Volusia County Surfing Legends!!

Check out this shot that was featured in The Lifestyle Magazine of Volusia. It was an article entitled Home-grown Surfing Legends. Pretty cool little article about the history of surfing in the county, and about how many surfing Legends actually grew up in our area. Normally for these articles they pick horrible action shots, but I thought this one actually turned out pretty sick. It was taken during last years Tommy Tant event...

Stuck in the Middle...

Found this new photo on Able Planet's website. Thought it was a pretty cool display of how Able Planet diversifies their marketing by sponsoring athletes from totally different sports. The other athletes in this layout are Alexei Goosarov (NHL), Chris "birdman" Anderson (Denver Nuggets), Mike Gallagos (stock car), and Ashley Fiolek (X-games Gold Medalist).....

Landshark Pro 2010

After a long week of driving down to New Smyrna inlet every morning before sunrise, the Landshark pro is finally complete. I felt pretty good throughout the event, thanks in most part to my new Firewire I picked up while on the Goldcoast. (It actually wasn't even shaped for me, it was one of Taj Burrow's boards from the Burleigh event earlier in the year...) I ended up going down in the semi final to Gorkin and eventual winner Evan Geiselmen. My loss was a little controversial, word on the beach was my first wave was pretty underscored, but I was kind of expecting that coming up against two of the major hometown heros of New Smyrna Beach. And anyone who has ever been to Smyrna knows how much the locals support there Heros.. That being said, I can't take anything away from how Evan was surfing, he was definitely the most in form surfer throughout the week, and when the final day dropped a couple feet, I knew he would be hard to beat. I am just stoked on how I felt at the event. It's never a bad deal when you can surf a major pro event so close to home, and make a few bucks in the process. Thanks again to everyone for supporting the event!!
Oh and big thanks to ESM for posting a sequence of the finishing move of my first wave in the semi final, if you feel it was little underscored let the boys at ESM know here......

New Alpinestars Wallpaper

Check out my new Alpinestars Wallpaper. If you really want to stare at me every time you open up your computer you can download a copy for free. Just click here. I know its probably not the best photo or layout for a desktop wallpaper, (some of your files and folders might blend in with it) but if you like it, throw it on as a screen saver.

Currumbin Rock Pools

Check out this slide show I made from my trip to Rock pools located on the Goldie. A couple good friends of mind mentioned checking it out. I could remember the guys from the Endless Summer sliding down the natural rock slide jump of these massive rocks, I couldn't wait to get there!!

10 things you must do on the Goldcoast

The Goldcoast of Australia is by far one of my favorite destinations to travel to. If you are ever blessed with the opportunity to go there, here is a list of 10 things you must do......
1. The most important thing to do on the gold coast is to get your fill of their famous meat pies. I don't care how picky of an eater you are, you will find a type of meat pie to satisfy your hunger, and believe me you will be craving one when you return home. As an experienced "pie eater" I will let you in on the secret, hit the local bakeries, get there early when the pies are fresh, and be sure to get your feast on because the pie shops usually close around 2 or 3. If you are able to time it so you get there right before they close, you may be lucky and get a deal on whatever goods are leftover!!
2. Surf your brains out at all of the different points and beach breaks. (don't try to beat the crowds, just as many people surfing at 5am as there are at 11am, just wait your turn and enjoy every second of it, because even the scrap waves on the points are better than any surf on the east coast.)Also if the waves are good, don't count on people leaving the lineup for work!!
3. Wear tons of sunscreen, I think there is a little whole in the Ozone layer directly above Australia, the sun is brutal, and will fry your tender American skin.
4. Make sure you don't leave the goldcoast without at least 1 magic shred sled from one of the shapers over here. I know you can get Aussie boards in the states, but there is no comparison, I don't know what it is, they're just better here. A little hint, you can eliminate the stress of bringing home a damaged sled if you pick up a Firewire while you hear.(I had several boards in my bag and the only one with damage was my step up poly board.)
5. Eat as many Tim Tam cookies as you possibly can and purchase some reserves to take home. They make Oreos taste like shit!!
6. Check out the Currumbin Rock pools. (I mean come on. They did it in the original Endless Summer)
7. Act like a dumb American and accidentally drive on the "Right side" of the road.
8. Take some time to Get to know some of the local people. You will quickly realize how layed back their culture is and how genuinely nice most of the people really are.
9. Wake up early enough to watch the sunrise over there. Pretty insane, the moon is still lit up as it sets, while the sun melts the horizon.
10. No matter how big the mission seems make your way over to Straddie Island. The first day I ever went there the beach breaks were knee to waist high when we left and it was overhead and barrelling when we jumped of the boat taxi..

