New Commercial for the Tommy Tant

Tommy Tant 2010 Commercial from Tommy Tant Memorial Surf Classic on Vimeo.

Just in the middle of my Entourage Marathon, when a new commercial for this years Tommy Tant breaks in. Sure enough there is a little clip of me from last years event (second surfing clip, little air revo). Check it out, if you don't know about this event be sure to read up on it at www.Tommytant.com and if you do, I expect to see you down at Flagler first weekend in November.

another shot from the Seven Tiki pro

Just came across another photo of me from the Seven Tiki Pro last week. This one, from Surfing The Mag. I was wearing the new HD trunks from Astars throughout the event, things are amazing!!! If you are going to pick a pair up be sure to try them on, I find that the stretchy trunks run a little bigger. I was riding a Dominator, rapidfire, even though the judges kind of hate on the round boards, but I can't see myself on any other board when its under waist high.....

Tommy Tant Memorial & Red Bull Tow-at

Coming up on the first weekend of November is the Tommy Tant Memorial. This is always a special event for me not only because I have won it a couple times in the past, but more so because of the relationship I have built with the Tant Family over the years. They are some of the most loving and caring people on the face of the earth, and this event which is memorial for Tommy (who was an talented local surfer who was pursuing a career in surfing before he passed away) is a staple event for our community and one that everyone who is involved looks forward to throughout the year. This year the event is even more exciting for me as Alpinestars has signed on as a supporting sponsor, as well as Red Bull who is going to be holding an invite only Tow-at night expression session. This means that on Saturday night the boys from Red Bull are going to set up stadium lighting off the Flagler pier and will have a couple jet skis in the water, Whipping the 6 invited surfers at the waves, so we can put on a show for the crowd. I am super psyched, and cannot wait to compete this year. Be sure to check back for more updates on the event and photos and video from the festivities!!!!

Spray your board in 50 seconds....

How to paint your board in 50 seconds with Jesse Heilman from jesse Heilman on Vimeo.

Here is a little Vimeo clip I put together using my new GoPro camera. Just wanted to show how easy and fast it can be to do your own artwork on your board. Check it out....

Seven Tiki Pro..

This weekend we had the Seven Tiki Pro in Jaxonville Beach. The waves were dead flat in the morning, barely even lapping up on the beach, but Jay Dodson decided to go ahead and run the event after a few hours to wait for the tide to fill in. Ended up being a good choice, because by then the waves were a little bigger and actually contestable. I had a bad cold from my past trip in california, and was feeling really crappy throughout the day, but I ended up making a few pretty good heats, and had a pretty good day. I eventually lost in the semis to eventual winner Gorkin, and Cody thompson, both of whom were surfing good throughout the meager conditions. Here are a few photos from the "Fight Club" write up that ESM did.

Risked it all for these???ha

Here are a few more photos shot during Hurricane Igor, on one of the most shark filled days I have ever seen in my life. I ended up surfing Sunglow pier that morning with Shea and Matty lopez, as well as the rest of the usual crew, then we cruised down towards the Jetty for an afternoon session. Looking back on how ridiculously sharky it was, this may have been one of the most “dangerous” surf days of my life…ha Hope you all enjoy the photos, I literally risked limbs to get them..haha Big thanks to Tupat for always being on it, and ready to do work when the swell is on!!!

Firewire R&D....

