Pipemaster 2010

It's a wrap. The Billabong Pipemaster/Van's Triple Crown ended in fine fashion Thursday with nice glassy overhead barrels. Although mostly all were backdoor, the breaks provided for some amazing sick rides. Kelly Slater scoring on the best ride of the day in the quarters was not able to overcome the buzzer beater by Jeremy Flores. Flores brings home the first win ever by a European from the Pipe. In the finals against Kierron Perrow Jeremy did the same thing. Never giving up and waiting for the best waves after being in a combo, Flores got the same kind of score just like against Slater.

Slater's Last Comp?

Kelly Slater will surf Heat3 Round 6 with John John Florence. Good luck Kelly!

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Van's Triple Crown Round 3 on hold

You guessed it! Round 3 is on hold today. None other than John John Florence is lucky enough to surf against Kelly Slater in heat 6 of the 3rd round. John John is a local and grew up right here on the North Shore a stones throw away from Pipeline. I believe he started surfing Pipe at age 7. Now at age 18, he stands poised to move up into the ranks of the best in the world.

This may be the final event of Slaters amazing career. He may now retire for the second time and who could blame him. I think many will cheer! What an astonishing way to go out. KS10

Pipe is ON

Congrats to the Irons family. Andy Axel Irons, 8lbs3oz, was born today. Bruce was said to have been there to cut the cord and be there for his sister-in-law and nephew. Bruce is flying back to Oahu. He should make his heat this afternoon. Good luck Bruce Irons.

North Shore

Looks like a nice swell coming for the opening of the Van's Triple Crown at Pipeline. The first two days should see some overhead waves and the next several days look like 5-7ft. Good enough to rip through some barrels. With the wind almost completely offshore, the waves should hold up nicely.

I'm waiting for the line-ups of the first day. It should be a great comp!

Surfing in Puerto Rico

Many do not realize how great the surf is on this island. Most breaks today and for the rest of the forecast are having excellant conditions with overhead waves. This is currently better than Pipeline in Hawaii!

Help on the Beach

A special thank you goes out to Luis, Miguel, and Tanya. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and holiday season. Thanks for the Medalla and watching my equipment while I got some close ups down the beach. Cheers!

Big waves in PR

The forecast is great for some pumping waves at Dunes and many other breaks in PR. Sun thru Fri looks to be 6ft+.

In the mean time the North Shore of Oahu is starting to go off. Six weeks on the North Shore has started with many comps and events. Vans Triple Crown is the tenth event in the ASP mens where we saw Mick Fanning win last year. Taj Burrow won the Pipe and Kelly Slater placed second. I'm stoked to see how Slater will surf this last event after being crowned at Dunes!

Rip Curl Pro 2010 Puerto Rico

Back in the USA. The skies are very gray. In my mind the sea is blue. I still miss you(PR).

After all the hype is over and the crowds have left, hopefully the dunes are intact at Middles, Isabela. What an awesome surf break. A nice point juts out at both ends of the beach. This channels the waves into the reef making for some excellant waves.

Slater Photos

Stand by peeps for more shots from the Rip Curl Pro Somewhere in Puerto Rico. I happened to see to Kelly at the airport on the way out of Aquadilla. He looked quite content. Slater was probably on his way to Oahu for the Vans Triple Crown at Pipeline on the Northshore.

Local shops, Resaurants and Beaches

When traveling to PR, Rincon is the place one wants to visit. Try Calypso on Route 413 for the beach bar atmosphere and great food such as Ceviche and tuna rolls. Walk to the beautiful Maria beach area of Tres Palmas. Carribean emerald green water just several steps away. Drive a short distance to more great restaurants and shops such as Mangos Gift Shop, Tamboo and various surf shops. Taino Divers is the place for all your water adventures. The break near Taino divers is Malibu.
At the other end of town is Villa Confresi`. Walk down to the beach from the open air bar and find sea glass everywhere. Sometimes one may find a gem worth having made into a necklace or pendant.
Wherever one finds oneself in Rincon PR., it is an adventure.

Rincon Puerto Rico

I would like to say Thank you to all the great people I met and the wonderful heartfelt hospitality. I love Puerto Rico. What an incredible event we all took part in. Thanks to Jaime, KV, Guigue, Roberto(Miguel) HA HA, Ismael, Doris and husband. Rya

I will look forward to seeing everyone again and the beautiful island of PR.

Once again, congrats to Kelly Slater. He had this one all figured out. The general consensus is that no one could have beaten Kelly at Middles. I'd like to say to Dillon Graves, " you are the next best."

Ryan, Carrina and friends in the one photo were great.

Rincon Puerto Rico

Getting a nice swell here from the remnants of Thomas. The beaches at Tres Palmas are seeing the first nice sets of the winter season. (Not winter here !!!!!!!!!!) Mainly I have been in Rincon for this trip. There are so many sweet breaks up and down the beach. Litehouse, Domes, Marias. The list goes on forever. Sandy beach is also looking excellent.

Kelly Slater takes it all so easily at Middles

Stand by everyone. Soon I should have the most awesome photos processed for this blog. We shot 1000 on the day of round 5 and all the competion that day. I was lucky enough to have two extra hands on the equipment and they did an awesome job. More than I could have hoped for.

Slater is not human. He pulled off two barrel rides folloewd by an ally-oop/360 to cement his trip to the finals.

In the finals, Bede Durbidge didn't stand a chance as Slater continued to choose every wave that scored him the highest point totals of the comp including a 10.

