ASP World Champions Crowning

Professional surfing superstars, both past and present, turned out in force yesterday for the 25th Annual Foster's Association of Surf Professionals World Champions Crowning held at Conrad Jupiter's Casino on Australia's Gold Coast.

Honorees included:

• Foster's ASP World Tour Champion – Kelly Slater (AUS)


• Foster's ASP World Tour Runner Up – Andy Irons (HAW)



• ASP Women's World Tour Champion – Layne Beachley (AUS)


• ASP Women's World Tour Runner-Up – Melanie Redman Carr (AUS)



• ASP Men's World Junior Champion – Jordy Smith (ZAF)


• ASP Women's World Junior Champion – Nicola Atherton (AUS)



• Foster's ASP World Tour Rookie of the Year – Bobby Martinez (USA)


• ASP Women's World Tour Rookie of the Year – Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)



• Foster's ASP World Tour Most Improved Surfer – Tim Reyes (USA)


• ASP Women's World Tour Most Improved Surfer – Rebecca Woods (AUS)



• ASP Men's World Longboard Champion – Josh Constable (AUS)


• ASP Women's World Longboard Champion – Schuyler McFerran (USA)



• ASP World Qualifying Series #1 Ranked Man – Jeremy Flores (FRA)


• ASP World Qualifying Series #1 Ranked Woman – Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)

But it's back to work next week with the first of the world tour events for the 2007 season.The waiting period for the Quiksilver and Roxy Pros begins February 27th, 2007 and we will again be following the tours at The Beach.

Both the 2007 Foster's ASP World Tour and ASP Women's World Tour will kick off at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast of Australia with the Quiksilver and Roxy Pros presented by Samsung.

Following the 2007 ASP World Tour season opener at Snapper Rocks, the Foster's ASP World Tour will travel to the dream venues of Bells Beach, Australia; Teahupoo, Tahiti; ‘Somewhere’ in Chile; Jeffreys Bay, South Africa; Lower Trestles, California; Hossegor, France; Mundaka, Spain; Imbituba, Brazil and Pipeline, Hawaii.

The ASP Women's World Tour will join the men's tour in Bells Beach before branching off and heading to Itacare, Brazil; Santander, Spain; Sydney, Australia; Sunset Beach, Hawaii and Maui, Hawaii.

Andy Irons beats Kelly Slater to win Pipeline Masters

Hawaii has seen the close of both the Men's and the Women's ASP world tour. In a nail-biting finish to the Women's tour, Layne Beachley claimed her seventh world title and on the Men's tour, although Kelly Slater had already claimed his eighth world title, the last event of the year produced what many claim to be the best final ever seen at the 36-year-old Rip Curl Pro Pipeline Masters, Andy Irons (HAW) claiming a heroic victory over long-time rival Kelly Slater (USA), Cory Lopez (USA) and Rob Machado (USA).

In typical style, Slater began the final at lightning speed, chalking up a 9.00 and a 7.40 within the first eight minutes but Irons is renowned for fighting to the end and fought back with an amazing 9.87 and a killer 10 to finish.

Melanie Bartels wins at Sunset

Last minute entrant, Melanie Bartels (HAW), has won the 2006, Roxy Pro Hawaii at Sunset Beach, Hawaii, beating other from wildcard entrant, Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), to win her first-ever ASP Women’s World Tour event.
Finishing third at Sunset Beach was local Rochelle Ballard. Last year's Roxy Pro Hawaii champion Chelsea Georgeson finished in fourth place, while world No. 1 Layne Beachley and world No. 2 Melanie Redman-Carr went out in the semifinals. This means that the top three in the Women's world rankings are all in contention for the 2006 world title and that the championship will be decided at the last ASP event of the series, in Maui next week.

ASP Women's World Tour, Hawaii 2006

The ASP Women's World Tour began today, Friday November 24, 2006, at Sunset Beach, Oahu, Hawaii for the penultimate event of the season, the Roxy Pro Hawaii but immediately went on hold. The next call is 7.30am local time, tomorrow.

Once they get on the water, you will be able to watch the event via a live webcast.

Mick Fanning Wins in Imbituba

Australian Mick Fanning has moved up to world No. 2 on the Foster's ASP World Tour ratings with an emphatic win at the 2006 Nova Schin Festival, Imbituba, over last year's winner Damien Hobgood (USA).

Large, wind affected, six foot (two metre) waves were the order of the day and with an early charge by Fanning, the final was a largely one-sided affair. Favoring the rights Mick caught nine waves to Hobgood’s five. With early 9.5 and 9.27 scores in Fanning's scoreline, Damien was left needing a massive combination of scores to defend his title but could only manage 13.10.

On his way to the final, Mick fanning took out Bobby Martinez (USA), but with many big names falling in round three, Bobby's smile has grown even bigger since he now sits at No. 4 in the rankings, above Andy Irons! Not bad for his first year on the tour.

The last ASP World Tour event of 2006 is the Rip Curl Pipeline Masters, December 8-20, 2006, North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii.

Nova Schin Brazil on Hold

After a promising start at the beginning of the week, the 2006, Nova Schin Festival Imbituba, Brazil, has been placed on hold with just half of round two completed on Tuesday. Ranking leaders are through to round three but a result in Brazil could be critical for many of the lower rankings yet to compete in round two, deciding whether they remain in the tour for 2007. Competition officials have therefore decided that these competitors deserve better conditions than the one to two foot swell currently prevailing.

So far, the competition has been most notable for the absence of newly crowned world champion, Kelly Slater, who withdrew from the event due to personal commitments. It is thought that he might make an appearance at the expressions session but is definitely committed to competing in the Pipeline Masters.

When they get underway again, you can watch the surfers and bikini clad supporters, live, on streaming video.

Billabong Pro Mundaka Underway

Last week was pretty frustrating for Billabong Pro 2006 competitors and spectators at Mundaka, Spain but like a sleeping giant, the awesome sandbar wave of Mundaka rolled back into town on Saturday and the world elite surfers came out to play.
Spanish wildcard Hodei Collazo,
sensationally eliminated current ASP world number 6, Taylor Knox (USA) in round two, during a contest when Taylor was not his usual self and failed to capitalize on the scoring waves.
However, Kelly Slater looked decidedly relaxed against his young opponent, fellow American, 17 year old, Cory Arrambide, Kelly wound through some exciting backhand turns, tail sliding at will and turned in a comfortable 15.17 to 5.7 win. The second round contest resulted from Slater missing his call to the round one heat.

As this is posted, the remaining round two heats are getting underway. Then its into the finals, where the world title could be decided in the next few days and you can watch live. They are one hour ahead of GMT.