So I spent this past week out in california working on some new designs with the guys from Firewire surfboards. If you don't know much about them already, they are the most high tech surfboard manufacturers out there, and are always coming up with new revolutionary designs to push the level of surfing towards a brighter future. Over the past couple years I have been fortunate enough to build a good relationship with all of the Firewire family, and my surfing has continued to benefit from this bond. Earlier this year I spent a few weeks on the Goldcoast of Australia working with the creator himself Nev Hyman on some new designs for this season. We came up with one particular model that we both feel was going to be insane, so he went straight to work on getting it dialed in. My description of our new model (The "Hellfire"), is a shaped down small wave board, that resembles your normal shortboard in the nose area, but has a routered out tail that helps the board to stay on rail through when you get it in a real section. The routered out tail helps you keep the volume under your back foot, while preventing it from getting to loose when you put it on rail. I know this sounds pretty crazy and something most people will "right off" as soon as they see it, but I rode mine this last week in meager surf to say the least at Oceanside harbor, and I am a firm believer in this model. The one I was riding was only 5'4 but held like my normal shortboard! For how bad the surf was I found a couple sections that showed what this board was capable of. The board I was riding actually had a ton of "V" on the bottom of the board, and actually made it difficult for the average surfer to figure out, so after discussing it with Chuy Reyna (who was riding the HellFire in a 5'8) we decided to stay with the same outline and just make the bottom of the board flat, to increase the boards speed through flatter sections. Look for this board to be coming out soon at your local Firewire dealer, and don't be afraid to look outside the box of your normal board. You never know, you may not ever look back!!! haha

"Sequence of the Week"

Just came across this little sequence that was shot a little while back. Thought it was a pretty cool one, so I figured I would throw it up here. Thanks to my boy Jesse Wicker for nailing it. If I remember correctly this day was pretty miserable, cold & windy, but psyched we actually did a little work this day.

Some Highlight photos from recent Hurricane surf....

Here are a few shots that Rob Snow nailed of us during some of the recent hurricane chase missions we have had up and down the coast. It's pretty amazing how rewarding it feels to score fun surf after a day or two mission of straight driving, and amateur attempts at predicting the weather patterns..

OBX PRO!!!!

Just finished up here in North Carolina, and super psyched to be ending our East Coast tour with a podium finish here at the WRV/Hurley OBX Pro. This event was the 5th stop on the Western Atlantic Pro Surf Series and offered the highest prize purse on the East Coast this year. After surfing two weeks of super fun surf, we were greeted with nearly flat conditions for the event, so it was even more special to make the final because each heat was absolute work to advance through. This result bumped me up to third on the WAPSS ratings just a couple hundred points behind current ratings leader Jeremy Johnston, going into the last two events. Here are a couple photos from the comp…Special thanks to the legend Jeff Weatherall, who multi tasked as Coach, photog, video guy, team manager, and hype man....
Final Results :
1st Asher Nolan $10,000
2nd Michael Dunphy $5,000
3rd Ben Bourgeois $3,000
4th Jesse Heilman $2,000

Surf Roots Thursdays presented by Astars....

Alpinestars has just signed on as a sponsor for a new Southern California concert series called Surf Roots Thursdays. Here are a few flyers, with dates, times, and locations of the upcoming shows. Check them out if you are around, If not tune into the live Webcasts to see what you are missing out on. I am planning on being at one or two of the shows, so I will hopefully see you there!!!!

Go Pro footage from Hurricane Earl

Hurricane Danielle- Jesse Heilman getting barreled in Hatteras, NC from Robert Snow on Vimeo.

Here are a few clips from my recent Hurricane chasing mission up the coast to Hatteras with my brother and Robert Snow. This is Rob's most recent experiment shooting with the Go Pro camera with it attached to his still cameras water housing. Makes for some cool footage as well as good little web edits like this one. Check it out.

DailyStoke Interview: Shootin’ the Sh!t with Jesse Heilman

I am not really sure who came up with the questions, but I thought it was one of the more interesting interviews I have done in a while.

