© Photo: ASP/Robertson

First Perfect 10-Point Score of the Hainan Classic Registered by Frenchman Marc Lacomare

Surf News, 12 January, 2012 : - - After yesterday’s conditions, competitors and organizers of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star World Tour Hainan Classic couldn’t have expected much better. But China continues to surprise and impress. When the first heat horn sounded this morning, conditions were bigger, the offshore winds were howling and the big scores started dropping early and often.

I was impressed by the respect the tow-in community showed the paddlers at Peahi during the big swell Wednesday January 4^th. On Oahu that kind of respect is non-existent. A significant number of tow-in folks show the paddlers no respect at all. The ONLY surf spot on Oahu where tow-in surfing is prohibited AT ALL TIMES is Hammerheads. On Tuesday January 3^rd while surfing there, on two separate occasions a tow team faded me while I was taking off. The first time I was so shocked I tried to pull back and of course, it was too late, and I ended up going over the falls. My first thought seeing this guy whipping in at me from the channel was not to drop in because I didn’t want to get hurt or hurt somebody else.

Surf News, 10 January, 2012 : - - Hainan Island, China - With 15 minutes to go in the final of the Open Men, Heath Joske was sitting in fourth without a single substantial score. In a matter of minutes, the ocean began sending waves his way and by the final horn he had the rest of the field needing a combination of scores to catch him.

Afterward, he didn’t credit his surfing or heat strategy, his explanation was a bit more lighthearted. “I guess the ocean must have been paying me back,” said Joske, minutes after he was carried from the ocean’s edge upon the shoulders of his Australian teammates. “I picked up a bit of rubbish off the beach the other day, so maybe China’s giving me a bit of respect and payback, thanks Hainan, xie-xie China.”

Complete Results coming for The Finals: Saturday 1/21/12...surf was rippable with lite trades winds and 3-5+' NW swell!  The North Shore Surf Shop Pro Junior  at Sunset Beach. Presented and supported by 596-surf, dahui,surfboardline.com,northshore tacos,jerrys pizza,and steves chillers, SNN (and many others).
This is the biggest junior event ever on the north shore with 90 men and 24 women; its an ASP rated mens and womens 4star,with over 35k in cash and prizes!
The event is for surfers under 21.Top junior surfers from hi,usa,jpn,zaf,aust,brz.

Born to Maroubra stock, raised in the shadow of the Bra Boys, led over the ledge by the infamous Abberton brothers, Mark Mathews is a relatively quiet, unassuming character considering. For as long as people have been negotiating the stair steps at places like Shipsterns Bluff, Ours, Cyclopes and the like, Mathews has been right in the mix, usually supported by longtime mate Richie "Vas" Vaculik. Together the pair star in the new documentary 'Fighting Fear,' Mathews as the kid saved by surfing, Vaculik as the street wise, hard scrabble MMA hopeful. The film premiered in Australia earlier this month, and ESPN Surfing recently caught up with Mathews to get his take on it all.

Pete Cabrinha has opened a new art gallery in Paia, Maui. The founder of Cabrinha Kites is an accomplished artist and gets inspiration from the ocean and from all the adventures he went through traveling the world.

A surfer has been revived by the North Shore lifeguards after a big wipe-out in Banzai Pipeline, Oahu, Hawaii. The Floridian surfer from Miami paddled out on a 7'6" Malibu, in challenging Pipeline conditions and didn't handle the power of the local surf break.

"The waves just pounded him," Kaleihao Crabbe told the Honolulu Star Advertiser. "He was blue and he wasn't breathing when they pulled him up on the beach. This type of stuff is completely preventable. Hawaii and its ocean is not a water park. It's a life or death situation out there."

The anonymous surfer was found underwater with the leash attached to his foot. He is recovering at the Queen's Medical Center and is reported to be in stable condition.

Groundswell Society Conference Feb 10-11

'Surfing's New Aloha: The Growing Trend of Giving Back'

  8 January, 2012 : - - Recently surf companies and professional surfers have added a new dimension to the world of riding waves. The spirit of giving as embodied by Duke Kahanamoku is growing through corporate philanthropy. Growing numbers of professional surfers are making significant efforts to give back to the sport that has been so good to them and the communities that support them.

Harold Iggy R.I.P., one of the worlds most experienced and innovative surfboard shapers