Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
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Jacob Willcox Releases New Film ‘Into Dust’

For a while I’ve had a hard drive of clips sitting around collecting dust. 

I spent most of last year on the road competing and chasing events which meant free surfing and filming got put on the back burner. Over summer I had time to go through my hard drive with Tom Jennings and 'Into Dust' was what came of it .

In surfing, we all become a product of the environment we are exposed to. I was pretty lucky to be able to grow up in Western Australia. The winds howling into the rights which taught me how to do backhand airs and the big winter swells allowed me to get some of the best waves of my life. 

This clip is a creation of the waves I've grown up in and the surfer it has shaped me to be.

 

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Wedding Cake's BIGGEST DAY

Video by SURFING VISIONS.
Autumn just keeps giving and this time its at home in Sydney. I just arrived back in Sydney from Tahiti the swell forecast was telling us that the ocean is going to erupt with some huge waves all focused directly into the Sydney City coastline (from Wollongong to Newcastle). What I did not expect is the surf to be as big as it got. Locals informed me that this swell is the biggest in decades. One Coogee local told me that their hasn't been a swell bigger since the one way back in 1974. So it was for sure an historic day to say the least and here is the evidence. 

This edit features bodysurfing World Champ Kalani Lattanzi. ENJOY!

Grab your style now!
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Owen Wright to retire from professional surfing

Owen Wright will retire from professional surfing after the upcoming events at Bells Beach.
(All photos: Joli Photos )

 SYDNEY, March 22 - Surfer Owen Wright, who fought his way back from a traumatic brain injury to win an Olympic bronze medal for Australia, announced his retirement from professional competition on Wednesday, saying he no longer wanted to risk his health.

"Over the years I've had a number of head injuries and concussions and it's got to the point where I need to prioritise my long term health," Wright said on social media.

"I'm going to retire from the highest level of competition, and basically from taking heavy water risks."

Wright was in contention for a world title in 2015 but was injured in a wipeout during a warm-up surf at Hawaii's notorious Pipeline, forcing him out of the event and out of the water for almost a year.

In an incredible turnaround, Wright won his comeback professional event on Australia's Gold Coast in 2017, one of four world championship titles for the tall and powerful goofy-footer.

Wright excelled in the world's most powerful and dangerous waves, scoring two perfect 20/20 heat totals in one event in giant tubes at Fiji's Cloudbreak in 2015 and winning another championship tour event at Tahiti's Teahupo'o in 2019.

While still struggling with his brain injury, Wright crowned his comeback with a bronze at surfing's Olympic debut at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021, but was knocked off the elite championship tour in 2022.

"The next chapter for me, I will still be surfing, I will still be surfing a lot...I just don't have to take the risks I used to," the 33-year-old said, adding he hoped to bring awareness to head injuries in sport.

Wright, whose sister Tyler is a twice world women's surf champion, will sign off from pro competition as a wildcard in next month's Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach in Australia.

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Fierce Desire - Somewhere on the East Coast

Video by SURFING VISIONS

I put this place up there as one of the better slabs off the east coast of Oz. Yep, you gotta be good to surf this spot. I recon I saw 4/5 snapped boards during this full day session plus a bit of blood.
All in all you need a fierce desire to surf this reef good which is exactly what you get in this edit.
ENJOY! 

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KELLY SLATER ‘NO CHANCE’ OF COMING TO AUSTRALIA

After world number 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic, Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sports to be refused the right to compete in Australia.



Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sports to be refused the right to compete in Australia, with the federal health minister saying that the 11-time champion would not be allowed into the country if he is not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Slater, who has not publicly disclosed his COVID-19 vaccination status, has aired some controversial views on COVID-19 vaccines, including an Instagram comment in October that claimed he knew “more about being healthy than 99 percent of doctors.”

The US tour veteran, who has no medical qualifications, has previously said that he is not anti-vaccine, but opposed to making vaccination mandatory.

Slater has also been critical of the visa process that ended with the deportation of tennis world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

The best surfers in the world are scheduled to arrive in Australia for back-to-back World Surf League events at Victoria’s Bells Beach and Western Australia’s Margaret River in March and April.

“I think we’ve been pretty clear with the Novak Djokovic case of no vax, no play,” Australian Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt told Australian broadcaster Channel 9. “It’s a pretty simple message, doesn’t matter what sport, we’re even-handed. I hope he [Slater] gets vaccinated and I hope he competes.”

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said that he hoped there would be no repeat of the saga that overshadowed the buildup to the Australian Open and left Djokovic unable to defend his title at Melbourne Park.

“It’s important there is clarity from the commonwealth government about who gets in and who doesn’t,” Andrews said yesterday. “That is a good thing. Least you don’t have a soap opera drama that wastes everybody’s time.”