The crew at dailystoke.com is always on the scene catching up with the guys on tour, and we recently had the great pleasure to catch up with Jesse Heilman, who ripped his way up and down the East Coast to lead in the WAPSS rankings as of this writing. Read on to hear how Jesse is so good that he can shred on any board you give him (even Taj’s), what it’s like to compete, why you will be wearing his sick new Able Planet headphones later this year, and finally we talk stuff that really matters, like meat pies. Read on kids…

dailystoke.com: So we saw you in this Alpine Stars print ad where you are staring at your board, were you thinking (a) “I love you, will you love me back?”, (b) “dear board, you shall not break on me”, or (c) “when this is over, we are going to…”

Jesse: Ha, actually I was contemplating stealing that board from one of my Alpinestars teammates Nathaniel Curran. This board was not even shaped for him, and just so happened to be my perfect dimensions. That was towards the end of our trip in El Salvador and I was down to my last board, so this little board was looking pretty inviting. Ha.

dailystoke.com: More seriously, what do you like about the new A-Stars N-1 shorts?

Jesse: I have been super impressed with the whole line of new Alpinestars trunks. The N-1 trunks are definitely one of my favorites, just the right amount of stretch, and perfect length. Before going to El Salvador to test drive the new surf trunks, I can’t remember the last time I was able to surf 8+ hours a day for 10 days straight without ever getting baggy rash. I know the quality of surf trunks has drastically improved over the past few years, and I am psyched to be representing the new line from Alpinestars.
Read the rest of the interview here at Dailystoke.com

Hurricane Earl Part III

Here is another Pre-Print article that Eastern Surf Magazine ran on the latest storm to pass through the Atlantic, Hurricane Earl. The feature is called the Earl of stoke part III and can be found here at ESM's website. Thanks to the boys over at ESM for including me in this feature, my shot was from a bombing day at the lighthouse in OBX. The waves were super punchy and fun this day, and Rob Snow, Markus, and I nailed some killer shots, which I am sure will be running in the upcoming Hurricane issues of the mags.

Barrels in California???

Jesse Heilman- Barreled in California.... from jesse Heilman on Vimeo.

Here is a little vimeo clip of a recent session I had out in California during the ASR/Sacred Craft Tradeshow. Hands down the best barrels of my life in cali without even having to get wet or have to paddle in. Have to throw a shout out to Jeff Weatherall for nailing these clips on his Iphone (even though you did get lipped in the head on that last wave....haha) and of course the little SD groms who were the sole reason why that tarp was even barreling..ha

Bliss Magazine write up!!

"Four flew over El Cuco's nest." The title from a recent write up in Bliss Magazine, on the Astars Team trip to El Salvador that we took a few months back. Pretty cool little article, featuring a few good photos of each of us. Here are a few screen shots of the article. If you want to read the whole thing or have a look at the rest of the mag, check out the online version at Blissmag.com.

Astars Catalog 2011

While at the surf expo this past weekend I was scrolling through the spring 2011 catalog and came across a few really cool photos I had mixed in the new range of gear. The shot that I really like was from El Salvador and is the first main page in the catalog. I remember the day we got this shot, and it was pouring down rain so badly that we decided to not shoot and no one really wanted to surf. The waves were still pumping, so Jeff and I were out there. Geoff the Astars Photog was sitting on the porch of the house under the balcony just hanging out when he snapped this shot through the palm trees. Somehow I am perfectly framed by the shadows of the palm trees and the rain clouds, or at least I thought so.haha

Surfer/Racer, and not the other way around!!

Alpinestars at Surfercross from Alpinestars USA on Vimeo.

Thats right, most of you don't know, but I am a "Slashie" dabbling in many other sports besides surfing. So when fellow Alpinestars team rider Jeff Weatherall mentioned competing in this years Surfercross, I had to get in. Little did I know it was a pretty serious event held at a track that was not groomed for amateurs. Before the week of the event I had only ever ridden a dirtbike one other time in my life, but that was with X-games gold medalist Ashley Fiolek, so I figured I would be alright. Jeff and I decided to put a few days in at the track before hand, so I could get use to the bike and see if I would actually be able to go through with it. Come raceday we realize we have been training on a different track that was much more mellow. When we pulled up to Star West raceway, we BOTH (Jeff probably won't admit it/tough guy syndrome) were a little nervous. ha This video from Alpinestars Frontline blog tells the rest of the story, but I just wanted to give a shout out to my Pro Racer/partner during the event Michael Sleeter. He murdered it on the track! We held strong in the first moto finishing in the middle of the pack, but it all went down hill when Jeff crashed Ronnie Renner's 250F that we were sharing throughout the event, and I had to hop on Sleeter's 450.haha, Don't worry man, I will be back next year with a couple more laps under my belt this time.

