Irons wins the search again, this time its Bruce not Andy

Bruce Irons has been surfing so solid throughout this whole event, proving once again how dominant he is in barreling left reef breaks. With much being said about Bruce packing in the tour after this season, it is quite clear that it has nothing to do with his ability, but rather as he has said many times over; He can`t be bothered unless it is big and heavy conditions.

With Bruce being so far back in the ratings, and the top 5 contenders out early, this event while it was awesome as hell, will have little effect on the outcome of this years title race.

Well done Bruce, way to step out of big bro`s shadow!


RIP CURL PRO SEARCH FINAL RESULTS
1 – Bruce Irons (HAW) 17.66
2 – Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.16

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SEMIFINAL RESULTS
SF 1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 10.16 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.50
SF 2: Bruce Irons (HAW) 13.70 def. Chris Ward (USA) 13.50

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
QF 1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 16.50 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 14.17
QF 2: Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.00 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.34
QF 3: Bruce Irons (HAW) 19.40 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 9.67
QF 4: Chris Ward (USA) 16.34 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.90

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 4 RESULTS
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS) 11.67 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.67
Heat 2: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 19.50 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.40
Heat 3: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 10.00 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 6.30
Heat 4: Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.77 def. Dayyan Neve (AUS) 5.06
Heat 5: Bruce Irons (HAW) 10.84 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.83
Heat 6: Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.97 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 12.37
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.43 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.83
Heat 8: Chris Ward (USA) 18.17 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 11.33

CURRENT ASP WORLD TOUR TOP 10 AFTER STOP NO. 6
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 5620 points
2 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 4548 points
3 – Bede Durbidge (AUS) 4382 points
4 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 4370 points
5 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 4353 points
6 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 3950 points
7 – Andy Irons (HAW) 3938 points
8 – C.J. Hobgood (USA) 3870 points
9 – Bobby Martinez (USA) 3628 points
10 – Bruce Irons (HAW) 3392 points

Taj Burrows through to the Quarter Finals

The Rip Curl Search from somewhere in Indo has been full of upsets. With Kelly Slater bowing out in round three and Parko,Andy, Mick and Bede getting retired in round 4. The door to jump back into the race for the 08` ASP title has slipped open.
Taj will face off against Chris Ward in heat 4 of the quarter`s, which looks to be a hell of a heat. Wardo took out A.I with a sick combo score, which saw Andy paddle in with 2mins left on the clock after throwing in his hat and going switchfoot on his last wave.


The swell is still charging, a clean 3-4ft, solid sets and a whole bunch of surfers who thrive in these conditions, who ever takes this one is going to have to push the limits. The past few years have seen so many events on the tour, being run due to time constraints in less then perfect conditions, but this years search event has been awesome, as it always seems to be. Well done to the crew at Rip Curl.

Gel Heated Wetsuit, beats Rip Curls H-Bomb much hyped release!

Little can be done to heat up Britain's icy seas, but an end to knee-knocking cold surf sessions may be in sight this winter as the world's first self-warming wetsuits are launched.

A small British surf company will this month reveal a centrally heated wetsuit that could revolutionize surfing around the UK's chilly shores.

The Tiki Prodigy wetsuit has two chemically activated gel panels that can be triggered while the surfer is in the water. Using the same technology as some hand-warmers, a metal disk inside the suit reacts with the gel when it is flexed, causing it to generate heat and warm the suit and its wearer.

Tim Heyland, co-founder of Tiki, who helped pioneer the British surf scene in the 1960s, said he hoped it would encourage more winter surfing in the UK: "I think it will open up the season for a lot more people, especially those living in the North." At £239, he believes it will be affordable for many keen to brave winter waves.

Rohan Inglis, 28, a team body boarder for Tiki, said he was looking forward to trying it out: "One of my favourite places to surf is in North Yorkshire, and the wave conditions are often best when it's snowing. It's damn cold, so having some extra heat will mean I can stay out there for longer."

Tiki, based in Braunton, north Devon, beat off competition from the Australian giants Rip Curl, which will launch its own version in October. Rip Curl announced a prototype of an electronically heated wetsuit in 2006, but teething troubles mean surfers have yet to see it.

