Watch: Plastic Seas

Plastic SEAS a Surfing video by MPORA

Mick Fanning Leads World Tour Rankings

In 1976, Peter Townend was named surfing's first World Champion. The odd part about that honor being bestowed on Townend was the fact that he didn't win an event that year. However, he surfed the most events and was consistent enough in those contests that the point system used by the then-IPS awarded him the trophy (even if the trophy was a fake). This year, we've got another Townend situation brewing, as Mick Fanning has been the model of consistency this season, reaching at least the quarterfinals of every event this year but failing to win one as of yet. We're at the mid-point of the tour, and Mick owns a narrow lead over Kelly Slater. Reigning World Champ Joel Parkinson, fresh off his dramatic win at Keramas, has catapulted himself into third place in the rankings after some disappointing results earlier in the year. Jordy Smith is currently slated fourth, while Taj Burrow rounds out the Top 5.

Who is the favorite to win the World Title this season? Your guess is as good as mine, as this race feels increasingly tight with every passing event. Nobody is separating themselves from the pack, but again, there are still five events to be surfed. Could Mick keep surfing well but missing out on wins and still take home the title this season? It's possible unless someone really tightens their game and puts up some big results. If I were Fanning, I would be most worried about Kelly and Parko, for rather obvious reasons. Kelly can win any event at any time, and if he decides to flip his killer instinct switch he could run away with this thing before anyone knew what happened. Parko, on the other hand, just got his first win of the season, and in doing so looked like the Parko of 2012. These three guys are the favorites right now in my eyes, though Jordy, Taj and Adriano are definitely in the mix. If you want a dark horse, then I'd go with Nat Young, who is surfing better than ever right now and has shown some serious consistency in his own right this season. Should be a hell of a race.

Bali Pro Down to Quarters

Hell of a day yesterday for Rounds 4 and 5 of the Oakley Bali Pro, as Keramas went off with some incredible barrels, and the boys went hunting for deep tubes (highlights below). The performance of the day undoubtedly came from reigning World Title champion Joel Parkinson, who put up a perfect heat in Round 5 against John John Florence's 19.20 in the best head-to-head performance of the competition thus far. Just going into that heat and knowing that one of those guys was going to be eliminated didn't feel quite right, but afterward it really seemed like they both deserved to advance. A vet-on-vet upset occurred in Round 5 when C.J. Hobgood ousted current number one Kelly Slater, and another stunner came one heat later when Nat Young bounced Adriano De Souza from the contest.

Here is a look at the quarters matchups:

Taj Burrow vs. Joel Parkinson
-What a heat this will be. Both guys looked seriously on their game yesterday, and it might come down to wave selection, which is why I'd give Parko the nod here. The champ hasn't won a contest yet this year, and it's really starting to feel like that streak is going to end.

Josh Kerr vs. C.J. Hobgood
Kerr had a fantastic Round 4 heat where to took down both Kelly and John John, so he's on a roll. His tube-riding has been better than I expected, as he's proving that he's much more than just an aerial guy. Will C.J.'s veteran savvy be enough here?

Julian Wilson vs. Nat Young
Julian is probably my favorite surfer on tour, though I felt he coasted a little yesterday and didn't love that. He'll need to compete harder to take down Young, one of the hottest surfers over the past few events. This is a great matchup of young guns and it's fun to know one of them will end up in the semis.

Michel Bourez vs. Mick Fanning
Normally I'd almost assume Mick is going to win this one, but Michel's game has looked tighter this week than I've ever seen it. He's becoming one of the more impressive power surfers on tour, and he's had a patient approach to this event that has netted him some of the best waves in the lineup. If pressed for a pick, I'd still take Mick, but I think it's much closer than you'd think at first glance.

Watch: Evo Revisited

"After 40 years an original 1968 Evolution board finds its way back into the hands of its creator, Wayne Lynch. Passing the board along to the youth of today, Belinda Baggs rides the board following the footsteps of Wayne. The power of Wayne 'the fish' Lynch and Bindy's graceful 'dancer' approach set a contrast leading onto a new remake based off the original design and modern theories of today."