The Australian Federal Court yesterday dismissed Djokovic’s challenge to his visa cancelation, saying that Australian Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Alex Hawke, who revoked it, reasonably believed the tennis star might be a risk to the community.

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Great white shark chases surfers in Australia



Australian surfer and musician Hein Cooper tells us what he saw. 

Hein Cooper

"Absolutely life changing experience. 2 days ago Myself and a couple of mates were chased in by a big old Great White whilst surfing at home.

I was out off a point break with 5-6 others in the mid afternoon in a remote location. I turned to see a large fin coming up the headland from the beach (around 30 metres away). It was slightly tipping over which made me think it could be a seal (apparently that’s something whites do when they’re looking for food in the shallows…).

I turned away for a moment then looked back again to double check what I’d seen. It was considerable closer, moving towards us but in a relaxed way. I was much more certain it was a shark this time. Then, we all looked over and what happened next I will never forget.

A large fin around 30-40cm tall (it was the length of my MacBook Pro from one side of the screen to the other) moving straight for us around 7-8 metres away. I could see scars on the fin and patches of white which apparently means it wasn’t a juvenile. And the boys did some research and called a few people and it looks very much like it was a GWS around 3.5-4 metres long. So this thing was moving straight for us. I shouted ‘SHARK’ and we all paddled for our Lives straight onto the rocks. Now for some reason the shark actually went around us and only really moved in once it reached our flank and the video footage confirms it. If it had wanted too it could have been on any of us within a couple seconds. I think the kicking and scrambling made it cautious for a moment and when it had made up its mind we were all up on the rocks.

What has stayed with me most is the energy and presence it had. Absolutely magnificent creature showing us who’s really boss. Very grateful that we all made it out and of course now I’ve got a good story to tell 😂 The footage doesn’t represent the shark well but you can see that even once we were up the rocks it was coming for us!"



 

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Tokyo Olympic: What is inspiring Sally Fitzgibbons ahead of surfing debut

She is the staunchest and proudest Aussie you could ever meet. But it is a flag of another nation helping inspire surfer Sally Fitzgibbons ahead of her Olympic debut.


One month to go before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics Australian surfer Sally Fitzgibbons at her home beach Gerroa in NSW. Surfing will be included for the first time at these Olympic Games. Pic. Phil Hillyard

Sally Fitzgibbons has long been dreaming of enfolding herself in an oversized Australian flag and celebrating winning a historic Olympic medal in surfing.

But strangely, it is the flag of another country providing the 29-year-old former world No. 1 with some special inspiration ahead of her chase for gold at the Tokyo Games next month.

Sally Fitzgibbons surfing to her gold medal at the world game. Pic: Surfing Australia
Sally Fitzgibbons surfing to her gold medal at the world game. Pic: Surfing Australia

“I have a few special things I always have with me,” said the surfer from the far NSW south Coast town of Gerroa who “balled all the way home on the train’’ when she couldn’t get close enough to Cathy Freeman to sign her hat after the 400m runners stunning Sydney Olympic triumph.

“One is a special necklace that mum and dad gave me, part of the Tiffany Atlas series, just after the world surfing game in Japan in 2018 so that's pretty special. I won there whuch is ncie.

“And I always have the Senegal flag with me. At the World Games I surfed against them and it reminds me of how sport crosses over cultures, how sport is so big.

“They wrote a special message on it and translated it means ‘you have the heart of a lion’. I read that. It inspires me. It’s very special.”

Proud Australian surfer Sally Fitzgibbons after a recent win in El Salvador.
Proud Australian surfer Sally Fitzgibbons after a recent win in El Salvador.

Fitzgibbons, who has lightened up and worked overtime to improve her air game for the expected small surf during the Olympics, always knew she wanted to compete at the highest level of sport.

A talented runner she showed precocious talent in surfing and made the switch as a teen, cracking the world tour in 2008 and regularly finishing in the top five surfers in the world.

When surfing was accepted into the Olympic program for Tokyo back in 2016 there was no one more excited than Fitzgibbons.

“It’s an absolute dream come true,” she said.

Now Fitzgibbons, who will compete in Tokyo with seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore, Owen Wright and Julian Wilson, is in the box seat to make her dream a reality with a breakthrough win on the world tour in Western Australian this year along with gold at the recent International Surfing Association World Games in El Salvador.

Sally Fitzgibbons is one of the most popular surfers on the World Tour. Pic: Tim Hunter.
Sally Fitzgibbons is one of the most popular surfers on the World Tour. Pic: Tim Hunter.

“This feels like part of my DNA. I have lived every version of going to an Olympics for so long,” she said.

“I see myself in the line-up with a big cheesy grin on my face. There’s black sand on the beach, I’m sitting out the back, in the middle of the heat, and I’m going WOW. It feels like home.