The Rip Curl H-Bomb suit is expected to go on sale for around £500. It uses rechargeable batteries and has heated elements whose temperature can be controlled in a similar way to an electric blanket.

"For the last year we've been developing the technology, and even had the wetsuit tested in the Arctic," a Rip Curl spokesman said. "We wanted to produce the most advanced and comfortable heated wetsuit available."

Chris Power, editor of the surfing magazine Carve, said the technology would make surfing possible in countries that were previously prohibitively cold. "The 'next frontier' could well be the Arctic – places like Greenland, Alaska, Iceland and Russia."

Tiki Surf

Rip Curl Wetsuits

Where the Hell is Rip Curl Taking us in 08`?

For the fourth season in a row, the Rip Curl Pro Search event will throw a curveball at the world's best surfers, offering the ASP Top 45 a never-before-competed-at Dream Tour venue.

Stop No. 6 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Search will once again pit the best surfers on the planet at a location that has never before hosted an ASP event. Previous Rip Curl Pro Search venues have included St. Leu on Reunion Island (2005), "La Jolla" mainland Mexico (2006) and El Gringo in Chile's port town of Arica (2007), but 2008's venue has been kept secret from the public at large.

Kelly Slater (USA), eight-time ASP World Champion and current ratings leader on the ASP World Tour, has been in staggering form this season, collecting four victories in five events (Gold Coast, Bells Beach, Tavarua and Jeffreys Bay), and will be the man to beat at the Rip Curl Pro Seach.

"I'm really relaxed," Slater said. "My life is really good personally and professionally. There's nothing side-tracking me and nothing in the way. I've got to take the same approach that I took at the start of the year, which is not being preoccupied, and just focus on what's happening right now and how do I maximize that."

The brilliant natural-footer has yet to be defeated by any of his fellow ASP Top 45 members in 2008, his only loss being at the hands of wildcard Manoa Drollet (PYF) at the Billabong Pro Teahupoo. "It's good for me because it puts all of the pressure on other peoples' shoulders," Slater said. "Winning in South Africa has put an immense amount of pressure on those guys, but No. 9 is still a long ways off."

Mick Fanning (AUS), reigning ASP World Champion, is sitting No. 4 on this season's ASP World Tour ratings following his runner-up finish at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, but knows he has to make up some ground at the Rip Curl Pro Search if he is to have any chance at defending his ASP World Title.

"I will be going to the Rip Curl Search giving it my all," Fanning said. "I think if Kelly wins another event, the race for the ASP World Title will be pretty much over. Whoever is going to give him a run will have to start winning events."

Andy Irons (HAW), current ASP World No. 8 and two-time past champion of the Rip Curl Pro Search event (2006, 2007), has proven time and again that he is the form surfer on tour in unfamilar conditions and will look to make it a three-peat at this season's venue.

"It's an even playing field because most people haven't surfed those spots before," Irons said. "In the beginning of the year, there are always rumors of where the Search event will be, so it's always fun to finally get the real scoop on the venue, and the next step, if I hadn't been there in the past, (like Chile) is talking to people who have been there before to mentally prepare.

When the Rip Curl Pro Search events are happing there is an exciting, competitive, nervous feeling in the air. You can see it in all of the competitors." Bede Durbidge (AUS), current No. 3 on the ASP World Tour, is another who embraces the changing venue of the Rip Curl Pro Search and is excited to get the 2008 event underway.

"I think it's awesome how Rip Curl change the location of their Search event each year," Durbidge said. "I get so excited to hear where it's going to be and I'm sure all the other surfers do too. It's the only event on tour that changes every year and that's what all surfers want to do is surf new locations around the world. So we're really lucky to have the Search event on the calendar each year."

The waiting period for the 2008 Rip Curl Pro Seach begins on July 30, 2008 and extends through to August 10, 2008. The event will be webcast LIVE via aspworldtour.com. For more info, log onto aspworldtour.com

This Years Rip Curl Search!

