Mavericks Comp goes off, huge surf, huge characters, great vibe!

HALF MOON BAY, Calif.--The final round of the Maverick Surf Contest brought together six of the world’s best surfers, who battled the 40-foot waves for more than $30,000 purse, but in the beginning of the final round the finalists said it was for the love of surfing and promised to split the purse no matter who won, said 2008 champion Greg Long from San Clemente, California.

The final six charged hard, trading off monster waves caused by a receding tide. Long said he was waiting for only the biggest waves and at one point thought he should follow the veterans and take what he could but his patience paid off with a perfect score for his sick assed drop on a monster set.
Defending champion Grant “Twiggy” Baker landed in second place after heading straight off the top of a 30-foot wave and fighting through white water to surf a significant wall of water stretching in front of him. Baker will take home $12,000 in prize money and the Cliff Bar Green Room award for catching the best tube. Jamie Sterling, Tyler Smith, Grant Washburn, and Evan Slater rounded out the top finalists.

“Mavericks is kind of the king of the big waves pageant,” Baker said and it’s always a thrill to get back out two of his favorite surfing spots – Ocean Beach and Mavericks.
“These guys have been heroes and idols of mine forever,” Long said, “and I’m humbled and awed just to be in the water with them.” Long, Washburn, Sterling and Baker have been in contests together for years, including ones in Hawaii and South Africa.

Four of the six finalists are Californians but Grant Washburn, a San Francisco resident for more than 20 years said “it’s great to have the best surfers. The best from Africa, the best from Hawaii, from everywhere. It makes everybody play better.”

The whole show was judged from the water, due to the wave breaking so far off shore, but the distance didn't stop the circus coming to town, as usual the cliffs were lined with lenses and spectators alike risking injury and possibly death to catch one of the greatest shows on earth.

“It’s hard to see anything but I’m loving the atmosphere,” Dellens said. The San Diego native said she enjoyed the sights and people of her first surfing competition while Lentz, from Santa Cruz, said “It’s really comfortable, it’s like being home.”

Four 45-minute long heats with a max of 10 waves per surfer, keeping the score for the best three and doubling the points from their best ride. The top three contestants in each heat move on to one of the two semifinal rounds. Again, the top three of the six surfers in each heat move on to an hour-long final round.

The waves were crankin' in the early morning Half Moon Bay fog, some sick wipe-outs were on display, Ryan Seelbach, dominated the third heat but didn’t make is past semifinals, these madmen traded off waves worthy of the only big wave contest on the mainland.

Matt Ambrose, 46, who has been surfing Rockaway Beach in Pacifica most of life said “Everyone has pretty much a good vibe out there,” he said “even when it was a little bit dog-eat-dog in the last round (semifinals).”

The high tide ushers in few waves, bringing the competition level up a notch, “It was more dog-eat-dog in the last round,” said Ambrose. As the waves got scarce, surfers started taking off on lefts and rights, creating one hell of a sick show.

Shane Desmond charged way deep and took a long wall, cutting back and riding out along with Tyler Smith, who dropped in on a sick wall and stuck it.

Hawaiian native, Sterling, caught three great waves in the first half of the final round including one of the biggest waves of the day with another hair-raising drop. While all the surfers ride huge boards Sterling is known for his massive Rhino Chaser and his ability to maintain control of the big gun.

The circus was in the water too, the line up and channel packed with boats and jetskies working as caddies and rescue craft in the huge surf.

Evan Slater got slammed on his first ride of each heat only to nail a sick one right after it, he caught a wicked ride in the last 12 minutes of the final, charge hard Evan!

No one caught shit until almost 20 minutes into the hour-long final heat, tempting judges to restart the clock, Smith said. “I thought it was going to go flat, but a set came in and the contest really got started.”

Even though Long, 24, was the youngest surfer in the water he knew he needed a game plan. “I wanted to take it to the next level,” Long said “take some chances. It was the final and I was going to give it 110 percent.” Long started surfing when he was 10-years-old off the coast of his home town, then fell in love with the big waves at Todos Santos, a small island off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico.

Mavericks, which invites only the best 24 surfers in the world keeps the contest on hold from December through the end of March like many other contests around the world. In 2007 the contest was never called because challenging waves never made an appearance.

“Sharing it with my five of my best friends was great,” Long said “I’ve already won in my mind.”

Founder and Contest Director Jeff Clark gave out awards and greeted competitors after the final round. Clark started the Mavericks Surf Contest, originally called Men Who Ride Mountains, in 1999 with Quicksilver sponsoring the event.

This year Mavericks featured a “climate neutral” event with the help of co-sponsor Clif Bar & Co. to help focus on saving the delicate marine ecosystem at Mavericks Surf Break, according to event organizers. For the second year fans could watch the event live at AT&T Park in San Francisco or online at myspace.com while those who made the trek out the see the event live were kept in check by volunteers from Save The Wave Foundation and other green groups.

