The Sunday Post

Lumpy fun for everyone today! Made it to North Narra and Curly this morning and checked out all points in between. Size-wise Curly was best with waves breaking both out the back and closer to shore though Dee Why looked alright as well as I drove by. A bit crowded at Curly but everyone was getting their fair share of rides in.

This morning’s shots will be posted later on today.

Go well.

Cheers, Doug

www.wozthatyou.com

44 to 32: Brett Simpson On The New Face of ASP for 2010

Brett Simpson.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Wednesday, October 14, 2009) – The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) is close to capping off the 2009 season and with the exciting changes set in place for ASP surfers for next year and beyond, Brett Simpson (Huntington Beach, CA), 24, current ASP WQS No. 6 and ASP Dream Tour hopeful, took a minute to express his thoughts on how the landmark changes will benefit his sport.

Simpson has been a standout in several international events on The Grind this year and is in excellent position to potentially qualify for the prestigious ASP World Tour. The progressive regular-footer is looking forward to being a part of the new face of the ASP Dream Tour set in place for 2010.

“I think the 32-man format awesome for the sport,” Simpson said. “This is the kind of progression we needed to build or sport and take it to the next level! I already think it’s a pretty prestigious class of guys, but by the middle of next year there will likely only be 32 guys and that’s a huge honor if you’re a part of that.”

Simpson is also looking forward to the simplification of the one-world rating slated to take place for next season, making it perfectly clear as to where each surfer sits on a global scale.

“The one-world rating is huge for us surfers too,” Simpson said. “Somebody will ask me what I’m rated, and I don’t even know what to tell them because I’m sixth on the ‘QS but there are still 45 guys ahead of me on the World Tour, so now it will be a much more clear answer.”

The Orange County local, who won the richest ASP WQS prize purse in surfing history when he claimed the Hurley U.S. Open this year,  is also out to claim his piece of the financial boost set in place for next year’s ASP World Tour as well as the top level ASP WQS events.

“I’m always motivated and hungry, but the increased prize purse definitely helps us surfers out a lot,” Simpson said. “The more money we can make just helps us in the future. It’s an awesome bonus and great that the sponsors and ASP are really backing the surfers.”

Simpson will be out to solidify his spot on the ASP World Tour at the upcoming ASP WQS 6-Star O’Neill Cold Water Classic which will run from October 25 through 31, 2009.

For Simpson’s profile log on to www.aspnorthamerica.org

Rip Curl GromSearch Closes With A Bang

Matt Banting (Port Macquarie, NSW).

(Coffs Harbour, NSW – Saturday, 17 October 2009): The final day of the Rip Curl GromSearch presented by SNICKERS will forever be remembered thanks to some of the most amazing junior surfing performances in recent time.

With three champions crowned, and some blistering surfing action on show, Diggers Beach proved to be the playground for some of the world’s best under 16 surfers with Matt Banting (Port Macquarie, NSW), Codie Klein (Kingscliff, NSW) and Eli Steele (Shelly Beach, QLD) reaping the highest rewards.

With the 16 years girls and boys division headlining the fourth day of competition, Banting and Klein stole the show.

With the winners of the 16’s division receiving a guaranteed place in the National Finals at Bells Beach, during the prestigious ASP World Tour event – the Rip Curl Pro, there was much at stake.

Photo: Michael Tyrpenou/Surfing Australia.

Defeating Soli Bailey (Suffolk Park, NSW), Cooper Chapman (North Narrabeen, NSW) and Damo Norman (Casuarina, NSW), who finished second, third and fourth respectively, Banting was in a league of his own dominating from the outset.

“I’m stoked,” he said, holding aloft the trophy.

“It was such a hard final and all the boys were surfing so well, so to take it out is amazing.”

Having just returned from France competing against the world’s best, Banting believes that the best aren’t too far in front of his fellow finalists.

“It was great to go over and gauge where we’re all at over here (Australia),” he said.

“To be honest guys like Cooper, Soli and Damo are all within the top guys in the world – that’s why winning this is so important.”

