Author: surf@saltwater-dreaming.com

Beaches reopen as shark frenzy ends

[i][url=http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18126310%255E3102,00.html]Gold Coast beaches re-open after shark frenzy[/url]
Phil Bartsch and Richard Finnila, with AAP
13feb06 Courier Mail

GOLD Coast beaches reopened today after schools of bait fish lured dozens of sharks close to shore over the weekend.

Gold Coast City Council chief lifeguard Warren Young said only a beach in Main Beach was closed to the public today.
“We haven’t had the numbers (of sharks) that we had over the weekend,” Mr Young said.

“There’s been a natural movement of them away from the shore but we’re monitoring the situation.”[/i]Mr Young said the public were generally happy to enter the water again.

“They’re fine. A lot of it comes down to commonsense,” he added.

“I don’t think we could have had greater saturation of coverage about the sharks so people are aware of them.”

Lifesavers closed beaches on the northern end of the Gold Coast regularly throughout yesterday after about 50 sharks moved up and down the coastline to feed on the bait fish.… Read the rest

Rob Machado Wins 4 Star Monster Energy Pipeline Pro

[i]Tue Feb 7 2006:

Day 12 of the Monster Energy Pipeline Pro. http://www.billabongpro.com/monster06/


photo courtesy www.aspworldtour.com

Pipeline Master Rob Machado has won the event by comboing his 3 opponents with two incredible tube rides in a day filled with unbelieveable barrels. Four 10 point rides were scored by the judges, two from waves ridden at Backdoor, two at Pipe.

Incredible waves continued to pour through at Pipeline all day. Peruvian Gabriel Villaran was the upset surfer of the event, an unknown who has progressed to the finals of one of the toughest contests on the WQS circuit. Defending champion Pancho Sullivan unfortunately did not retain his title, having lost in the semis to fellow WCT campaigner Fred Patacchia and XXL surfer Ian Walsh.[/i]Retired professional surfer Rob Machado (Cardiff, CA) revisited his Pipe dreams today, taming towering 8- to 10-foot surf at the Banzai Pipeline to win the Monster Energy Pro, presented by Billabong.… Read the rest

Roxy Women’s Surf Festival Early Round Recap

[i]26 January 2006


photo courtesy of www.aspworldtour.com

Australia Day was celebrated in true sporting fashion in the Roxy Womens Surf Festival, Phillip Island, with the three newly crowned Queens of womens surfing Chelsea Georgeson (Coolangatta, Qld), Steph Gilmore (Kingscliff, NSW) and Jessi Miley-Dyer (Bronte, NSW) all advancing to round four of the blue ribbon 5-star World Qualifying Series division held in excellent five foot (1.5-2m) surf at Woolamai Beach.[/i]Twenty two year old Georgeson flew the flag high for the green n’ gold in her first competitive outing since claiming the ASP Womens World Title in Hawaii last December, easily outpointing Nicola Atherton (Bronte, NSW), Kim Wooldridge (Wollongong, NSW) and Amandine Sanchez (France) with the highest combined two-wave heat score of the event thus far, 17.40 out of 20.

Georgeson looked completely at ease in the picture perfect conditions, stringing together move after move with effortless style following a seven week competitive hiatus, to dominate at the location she has won at twice previously (2003 & 2004).… Read the rest

NEW WORLD BODYBOARDING CHAMP CROWNED AT ROCKSTAR GAMES PIPELINE PRO

[i]Rockstar Games Pipeline Pro – Final Day
IBA, 14/01/06 OAHU , HAWAII

FORMER WORLD CHAMP, AUSSIE DAMIAN KING WINS


Photo www.ibatour.com

Australian Damian King relished in perfect high-performance conditions to win the Rockstar Games Pipeline Pro, presented by Mike Stewart Science Bodyboards . However, it wasn’t enough for the current reigning world champ to retain his title, and second place finisher, Ben Player from Sydney’s Northern Beaches took the crown in a title race that came down to the final.[/i]Solid 4-6-foot (Hawaiian scale, or 1.5 – 2.5m) waves produced picture- perfect conditions for the final day of three at the world’s most famous wave, Pipeline. The only other contender, Gold Coast’s Mitch Rawlins , lost in the quarterfinals leaving Ben needing at least a second place finish to win the title. “That quarterfinal was actually the most stressful moment in the entire contest for me.… Read the rest

Matt Wilkinson/Arini Mason Win at the Balin/Snickers Pro Junior

[i]Central Coast’s Matt Wilkinson won today’s Balin Pro Junior in good 1m surf at Gunnamatta beach and in doing so took the long perched “monkey of his back” of never having actually won a pro junior event.[/i]Multiple second placings and even more multiple finals performances (4 man finals) have seen Wilkinson at the very top of the Pro Junior ASP Australasian Ratings over the past 12 months and he went very close to actually winning the ratings last season without winning an event but that is now behind him following his brilliant form and last minute win at Gunnamatta.

Wilkinson trailed throughout the final despite having the highest scoring ride, an excellent 8 point ride on his second ride. Young south coast NSW surfer Owen Wright , just 15 years of age but already a seasoned and hardened competitor lead throughout and in the final minute both surfers were next to each other as a final wave approached them –

Wilkinson held the inside position but Wright, knowing that Wilkinson could easily get the required 6 point score on the wave that was approaching did all he could, including taking off on the wave and crossing Wilkinson’s pathway to try and stop him scoring – It was an intriguing cross over on the wave which then saw Wilkinson perform a series of strong moves including an aerial to finish the ride and scored another 8 point ride to take the win!… Read the rest