It's not soccer, it's FUTBOL...

Check out this shot of former professional soccer player/Actor Vinnie Jones (he's in the movie Snatch). A friend of mine showed this to me the other day and it freaked me out. He always plays such bad ass/crazy guy roles in movies, but apparently he is one in real life. This photo was taken during a game before he retired. How is his hair cut too!! Be sure to never refer to "FOOTBALL" as soccer in front of this guy.

Whipped!!

For those of you that did not get to see my beautiful girlfriend Jennifer in Surfing Magazine's Whipped feature, I decided to post it up on here...Check her out....and read the article..sorry about the quality, I had to scan these straight from the mag.

Super Sessions: New Smyrna Beach

During this last week I did something I never do, I went to Smyrna at the crack of dawn 3 days in a row. It's funny because what I hate so much about going over to New Smyrna is how long the drive is to go such a short distance. I can literally hit a golf ball from our side of the inlet to theirs, but its like a 40 minute drive to go surf their jetty... That being said 90% of the time I drag myself over there I have a blast and get super fun waves. This last week was no exception until Thursday when the waves were really fun. I woke up early looked at the waves out back and made the call to Geiselman who siked me up to come over for a surf. I charged over and made it down to the rocks (before the lifeguards stopped letting vehicles drive that close) and found super wedgey little ramps. I Surfed for a couple hours with just the Geiselman brothers and Hopper out. We were all having a pretty good time. After a few hours the paparazzi showed up (seriously there were 6 lenses shooting chest high NSB) with what seemed like every single competitor from the Sebastian inlet pro junior and the Surfing America Prime events. About this time the waves started to get super fat and shitty, and I was completely over it. I struggled for what felt like a lifetime to catch a wave in, and when I finally did manage to get a wave I tried to redeem myself with ending my session on a good punt, but what happened was my board flipped over and I plowed my knee straight through one of my favorite boards..full buckle..I felt like walking straight to the sand dunes and burying myself.. Anyway, "I'm never going back there"......ha
here are a couple shots the Patrick Ruddy took of everyone ripping this day....

Sequence of the Week....

Just kidding!! but I thought I would post this old sequence taken by the one and only "stoked" at our inlet a while back. This was taken when the city was dredging sand from the middle of the inlet and pouring it out in the surf. We got to experience one of the best sandbars I have ever seen on the east coast for about a week (pretty much flat all week except for a couple days). There was so much sand it looked like we would have this bar forever, but the unpredictability of nature surprised us all within the first hour of a lite North Easter the sand bar disappeared. Will we ever see it again? I dont know, but I pray we do.....

New pic on SurfingMag

Check out this shot from Jimmy Wilson's Lightbox on Surfingthemag.com. It was taken on a trip down to Puerto Rico that jimmy invited me on last minute. The waves weren't that great during the trip and if I remember correctly this was one of only two sessions that Jimmy even brought his camera out for. Luckily for me he is an insane photographer and nailed this shot in between swimming around and bullshitting with everyone who was out surfing this day. I dont know how he works but it seems like Jimmy can just be joking around and not paying attention, but somehow gets work done. This picture was actually featured on the Cover of Eastern Surf Magazine shortly after the trip. I am also pretty sure it was the first surf magazine cover to use images from 2 different camera angles, "Crossfire". 2 from the water and 2 from land!!! I will post up a couple of other pics we got on the trip, hope you like them.

Headed to Aus this week

Just got my tickets for the Oneill Coldwater Classic event in Tasmania. I leave on Saturday and after a day and a half above the clouds I will be meeting up with Eric Geiselman and Pete Frieden in Melbourne Australia, to transfer on to Tasmania. We are going to be there for a week or so, and then I plan to hit the Gold Coast on my way home, to pick up some boards and get some surf. Not to mention, I would probably travel all the way to the Gold Coast for just one taste of those incredible meat pies!!!! Stay posted as I will keep you updated on how the trip goes and what we get into down under.....

New photos from the Crossover

Here are a couple more shots from the crossover story I have been working on with Ashley Fiolek. One of my good friends Rob Snow took these shots, and somehow made my feeble attempt at becoming a moto star look good.

Molding Minds!!