Shark Session

This past weekend the remainder of swell from Hurricane Earl cleaned up and offered a couple days of killer surf close to home. The only problem was that the big surf pushed in a huge number of baitfish enticing a lot more shark activity than normal. I have lived here my whole life, and I know how sharky the surf gets this time of year, but this was just ridiculous. Throughout my few sessions I witnessed easily over a hundred sharks destroying bait pods in and out of the lineup. There were bull sharks, lemons, black tips, etc... eating everything from mullett to large tarpon. During my short afternoon session at the inlet, there were 3 bites, and probably a dozen close calls. Check out this photo I found on one of the surf sites, if you look in the foreground of the shot you can see a tarpons tail kicking out in the middle of a pod of bait.

New Shot On SurferMag!!!

Check out this shot from my past adventure of Hurricane chasing up in Hatteras, North Carolina. These trips are some of my favorites, and there isn't a better time of year to be an East Coast surfer than hurricane season. Thought this photo was really cool, especially since I showed up at this secluded beach with my brother and Photog Robert Snow, to find Matt Lusk already shooting in the water with a slew of other East Coast pros. Normally photographers get all protective of who and where they are shooting, but Lusk still went out of his way to nail shots of us, even though we pretty much poached his spot.

Free Wallpapers and Screen savers from Astars

Check out the new wallpapers and screensavers that Alpinestar's has just released. If you feel like having my photo plastered on your desktop feel free to download your copy here on Astars Frontline site. There are several other layouts to choose from including other athletes like Ryan Guettler, Nathaniel Curren, Jeff Weatherall, and Kyle Loza. But clearly mine is the coolest.....ha

ABC News interview from ECSC

Here is a little news interview for the local Virginia Beach Affiliate for ABC. Filming this piece was actually pretty funny in a couple ways. First off the New Anchor himself, Brian set the interview up, filmed me surfing, and delivered the broadcast. Pretty tough work being an anchor nowadays, you have to be able to do it all.ha Secondly, he wanted to film a couple surf clips in some of the hardest conditions I have ever been in. Literally knee high, onshore, and close to 1,000 swimmers in the water up and down the beach. I actually got screamed at by one of the largest Guiddo's I have ever seen in my life. Luckily for him, I was in a good mood, and Brian waved me in, letting me know we had everything he needed. After the shoot I loaded Brian up with a ton of gear from Able Planet, which he was super excited about, Which I am really glad I did because he did an awesome job on the piece and I couldn't think of a better way to thank him. Special thanks to ABC, Able Planet, and my PR manager Mike Z.

ECSC

This past week I competed in the East Coast Surfing Championships. My goal heading into the event was to get another "keeper" result for my campaign towards the Western Atlantic Pro Surf Series. Coming into the event I was the Number one seed, so needless to say I was completely shocked that I had to surf through the Trials of the event. "Apparantly" the seedlist was determined by the order in which you entered, which was basically total BS, because I talked to several guys that entered well after I did that were seeded into the main event. I put all the negativity that I had towards this behind me and tried to use it as fuel for the event. This actually worked out perfect, because I had to surf through 4 rounds that were more stacked then the main event. So after making it all the way through the trials I end up going down in a heat that should have been a breeze really, I actually surfed really well and thought that one of my waves was around an 8.5 that ended up being a 5.5. After talking with the head judge, I had a better understanding of the score, but still felt it was a super low ball. I ended up sticking around for pretty much the rest of the event, and cheering on some of my friends, and doing some different PR obligations. It actually ended up being a very successful week up there, and we were blessed with insane surf thanks to the outer bands of Hurricane Danielle, so in all I was able to surf a ton and had a blast hanging with my friends up north. Just wanted to thank the Amazing Watts family for putting me up while I was there, you guys are awesome, it was a pleasure getting to know you.