Courtesy of Patagonia

Watch: Uncharted Waters Trailer

Courtesy of Patagonia.
U.S. Tour Dates: June 20th at the Broad Stage, Santa Monica, CA, June 21st at La Paloma Theater, Cardiff, CA , and June 27th at the Village East Cinema, NY.

180° South Inspires

I watched the documentary 180° South (trailer below) today and I highly recommend it to any appreciator of nature. It's not a surfing documentary, but there is some surfing in it and it carries with it a lot of elements that would attract people in the surfing culture. Equal parts adventure, an affinity for the natural world, environmental responsibility and simple living, this film is an inspiring story of a sixth-month journey that enriches the life of one man in ways he never bargained for. I don't want to get too much into what actually happens in this movie, because it should be seen instead of read about, but I will say that perspective is a tricky thing, and I have a great deal of love for things that alter and help fine-tune my perspective.

I will share one quote from the film that especially resonated with me (there were several):

"Each of us have got to do something to save our soul, whatever that is."
-Yvon Chouinard

For me, that something is surfing.

Watch: Slow Dance Teaser

 Courtesy of Marine Layer Productions...sorry for the slow load.

Watch: Tom Curren's First Wave at J-Bay

Happy International Surfing Day

Today is International Surfing Day, and though I'm landlocked in Colorado this week, I'll take the time to think of all the ocean gives me and ways I can help keep that body of water I love so much as healthy as possible. For those of you on a coast today, snag a left for me.

Watch: A Honu Experience

Watch: Peninsula Trailer

PENINSULA | TRAILER a Surfing video by MPORA

Watch: The Heart and the Sea Trailer

Ho-ly Sh*t

Kelly is King

In an interview following his convincing victory over Sebastian Zietz in the quarterfinals of the Volcom Fiji Pro yesterday, Kelly Slater made a simple statement, "I want to win this contest." It sounded harmless enough, but if you watched his heat before the interview, you knew it was Kelly time. Slater posted a perfect heat in the quarters, putting up a pair of 10-point barrel rides in the span of three minutes that surely left his rookie opponent dizzied out the back. We've seen it time and time again; when Kelly wants it bad enough, he's unstoppable. Add in the fact that he has more experience at Cloudbreak than anyone else on tour, and I didn't see a way Kelly could lose. And he didn't disappoint.

Kelly got busy early against John John Florence in the semis and went on to post an 18.17 to advance to the finals, where he met Mick Fanning. Fanning had just eeked out heats in the quarters and semis, and I didn't feel like he was much of a threat to Kelly. But nobody would have been a threat to the master, as Slater posted yet another perfect 10 along the way to a 19.80 score in the final heat. It was like watching a movie you know the ending to, but still being enthralled every step of the way. That's the kind of surfer and entertainer that Kelly Slater is.

With his victory in Fiji, Kelly moves up into a place he knows better than anyone in the history of surfing, the top spot in the World Tour rankings. He currently enjoys a narrow lead over Mick, who has been incredibly consistent this season with finishes of third, fifth, third and second. Jordy Smith followed up his win in Rio with a fifth in Fiji, good enough to put him third in the ranks. We've now got a quick turnaround for the next event, the Oakley Pro Bali, as the waiting period starts on June 18th.

Quote: Jack London

"That is what it is, a royal sport for the natural kings of earth,"
-Jack London on surfing in The Cruise of the Snark

Cloudbreak Comes Alive

The Fiji Pro got going again yesterday, and we saw why contest organizers were being patient in calling the contest on, as we saw some incredible waves comes through Cloudbreak. This quote from Kelly Slater (via ASP), a guy who has probably surfed this break more than any non-Fijian, really says it all about the conditions:

“That was unbelievable,” Slater said. “Those were some of the best waves I’ve ever had in a contest. On the 10, I was deep in the barrel and grabbed my rail, but I had to let go to get speed and then I hit the foam ball, I barely made that one. I did the turn and got another tube. On that one big one, it was so perfect and I just wanted to be in the right spot. As I was in the barrel, it spit really hard and there was lots of mist and I couldn’t see. The foamball pushed my tail up in to the wave and I just couldn’t come out the way I wanted to. I didn’t even care if I won or lost, because I’d get to surf again.”

