Mike with his new toys at Vland, Oahu

Baker at Hookipa today.

Melanie Bartel is now 4th world tour rating after the Beachley Classic contest.

Melanie Bartels (HAW), 27, was a standout performer throughout the event’s entirety, ousting an international field of competitors including Rebecca Woods (AUS), 25, and Rosanne Hodge (ZAF), 22, on the way to her Semifinals berth. The talented Hawaiian struggled to find a solid score in her battle against Gilmore, bowing out of the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic with a third place finish.

“I just wasn’t in rhythm out there and I couldn’t find anything,” Bartels said. “It’s tough out there, but I’m stoked that I made the Semifinals, it’s a good result, but I just wanted to surf well, I wanted to put on a good performance and I don’t feel like I did that, but that’s how it goes.”

ASP Women’s World Tour Ratings After Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic:
1 – Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 3241 points
2 – Silvana Lima (BRA) 2880
3 – Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 2139
4 – Melanie Bartels (HAW) 1983
5 – Coco Ho (HAW) 1723
6 – Rebecca Woods (AUS) 1711
7 – Paige Hareb (NZL) 1704
8 – Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 1519
8 – Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 1519
10 – Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 1512

Bartels and Gilmore Lead Opening Day of Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic

DEE WHY, New South Wales (Wednesday, September 30, 2009) – The opening day of the Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic saw current ASP World No. 5 Melanie Bartels (HAW), 27, and reigning two-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 21, lead the world’s best women’s surfers through Round 1 in two-to-three foot (1 metre) surf at Dee Why.

Bartels surfed impressively throughout her entire opening round heat, but found her two best waves in the back half of her bout to claim the highest heat total of the day, an impressive 15.25 out of 20, while capitalizing on a rare barrel, leaving fellow competitors Rosanne Hodge (ZAF), 22, and Amee Donohe (AUS), 28, needing a combination of scores to top the Hawaiian standout.

“I’d been eyeing that little barrel out there,” Bartels said. “I was just waiting and that wave came to me and I was able to find that little barrel which gave me the good score. It’s been such a long time between events that I forgot I was surfing in a contest out there. I just tried to get a wave and surf.”

The explosive Hawaiian veteran started her year off strong with a runner up finish at the Roxy Pro Gold Coast before suffering a 17th place finish at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. Bartels was elated to advance directly through to Round 3 at Dee Why and get the second half of her season off in the right direction.

“Bells is a very hard wave and it was really small when we surfed it, so it was tough for me,” Bartels said. “The waves out here are offshore and bigger than two-foot, so it’s perfect, I’m stoked.”

The Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic holds a waiting period from September 30 through October 5, 2009. Event officials will reconvene at Dee Why at 7am local time tomorrow to assess conditions for the potential start of Round 2 at 8am.

Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Rebecca Woods (AUS) 10.45, Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS) 9.15, Layne Beachley (AUS) 8.25
Heat 2: Melanie Bartels (HAW) 15.25, Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 11.05, Amee Donohoe (AUS) 10.85
Heat 3: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 14.00, Tyler Wright (AUS) 12.40, Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 12.05
Heat 4: Silvana Lima (BRA) 8.60, Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 8.60, Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 4.70
Heat 5: Coco Ho (HAW) 10.65, Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 10.35, Alana Blanchard (HAW) 10.25
Heat 6: Samantha Cornish (AUS) 9.55, Paige Hareb (NZL) 7.85, Bruna Schmitz (BRA) 6.40

Teiva joyeux with his SHIBI at Teahupoo.

Thanks to Tim for the pic.

Beautiful art work from our artist Nano.

Monyca Byrne-Wickey in LA with her new Gatorade billboard

Here is Monyca Byrne-Wickey on a rooftop in LA with her new Gatorade billboard.

