Beyond Boarders

Joel Parkinson (AUS), continued his winning start to the 2009 season, claiming the 2009 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach by defeating local surfer Adam Robertson (AUS), trials winner and event wildcard, in pumping 2m (6ft) waves at Bells Beach, Australia.

This was the second stop on the 2009 ASP World Tour and capacity crowds turned out to watch a historic final. The next stop on the 2009 ASP World Tour will be the Billabong Pro Teahupoo from May 9 ? 20, 2009.

Labels: 2009, ASP World Tour, Australia, Bells Beach, Joel Parkinson

Here are the pictures I promised of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast held at Kirra, Australia, March 2009. Sorry for the delay, let's just say that there have been a few distractions.

Thanks to Cyclone Hamish, the historic pointbreak offered churning barrels with massive scoring potential in the final and local favorite, Joel Parkinson, proved to be very much at home in the challenging conditions. Parkinson buckled his board on the first wave but returned to the lineup to nail a perfect 10, his second of the day. Taking him to victory over former ASP World Junior Champion, young Brazilian, Adriano de Souza, who was surfing in his first ASP World Tour final.

In the women's final of the Roxy Pro Gold Coast, another local, who happens to be the reigning two-time ASP Women's World Champion, Stephanie Gilmore, defeated Melanie Bartels from Hawaii. The final was held at Snapper Rocks and was her fourth consecutive win on the ASP Women?s World Tour.

Labels: 2009, ASP World Tour, Australia, Gold Coast, Joel Parkinson, Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, Roxy Pro Gold Coast, Stephanie Gilmore, surfing

The 2009 professional surfing season has kicked off for both the men and the women, on Australia's Queensland, Gold Coast. And both opening events saw wins for Australian surfers.

21 year old Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), reigning two-time ASP Women's World Champion, won the Roxy Pro Gold Coast presented by LG Mobile, defeating Melanie Bartels (HAW), in the Final. Then, fellow Australian, Joel Parkinson (AUS), claimed victory in the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, defeating fellow finalist Adriano de Souza (BRA).

I will post detailed reports and pictures for both events. The tours now move on to Bells Beach, Australia, in April.

Labels: 2009, ASP World Tour, Australia, Joel Parkinson, Stephanie Gilmore, surfing

Tyler Wright (AUS), 14, has made history by becoming the youngest ever winner of an ASP World Tour event. Tyler defeated Silvana Lima (BRA), 23, in the final of the Beachley Classic at Manly Beach.

Wright, who only gained entry into the Beachley Classic via the preceding trials, swept aside the best female surfers in the world, defeating reigning ASP Women's World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 20, Jacqueline Silva (BRA), 29, and Amee Donohoe (AUS), 27, on her way to the final with Lima.

The next stop on the 2008 ASP Women?s World Tour will be the Movistar Classic Mancora Peru presented by Rip Curl from November 3 ? 8, 2008.

ASP Women's World Tour Ratings: After Event No. 5

1 ? Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 4411 points

2 ? Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 3948 points

3 ? Layne Beachley (AUS) 3698 points

4 ? Amee Donohoe (AUS) 3331 points

5 ? Silvana Lima (BRA) 3194 points

Labels: ASP World Tour, Australia, manly beach, Tyler Wright, women's

This year is whipping though at an incredible pace and the first two events of both the men's and women's tours are already done and dusted.
In event one for the girls, the 2008 Roxy Pro Gold Coast, last year's world runner-up Sofia Mulanovich (PER) beat Samantha Cornish (AUS) at Australia's Snapper Rocks. However, just a few days late, in the final of the Rip Curl Women's Pro at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia, reigning ASP Women's World Champion, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) came from behind with five minutes remaining to defeat Sofia, claiming her second consecutive Rip Curl Women's Pro title and jumping from 9th to 2nd in the tour ratings. A mere 600 points behind leader Sofia Mulanovich.

The 2008 ASP Women's World Tour now takes a breather until July, when the top 17 female surfers will do battle again in Brazil.

The guy's tour opened in sensational style with eight-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) beating reigning ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS) at his home break of Snapper Rocks. This put Kelly in the number one slot of the ratings for the first time since claiming his last ASP World Crown in 2006. Proving that the win was not a fluke, he then proceeded to take the Rip Curl Pro at Bells beach. Launching a huge air, he earned a last minute score and beat Bede Durbidge (AUS) in the final. 36-year old Slater, has now claimed his 36th event win and rung surfing's bell for the third time but even more significantly, has cemented his position as the world's number one surfer.
The next event on the men's ASP World Tour will take place in Teahupoo, Tahiti from May 8-18, 2008.

Labels: 2008, ASP World Tour, Australia, Bells Beach, Kelly Slater, men's, Snapper Rocks, Sofia Mulanovich, women's

The Australian Gold Coast is the first stop for the men and women on the respective 2008 Association of Surf Professionals (ASP) world tours.
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast and the Roxy Pro Gold Coast will be running in conjunction, with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast starting its waiting period this Saturday, Feb. 23, 2008.