That last statement was essentially the theme of yesterday's heats; the pros were so stoked and frothing at the sight of a pumping Cloudbreak that one of the sport's biggest events of the year boiled down to a simple and pure love for surfing. These guys are pros, but they were all little kids once that audibly oohed and aahed at hollow barrells and open faces. They still ooh and ahh, usually silently, but sometimes that little kid inside gets too excited an makes an appearance, and that's great to see. They're not surfing robots, after all, though sometimes their performance might have you suspecting otherwise.

We got down to the quarters yesterday, and here are the matchups:

John John Florence vs. Jordy Smith

Kelly Slater vs. Sebastian Zietz

C.J. Hobgood vs. Josh Kerr

Joel Parkinson vs. Mick Fanning

I've got to stick with my original pick of Kelly to win it all, but really several of these guys have surfed well enough thus far to make my confidence in that pick wane a bit, just because so many competitors have looked so good. John John has probably consistently surfed the best in the contest to this point, with Jordy a close second and Kelly probably right behind them, though Slater's Round 4 heat was absolutely insane. Zietz has shown that he can translate his Pipe skills to Cloudbreak without issue, C.J. Hobgood is one of the best lefthanded barrel riders in the world and always kills it in Fiji, Parko seems to finally be coming alive this season and Mick put together a 19-plus heat in the last round. This should be a great finish at what has probably my third-favorite event on the tour.

Props to Firewire and Hansen's

Last week I found that the deck of my Firewire Baked Potato had a crack in it. This discovery was a bit of a shocker considering that I had surfed it in two-foot surf the day before and couldn't recall a single wipeout of consequence. After I got over the initial shock, I took the board down to the shop from which I ordered it, Hansen's in Encinitas. The guys in the boardroom said that they hadn't ever seen a crack in a board like that before, but chalked it up to the technograin/timbertek material. They said that the damage might have been due to a structural problem in the board, as the crack had occurred right at the seam of two pieces of wood. Now hopeful instead of crushed, I left my favorite stick with the boys down there to wait for their call.

A few days later I got the news that Firewire would be replacing the board free of cost. For a stick that ran me more than $700, that was obviously a big deal, but it was even more so because of how much I love riding the thing. The Baked Potato is the perfect summer board for Southern California, when you see a lot of two-foot days. It catches waves easier than any non-longboard I've ever ridden, and is one of the smoothest rides you can experience on a shortboard. It's wide and thick, and as a 6'2", 180-pound guy I ride a 5'7"; the thing floats me no problem. I mostly ride it as a quad, but it has a five-fine setup, so you can also ride it was a twin, a thruster or a quad with a little nub. I've ridden it in up to four-foot surf, maybe even a few five-foot waves, and it holds up surprisingly well, though I'd still opt for a traditional thruster for a big winter swell. The Baked Potato turns on a dime, though, is crazy fast down the line and rips apart small waves that otherwise seem unrippable. I couldn't be happier with it.

So a big thanks to Firewire and Hansen's.

Watch: Ding Repair in the Mentawais

Always nice to see people giving back to a place that gives surfers so much.

Watch: A Deeper Shade of Blue Trailer

John John's Tube Riding is Unmatched

Watching John John Florence in his second round heat of the Volcom Fiji Pro has made it abundantly clear that he is the premiere tube rider in the world right now. The kid is just on another level, his very own plane of existence, and when that shines through in an event featuring the 30-plus best surfers on the planet it illustrates how simply incendiary Florence’s performance really was. Growing up with Pipe in his backyard has made Florence a tube-riding aficionado, given him a veteran’s savvy in the green room that seems unreachable at the tender age of 20. The sky really is the limit for this youngster, and with a contemporary like Gabriel Medina, a Hawaiian and a Brazilian are sure to treat surfing fans to a rivalry of the highest order for more than a decade to come.