Beautiful morning

Small waves this morning at Noriegas. Loch was already in the water at 6am when i reached him. I took the Shibi 9.0 x 30 x 4 with a beautiful orange flame painting job... A nice guy i met last week surfing came by and tried it. he bought it after 5 minutes!
Easy, stable and radical at the same time he says... I'm pretty happy, Noriegas is my new office !
Francky

Loch Eggers excited about his new Milkman SUP

The swell is still up today, I woke up early and saw Loch riding Noriegas.
Yesterday he received his new Milkman SUP (dimensions are 10.0 x 27.5 x 4.125, squash tail, 2+1 fins), and already surfed it 5 hours between last night and this morning !
Loch's feedback about last night session at Hookipa:

"The board works unreal. For how rough it was condition wise the board paddled really well. The surfing part is a whole another story. The board is the best sup surfing board that I have ever used. When I went to the beach at Hookipa people were checking out the board. Enough said."

A lot of fun to be around the Kazuma kids yesterday !

I took my camera and went for a quick swim at Pavil, it was a lot of fun being around the little Kazuma Army ! So many kids are riding our boards, the new generation of champions is coming, for sure.
Francky

Conan Gentil, Kazuma team rider spotlight.

This is 9 year old Conan Gentil from Sprecklesville Maui. Kazuma Surfboards has been developing Hawaii's best surfing talents for more than 20 years and Conan is sure to be a future top contender representing Maui. Conan surfs almost every day and can be seen regularly at Hookipa beach park or his secret spot near his home is Sprecklesville. This young regular footer is no stranger to top level competition and has been following his older brother Ian around to surf meets for several years now so knows the routine. Ian's father is a surfer and is very supportive of his choice to follow his brother Ian into the professional surfers life. Conan rides a 5'0" x 16.5" x 1.875" Milkman Model custom shaped for his surfing style.

Ian Walsh Rhode Island hurricane video and news interview

Here is a link to an awesome interview of Ian Walsh on the weather channel.


http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?from=email&bcpid=823503751&bclid=27677061001&bctid=35729929001

Kazuma Rider, Rosy Hodge places runner-up in the 2009 ISA World Surfing Games.

Kazuma rider, Rosy Hodge finished in runner-up spot to Courtney Conologue (USA) at the 2009 ISA World Games in Costa Rica. Finishing as the highest placed South African in the event, she out-surfed Sage Ericson (USA) and Pauline Ado (FRA) who placed 3rd and 4th respectively in the final. Rosy rides a 6'0' x 18.375" x 2.18" squash tail Milkman. Well Done Rosy!

Nice result in France from Leo

Good news from Leo. He is in biarritz for the "Tetards" contest and finished second. He did win last year, so congrats Leo, looks like you like the "Cote des Basques" a lot.

Volcom Pufferfish series sees serious talent at Lahaina

Source: globalsurfnews.com

Pufferfish

VQS
Lahaina Harbor, Maui
1 - 2 August 2009

Volcom Pufferfish series sees serious talent at Lahaina

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 6 August, 2009 : - - Everyone knows that Hawaii is home to some of the best young surfers on the planet. We witnessed it first hand at Lahaina Harbor this past weekend at Volcoms Pufferfish Surf Series. We were all anticipating the event and it looked like a good south swell on the way.

However, no one knew the caliber of surfing would be so high and multiple 10 point rides out be going down all day. Knowing that the waves would be good and guys would be frothing to surf, we kicked off the event right at 7am.

As always the Groms were on it early, and we started off with six stacked first round heats. 11-year-old Imaikalani Devault set the bar in the first heat of the day posting 10s after getting drained and throwing his tail around like a seasoned pro.

However, in the final it was Luke Hitchcock from Kauai who took the win in a heat that had the top 3 separated by a point. He walked home with a stacked bag of goodies and a sick Riviera skateboard. Haiku's Kain Daly just edged out Imaikalani Devault, and Kaimana Kinimaka who also won the Volcom kick ass grom award. Justice Patao, and Joao Marco Maffini rounded out the final.

After the Groms final was the Junior men who were ready to show the judges what they could do in the rippable head high peaks. Ezekiel Lau is new to the Junior division and he knew exactly what to do. He is a big powerfull kid and was surfing way beyond his years, blowing his tail and doing huge airs and power carves.

Makana Eleogram didnt go out without a fight, going absolutely nuts on the long puntable lefts and coming in a close second to Lau. Rounding out the rest of the final was Tyler Larronde, Kody Kerbox and Tevi Keheleuahi.

Girls are definitely stepping up their game and there was no shortage of action when they were in the water. Moana Wytecha and Page Alms split peaks together on daily basis at Ho'okipa, but this time it was for blood as they wend wave for wave in the final posting some huge scores.