Andy Irons

Heartfelt condolences to the family of Andy Irons. Andy, age 32, reportedly was battling Dengue Fever, a viral disease. He had dropped out of the Rip Curl Pro competition in Puerto Rico and was enroute back to his home in Hawaii when he passed away during a layover. The 3 time Asp World Champion will be incredibly missed. Andy had collected 40 elite tour victories and 4 Triple Crown first places in his career.
Heartfelt sympathies go out to his family.

Rip Curl Pro 2010 Puerto Rico

I'm at Middles in PR near Isabela. The event has been called for the day. Some better waves are expected later this week. That didn't keep the locals and a few in the comp from rippin on Tuesday morning. Clean glassy overhead were going off at 7am.

Womens World Title

Stephanie Gilmore has just won the World title this morning in Puerto Rico at 8:05 am. She nearly was eliminated with just 3 minutes left but scored a 6.31 on a nice ride to clinch the heat over the Aussie Melanie Bartels. This is Stephanie's 4th in a row. Not bad!

Slater wins first heat in Puerto Rico

Staying busy and getting some sweet rides including a barrel for a score of 7.53 Kelly was in fine form today. Following this up with a ripping ride for a 8.67 he cemented his place and will move to round 3. Jordy Smith who is also in the hunt, currently 2nd in the world, won his heat also. Jordy moves now to round 3 also. Game on!

Rip Curl Pro 2010 Puerto Rico

Still waiting on info and the agenda. I made a contact in PR at SurfPR. 8 days until a possible start of the comp. I am getting anxious as hell. A friend is flying down to meet me on Nov. 4 and has many connections since he is Puerto Rican. How cool is this! I'm staying at the Rincon Inn in .............You got it, Rincon.

Rip Curl Pro 2010 Puerto Rico

I'm told the 2010 event will be held at Middles with Wilderness as a back up location on the North Shore of PR. That is near the town called Isabela. The northwest beaches of PR are known for their awesome waves and surf.

Near Rincon on the western side of the island, there are countless breaks. All have good waves during the winter months.

Rip curl Pro Champ in Peniche Is Slater

Tightening his grip on an epic 10th world title is no other than Kelly Slater. Pulling off a killer 360 Alley-Oop to get into the finals, Slater was relaxed and poised do do whatever it takes to win. That is what he did in the final. He kept the pressure on and rode wave after wave almost reaching the max number allowed. Moving now to Puerto Rico on Oct. 30th, the Rip Curl Pro Search will possibly see a champion crowned for 2010!

Slater's In Fanning's Out

The RipCurl Pro is on today and almost complete. Kelly Slater won his heat in round 3 today. Mick Fanning(AUS) fell to Travis Logie(ZAF) by a mere .11 very close! This really helps Slater in his title chase. Jordy Smith(ZAF) who is in second behind Slater, is surfing in the last heat of the day against Dean Morrison(AUS).

Tai-Chi on the Rocks

At the other end of the bay, one day earlier, another brave girl was posing. The rocks are always slippery and wet. One needs extremely good balance to navigate them. That is what this woman appears to have, as well as some talent with stances.

Girl on the Rocks

Sounds like a cocktail but it is actually a photo of a daring woman. The waves were breaking 20ft+ and could've ended her life. Totally drenched she decided to get off the rocks. Her boyfriend was doing a shot with a small point and shoot camera when a bomb came in!

Mens RipCurl Pro in Portugal

Kelly Slater easily won over Bruno Santos (BRA) and advances on to round 3. Taj Burrow meets Matt Wilkinson in the first heat tomorrow. Portugal is 5 hrs past our eastern time zone. First call is at 8am (3am eastern time). Check it out live on ripcurl.com

RipCurl Pro 10 October 7-18

Carissa Moore (HAW) is the winner at Peniche Portugal. With a score of 17.44 she easily won over Stephanie Gilmore (AUS). The RipCurl Pro 10 is off for the day due to a storm. Mens may be on tomorrow. Huge 16ft+ waves are forecast for the coast.

It's about that time of year again. The Northshore of Oahu is starting to get the first swells. Everyone is waiting to see if December will get the same huge swell that allowed the 25th Eddie Aikau to be held. The Van's triple Crown of Surfing final event (Pipeline) is during the first few weeks of December also. That is where Mick Fanning clinched the world title last year. He is currently just behind Kelly Slater and Jordy Smith this year with 3 events left. It may come down to the Pipeline again to see who will take it. Portugal is the next stop on the 10 comp ASP World Tour. It is actually going on now and pumping. I'm stoked to watch all the comps left this year. Slater is looking for his 10th world title.

Winter Returns

After almost an eternity, we have sub freezing temps again. If you ski you know what I mean. Jan got warm and the snow has melted into almost nothing. Only the huge piles of plowed snow remain. Luckily the base at BMBW is enough to keep skiers going. Blowing snow again will give great surfaces in no time. My favorite is packed powder. Fresh corduroy grooves from the hill grooming are only there early in the morn. Peace

Volkyl Demo Day @ BMBW

Awesome demo day. Tried 6 different skis. Hero snow all day. Have to admit, when the snow rocks it ,doesn't get much better! TigerShark model was fast as hell. I did enjoy the womens Aurora. 161 length when you are 6'2" is like wearing Blades. Plow thru everything at blinding speed. Lucky I had goggles. I promise photos, videos and more when I figure out how to do it. theSurfninja

Fast Snow

The first blog entry for MotionSports. I'd first like to share the ski conditions this last weekend at HolidayValley Ski Resort at Ellicotteville, NY. Very fast and great conditions were the norm for the weekend until around 3PM Sunday. Rain then came into the area.

theSurfNinja