“I can’t wait to get there. I am so pumped.’’

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This limited-edition watch celebrates Rip Curl's golden anniversary

 

               

Born at Bells in 1969, this limited-edition watch celebrates Rip Curl’s golden anniversary. ‘Born at Bells 1969 – 50 Years’ inscribed on the gold inner dial ring, while a gold rotor powers a 21-jewel Japanese automatic movement with date, a 48-hour reserve and a sweep second hand. This limited-edition dive watch comes in a commemorative box with a neoprene lining and a picture of the original Rip Curl surf shop on Boston Road in Torquay, Australia.

You may also be interested.. Search GPS 2 Watch | Next Tide Watch

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Russell Bierke Stays Employed With O'Neill


O’Neill is proud to announce the resigning of big wave rider Russ Bierke.
From a tiny, blonde grommet charger, to one of the best all-around big wave surfers on the planet, Russ continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in waves of consequence. It was clear to those growing up around this little bloke, that he was different. There was a drive and a quiet determination that shined through whenever the swell lifted. Early slab and outer reefs sessions with the hardcore local crew, and a dad that shaped and had a healthy knowledge of big boards and big surf, all added to Russ’s progress. Hidden away in a country location, to then burst onto the scene at 18 years of age and capture a win in possibly one of the heaviest competitions ever to run. The Red Bull Cape Fear. It was here that the kid put the surfing world on notice, that he meant business.

 Over the following 5 years, Russ has qualified for the WSL big wave tour, won Heavy Water awards, and put out short films that have won more awards and shocked the surfing world. His fearlessness and his calm under extreme pressure, has resulted in worldwide respect from his peers. All of this, at the ripe old age of 23.
 O’Neill and Russ have developed a solid relationship over the years, built on pushing boundaries in both wetsuit product design and what’s actually possible in the water.
 We are looking forward to a long road ahead, full of
innovation and adventure.

 This powerful “First name in the Water” clip featuring Russ and filmed by Andrew Kaineder, is a tribute to Russ and the eternal spirit inspired by the man that invented the wetsuit, Jack O’Neill.

#RusselBierke #Australia
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10-foot great white shark kills surfer in Australia


A 60-year-old surfer died Sunday in Australia after being bitten by a great white shark that was nearly ten feet long, authorities say.The man, from Queensland, was killed while surfing at Salt Beach near Kingscliff on the far north coast of New South Wales, according to Surf Life Saving New South Wales.

Shortly after 10 a.m. on Sunday, police and emergency responders were notified that a man had been attacked on the beach. Several other surfers and board-riders had already rushed to rescue him, fighting off the shark then helping the man to shore, local police said a statement.
He was bitten on the back of his thigh, and received first aid on shore for serious injuries on his left leg, but died at the scene, said Surf Life Saving in a statement.

Beaches between the towns of Kingscliff and Cabarita will close for 24 hours.

First responders, police and biologists are now monitoring the area.

SLSNSW is currently working with the NSW DPI and @nswpolice to monitor the area. All beaches from Kingscliff to Cabarita have been closed for the next 24 hrs.
Surf Life Saving deployed multiple jet skis, drones, and helicopters to track down the shark. Authorities spotted it from the air and took photographs.

Shark biologists assessed these photos and the man's bite marks, and determined that it had been a large great white shark measuring about three meters (9.8 feet), according to Surf Life Saving.
The attack is the latest in a handful of other fatal shark encounters in Australia this year. In January, a diver was seemingly attacked by a great white shark off the southern coast of Western Australia, although his body wasn't recovered. In April, a parks and wildlife officer was killed by a shark near the Great Barrier Reef.

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Amp Sessions: Kerby Brown in South West Australia





Every trek to Southwest Australia is a massive gamble. The closest hospital is far enough away to make odds grim in life and death situations. Helicopter rescues have been performed. Shark sightings frequently will cause a crew to turn around, burn the petrol, and head home with their tails between their legs. But in a world where it’s getting harder and harder to find a little piece of heaven to yourself, Kerby Brown and film-maker Rick Rifici are willing to roll the dice. A couple weeks ago we got our first look into a future full-length film showcasing their collaboration with a short edit called Born Of Fire. Today we bring you another tease, with our latest Amp Sessions edit showcasing Brown navigating new bends in the continental shelf above and below sea level. Enjoy.



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A new Australian style of surfing


On a big day at Fairy Bower near Manly in March 1966, the bravest surfers gather to take advantage of a big autumn swell. A lone surfboat crew dares to take off on a huge wave, beside the surfers. Further north and later in the year, at Noosa Heads in Queensland, a trio of surfing pioneers is working on new boards and new ways of riding them. George Greenough, Bob McTavish and Nat Young are about to change surfing in Australia.