The Rip Curl SEARCH Men's WCT event is still searching. Unsuccessful attempts at securing an Australian or New Zealand location have surfing fans wondering where, and if, Rip Curl can pull off a SEARCH event this year. If it does happen, it’s clear that a developing country will be Rip Curl's home, most likely Indonesia according to well-placed anonymous sources.

Rip Curl first attempted to secure the legendary wave at Gnaraloo station in Western Australia. The perfect and challenging left hand barrel would have been a great test for the world's best competitive surfers. Upon hearing about Rip Curl's plans to hold the SEARCH at Gnaraloo, the local surfing community united against the event and created an online petition. The “Save Gnaraloo” petition secured thousands of signatures and forced Rip Curl to look at other options. According to one former Rip Curl employee, "(Rip Curl) will not hold the event without support of the local community."

After deciding against Gnaraloo, Rip Curl eyed the epic lefthanders of Raglan in New Zealand, according to New Zealand's Waikato Times Newspaper. Raglan, and specifically the wave known as "Indicators", like Gnaraloo, would be a great venue, both scenically and competitively pending a swell for the world’s Top 45 surfers. Again however, the local surfing community emphatically protested the event by unanimously voting against it at a Raglan Town Hall Meeting, thereby once again denying the Rip Curl SEARCH WCT’s request. The landowners and local surfers cited indigenous Maori sacred land as the primary cause of concern, according to the Waikato Times report.



Surfing New Zealand, the country's governing association for competitive surfing, has offered a solution. According the Waikato Times article, Surfing New Zealand has suggested holding the event at other spots in the scenic country, specifically Manu Bay and the Raglan bar. No one knows for sure if Rip Curl is considering Surfing New Zealand's offer.

If past success is an indicator, then look for Rip Curl to search out a developing country with the infrastructure to handle the logistics of a large event and the financial desire to look past issues raised by first world countries. Indonesia, specifically Bali, seems the obvious choice. Don't be surprised if G-Land is on Rip Curl's short list as well.

At this point Rip Curl's SEARCH WCT location remains unknown. In an email regarding its next locale, Neil Ridgway, Rip Curl’s International Marketing Director, would only comment, "Somewhere…”. Rumors about Indonesia have been boiling in the Orange County surf industry cauldron as the event’s most probable site. With a 'floating' license from the ASP that runs from July 30 - August 10 everybody is going to need an answer from Rip Curl fairly soon. Logistically speaking, people need to know. The prestigious Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach is next on the ASP’s docket. Rip Curl will likely announce the SEARCH WCT location at that time.

If you are like most, really the only thing for certain is that come July 30th, on a webcast near you, the Top 45 surfers will be ripping somewhere. Our hunch is that it will be in Bali or G-Land. Wherever they end up, this year more than any other, Rip Curl has certainly had to break out the maps, flashlights, and diplomatic skills, and search.


For my money, I would love to see it it go down in some Makin' lefts at G-Land, with the poor conditions at Pipe for the Pipeline Masters, and the last few years at chopes. I am starting to froth over seeing the top 45 get some serious backhand pits! Make it G-land and may huey send super hollow, super clean 6-8ft surf so we can get a real show this year!

Kelly Slater is going Bells

WORLD surfing's glamour boy Kelly Slater has confirmed he will compete in this week's Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach.

The eight-time world champion had threatened to skip Bells after revealing he had "lost energy" for the sport during the season-opener on the Gold Coast last week.

But Rip Curl Pro media manager Dane Sharp yesterday claimed that the 36-year-old American was again on board for this year's event. "He is confirmed, he is in the draw and he will be here," Sharp said. "He is happy to see a good swell. We were always confident that he was going to compete and with the good forecast on the cards, he is keen to get down here."

Slater, right, who won the event in 2006, was not sighted on the Surf Coast yesterday as many of the world's best surfers arrived to get an early feel for the local swell.

Perfect conditions greeted the competitors, with organisers confident of favourable swells throughout. More competitors are expected to arrive today after attending the wedding of world number one Mick Fanning on the Gold Coast on Saturday.



Official action got under way yesterday with the Geelong Advertiser pre-trials.