Hurricane Bill Aftermath

Here is a little collage of some of the photos we snagged during the OBX road trip. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks again to Robert Snow, Matt Lusk, and Brad Styron for letting me post the photos.

Check out a couple video clips from this day here.

Hurricane Bill: Welcome.

Today we saw the first sign of Hurricane Bill’s glory. Photographer Robert Snow, my brother, and I mapped out a gameplan last night, but as always when working with an unpredictable hurricane swell our plans changed. The waves looked to fun to hop in a loaded car and drive away from, so we posted up close to home and scored some fun waves at sunglow pier in the morning. Then headed off to the inlet to surf with a 1,000 of our closest (MCO) local friends. Check out the couple shots we managed to snag. Thanks to Robert Snow for the Shots. Check out his website if you have the chance. www.Robertsnowphoto.com

Hurricane Bill: Anticipation!

 Getting excited for the first Hurricane of the season (Bill), looks promising for good surf and minimal damage to the coastline, (which is always a plus). Bill looks like he is going to be moving up the coast fast, so stay tuned for updates. Car is full of gas and the boys are frothing to chase him down!

Update from SA

Over here in South Africa. The trip has been rough so far, but we are all trying to make the best of it. My heat went horrible over here. The surf was a solid 8-12 feet and super fun in the morning, when the wind was offshore, but as soon as the wind turned it was hell out there. The heats were 30 minutes long, you could paddle out right as the heat before started, and still not one person in my heat made it out before the 10 minute mark. We were all pretty much dead and one guy didn't even make it out. I eventually got out caught one wave, (a big closeout) and broke my leash. It was by far the worst heat of my life. I think the person who won my heat had a 3 point heat score. It was pathetic. Right after out heat they tried to initiate a jet ski assist to help surfers get out, but it was useless. They called the event off for the day in the middle of the next heat. Really bummed on that, but not going to let it ruin my trip, especially because I don't think there was one other thing I could have done. Check back and I will update you on what else is going on over here.

Headed for Ballito!!

My Trip is set. I am headed to Ballito South Africa for the 6* WQS event over there next week. Pretty Excited! I am headed over there with a couple of the Puerto Rican surfers, and another guy from California. We are renting a little house 10 minutes from the contest site, and about a minute walk to the beach. I surfed yesterday and felt alright. I am still a little swore, but I am going to suck and up and block out the pain for my heat over there. I am bringing several rolls of sports tape, and I have the ankle stability tape job dialed. The only thing i'm not looking forward too is the 22 hour flight over there. I am going to lose it on the plane!!!

2 weeks of laying up!

I'm 2 weeks deep into my 3 and 1/2 week jail sentence from using my ankle. It has been really hard but I have been doing everything I can to strengthen my ankle by doing lite workouts with heavy ankle bandages on. I am starting to plan out my next trip to Durban for the 6 star event in Ballito. I am getting excited to get back in the water, and can't wait to get over there!!

Injured List

Tried to surf again the other day, but my ankle was really killing me. Talked with a physician today and he told me to ice it and just lay off of it for a while. I explained to him that I have another WQS event coming up in a few weeks in South Africa, and he was claiming i would be good by then if I just take it easy until then. So it looks like its going to be a lot of movie watching, training the upper body at the gym, annoying my girlfriend, and losing my mind......

Back home!!!

Just got back home, Waves are flat, the weather is blistering hot, and the town is crowded. Now i know why I haven't spent more than a week or two here in the summertime for the past 10 years...ha. Just kidding, it feels great to be back home after those long trips. Another great thing about the summertime in Daytona Beach, Florida is the Fishing!! I have been out in my boat everyday since getting back and have been slaying the Fish. You know how fishermen are with their "fish tales" but check out my shots for evidence...ha 

Getting ready to head home

It's been another amazing week out here. I have been having a blast, surfing a ton and hanging with my brother and our girls. We have been doing different stuff everyday, Six-flags, Museum of Death, San Diego Zoo, eating at some really good restaurants, and enjoying the scene in Hollywood.  

The surf forecast looks meager for the next week out here, and during my last session I tweaked my ankle a bit, so I am going to rest it up for a while.

   Check out the shots from out adventures....

