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