The surf films of the 1950s and 1960s took their stylistic cue partly from American travelogues, in which the narration was meant to be both informative and entertaining. The voice we hear on this clip is that of the director, Bob Evans, a Sydney surfer who had been making surf films since the late 1950s. We can infer from the way he explains the location and the geography of the Australian east coast that he was expecting this film to be shown in the USA. Indeed, High on a Cool Wave appears to be directly targeted at American surfers. Evans tries hard to convince both Australian audiences, and those overseas, that things are changing quickly in Australia.

The style of surfboard, the style of riding, and the style of the surfing film were imported from the USA. The American surf team visited Australia in 1956 for the Olympic Games in Melbourne, bringing with them a new style of board. Most Australians had been riding hollow ‘toothpick’ boards, made by laminating plywood on a frame. These were long and unwieldy and heavy, so most of them were stored in surf clubs, rather than taken home. The Americans brought new solid boards which they called Malibus, after the beach that was the centre of surfing culture in Los Angeles, California. What we see here is ten years later, after Australian surfers had mastered the new boards and begun to develop variations.

One of the most important of these variations was by Brisbane-born surfer Bob McTavish, who had been shaping boards and living a largely nomadic surf lifestyle since 1961. By 1966, he was strongly influenced by the theories of American surfer and fisherman George Greenough, who was a regular visitor to Australia, and would eventually settle on the north coast of NSW. Greenough preferred a scooped-out kneeboard that he called a spoon, but his ideas on fin design, based on the fins of fish and dolphins, had a strong impact on McTavish, who had developed a restless, experimental nature.


This footage comes from July 1966, shortly before Nat Young went to San Diego, California, to compete in the World Championships. His win in that contest established him as a major influence on world surfing, and it was partly his style that was different. The commentary talks about how these three surfers were changing that style, but there was a lot more surfboard development to come. McTavish, now a legendary shaper of Australian surfboards, says that this footage represents the apex of what could be done on a traditional longboard. Everything would soon change, as he started to make his boards shorter and shorter, in an attempt to ‘go vertical’.

One of the interesting things about this clip is the way the music changes, as the location changes to Noosa Heads. The storm sequence in Sydney has more driving rock’n'roll, but switches to cool jazz for the small waves. Jazz had been considered the coolest music in some circles since the late 1950s, but that was about to change, along with everything else. Albie Thoms, in his book Surfmovies: The History of the Surf Film in Australia (2000, Shore Thing Publishing, ISBN 0 9587420 3 0), says that part of the soundtrack was done by the Sydney blues band The Id. The narration was written by photographer-journalist Rennie Ellis, who was Evans’s man in Victoria, roadshowing his films. Evans did most of the shooting himself.

In the Noosa Heads sequence, Nat Young is the taller of the two surfers. In the final shot of this clip, with the two surfers riding simultaneously on different waves, McTavish is in front, Young is at back.

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Mick Corbett & Jarryd Foster



Part 1 Shipsterns Bluff from Mick Corbett
Mick Corbett and Jarryd Foster surf big Shipsterns.


Part 2 Right Left from Mick Corbett
Mick Corbett and Jarryd Foster surf heavy slabs in Western Australia.


Part 3 Cow Bombie from Mick Corbett
Mick Corbett and Jarryd Foster surf Giant Cow Bombie in Western Australia.

Filmers: Chris Bryan and Tim Bonython
Editor: Mick Corbett


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Art On Surfboard

We present you...

 I’m Jarryn Dower, a 24 year old artist from Ocean Grove, Australia, who turns old surfboards that have served their purpose as equipment into works of art suitable for wall mounts or display.

Having grown up around the Bellarine and Surf Coast, the beach and surf culture has had a large influence on my interests and lifestyle, which I’ve now translated into art. I first began this style of artwork early 2014 as a hobby between University assignments.


I’ve always liked to be creative and unique with my art, so using surfboards were the perfect canvas to express myself. Every board has a story to tell of its past life through the decals, dings and fade marks. It’s great to be able to combine all of that character with its new life as a piece of artwork.

A lot of work goes into each board, from the early stages of preparing the surface for drawing on, conceptualizing the design, and creating the artwork. Depending on the design and medium, the board art will usually take anywhere from 40 - 70 hours each, spanning 2 - 6 weeks.

I mostly use a stippling technique with Posca Pens, creating an image out of hundreds of thousands of dots. The process is very time consuming, requiring a lot of patience, however the end result is quite unique and extremely detailed!


 Bells Beach
Tiki
Sun's Out Buns Out
Shark Bite
Captain Shredbeard
Kelly Slater
Poseidon 

For inquiries on artwork, or if you are interested in a commission, feel free to contact me here via message, or email at jarryn_dower@hotmail.com

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