvers as well as cause great surfers to fall in competitive surfing. The future of the ASP World Tour will see more surfing above the lip, so who’s the next Air Jordan?

Moore Deals

Carissa Moore, the 16 year old young gun out of Honolulu, HI has added another sticker to her much-photographed surfboard. After leaving her long time partnership with Roxy, Moore signed sponsorship deals with mega brands Red Bull and Nike. On July 23rd she announced her new deal with Target, which will coincidently open two stores on the Hawaiian islands.

Letter to the Department of Transportation of California

Transportation is something that I am very concerned about as a citizen of California. I am a college graduate, I live where I can afford and I commute to any internship opportunity I receive.

Last summer I commuted an hour between Long Beach and Dana Point. This summer I commute 30 minutes from Thousand Oaks to Malibu.

Traffic and gas prices suck, but the answer isn't throwing more money into a bill to increase vehicle efficiency. I witnessed firsthand at Zero Air Pollution Vehicles (ZAP) that the problem isn't entirely the vehicles, but the amount of them on the roads.

We need to spend money on public transportation that is RELIABLE, CONVENIENT and COMFORTABLE. Transportation was awful in Hawaii, but that was to be expected moving to an isolated island. In the state of California we have one of the most dense populations in the nation filled with people with money in their pocket.
We also have people that need jobs.

It is essential to spend money to improve transportation in the state of California but it is not effective unless we construct researched, logical means of allocating that fund in helping reshape California's expectations of transportation.

Sincerely, a young Californian excited to participate in government,

Jenna Goldberg2009 CSU Long Beach graduate of the school of journalism

Lakey lands it: NSSA surfer goes above the lip to take the title

For anyone that doesn’t already know, the NSSA National Championship is an exciting event to witness. “It was unbelievable,” said 2009 champ Lakey Peterson. The last stop on the National Scholastic Surfing Association tour of USA was held at Lower Trestles surf break in the state of California and deemed the “Governor’s Cup.” The “Governator” was not the excitement within the event, but the astounding level of competitive surfing the young women showed throughout all rounds and within every heat (the only guns were biceps and the only bombs were the four foot sets rolling in from outside.) However there were a full cast of characters in the water as the best competitive surfers nationwide participated in the prestigious event, pushing the performance of women’s surfing in every heat.

Most imperative to note looking into the event lineup is title defender Courtney Conologue, 16 who turned out to fight for a repeat title at the NSSA national championship. With the last two year’s titles to her name, the Californian pushed through her heats and showed her strength at the Lower Trestles surf break. She positioned herself for several of the bigger waves of her heats and showed total commitment for every drop-in. She used the larger, set waves to full advantage, carving powerful turns from the bottom to the top of the wave and demonstrated her powerful backside. She couldn’t find the waves she needed to better her score in the finals however, and finished second in the event overall.

Advancing through different heats than Courtney was the record breaker, Malia Manuel, 15 of Wailua, Hawaii. The young Kauaian continued her success on the NSSA tour, after taking the US Open title last year, the youngest competitor in the event’s history. Malia saw high scores from the judges on every wave she rode in the semifinals, finishing with 8.75, 7.75 and a 7. Her smooth style and vertical maneuvers gave everyone a reason to watch, including the Hawaii ‘Ohana that cooked and cheered on the young surfers from the beach. Malia showed strength up to the last minute of competition in the finals. With five minutes remaining the excitement built as sets rolled in and girls paddled hard to catch their last opportunity to improve their wave score combination. Malia and Lakey jumped back and forth between the first and second spot before Courtney found a wave to better her score and secure second place.

It was the dark horse that took the 2009 National Championship title. Few people could identify Lakey Peterson, 14 coming into the event, but they will not forget her performance in the orange jersey. The excitement exploded in the finals when Lakey pulled an air on the first wave, sticking it and landing into history as the first lady in the NSSA Nationals to do so. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say she is the dictionary definition of “progression” as she ripped through huge turns and while landing the air Peter Townsend projected, “the progression of women’s surfing is truly amazing.” After her ride that scored her a 9.0, Lakey was driven to stay on top the rest of the heat. “I did that air and that gave me such a huge confidence boost through the rest of the heat.” She said, humbly adding how surprised she was she nailed it.

Lakey’s mother sat in the line up next to the contest zone as Lakey surfed in the finals. Sue Peterson wore a smile ear to ear as she arrived on the beach with a California flag draped over her shoulders.

“That was so sick! I really can’t even believe this is going on right now, I’m
still in shock,”

the surfer from Santa Barbara gushed after the heat as friends and family surrounded her.

It was the young women’s time to shine as they enjoyed several days at Lower Trestles with only a few other surfers out. The surf rat prodigies became humanized between heats as competitors accepted Gatorade and a towel from Mom, played Guitar Band under the Nike canopy and hid tear-swollen eyes behind dark sunglasses after a heart wrenching loss. On the beach, the scene was electric with stoke and passion. The surf riders exemplified their dedication to the sport and the camaraderie between competitors. See you back next year.

FINAL RESULTS OPEN WOMEN’S
NSSA National Championship
1. Lakey Peterson, CA - 16.75
2. Courtney Conlogue, CA - 14.75
3. Malia Manuel, HI - 14.25
4. Nage Melemed, HI - 13.75

Where waves meet wine: Sonoma County

It’s finally summer. Sell your textbooks, pack your bags, put the boards on the roof and hit the road. To experience a unique surfing culture where waves meet wine, visit Sonoma County in Northern California. Roughly 45 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge on the West Coast, the region is defined by rolling hills lined with vineyards. Welcome to the wine country. After a surf session at Doran Beach or Salmon Creek in Sonoma County, head to Healdsburg where you will find some of the most delicious and internationally acclaimed wines in the world.

