One Year Ago...

Give or take a few days, it was at this time last year that I walked across the stage and shook hands with President Shalala, accepted my diploma and so ended my days of undergraduate studies in Miami, Florida. It was the end, but the beginning of a long road, filled with disappointments, barriers, tears, and a whole lot of surfing in the pursuit of a dream.

It all began in the fall of my junior year at the University of Miami. Before ever starting a college application, I told myself that I was going to spend a semester abroad, and now it was time to check it off my list. There was only two places that really called out to me to go abroad: Monaco or Australia. At the risk of not graduating on time, I chose to go to Sydney; a choice that will change my life and who I am.



It was in those 5 months in Australia that I figured out who I was and what I was made of. It was the first real eye opening experience and I knew what I was like to be on your own and independent. It’s quite different when you’re half way around the world on your own. Course whenever anyone visits Australia/Sydney, there are quite a few “Must Do,” and right at the top of my list was to learn how to surf. I booked myself on a weekend surf camp and was taken down the coast to 7 Mile Beach.


I had two fantastic surf instructors, Chris and Andrew, who kind of looks like Kelly Slater, so we just called him Kelly the entire time. I have to credit it to these two guys for getting me into surfing and being patience w/ me, especially Chris who figured out that I was goofy and not natural.



Combined with having awesome surf instructors and living at Bondi Beach when I returned from surf camp, I continued at surfing. The sensation of catching a wave and standing for the first time is addicting and an adrenaline rush. I can’t wait to get my first barrel. I didn’t want to leave Australia. There must be something in the water of there.

Upon returning to Miami and with the assistance of my wonderful mentor, I saw the path to marry my passion with my career and so I set to pursue a marketing career in the surf/action sports industry. There wasn’t really much I could do being Florida where the only waves we get were from Hurricane swells. I knew if I was serious about working in the surf industry, I would have to move to Southern California or the Gold Coast in Australia.

So just a month after graduating, I moved out to Souther California and started to pursue my dream; that was almost a year ago. Am I any closer?? Well I’m a hell of lot closer than I will ever be if I stayed on the East Coast. I’ve got a few breaks here and there, but it’s about the hunt and pursuit not the catch that makes this all so exciting and thrilling. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Two Champions Crowned: Andrew Doheny & Gabe Kling

Let the champagne pour for Gabe Kling….

Two champions were crowned today at the cobblestone pointbreak of Trestles. Newport Beach’s Andrew Doheny was crowned as the new Oakley Pro Junior Champion, beating out Nat Young, Dylan Goodale and Tyler Newton. Hurley’s Evan Geiselman narrowly missed getting into the final; he needed a 7.49 and the judges gave him a 7.48, just .01 margin. As for the 6.0 Lowers Pro, after beating out a number of WCT surfers, St. Augustine’s Gabe Kling was crowned champion.


Looking at the draw for the Rd of 16, there were countless good matchups that just could not be missed. Many heats pinned the upcoming youth against veteran CT sufers. Chris Davidson “Davo” against Seabastian Zeitz. I had a quick chat with SeaBass right before his heat, and he was just soo stoked and pumped to go out and surf against Davo. He even made sure to get some of the “lucky contest wax.” Unfortunately for Seabass, throwing out the fins and rail to rail surfing was just not enough against a focused and hungry Davo.

The road to the finals for both finalists was no easy task. With 30 out of 44 WCT surfers in the contest, it was more like a CT event. After a missing a few years, Davo is back on tour this year and in form and focused.

Almost stealing the show at the end was Andy Irons. Throughout the contest, he surfed consistently and solidly. It was not until this semi-final heat against Gabe Kling did Andy lose his mojo. In the first few minutes of the heat, AI’s board just buckled underneath him and broke. That just killed his rhythm and he never got back into the heat. It was his favorite board, and the board he used to come back on the tour and achieve his dream. AI is definitely happy with his result and everyone on the beach was cheering him on wanting him to win. It will take a few more events before he truly gets back to the level of competition.


At the end of the day, it was all about Gabe Kling. He built momentum throughout the contest and was just focused on his surfing and being reserved. He also had such a friendly demeanor to him. He had to surf against, Jordy Smith, AI, and a slew of other well name surfers. Gabe is such a deserving winner who couldn’t be more delighted to win by just narrowly missing out on this year’s CT injury wild card. Gabe unfortunately had to miss the majority of 2009 Dream Tour due to injury.

