Author: surf@saltwater-dreaming.com

[i]Wednesday 26 October, 2005

Photo coutesy of www.aspworldtour.com
NOVA SCHIN FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY BILLABONG
(30 October – 9 November)

EVENT #10 ON THE FOSTER’S ASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS (ASP) MEN’S WORLD TOUR

Live on www.aspworldtour.com

The focus of the sporting world will shift to Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil from this coming Monday, 30th October as the The Nova Schin Festival presented by Billabong gets underway. [/i]The event, the 10th on the Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour will play host to one of the hottest showdowns for world championship glory in the history of pro surfing as Andy Irons (HAW) attempts to score his fourth world crown and in doing so thwart Kelly Slater’s (USA) hopes of gaining a seventh.

Slater, who has dominated the 2005 tour, has made finals on five occasions this season, claiming four victories at Tahiti, Fiji, Jeffreys Bay and California and one second placing (behind Irons) in Japan.… Read the rest

This photo courtesy of www.aspworldtour.com

[i][font=Verdana]Just two events remain on both the Foster’s ASP Men’s World Tour and the ASP Women’s World Tour and while we’re staring down the barrel at a couple of runaway world title favorites in American Kelly Slater and Peruvian Sofia Mulanovich, it isn’t over till it’s over. [/font][/i]Both could be crowned 2005 world champions at their respective tours’ next stops – the Nova Schin Men’s WCT in Florianopolis, Brazil and the Roxy Pro in Haliewa, Hawaii– but both tours boast unbelievable athletes sitting in unsatisfying second place spots. Athletes who are wholly capable of holding off Mulanovich and Slater’s celebrations till Maui and Pipeline, and should they really fire, thwarting their campaigns all together! The surfers we speak of are of course Hawaiian Andy Irons and Australian Chelsea Georgeson.

Perhaps it was the showman in him but the former Baywatch heart-throb and six-time world champion Slater kept the suspense mounting by bowing out early at the Quiksilver Pro France in late September.… Read the rest

[i][size=small]Saturday, 8 October, 2005[/size][/i]

Photo courtesy of www.aspworldtour.com

[i][size=small]Australian Trudy Todd, a 13-year tour veteran who hasn’t relished an event victory for over five years, overcame Samantha Cornish (AUS) to win the Rip Curl Malibu Pro in epic four to six foot (one to two meter) surf today. Todd, who jumped from equal 13th to 7th on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) world ratings with the win, announced earlier in the season that this will be her last year competing on the World Championship Tour (WCT).[/size][/i]“I said to the girls, ‘you know, I really want to go out winning a contest and being on top instead of getting kicked off the tour and looking like a kook,’ so I guess I did that,” joked Todd.

“My last win was in Maui in 1999 – back when I was in my prime,” she continued.… Read the rest

RIP CURL PRO MALIBU (1 October – 9 October)

Photo courtesy of www.aspworldtour.com

EVENT #7 ON THE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS (ASP) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR

[i][size=small]The past, present and future of women’s surfing were alive and well at the Rip Curl Malibu Pro today. Six time world champion and tour veteran Layne Beachley, along with 17-year-old event wildcard Stephanie Gilmore, set the seas aflame at historic Malibu Point in solid three-foot (one meter) waves.[/size][/i]A week into the nine-day waiting period, the women of the World Championship Tour (WCT) were finally the recipients of some solid swell and they took full advantage of it. Not last week’s wildfires and lake-like conditions nor this morning’s encroaching fog were able to hinder the heat that was generated by the world’s best women surfers today.

Gilmore, who had to navigate the Rip Curl Footwear Trials before earning the wildcard into the main event, finished in front of world champion Sofia Mulanovich (PER) and fellow Aussie Trudy Todd in round one.… Read the rest

Thursday, 6 October, 2005 Malibu, California, USA

RIP CURL PRO MALIBU (1 October – 9 October)

EVENT #7 ON THE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF SURFING PROFESSIONALS (ASP) WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TOUR

[i][size=small]Proceedings for the second annual Rip Curl Malibu Pro, and more specifically the Rip Curl Footwear Trials that were expected to run today, have once again been put on hold. Small, inconsistent conditions at Malibu’s Leo Carillo beach this morning and a more promising swell forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the weekend, have persuaded contest officials to reformat the trials and run them in conjunction with the main event at Malibu’s Surfrider beach tomorrow. [/size][/i]While the trialists will no longer surf a full Round Robin format, they will enjoy better conditions when they do paddle out. The first heat of the Rip Curl Footwear Trials will run at 7:30 am.… Read the rest