Reigning men's ASP World Champion and defending Quiksilver Pro Champion Mick Fanning (AUS), is ready again to do battle with 44 of the best surfers in the world and on the Women's Dream Tour, reigning ASP Women?s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) is equally focussed as she takes on 16 of the best female surfers, beginning in her home waves.

Both the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast and the Roxy Pro Gold Coast will be webcast LIVE and Beyond Boarders will publish regular tour reports and pictures. Subscribe to Beyond Boarders now (see bottom of page) and get free email alerts each time a new post is published.

Labels: ASP World Tour, Australia, Mick Fanning, Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, Roxy Pro Gold Coast, Stephanie Gilmore

After an early strong showing by the Australians on their home ground, it was Brazilian Pablo Paulino who won through at Sydney?s North Narrabeen beach to be crowned the men's World Junior Surfing Champion for a second time and Tonino Benson (Hawaii) who came in as runner-up.

Pablo exhibited the fire and flair so characteristic of Brazilian sportsmen, putting on show-stopping performances right from the very first round and the 2004 ASP World Junior Champion, then blasted through the final to defeat Tonino with a 15.00 total heat score (out of a possible 20.00), thereby equalling World No. 4 Joel Parkinson's two ASP World Junior Title record.

Arguably, Benson was the day's top performer and he posted the only perfect 10.00 point ride of the event, tucking into a deep barrel against Australian wildcard Owen Wright in the Quarterfinals. Unfortunately, the young Hawaiian was defeated tactically in the final and was not given the waves to repeat this performance, only managing a 9.93.

Labels: 2007, 2008, Australia, Junior World Champion, North Narrabeen, surfing, Sydney

Australian Mick Fanning, clinched his maiden Foster's ASP World Title today. Fanning was in the water and about to surf a semifinal heat against childhood friend Joel Parkinson (AUS), when his only remaining title threat, Taj Burrow (AUS), was eliminated by Tom Whitaker (AUS).

It was a day for the Australians and after realizing his lifelong dream, Fanning surfed a signature heat to beat Parkinson 18.70 to 12.84 in Semifinal 1 before defending his Brazilian title by beating rookie Kai Otton (AUS) in the final to win the Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro in Brazil.

Americans Kelly Slater and Andy Irons have monopolized the World Title for the last five years but Mick's win today breaks the run and makes him the first Australian to clinch a men's ASP World Title since Mark 'Occy' Occhilupo in 1999.

Full report and pictures to follow.

Labels: 2007, ASP World Tour, Australia, champion, Mick Fanning, surfing

In an epic Bells Beach final for the 2007 Rip Curl Pro, Taj Burrow (AUS) snatched victory from Andy Irons (HAW) with just 90 seconds left on the clock, producing one of the surfing displays of the tournament. The result takes him to joint number one in the world rankings with fellow Australian and long time friend, Mick Fanning.

Labels: ASP World Tour, Australia, Bells Beach, surfing, Taj Burrow

The Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Australia starts the waiting period tomorrow, Tuesday, April 3 and stretches until April 13, 2007. This will be stop 2 on the Foster's ASP Men's world tour and also stop 2 of the ASP Women's World Tour, the Rip Curl Women's Pro Bells Beach, which will run in tandem with it.

Men's ASP World Champion, Kelly Slater (USA) has not won an elite tour event since winning the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach last year. Slater beat former Rip Curl Pro champion Joel Parkinson (AUS) in the 2006 event final to tie Tom Curren (USA) for the most elite tour events won by single surfer; both Curren and Slater have 33 event titles to their credit.

This year is the 35th anniversary of the Rip Curl Pro and Tom Curren and a number of other great surfers will be there for the anniversary celebrations, so Kelly Slater reckons that clocking up a 34th event title at Bells this year and beating Tom would be something really special.

Labels: ASP World Tour, Australia, Bells Beach, Kelly Slater, surfing, Tom Curren

It seems that at Snapper Rocks, Australia, the home advantage is a powerful factor; just like the women's ASP event, the first event of the 2007 men's ASP World Tour has gone to a local surfing hero. Mick Fanning (AUS) won the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast presented by Samsung at his home break of Snapper Rocks for the second time in three years.

Beating fellow local and unsponsored surfer Bede Durbidge (AUS) in barrelling 1.5 to 2 metre (5 to 6 foot ) waves, Fanning slotted himself into a series of deep barrels and executed some of his patented searing turns to emerge from the water victorious much to the delight of the 10,000 plus strong crowd.

Many of the top names were slow to show their form and rookies and wild cards played havoc in the Snapper Rocks surf, leaving many champion surfers in the lower half of the rankings table. Men's rankings after one event are:

1 Mick Fanning(AUS) 1200 points
2 Bede Durbidge(AUS) 1032 points
3 Kelly Slater(USA) 876 points
3 Taj Burrow(AUS) 876 points
5 Joel Parkinson(AUS) 732 points
5 Michael Campbell(AUS) 732 points

The Foster's ASP World Tour will now head south to the colder waters of Bells Beach for the Rip Curl Pro, which will kick off April 3, 2007.

Labels: 2007, ASP World Tour, Australia, Durbidge, Fanning, Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, result, Snapper Rocks, winner