Gabe and Davo having a quick chat before the awards ceremony
Australia’s Josh Kerr also put up a good show here at Lowers, pulling out airs and solid surfing. Looks like his ankle is healed and we’ll see Josh next at the US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach in July.

Day 3 of 6.0 Lowers Pro

Surf action down at 6 Star Prime Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro was another great day. The surf was noticeably smaller than yesterday and not as consistent or clean. Yesterday, the majority of waves were split at the peak; whereas today surfers preferred going right. Fun fact, Rip Curl's goofy footer Owen Wright went for his first right ever at Trestles today in a competition.

The day started off with the Round of 48 with the 4-man format with the top two finishers advancing. An exciting must watch heat features Hurley's Adrian Buchan, Sebastian Zietz, Jeremy Flores, and Eric Geiselman. Sebastian yesterday advanced even with an interference called. Eric Geiselman attempted several air reverses, but just couldn't find his landing and was thus eliminated today. Ace continued his consistent effortless surfing to make it through.

Red Bull's Julian Wilson and Quiksilver's Dane Reynolds fail to advance from the round of 48 along with a few other Dream Tour surfers Ben Dunn, Damien Hobgood, Den Morrison, and Tom Whitaker to name a few.

Things really got interesting in the afternoon in the Round of 24 with 3- man heat formats with top two advancing. Heat 6 was restarted when neither Andy Irons, John Florence, or Tiago Pieres took off on a wave in the first ten minutes. The restart gave each surfer a chance to really showoff their skills with a set coming in right at the sound of buzzer.

This was certainly an entertaining heat with veteran surfer Andy Irons and grom John Florence exchanging wave after wave and seesawing the lead position. They put their fellow competitor Tiago in combo land. Grom John Florence and Andy Irons both advance with some sick snaps and air reverses. Andy had to give it up to John, who was just ripping thanks to his skate influence. After the heat, the two had a little tête-à-tête moment with AI most likely giving fellow Hawaiian John some advice.

Tomorrow we will see the start of man on man format in the Round of 16. The heat draw is shaping up to looking something comparable to a World Tour event. You wouldn't want to miss a heat. Some heats I'm looking forward to watching:

Adrian Buchan vs Jadson Andre
Owen Wright vs Andy Irons
CJ Hobgood vs John John Florence
Josh Kerr vs Jordy Smith

Best Waves in a Competition??

What day of competition at Lowers today!!!

Tom Whitaker claims the waves pumping at Lowers and just peeling left and right are some of the best waves he’s ever ridden in a contest on the CT or QS. Not to mention to cap off the end of the day in the final heat with Jordy Smith getting a perfect 10.0 wave score, the only one of the competition so far. Naturally, he won his heat.

The Hobgoods @hobgoods just tweetd on Twitter:
"Trestles after 1pm, was about as good as i've seen it over the years. 6* primes might be up on the CT"s 3-0, not that i'm keeping score..."

The move of late are certainly air reverses following Jadson Andre’s win of the Bilabong Pro in Brazil. Eric Geiselman and Josh Kerr pulled off some big forehand airs in their heat and the judges just loved it. Josh Kerr was impressive in his opening wave getting an 8.9 without doing any airs.



There were many heats that look really good on paper such as Heat 11 with Eric Geiselman, Patrick Gudauskas, Brett Simpson, and Dylan Graves and Heat 14 with Hawaiians Dusty, John John, Tonino and Aussie Dean Morrison. These two heats didn't fail to disappoint. In addition, Sebastian Zietz advanced even with an interference call on him.

So what were the waves like at Lowers today?? SSW swell peaked with some westerly winds warming up the water with shoulder to head high with occasional overhead sets with just some onshore winds. Lowers was really coming alive in the afternoon as the tide was coming in. The sets just kept on coming to the surfers delight.

Failing to advance to the Round of 48 today were several CT surfers, Daniel Ross, local surfers Tanner and Patrick Gudauskas, Michel Bourez, Brett Simpson, Dusty Payne just to mention a few.


Andy Irons, Hobgood brothers, Josh Kerr, John John Florence, Dane Reynolds, and Owen Wright advance to the Round of 48 which will commence tomorrow.

The Rd of 96 also is where the prize money will be dispersed; those exiting this round will be getting $500 and points. First place for the 6.0 Lowers Pro is $20,000 cash prize.

Swell is expected to stay past Saturday. Can't wait to see what the competition will be like tomorrow.