After a few lead exchanges it ended up with Moana Wytecha pulling off a sick carving 360 that had some of the guys worried. She walked with a huge bag full of goods and some bragging rights. Page settled for a respectable second place finish and rounding out the rest of the final was Alyssa Wooten, Alana Hendrickson, Alicia Yamada, and Shelby Scweitzer.

After some wheel barrel races and some other games, Clint cheffed up about 180 burgers for everyone and their mothers (literally). And the Pro-Am was ready to go!

With a few of the top guys in town I had a feeling that it was going to be a barnburner. There was 11 stacked heats in the beginning. In the early rounds we witnessed Clay Marzo blowing up his local spot with huge frontside airs that you only see in surf movies. That's what we thought anyway. The final heat of the day was the most futuristic surfing I have ever seen in a contest!

There was a total of 6 ten point rides in the event and 3 of them were in the final - and none of them won! Matt Meola won the Electric Volt Thrower move of the day when he busted out a rodeo followed up with few turns for the first ten on the heat. Clay Marzo pulled two giant airs on one wave also got a ten. The crowd was in awe with what they were witnessing!

Two tens already in the final? Albee Layer got a set and got drained, came out and pulled a huge alley oop, and it wasn�t over yet, he did a big carve and an air reverse for the 3rd ten of the final. You would have thought one of these guys would have won right?

Not with the World Junior Champion in the water. Two 9's beats a ten and a seven. In the end it was Kai Barger answering the question, �Whos gonna take out Marzo?� Barger mixed huge power turns with new school airs, and did it all with style! Matt Meola followed in second, Albee Layer in third, and Clay Marzo forth.

All with 10 point rides! Local boy Kea Espiritu held it down for the Lahaina boys with fifth and Yuri Soledad finished in six. All in all it was a nuts event and everyone was stoked, smiling and ready for the premiere of Volcom's new surf movie BS! which followed the event. Dusty Payne had the groms in a trance, and it was a perfect end to a sick day!

Special Thanks Goes Out To Our Product Sponsors: Electric Visual, Fuelt TV, Riviera Skateboards, Chipoltle, Skull Candy, DVS Shoes, Vestal, Pro-Lite, X-Trak, Magma Wax, Future Fins, Famous Wax, Speck Products, EBoost, Surfing, Surfer, Transworld Surf, Bliss Mag..

RESULTS

PRO/AM
1. Kai Barger-$500
2. Matt Meola
3. Albee Layer
4. Clay Marzo
5. Kea Espiritu
6. Yuri Soledid

JUNIORS
1. Zeke Lau
2. Makana Eleogram
3. Tyler Larronde
4. Kody Kerbox
5. Michael Stewart
6. Tevi Kaheleuahi

GROM
1. Luke Hitchcock
2. Kain Daly
3. Imaikalani Devault
4. Kaimana Kinimaka
5. Justice Patao
6. Joao Marco Mafinni

GIRLS
1. Moana Wytecha
2. Page Alms
3. Alyssa Wooten
4. Alan Hendrickson
5. Alicia Yamada
6. Shelby Shweitzer

Electric Volt Thrower
Matt Meola-$50

Famous French kitesurfer Bertrand Fleury riding our boards

Bertrand is a professional kiteboarder, and love to ride at Lanes when he comes to Maui. Our development of kite boards is made by many of the best kiteboarders, Bertrand is one of them.

One of a kind SHIBI

morgan Noireaux, talented windsurfer in the famous JP/pryde team, came this morning pick up his new toy...

Kazuma protégé, Kai Barger wins the 2009 US Open pro jr

Kai Barger wins another major surfing event the US open pro jr.

Kai has been a Kazuma student since he was 10 years old and is one the reigning world junior surfing champion. Kai and my son Chaz are both goofy footed and have trained in my exact surfing style and technique. It is fun to train these 2 kids that are a mirror of my surfing and it makes it easy to understand the mechanics of their surfing. Now Chaz, who is 12, is riding the exact copies of the boards that Kai won the NSSA Nationals with back when he was 12 years old. Proven product, proven training program.

Congratulations Kai, we are all so proud of you.