Girls have fun in Brazil Surf

The world's best women surfers jumped right into Round 1 of the 2007 Billabong Girls Pro Brazil, and 3-4 foot peaks, at Praia da Tiririca today, Monday August 20.

Ratings leader Chelsea Hedges (AUS) high scored with a pair of 9.0s in a day of fun surfing. Round two scheduled for tomorrow at 10h00 local time.

Irons wins 2007 Pro Search

It was a hard fought final at Ex Isla Alacran, Chile, against Damien Hobgood but Andy Irons scored a late 9.17 to take the Rip Curl Pro Search for a second year in succession, moving him to 3rd in the rankings behind Damien, who jumps to the number two slot.

Despite losing to Andy Irons in the semi-finals, Mick Fanning consolidates his position at the top of the rankings, however Andy is actually in quite a strong position because when calculating the year's final points total, he will be allowed to drop his last place finish in the first ASP World Tour event of the year.

The top five ASP World Tour rankings are currently:

1. Mick Fanning (AUS)


2. Damien Hobgood (USA)


3. Andy Irons (HAW)


4. Taj Burrow (AUS)


5. Joel Parkinson (AUS)

Kelly Slater (USA) comes in at number six, having had a disappointing start to the year and only securing one semi-final place.

The Men's ASP World Tour now heads to JBay, South Africa, for event 5.

Rip Curl Pro Search Chile

It's half way through the 2007 Rip Curl Pro Search Chile waiting period at Arica, event 4 on the ASP world tour. And a dramatic day of competition (Monday) saw the elimination of current world No. 2 Taj Burrow (AUS). Three times World Champion Andy Irons (HAW) put in a a scorching performance to take him through to the next round, before retiring half way through his heat with a broken board, and Fred Patacchia (HAW) turned in a perfect 10-point ride.

A couple of days into the event, the Arica break got a little too wild, forcing organizers to put it on hold in order to ensure the surfer's safety but good 2m (6ft) waves have since allowed all but two heats from round three to be completed.

Next competition call is 7am local time, Tuesday

ASP World Tour, Tahiti 2007

Round 1 of the Billabong Pro Tahiti is underway at Teahupoo Reef, in three to five foot barrels.

The action ignited from heat one with defending champion Bobby Martinez (USA) wiping out the opposition, 2001 Billabong Pro Tahiti winner Cory Lopez (USA) and Australian Trent Munro. While 2002 Billabong Pro Tahiti winner Andy Irons (HAW), last year’s runner-up Fred Pattachia (HAW) and local specialist and event wildcard Hira Teriinatoofa (PYF) are about to have a battle royal in heat seven.

Watch the action live thanks to some great streaming video.

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.