Walking into the Long Board tasting room, you’d swear you were walking into a surfer’s garage in the 1970’s, but with a modern twist. A variety of bright surfboards decorate the wooden ceiling; classic longboards, a stand-up-paddle board from the 1930’s, even a 1960’s board bought from Sears is suspended from the ceiling by rope. The wine tasting bar is constructed from a hand-crafted balsa wood longboard from Waikiki while a flat screen continuously running surfing films is mounted on the wall at the end of the bar. Oded Shakked stands behind the counter in his Longboard hoodie and jeans. He’ll greet the visitors, pull out the wine list and pour one of five different wines Longboard Vineyards offer for tastings. As you relax with your first glass of Sauvignon Blanc you will quickly sense that the surf culture is as authentic as the wine in Sonoma County.

Sonoma County is internationally renown for harvesting some of the world’s best wines, the moderate temperatures and diverse region of northern California offer ideal growing conditions for winemakers. The vineyards attract wine lovers from around the world to taste wine for $0-$15 depending on the winery. Barrel tasting and wine tours invite guests twenty-one and over to buy a wristband (about $30 cost) to taste at nearly twenty wineries in Sonoma County. Many also provide food and live entertainment.

The winemakers of Longboard Vineyards value balance and authenticity above all. “We’re about making good wine that ages well, at decent prices,” said winemaker Oded. While some wineries exude sophistication with the act of tasting wine, Oded and the staff at Long Board Vineyards take a more relaxed approach, his mantra being, “You should spend more time in life having fun and less time reading the backs of your wine labels.”

The laid back winemaker grew up in Israel where he surfed and built boards for one of the two companies surf companies in the country. “It’s not great, but there’s decent surf in the Mediterranean,” Oded said. “Whenever we heard there was an earthquake in Greece we would wax our boards because we knew we would get some waves.” Oded moved to California to pursue viniculture at UC Davis and after working for another winery for eighteen years, established Longboard Vineyards in Sonoma County. “I see a lot of parallels in winemaking [to surfing], it’s really fun for me to kind of close the circle.” By naming the vineyard “Longboard,” Oded paid homage to his love for surfing. Not everyone could see the connection between the two cultures but to Oded, it was obvious. “They’re both things that require patience and passion, you’re not the boss, and when you learn that you can’t be in control, that’s when you start really enjoying it,” he said.

From tales of surfing on cardboard to seal attacks, Oded has a lifetime’s knowledge of surf culture and enjoys talking story with visitors, while pouring wine. Speaking on women’s surfing, he recalled one woman surfer in all of Israel whose father brought the first surfboard to Israel in the 1950’s for the lifeguards. While surfing culture develops, women still represent the minority at most every surf break. To explain the gender difference, Oded retraces surfing back to the 1950’s and 1960’s, and considers the physical limitations on women at a time when the boards were constructed longer and much heavier. He reasons that cultural stigma could contribute to some discouragement from women in the water because some male surfers feel territorial in the lineup, “If someone penetrates that circle,” Oded said, “it makes them feel uncomfortable because they can’t be jerks any more, you gotta watch you language. I hope we get beyond that at some point, what are we in the dark ages or something?”
For the winemaker, surfing is a religious experience. “To me, the great part of surfing is the spiritual part,” he said. “Going into the water is my church. I go sit in the water, bob up and down waiting for a wave, relax, decompress and think about life.” Award-winning wine made by a surfer with soul, Longboard vineyards attest surfing and wine to be a harmonious pair in Sonoma County.

Human surfers deprived by darwin.

Have you ever watched a pelican surf? Sometimes they will cruise over the water's surface in a row of three. They fly over the ocean flapping their brilliant windspan, swoop down closer to the water just as the wave is building, place themselves in the curl of the wave and glide, following the line down the shore before pulling out and flapping their wings again.

I'm not sure there is a scientific explanation as to why they surf. They aren't searching for fish at this time, they aren't trying to get from point A to point B, so it must be pleasure.

Birds surf, so do dolphins. Humans are probably the worst surfers, with the exception of Laird Hamiliton and guys. I'd like to see a pelican surf Peahi or Teahupo'o.

Marine birds have some pretty awesome adaptions that we should be insanely jealous of. For one, they can secrete saltwater. As Osmoregulators, birds have salt glands that empty onto their nose. Some birds are Homeotherms, able to keep their body temperature constant (more or less) regardless of the temperature of the environment. Wouldn't it be great to surf in any water, sans wetsuit for as long as you like? Their body temperature is 106 degrees F with feathers that traip air to provide insulation against the cold.

Marine birds are genetically superior to human surfers. We need to step it up a notch. Who knows, maybe if we spend more time in the water, our grandchildren's children will be birthed with a higher body temp and a few feathers.

ROOTS FLICKS

Chris Haslem: A magician at work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RZiPxqguoc

Stacey Peralta: When the surf is flat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ST3jATLqg10

In the Curl: Malia Manuel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--BQ8DeLf9s

Bowling balls and shopping carts

I was surfing yesterday, just south of the Los Angeles/Orange County boarder when pollution threw a curveball. The ocean rolled a bowling ball from Fullerton Lanes onto the shore, followed by a shopping cart.

A storm coming down from northern california dumped two inches of rain in a day, one of the consecutive days of rain blanketing Long Beach. While urban areas flooded, a strong swell pulsed to the shores with dangerous conditions and heavily polluted water.

Many surfers took caution and waited the advised 72 hours before getting in the water. Surfers who braved the waters were stoked but caught the flu. It's your choice, just watch out for bowling balls and shopping carts.

Evasive spcies threaten healthy reef

Evasive species threaten healthy reef on the Hawaiian islands. New York Times interviews marine biologist who operate the sucking machine, an invention to rid of harmful algae.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/science/1194811622277/index.html