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

I Love Colorado...

I am literally in shock right now, I am on my way home from my trip to Denver, and cannot believe that I just had one of the best trips of my life, and I didn't even have surfboards with me. Able Planet had me completely dialed in from the moment I landed in DIA. It was really cool because While I was there two of the other Able Planet Athletes had events running and I was able to experience a little bit of both. The first day we all went to watch Ashley Fiolek race in an AMA outdoor moto event. It was pretty intense and definitely my style. I felt right at home pretty much tailgating on the side of an incredible mountain mixing it up with all of the locals. Even though Ashley crashed in her first moto and got completely ran over by another racer, she managed to fight through the pain and take 2nd overall for the day. It actually got pretty intense for the women's second moto, because it started pouring right before the gate dropped. The tracked was soaked in no time, and all the girls were completely covered in mud by the end of the race. It was an insane first day in Colorado and we called it a night after celebrating Ashley's podium finish over some Mexican food, margaritas, and some in house illusionist entertainment. I literally watched this black man bend a quarter directly in half just by rubbing it on the end of my finger....ha A perfect end to an awesome day.
Day 2 in Colorado started with a road trip to the top of pikes peak where Able Planet rally car driver Jimmy Keeney had a race. I found out pretty quickly that my Florida boy lounges were not quite cut out for those high mountain altitudes. Within the first hour of cruising around the pits, I was getting dizzy, and having trouble breathing. Luckily for me the Keeney's were prepared with an oxygen machine, so I laid low for a little while puffing on that. This was the first Auto race I have ever been to that was on an actual local road, that spiraled up the Pike's Peak mountain with deadly consequences for a miscalculated turn. It was pretty nerve racking just watching these guys, and It didn't help that Jimmy looked as nervous as I did on my first day of school.ha When it came time for his run, he put that all aside and hammered the gas to come within 5 hundredths of a second of winning the race. Pretty good couple of days for Able Planet with two second place podium finishes in two days.
After the events were over I decided to stick around and hang with a couple of my friends from the Able Planet family, and see what else Colorado had to offer. I was not disappointed at all with my decision to stay because the next few days were filled with life changing activities. I now have a new love for an inland state that I never thought I would ever really travel too. I am on my way back to California to hang for a while longer and get some more work done, and I can honestly say that I have already started to plan a trip back to Colorado in the winter time when everything will be painted white....

Visiting Able Planet headquarters in Denver....

California has been awesome, making tons of good connections and friends, surfing my brains out, filming as much as possible, and trying to keep myself from falling in love with the state that is home to my least favorite basketball team in the NBA, the LAKERS.....haha. In a couple days I will be headed out to Denver to meet up with my newest sponsor Able Planet Audio. Not going to lie, I think this will be my first trip ever to a landlocked destination, and I am actually pretty excited about it. haha Stay posted and I will keep you updated on how the trip goes and what adventures I get myself into while I am there.

East Coast tour with a Kiwi...

I have a couple events coming up on the WAPSS tour and it couldn’t have come at a better time for surf. We are right in the middle of the hurricane season, and already have a promising forecast for the first event. Decided to invite fellow Astars rider and pro wakeboarder Jeff Weatherall (aka macgyver) along for the mission. Over the next couple weeks we will be headed up the coast to New Jersey for the Belmar pro, then work our way back to Hatteras for the OBX pro before making the trek home. Stay tuned for updates from the road, and the adventures we encounter….