Recommendations for 20 hours on a plane!!!!

These useful tips will help eliminate the likely possibility of losing your mind while traveling to Australia.
1. Make sure you are sitting in either a window or Aisle before boarding the plane. Preferably a window with an open seat next to you. Much easier to fall asleep resting against the window, and its pretty annoying sitting in the aisle seat (if you are blocking someone in who need to get out every five minutes).
2. Make sure you have a set of good quality noise cancellation headphones. These are essential, I turn them on as I walk into the terminal and turn them off when I make it to the baggage claim of my final destination. I leave them on even when theres no sound playing... I prefer the Able Planet foldable headphones because they take up much less room than the others that don't fold while maintaining the quality.
3. If possible bring 2 ipods, I use my Itouch to watch movies and play games until the battery dies, and use the shuffle to jam out to.
4. Bring some sort of sleeping pill to ensure that you sleep at the correct time to help minimize jetlag.
5. Do not ever board a flight without snacks, or real food. Normally on international flights proper snakcs and food are provided, but I never rely on the airlines to keep you satisfied. One of the worst things is to be on a flight when you are really hungry and the guy next to you is eating an enormous cinnamon roll from Cinnabon and you are limited to two micro bags of peanuts and half a can of coke.

Tasmania!!!

Oneill's website from last years event made the contest venue in Tasmania look amazing, sick waves, good food, cool wildlife, really inviting. Needless to say I was super pumped to get down there. After the nearly 20 hours it takes to get from MCO to the airport in Tasmania, you are greeted with a 5 and a half hour drive to the coast where the event is being held. I had booked ahead and had a rental car payed in full for the week, $350, but upon arrival they hit me with the underage charge, and additional insurance, so I was looking at paying more than $600. I was definitely not into that, so I hitched a ride with two of the coolest Aussies on tour, Adam Robertson and Nic Muscroft. Luckily for me they were also staying in the same place I was! The scenery was much different than I expected, It was super lush and green, tons of farmland everywhere you looked, and very few houses or people. I don't know if it was the old Looney Tunes cartoons or what, but for some reason I was expecting it to be very dry and barren like a desert. It seemed as the drive continued that we were getting further and further from any signs of civilation. The ASP actually recommended we stop at one of the stores on the way in (about 2 hours from the comp site) to stock up on food and drinks for the week, because there is not much for stores or restraunts where we were staying. When we arrived at the camp site we were staying I told the boys how much I appreciated the lift and checked into the room that I was going to be sharing with Eric Geiselman and Pete Friedan. I passed out and those guys showed up later that night. In the morning we woke up ready to surf, so we headed down to the comp site for the day (it was a mobile event, being held at different locations depending on the surf). To our surprise the comp site looked more like a local ESA event than a prestigious 6* WQS event. The waves were actually pretty similar as well. Picture the biggest surf you have ever seen at Bethune beach on low tide. You could barely see the surfers they were so far out, but somehow the judges could properly score them. I ended up going down in my heat. I actually felt like I surfed good, but everyone I spoke with mentioned that I just looked soft from that far away, and the other guys who had probably 50 pounds on me were throwing more water. Either way I was trying to stay positive, because I really felt like there was not much more I could have down. I actually would have changed to my step up board if I could do it over, just because there was so much water moving and the paddle was crazy long. I ended up staying another week (thanks to hopeless attempts at catching a ride to the airport) and trying to surf as much as possible and just enjoy the opportunity I have been given. Check out some of the lifestyle shots and clips Eric and I got on our handhelds, Friedan is holding the surf stuff for a possible story about the trip..