10 year old saves surfer from huge surf!

A SURFER who almost came to grief in yesterday's monster swell on Sydney's Northern Beaches has a keen-eyed 10-year-old to thank for his rescue.

James Grant spotted the distressed surfer from his parents' flat at North Narrabeen about 9am.

The beach was just one of many in NSW closed to swimmers because of wild surf yesterday, with the closures expected to be in place until the end of the week.

Meanwhile most Sydney beaches are closed again today - except for some in the Eastern suburbs. Read which ones here and check out pictures of New Year revellers sleeping off their hangovers on the sand.

James sprinted 350m to alert lifeguards, who helped pull the man from the whitewash.

Do you know the identity of the man? If so contact us on 9288 3387 or tell us through the feedback form below.

"I had just been looking for the pro surfers (in the Billabong Pro) when I saw this guy put his hand up and I saw he was in trouble - he was being dragged down the beach," James said.

It was the closest the North Narrabeen nipper has come to a rescue but he has his sights set on becoming a professional lifeguard.

"I want to be a lifeguard because they get to go out on the boards and save people," he said.

"And they get to spend all day on the beach."

The surfer left the beach before James had a chance to meet him.

It was just one of many rescues yesterday, all mainly surfers who decided to brave the wild conditions for that perfect ride.

Six beaches were closed at Coffs Harbour, in the state's north, after winds whipped up 4m swells.

Surf boat competitors in the George Bass Classic on the NSW South Coast were among those who had to be pulled from heavy surf.

To see live web cams of beach conditions, go to our Beaches in-depth section.

The Westpac Lifesaver Rescue Helicopter also pulled two surfers to safety at Stanwell Park, south of Sydney, about 10am.

Two American surfers attempting tow-in surfing with a jetski had to be rescued after they were washed on to rocks at Woolgoolga Beach, north of Coffs Harbour.

Massive waves of up to 3m are expected to force the closure of Sydney's beaches for the second day today, as a tropical low off Queensland continues to whip up huge surf along the coast.

"There will be a lot of sore heads on the beach, but it doesn't mean that people should stop using their heads," Surf Life Saving NSW spokesman Brett Moore said.

"If a beach is closed, it is closed for your safety.

Heed the warnings of lifesavers on the beach and, while people may be disappointed, it is for their own safety."

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Chris Webb told The Daily Telegraph the wild swells were caused by a tropical low 400km northeast of Fraser Island.

"It formed last Friday, deepened on the weekend and is now moving very slowly to the north," he said.

"There is also a high pressure ridge off the central coast of NSW.

"Combined with the low, that's producing these gale force easterly winds that are causing the big swells in the Sydney area."

He said beaches along the NSW coast would see waves of between 2m and 3m for the rest of the week.

"The swell is coming from a long way away so these waves are very energetic and there will be a lot of power in the swell," he said.

Josh Kerr quitting the WCT, "it's holding me back"

You all remember that insane rail grab flip thingy that Josh Kerr pulled off in the final at the Gold coast Quiksilver pro against Mick Fanning. I remember watching that final thinking damn Mick is in form, and when he had Kerr combo'd was like there is no way in hell anything Kerr does is going to pull this out of the bag for him, and I was right. But then he pulled that move, probably the sickest most innovative move I have seen done on the tour, and I was like who cares if fanning wins that was SICK!!!!

Final highlights of the Gold Coast Quiksilver pro watch for that flip!!

From then on I watched Kerr a whole bunch more, thinking man if this guy can keep linking the base moves like snaps, floaters etc and throw in moves like that, no-one on the tour will have a hope. I saw the future of pro surfing at that moment and it looked like fun, much in the way people must have felt watching Kelly bust the fins out back in the early 90's. So how sad it is when you hear that Kerr has decided to pack the tour in and focus on the free surfing, I love to watch the tour online, and am always stoked when I see a surfer not play it safe, but I guess this move away from the tour will mean that we can expect to see some crazy new surfing from Kerr over the next few years.

The tour however will be under going a huge changing of the guard in 08' with the departure of Occy, without a doubt one of the sports most loved and iconic surfers, but the arrival of Dane Reynolds, who we all saw blow up the pack in trestles this year. A new world champion, and an ever hungrier pack chasing the crown, 08' is looking to be one hell of a battle, lets just hope that all the events get their webcasts up to scratch, and ol' huey kicks in with some epic surf!

Below is the story I read about Kerr leaving the tour

Free-spirited Gold Coast rookie Josh Kerr is to quit surfing's world tour next year, believing it's holding him back.

A former world aerial surfing champion, Kerr was expected to make a big impact in his first season on the World Championship Tour, especially after debuting with a memorable fifth place on his home break of Snapper Rocks.