6.0 Lowers Pro Round of 96 Results:
Heat 4: Nat Young (USA), 11.47, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.90, Kai Otton (AUS) 10.56, Tim Boal (FRA) 8.84

Heat 5: Taylor Knox (USA) 12.24, Tim Reyes (USA) 11.33, Dayyan Neve (AUS) 9.63, Hugo Savalli (REU) 8.07

Heat 6: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 13.30, Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 13.26, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 12.90, Mason Ho (HAW) 10.56

Heat 7: Nate Yeomans (USA) 12.83, Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 12.40, Daniel Ross (AUS) 10.66, Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) 9.48

Heat 8: Chris Davidson (AUS) 16.77, Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 13.77, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.70, Kai Barger (HAW) 8.26

Heat 9: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 16.43, Adam Robertson (AUS) 16.33, Glen Hall (IRL) 12.34, Marlon Lipke (DEU) 11.20

Heat 10: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.00, Kolohe Andino (USA) 11.77, Marco Polo (BRA) 11.67, Brian Toth (PRI) 8.83

Heat 11: Dylan Graves (PRI) 14.10, Eric Geiselman (USA) 13.80, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 12.17, Brett Simpson (USA) 8.67

Heat 12: Jadson Andre (BRA) 16.20, Sebastien Zietz (HAW) 11.87, Brandon Jackson (ZAF) 9.33, Chris Waring (USA) 7.40

Heat 13: Dane Reynolds (USA) 17.54, Michael Picon (FRA) 12.27, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 12.26, Leonardo Neves (BRA) 11.17

Heat 14: John John Florence (HAW) 15.93, Dean Morrison (AUS) 13.66, Dusty Payne (HAW) 11.20, Tonino Benson (HAW) 8.07

Heat 15: Tiago Pires (PRT) 14.50, Blake Thornton (AUS) 13.94, Darrell Goodrum (USA) 7.77, Shaun Ward (USA) 6.23

Heat 16: Owen Wright (AUS) 14.50, David Weare (ZAF) 11.50, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 6.83, Joel Centeio (HAW) 6.67

Heat 17: C.J. Hobgood (USA) 16.70, Gabe Kling (USA) 15.97, Maxime Huscenot (REU) 12.24, Alain Riou (PYF) 11.37

Heat 18: Thiago Camarao (BRA) 14.93, Cory Lopez (USA) 14.06, Neco Padaratz (BRA) 13.20, Luke Munro (AUS) 10.94

Heat 19: Jonathan Gonzales (CNY) 17.00, Andy Irons (HAW) 12.94, Jay Thompson (AUS) 12.43, Marcio Farney (BRA) 10.24

Heat 20: Nathan Hedge (AUS) 15.13, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 12.13, Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 9.86, Michel Bourez (PYF) 9.47

Heat 21: Joan Duru (FRA) 14.80, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.07, Gony Zubizarreta (ESP) 11.40, Jean Da Silva (BRA) 11.03

Heat 22: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 17.25, Josh Kerr (AUS) 13.40, Jarrad Sullivan (AUS) 13.24, Blake Jones (USA) 12.34

Heat 23: Wiggoly Dantas (BRA) 15.33, Drew Courtney (AUS) 13.60, Mick Campbell (AUS) 12.77, Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 7.40

Heat 24: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 18.93, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 15.27, Austin Ware (USA) 13.43, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.33

Day 1 of the 6.0 Lowers Pro

8:00 AM on an overcast Wednesday, the Prime 6.0 Lowers Pro started off with the Round of 128. As I was taking the short hike down the trail to get to the surf competition site, Globe rider CJ Hobgood comes walking up the trail. CJ probably had a quick early morning session to get some practice in before his heat tomorrow.




The first heat was already in the water surfing, carving turns and cracking the lip. The morning was kind of slow with more turns than airs because of the low tide. In Heat 4, the sets just weren't coming for @Sunny_Garcia to advance through; Sunny finishes 4th in his heat.

Nike 6.0's rider Hawaiian Kai Barger was very selective in his heat. He picked the best waves and won with a two wave total of 15.44. There were quite few big name surfers waiting as alternates to get into this Prime event, most notable was Kelly Slater. North America is now home to 4 ASP Prime events after the US Open in Huntington Beach was awarded prime status. A staple to each surf event is no other than Aussie Paul Fisher, who was out with his cameraman in the athletes' tent interviewing them for his Fishtales on his website followthefish.tv or @followthefishtv.