Photo Shoot With Alpinestars

Today I cruised up north with the Geoff the A-stars art director/photog, and Sean Hayes the Team manager. Pretty rad day. Jennifer and I had never driven the coast road that far north. It was incredible. I'm still tripping on some of the houses near hollywood!! The photo shoot went good, we met up at Nathaniel Curren's house to do the shoot (since he had to bail for the CT in tahiti the next morning). Pretty funny watching Geoff turn Nate's garage into a little studio... The photos are going to be used in some upcoming advertisements, as well as the catalogs. 

Extended the Cali trip

I was planning on heading back home, but there seems to be nothing going on at home. So I figured I would change my ticket and extend the trip for a while longer. My brother is coming out with his girl in a few days, so Jen and I are going to cruise up and Stay with them in Hollywood. 

VQS Championships Day 2

The contest didn't go as well today. I ended up losing my heat this morning due to a wave starved heat. We were all struggling to get waves, and I wasn't able to get any real waves the entire heat. Pretty bummed on that, but was super excited to see Jennifer's interview in the new issue of Surfing Magazine. Surfing's photo editor and good friend Jimmy Wilson brought us over the mag at the beach today. The photo looked awesome and the interview actually made me sound like a nice guy, so that was a bonus!!ha If you get a chance to pick up the mag be sure to check out the "Whipped" feature to read her interview. I will post photos on here ASAP.

VQS Championships Day 1

The contest went great today! I won both of my heats today, and am pumped to surf again tomorrow. The waves were a little out of control, but I managed to sneak a couple fun waves in my heats. Shot some footage with A-stars filmer PJ Gomez for the Frtonline Blog, I will update this post with a link ASAP. Check back for the footage!

Psyching up!

Getting excited to head up to Newport for the Volcom VQS Champs in the morning. Waves should be pretty fun, I have always done pretty well in Newport, so I am ready to get it started. Check out these links to the regional VQS events I won back home. 

Jax beach- http://www.volcom.com/crusty/EventArticle.asp?EventiD=605&SeasonID=22

New Smyrna-  http://www.volcom.com/crusty/EventArticle.asp?EventiD=607&SeasonID=22

new swell filled in today

Still out here in California. I have been having a blast, surfing a ton, today a nice little swell filled in. I have mainly just been surfing the beach breaks around San Clemente. Been getting some really fun waves, Check out a couple of the shots photog Aj Neste captured one evening session. Thanks again for shooting AJ!

Cruising in California

Picked Jennifer up from the airport yesterday. Feels good to be back with her after a long time from home. She was craving "In-N-out" so we had to hit one on the way home. Waves also picked up today. We are staying right in San Clemente right now, so I have been surfing all the different beach breaks around town. Wanted to Thank everyone at Alpinestars for lending us an insane car for our time out here. I really appreciate it. Check out the shots from us cruisng around Socal in Style. Be sure to look close at the photo of Jen posing in front of our car. There is a $75 parking ticket on the windshield. Does that honestly look like a damn firehydrant??

Lowers Pro....

Unfortunately, Things did not go my way today. I felt like I may have been riding the wrong board, and I definitely needed to have better wave selection. I still picked up 875 points and some cash. Im just excited to be staying out here and getting some waves from this upcoming swell. My girl should be here Friday so I'm looking forward to that as well!!

 Here are a couple shots from my heat, if you have time check out the video from Alpinestars Frontline page here                            

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

Lowers pro

Stoked, Made my first heat today. Felt pretty good out there today, wish I would have gotten some better waves, but still glad to make it. Keep checking back for updates.

California for the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro

Just arrived in California from South Africa. Glad to be back in America, and ready for the event to start at Lowers tomorrow. Also excited to have my girl coming out at the end of the week. Been away from home for a while, so it will be nice to see her out here. If you get the chance, check out the comp website, should be live tomorrow. http://www.nikelowerspro.com/

New Pier Quiksilver Pro Durban South Africa

Hey,

     Just Got back from Durban South Africa. I went down there for the 6 star prime event held at New pier. The comp went alright, got 900 points and some fun waves. I was traveling down there with Brian Toth from Puerto Rico. The last few days we were there, the waves went flat, so it gave us an opportunity to check out some other things Durban had to offer. Their Mall was insane, it had everything, from Rock climb walls, Go-carts, bowling alley, Wave pool, Skate Park, restaurants.....  Check out the photos, especially the ones from the Wild animal park. It was unbelievable!!