On a side note, there were some really controversial heats during the event, and some real weird judging and rules applied, but no one was ripped off harder than Cody Thompson. He was definitely one of the most inform surfers of the event, surfing really good throughout the early rounds, and to have your run come to an end early, by a major judging error, had to be tough. WE ALL know you made that heat man, and I have never heard of a situation like that in my life....ha

Alpinestars Ads Blowing up..

Here are a few recent Internet advertisements that I have run across in my daily Internet routine. They are all basically the same ad, just formatted differently. If you get the chance, check out the new line of surf trunks coming from A-stars, You will not be disappointed, I have yet to get a baggy rash from any of these trunks.

Pros Know???

Check out this little Viral advertisement sent out by the Alpinestars webmaster. Kind of looks like I am pondering life, while looking into one of Nathaniel Curren's boards. Clearly I look puzzled.haha

Be sure to check out the new and improved line of trunks that A-stars has come out with. These are by far the best ones I have ever surfed in...

Radio Interview, sent to over 235,000 people via Eturbo news

On my flight home from California, I get a call from one of the PR workers from Able Planet. He asked me how long my layover time was, and if I had time to do a radio interview. I definitely had time to kill and already know the Denver airport like the back of my hand, so I figured what a better way to pass the time before my next flight then to get some work done. Within minutes I received a call from Sandy Dhuyvetter from Business Travel Radio. She seemed super nice over the phone and made the interview roll as smooth as possible. We ended up recording two segments, one five minute and one 8 minute, for two separate parts of her show. I thought it was pretty cool that I was a travel radio interview while I was literally sitting at my gate in the airport waiting to bored a flight home for the next Western Atlantic Pro Surf Series event. Even with all of the background airport noise, the interview turned out alright.

Be sure to read the full article here, and listen to the radio segment here.

ASR!!!!

So the ASR trade show was this past weekend in San Diego. I cruised down there all weekend with Jeff Weatherall and one of my friends from back home who wanted to experience the "surf show" first hand. I had a blast the whole weekend with long days at the show making contacts, and long nights of hanging with fellow athletes and friends. Alpinestars had a major booth that seemed to be busy throughout the event. They had a highlight reel of there athletes playing continuously which had several sections of myself on there, mixed in with some of the top pros from Motocross, BMX, Wakeboarding, Formula 1, etc... I will try to get the footage from the reel uploaded as soon as I get the chance, until then I only have one photo from the show of me posing by a pic of myself on the Astars booth.

photo credit: Becky Mendoza

Rob Snow, Idea Man?

Markus Heilman Surfing Ponce Inlet from Robert Snow on Vimeo.

Check out this little video Rob Snow and my brother Markus Heilman put together during the past few days of little swell while I have been out here in Cali. Thought it turned out pretty cool, especially since I think it is one of Rob's first video edits. Also, have to appreciate the fact that Rob is the first guy doing something different with the GoPro cam, by strapping it to the water housing of his still cam.

Amazing!!!

So while I was in Colorado, Able Planet provided me with some insane opportunities. From Moto races to pike's peak Rally Races, but I have to say the most fun thing I did while I was there would have to be White Water Rafting. Michael Semcken (from Able Planet) and I broke off for a couple days from the city in Denver, cruised up to Breckenridge for a night, and set plans for Rafting the next morning. To make a long story short, I had one of the best times of my life, as far as I have ever been from the nearest Ocean.ha It was unbelievable, just how raw and natural it was riding down this river that looked like it basically carved its way through the massive mountains over thousands of years. It was pretty insane, check out some of the shots from the journey. I know I have the same face in every photo, but I was way too excited to even think about posing for the camera.haha