Right before aerialist Eric Geiselman's heat, he had a short practice session practicing his airs. In his heat, he went to work and pulling off air and big committed turns. The judges greatly rewarded him and he won his heat. After Eric, we started to see a little more airs.



It was not until the Rd of 96 started that things got really interesting down at Lower Trestles. The SSW arrived and Adriano De Souza just lite Lowers up, posting the highest heat total of the day. Adriano and Aussie Nic Muscroft win of Heat 1, sending defending 6.0 Lowers Pro champion Freddy Patacchia home. Quickly to follow Adriano stellar performance was @Julian_Wilson, pulling more airs and making his presence's now. Looks likes his ankle is heal, and who knows, we might even see a Sushi Roll
tomorrow!!

Tomorrow, we will see the completion of the Rd of 96, with many of the heavy hitters Jordy Smith (@Jordstyle), @achebuchan, Josh Kerr (@kerr_azy1), Dane Reynolds, surfing in the afternoon and with the SSW swell peaking tomorrow.



6.0 Lowers Pro Round of 96 Results:
Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.90, Nic Muscroft (AUS) 15.90, Fred Patacchia (HAW) 13.50, Nathaniel Curran (USA) 8.27
Heat 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 14.17, Ben Dunn (AUS) 11.13, Granger Larsen (HAW) 10.90, Travis Logie (ZAF) 10.17
Heat 3: Heitor Alves (BRA) 14.26, T.J. Barron (HAW) 13.67, Jihad Khodr (BRA) 11.73, Roy Powers (HAW) 10.83

6.0 Lowers Pro Round of 128 Results:
Heat 1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.67, Julian Wilson (AUS) 11.16, Andre Silva (BRA) 9.00, Pablo Paulino (BRA) 6.60
Heat 2: Granger Larsen (HAW) 15.00, T.J. Barron (HAW) 11.67, Masotashi Ohno (JPN) 11.64, Eneko Acero (EUK) 10.30
Heat 3: Nat Young (USA) 10.63, Hugo Savalli (REU) 9.90, Marco Giorgi (URY) 9.83, Brad Ettinger (USA) 8.37
Heat 4: Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 13.84, Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF) 12.77, Rhys Bombaci (AUS) 12.40, Sunny Garcia (HAW) 10.84
Heat 5: Stuart Kennedy (AUS) 11.27, Mason Ho (HAW) 10.57, James Taipan Wood (AUS) 8.37, Jesse Merle-Jones (HAW) 7.83
Heat 6: Kai Barger (HAW) 15.44, Adam Robertson (AUS) 14.03, Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 13.67, Heath Joske (AUS) 7.17
Heat 7: Brian Toth (PRI) 12.37, Dylan Graves (PRI) 11.80, Kieran Horn (USA) 10.57, Brent Dorrington (AUS) 7.26
Heat 8: Eric Geiselman (USA) 15.16, Chris Waring (USA) 13.84, Royden Bryson (ZAF) 12.27, Luke Campbell (AUS) 10.90
Heat 9: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 14.67, Tonino Benson (HAW) 12.30, Warwick Wright (ZAF) 11.80, Jayke Sharp (AUS) 9.93
Heat 10: John John Florence (HAW) 13.23, Shaun Ward (USA) 13.17, Paulo Moura (BRA) 10.10, Romain Cloitre (FRA) 9.43
Heat 11: Joel Centeio (HAW) 17.10, Maxime Huscenot (REU) 13.86, Hizunome Bettero (BRA) 13.53, Blake Wilson (AUS) 10.27
Heat 12: Cory Lopez (USA) 15.87, Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 11.87, Yujiro Tsuji (JPN) 11.74, Corey Ziems (AUS) 10.84
Heat 13: Marcio Farney (BRA) 14.83, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 13.33, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 12.93, Olamana Eleogram (HAW) 12.40
Heat 14: Nathan Hedge (AUS) 16.97, Jean Da Silva (BRA) 14.96, Kiron Jabour (HAW) 13.33, Hodei Collazo (EUK) 11.93
Heat 15: Jarrad Sullivan (AUS) 11.60, Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 11.43, Torrey Meister (HAW) 9.92, Jack Perry (AUS) 6.14
Heat 16: Wiggoly Dantas (BRA) 14.60, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.40, Leigh Sedley (AUS) 11.94, Patrick Beven (FRA) 11.30