A-Frame

Just when you think New York City’s Chuck Guarino can’t push it any further, you see something like this. The recent A-Frame interviewee has a new site and a new line of goods ranging in style from 80’s throwback to 50’s horror. Chuck’s been updating the news pretty often and has some sick Keith Laub shots of DHubb and Chuck scoring a recent Dirty Jerz swell. Speaking of NJ, JerseyMobb says “Booya, we’re back.”.

Chuck Forward

Dubb Reverse

The Bodyglove Bodyboards USBA TOUR
PRESENTS THE SCION HAWAII LEDGES PRO 2007
In conjunction with the Foam Company Maui and Custom X

DAY TWO

Day two of the SCION Hawaii Ledges Pro started off with similar conditions to day one. The early rounds took to the water at 8 am, with big international names taking down USBA top riders. Ryan Hardy was one of them who took out Brian Stoerh with former NYBB Pro finalist Josifran Araujo taking second with a big roll to finish the heat.

Other early round standouts were Willy Pertrovick who took out Paulo Barcellos with some of the bigger inverts of the competition. In the third heat of the day Jason Bitzer was able take out top USBA rider Jeremy Wright with Kauai’s Kainoa Lumb taking second. Jeff Hubbard cruised through his heats with ease and composer into the semi finals. Jacob Romero put on a great show in his first heat with a clean display of inverts and solid combos.

Heading into the quarters there where big names going down such as Josifran Araujo, Jason Bitzer and Happy Zurkowski, all not dealing well with the now windy. Advancing through the next Quarter Round was Ryan Hardy and Brad Mebust who took a combined effort to take out USBA stars Willy Petrovick & Jacob Romero.

Breaking up the men’s pro quarters and semi’s was the Women’s pro final in which Kelly Gordon of Maui put on a stellar performance holding off the international apponents. Kelly had Mariana Rodriguez on her coat tails but Mariana was never able to better her second score.

Heading back into the Men’s Pro Semi, Australia’s Ryan Hardy continued his strong campaign in his first ever USBA event, he was able to land himself in the finals along side Kauaian Bud Miyamoto who was also the Ledges Pro Drop Knee Champion. The following semi saw Jeff Hubbard gain the highest maneuver score of the competition being awarded 9.5 and 10’s for his spin to clear air reverse combination. Following suit was Sacha Specker of South Africa who had been surfing well consistently all day long.

The conditions in the final were trying for the riders as a rainsquall hit almost to the second of the start flags going up. This however made for some cross-shore wedges that Ryan Hardy and Jeff Hubbard where able to use to launch large-scale inverts and ars’s. When the final buzzer blew it was Jeff Hubbard with two large air roll spins that narrowly edged out Ryan Hardy’s spin to roll and invert for the win. Thanks to our sponsors SCION Hawaii, Bodyglove Bodyboards, The Foam Co and Custom X Bodyboards for the their support of this amazing event.

Note: Check the USBAMAG.COM issue three for all the photos and a more in depth look at the 2007 SCION Hawaii Ledges Pro. Issue is due out the 12/30/07.

RESULTS

Men’s Pro
1. Jeff Hubbard (Kauai)
2. Ryan Hardy Australia
3. Bud Miyamoto (Kauai)
4. Sacha Specker (South Africa)

Women’s Pro

1. Kelly Gordon (Maui)
2. Mariana Rodriguez (Venezuela)
3. Christian Lima (Maui)
4. Andrea Carvalho
5. Linda Molina

DAY 1

The first day of competition started out with the amateurs hitting the water in the cleanest conditions of the day. The first heat saw Colin Black(oahu), Reese Yanorio (oahu), Jesse Walsh (Maui), Mark Gravacio (Oahu )battle it out in the blue water peaks. Colin and Jesse progressed, while Reese and Mark were knocked out. With Reese out of the competition, the Amateur title was awarded to New Jersey’s Dillon Druz.

Newly crowned amateur champion, Dillon entered the water in semi final two alongside Kingsley Uaiwa (Maui), Josh Kid and Casey Bibbs. The current champ struggled to find form in the testing conditions while Kingsley and Casey found some workable sections to gain the scores necessary to progress to the final. The waves turned on for the 20 minute action packed amateur final. From the beginning of the final Kingsley and Colin were exchanging a high score battle all the way through to the finish. Colin’s best wave was one of the highest scores of the day that consisted of a tube followed by a two roll combination. Kingsley responded fast with a tube followed by a clean roll and spin. This kind of form continued through to the final minute and in the end it came to an extremely close finish with Colin just ousting Kingsley for first place.

The next to head into the water was the DK pro with the some of the bigger sets rolling in due to some uprising wind swell, and with some big DK hitters including the USBA tour Dropknee champion David Hubbard. Advancing out of the first round was New Jersey’s newest DK guru Jason Bitzer who was poised to keep his forth place rating in the overall standings. Others who advanced were the likes of Micah McMullan, Bud Miyamoto, Jeff and David Hubbard, Leroy Kaiwi, Willy Petrovik, and Cass Sadona. The DKrs had some stiff competition with the Hubbard (Kauai) brothers muscling their way into the final along with Bud Miyamoto (Kauai) and Leroy Kaiwi (Maui) following suit.

The final was one of the closet heats in USBA history with Bud edging out current and now 2007 USBA Dropknee Champ Dave Hubbard with the scores going to a tiebreaker. Tomorrow’s heats will consist of the entire Men’s Pro roster and the Women’s Pro finals.