But he's ranked 35th in the standings heading into the season finale at Pipeline in Hawaii this week and says it'll be his last event even if he climbs into the top 26 to re-qualify for the 2008 season.

Kerr is sick of having to temper his progressive aerial style in an effort to maximise points from the judges and wants to go back to the scene which helped land his million dollar sponsorship deal with surfing clothing company Rusty.

"I'm not going to do the tour next year anyway, even if I re-qualify," Kerr told FoxSports News.

"It's not my thing right now. I'm only 23 and I want to go and do some free surfing and make some videos and do some photo shoots.

"I feel like I'm training right now to surf safer and that's just not who I am.

"I want to be able to do what I want and be able to go out there in a heat and execute the same thing."

In the season-opening round on the Gold Coast, Kerr reached the quarter-finals before bowing out to now world champion Mick Fanning in what proved the highest scoring heat of the year (19.53 to 19.10) as both surfers blazed to near-perfect scores.

Kerr says he's now over the tour grind, but won't rule out a Mark Occhilupo-like comeback down the track.

"I feel like I'm not ready and not focussed enough on the tour to give it a good shot just yet," said Kerr.

"I'm going to take a few years off.

"If I win a world title I want to do it the way I want to surf it."

Occhilupo, who won his 1999 world title after a sabbatical from the sport, has backed Kerr to return better from a break.

"A break might be a good thing, I took one and there's no reason why other guys should not," said Occy.

World No.4 Joel Parkinson believes Kerr is making the right choice by stepping away from the competition scene.

"Kerry is not someone you can tie down, he just needs to let loose," said Parkinson.

"Whatever lets him do that is the right thing I reckon."

However world No.2 Taj Burrow disagrees, saying next year's world tour is going to take progressive surfing to the next level with highly-touted youngsters such as American Dane Reynolds and South African Jordy Smith set to join the tour.

"Next year on tour is going to be out of control, there will be some wild surfing going down," said Burrow.

"(But) I know the itch he feels. I would love to just take on the free surfing and just hunt down the best waves in the world and just have fun."

Lay-days were called for the final events of both the men's and women's tours in Hawaii because of small surf.

There is only one more day of action needed to complete the women's Billabong Pro Maui, with Australia's Stephanie Gilmore and former champion Sofia Mulanovich facing off for the world title.

Gilmore and Peruvian Mulanovich are both into the third round, with the 19-year-old rookie Aussie needing to progress further than her rival to claim the world title.

The men's Billabong Pipeline Masters is yet to begin.

Laird saves Lickle from huge 80ft wipeout naked

WAILUKU, Maui — Ever in search of the 100-foot wave, extreme surfing star Laird Hamilton came to the aid of a fellow surfer off Maui.

Brett Lickle, who was rescued by Hamilton, his dramatic rescue "the most intense thing I've been through."

Lickle said Hamilton stripped naked so he could tie his surf trunks into a tourniquet after Lickle suffered a huge gash on his leg in a wipeout on what he said was an 80-foot ocean wave.
Lickle, 47, (pictured below)

was recovering Wednesday at home in Haiku.
In the incident Monday at a tow-in surf spot called Outer Spreks, Lickle says he was cut by the fin of a board on the Honda AquaTrax watercraft he and Hamilton had used to get to the spot where the waves were breaking. He says he was trying to stay ahead of the monster wave, but it crashed down on him.

Hamilton is among extreme surfers who have pioneered in the riding of superwaves that ordinary surfers don't tackle. He and fellow big-waver Dave Kalama premiered a short film, "All Aboard the Crazy Train," on tow-in surfing in 2005, warning that it wasn't a sport for the inexperienced. Hamilton also was among surfers performing in feature-length films highlighting the sport, "Step Into Liquid" and "Riding Giants."

The outer reef off Spreckelsville is a big challenge for big-wave surfers.

"If ever you're going to find a 100-footer, it's there," said Lickle.
He and Hamilton had surfed the area in the morning and then returned in the afternoon when the accident occurred. He said only one other tow-in team was on the waves at the time.

Lickle said he was trying to outrun the looming water wall in the watercraft when it caught him. Hamilton was in tow.

"I'm in big trouble," he said he told himself.

After the wave crashed down on them, he reunited with Hamilton about three quarters of a mile offshore.



One fear, Lickle said, was the blood from his wound would attract tiger sharks that hover around the Maui shoreline.

He said that after tying the tourniquet, Hamilton swam "like a bat out of hell" for about a half mile to recover the watercraft.

Surfers said ocean conditions on Monday created waves of historic size.

"There were the biggest waves that any of us have seen," said Buzzy Kerbox, another Maui big-wave surfer who saw the Outer Spreks waves but chose to take on another surf spot.