Joining Banting on the podium was Codie Klein who was super-impressive in the final of the 16 years girls.

Defeating Amiya Doyle (Coolangatta, QLD), Ali Kelly (Avalon, NSW) and Ellie-Jean Coffey (Crescent Head, NSW), who finished second, third and fourth respectively, Klein was over the moon at her performance and qualification into the National Final.

“I can’t believe it,” she said with a massive smile.

“It hasn’t even sunk in yet – the fact I’ll be competing at Bells in front of my heroes is the best prize ever!”

In what has been described as the most influential grommet series throughout the country, the Rip Curl GromSearch is as an enormous stepping-stone for Australia’s elite, something Klein is proud to add to her resume.

“This is definitely one of the best wins of my career,” she admitted.

“I’ve had a lot of minor results lately, so to win gives me plenty of confidence going into the next event and the New Year.”

Not to be outdone was Eli Steele (Shelly Beach, QLD), who’s polished backhand attack took him to a impressive victory over Michael Wright (Suffolk Park, NSW), Kelly Norris (Scotts Head, NSW) and Jackson Baker (Merewether, NSW), who finished second, third and fourth respectively, in the 14 years division.

For more information, daily highlights, news and all Rip Curl GromSearch images be sure to log onto www.ripcurl.com.au and www.surfingaustralia.com.

Good luck Jessica Watson

Good luck Jessica on your ridiculously foolhardy voyage.  And to her parents, shame on you!

heat is on in southern California

Hello Friends,

Looks as though Sydney should have southerly conditions this morning, at 0545 there was 10-15kt of south wind and the swell was an into the useful range 2 metres at 9 seconds apart from the south. Semi-protected south corners ought to have at least something rideable. Should clear up as the day goes along and the wind is set to swing through the easterly quarters to the NE this afternoon late.

Looks as though this is as big as it gets for then next week. The models are showing a very brief long period pulse around Tuesday, so you never know, it might get interesting for a few hours at least…

A morning shower or two, chiefly near the coast. Fine, partly cloudy
afternoon. Light to moderate southwest winds tending southeast, then
northeast in the evening.
Sydney Coastal Waters, Broken Bay to Port Hacking and 60nm seawards:
Sunday until midnight: Wind: SW/SE 10/15 knots, tending E/NE 5/10 knots in the evening.Sea: about 1 metre. Swell: S/SE 1.5 metres.
Monday: Wind: NW to 10 knots, tending NE 10/15 knots in the afternoon.Sea: to 1 metre. Swell: S/SE 1 to 1.5 metres.
Tuesday: Wind: NW/NE 10 knots, freshening to 15/20 knots from NE during afternoon.

Straight outta SoCal
Got some fun little west swell waves at Pitas yesterday. As the tide dropped, the top of the kilometre long right point started to fire up with some zippery waist to chest high plus energy. I personally scored a number of 200+ metre rides and I saw quite a few that were up to twice as far. Not super crowded either. The weird thing is that although it’s now well into autumn, the temperatures are close to the height of summer. At some places it was up to 38 yesterday.

Here’s a snap I took from the water…

Pitas section about to standup and hone for a couple hundred metres.

Byron Bay Today’s Weekend Review

Welcome to In Byron Bay Today’s Weekend Windup. It’s been an interesting week in Byron Bay the weathers been bloody hot and very windy there’s been pretty wild most days and there have been some pretty nasty fires a further down south. In website news we came up with a winner of the second Bob Brown Longboard. We will be giving more boards away. But we’re not saying when, of course we’ve also still got heaps of other goodies in our freebees vault and more are about to be added. So pay close attention if you hope to score a freebee in Byron Bay today. Also starting from this Sunday our subscribers will notice a few changes in their email updates. We’re making all the Simple Pleasures Discounts and freebees available to email subscribers only; we figure it’s the only fair way to do this. On top of that we’ve been doing several inspections of various businesses, services and accommodation, so there will be some new reviews coming soon. As for the surf this week, well the beach breaks on the open side have had moments, and those who bothered look hard enough were rewarded for their efforts, In Byron Bay Today.