This past week a couple of my good friends who run the Christian Surfers Chapter here approached me and asked if I would come and speak to the kids about being a professional surfer and all the temptation that comes with the job. I told them I was glad to do it, so this past friday night I went and hung out with them and told them a little bit about my story. Before I write anymore I want to paint a mental picture of the Beachside Church on friday night. I pull up to a closed parking lot, not because it is full of cars, but because their mobile skatepark is pulled out and there are over a hundred little groms just shredding the little mini ramps and rails, being cheered on by a bunch of cute little girls. If this alone is not enough to get you to come to church, I don't know what else is. Maybe the free pizza and drinks! When the kids finally settle down and the directors are able to round up the last out of the parking lot the inside of the church immediately looks like the inside of a skate/surfshop. With tons of boards laying all over the ground, new boards and skate accessories for sale, groms practicing tricks on the carpet in between pizza slices, skate video games blasting on the big screens, pretty much a little slice of heaven for any teen. This is what a church is supposed to feel like, inviting, a place where kids can come dressed as themselves, act the same as the normally do and not be judged for it. Its a pretty amazing thing the Beachside Ministry has going on!
I am just sitting in the back of the room with some of the kids I've previously known taking it all in. About this time the new Beachside band takes the stage and just starts rocking. The new lead singer of this band sounds like a cross between coldplay, and alkaline trio. He is a super gifted singer and he is backed up by two base players, an insane drummer, and a shredding electric guitarist. Needless to say Christian Music has evolved into something that is really worth listening to now...
After these guys pump up all the kids, a short video clip of me surfing begins to play from the projectors. I take the stage and mic and with the help of my good friend and Christian Surf director Jason, begin to talk a little bit about myself. I wanted to relay the fact that whatever path your life takes you down, being a christian and having faith in God will make it all so much easier. I told several stories about how I have seen top professional surfers making these horrible decisions, and just explained to them how empty these actions really make you feel. I also told several stories about meeting up with other christians all over the world, and how you are barely able to converse with them because of language barriers, but yet you share a deep connection of faith in the lord. I answered as many of the questions the kids had that time allowed, and thanked them all for letting me share a little time with them. After we were done speaking, I went to the back to sign some autographs, and handed out a ton of stickers from A-stars, Able planet, Dakine, Etnies... It was an insane experience that left you with a incredible feeling inside. Here are a couple photos of the night, I wanted to share the experience a little better on here.

Steph Gilmore Wins snapper

Big Deal right??? I didn't think so either until I saw this shot on Transworld surf of her being carried up the beach after her victory. You can think what you want about Tiger Woods, but looks to me like he is trying to solidify his new Nike contract by putting in some extra work. Word on the street is Nike wants steph, so who else would they send to carry her up the beach....

Crossing Over

So over the past few months I have been expressing to Alpinestars that I would really like to start shooting some webisodes where I meet up with some of the athletes from different sports, and "Cross over" for the day. I have always found it really interesting how a professional athlete can be in perfect shape to perform their sport, but when they attempt a totally different sport their muscles do not know how to react. This has been scientifically supported by the SAID principle of fitness, which basically states that when your body is put under physical stress of varying intensities and duration, it will overcome this stress by adapting to manage it. This is why I think it is so cool to be able to experience sports other than surfing, with the professionals that do them....
The first athlete that I attempted this project with was Ashley Fiolek. She is a professional motocross racer who rides for both Alpinestars and Able Planet headphones. She is an incredible person, and amazing athlete. This past year Ashley actually won a gold medal at the X-games for women's motocross. Check out her website here if you get the chance. I actually first met Ashley and her father Jim at the CES convention Vegas, and they were all about getting me up to their compound and riding... Since the water has been so cold we decided to hold off on completing the whole shoot, but this past monday I took advantage of an invite to go get a couple practice laps in at their track....
I now have an extreme amount of respect for professional motocross riders. That was hands down the sketchiest experience of my life. It did not help that I was riding Ashley's old Honda 250 super cross bike, when I have never even started a dirt bike in my life. Needless to say that was a little to much bike for me and I got my ass handed to me all day by a girl who was half my size and weight. I found it pretty amazing how in control Ashley was of this massive bike, she was punting airs, and doing wheelies through ruts that I couldn't even ride through. The only thing I can relate the experience to is riding a beach cruiser through soft sand, but with a much heavier bike, with much heavier consequences. After a while I grew tired of stalling out, so I decided to test out some of their other off road toys. I felt much more comfortable on their jacked ruckus, and their little four wheeler. By the end of my riding session I was actually clearing one of the little table tops on the ruckus.
All in all it was an incredible day hanging with Ashley and her family, they were such wonderful and accomodating hosts. I have already made plans to head back and master that sport soon enough. I just have to wait until all my sore muscles heal, I'm just going to chalk those up to the Said Principle.
Oh and I cannot wait to get Ashley in the surf, I have already planned to wait for a big northeaster to take her out and get a little revenge for throwing me straight on to a 250....ha
Here are a couple photos from my first attempt, I will keep you updated on when we complete the full shoot, and put together a short video about it....