As per today USBA 2007 Champions are finalized as follows

Men’s Pro: Jeff Hubbard Kauai)
Women’s pro: Roberta Bitzer (Oahu/Brazil)
Amateur: Dillon Druz (New Jersey)
Drop Knee Pro: Dave Hubbard (Kauai)

RESULTS

Amateur
1.Kingsley Uaiwa (Maui)
2. Colin Black (Oahu)
3. KC Bibbs (Maui)
4. Jesse Walsch (Maui)

Drop Knee Pro
1. Bud Miyamoto
2. Dave Hubbard
3. Leroy Kaiwi
4. Jeff Hubbard

The dedicated folks at 5-South are once again bringing California’s top DK crews together for their annual Best in the West contest. The waiting period is January 5-6 and 12-13 and the entry fee is $100 per crew. For more info call 619.948.9074 or email info@5-south.com. Will Pismo’s Rookies crew of Brett Roldan, Willie Richerson and Cale Moore repeat? Or will SD’s DKB crew revenge last year’s tight loss? Scope 5-South’s edit from last year’s contest below and place your bets now.

Meanwhile, 5-South is doing something completely new and holding the inaugural Best in the West Prone Classic Invitational at Baja Malibu in Northern Baja. There’s a topic on 805bbr discussing the controversy over who should be invited. Here’s an excerpt from 5-South’s email giving us the details on the contest:

The Bodyboarding industry in the USA is always in need of growth. We, 5-South, have a vision that our sport will be accepted for what it is, an extreme sport by the general public. In order to reach this level, we must prove the true ability that one can perform on a Body Board. Southern California is home to many “Extreme” Sports such as BMX, Motocross, Skateboarding, etc. In order to reach the same level of exposure as those sports, we have put together a venue that will showcase Bodyboarding at its full potential. We are having holding periods for the proper conditions to make this possible. We would like you to be a part of this new era of competition.

- 19/20th and 26/27th of Jan (Sat/Sun holding periods)
- 16-person event with 4 alternates
- Man on Man heats
- Invitational only
- Baja Malibu, California
- $100 entry Fee/ $150 Includes Condo stay
- Single elimination round
- Prize purse will determine on the outcome of competitors (1^st and 2^nd place will get money)

The Sumol Nazaré Special Edition contest just went down in Portugal. Check the press release below as well this flickr gallery and this video.

Press Release by agenda@sol.pt:

Luís “Porkito” Pereira was the big winner of the Sumol Nazaré Special EditionYesterday at 9:30 AM the Praia do Norte was angry. Over six meters high, the waves punished the Lighthouse while on the sand the main concern was with the athletes safety. The will of facing the biggest waves ever ridden in a Portuguese wave championship balanced with the fear that someone might not overcome the weight of the Praia do Norte waves. None of the 20 athletes hesitated when the organization, by 11 AM, gave the most waited order: the Sumol Nazaré Special Edition was ON.

During the next six hours, bodyboarding was at it’s highest level. Divided in four heats – one hour each – the bodyboarders faced with respect the Nazaré waves. With respect but without fear. Tubes, aerials, and insane drops on huge waves gave the spectacle that the several hundred spectators deserved for holding out the cold during the entire day. In the end, everybody was pleased.

“Porkito” proved that Praia do Norte is his home ground. Pierre Louis Costes showed the skills – even when he had to hold out several minutes without his board in the impact zone - that make him the biggest young gun of the bodyboarding world. The Portuguese youngster Jaime Jesus showed his incredible resistance: he won the prize for the biggest wipe out. Manuel Centeno didn’t return home empty handed, he won the prize for the biggest wave. In a day that definitely placed Nazaré in the map of the world class big waves, the future of the sport also proved to be secured: in a very disputed classification, four athletes under 22 years old got in the top-8 and the runner-up is only 17 years old.

Dozens of broken leashes, bended boards, an injured jet sky, a 4×4 bike stolen by the sea, and 20 bodyboarders that will never forget the day of December 16th, 2007. These are the victims of the third Sumol Nazaré Special Edition.

The organization would like to thank all the sponsors and collaborators that made possible one more edition of the best championship of Portuguese bodyboard.

Final Standings:
Final:
1 Luís “Porquito” Pereira;
2 Pierre Louis Costes (França);
3 Manuel Centeno;
4 Ricardo Faustino;
5 Bernardo Alvim;
6 Jaime Jesus;

7 Fábio Laureano;
8 Nelson Mora (Canárias);
9 Gastão Entrudo;
10 Paulo Costa;
11 Luís “Bajolo” Duarte;
12 Gonçalo “Ratinho” Faria;
13 João Pinheiro;
14 Silvano Lourenço;
15 Filipe “Fifi” Ferreira;
16 Rui Ferreira;
17 Miguel Prata;
18 Filipe “Rastef” Henriques;
19 Kiko Saraiva;
20 Luís “Ben” Coelho.

Special Thanks:
Main Sponsor: Sumol
Sponsors: Pride, VS, Stealth and Onda
Institutional Support: Câmara Municipal da Nazaré e Região de Turismo Leiria/Fátima
Media Partners: Vert BB Magazine, Extreme Sports Channel Portugal
Collaborations: Federação Portuguesa de Surf, Associação Portuguesa de Bodyboard e Clube de Desportos Alternativos da Nazaré

Looking for a last minute stocking stuffer? I know we’re a bit late on this, but scope Mickey Smith’s new 2008 calendar “blink” on sale at www.mickeysmith.co.uk. Mickey is an amazing filmmaker as shown in his instant classic bodyboard flick A Blank Canvas that came out a few years ago. Now filling up Riptides with insane photos of spots ranging from the Canary Islands to Chopes, Mickey’s eye and positioning in the water is among the top of the field. Pick up his calendar for some good eye candy in 2008.