Association of Surfing Professionals

Huntington Beach, California--The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) North America is gearing up for its biggest event of the year, the GO211 LIVE featuring the Honda U.S. Open presented by O'Neill. This ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) 6-Star men's and women's event held at the famed Huntington Beach Pier will run from July 18 through 27, 2008.

The U.S. Open of Surfing draws some of the best surfers from around the globe to a festival that brings multiple surf tours to one location. It is event No. 5 on the 2008 ASP North America World Qualifying Series (Men), event No. 2 on the 2008 ASP North America World Qualifying Series (Women), event No. 6 on the 2008 ASP North America Pro Junior Series (Men), event No. 2 on the 2008 ASP North America Pro Junior Series (Women) and event No. 1 on the 2008 ASP North America Longboarding Tour (Men).

Accompanying the ASP WQS 6-Star events will be the ASP Grade-2 O'Neill U.S. Open Pro Junior, the ASP 2-Star O'Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding and the recently-added ASP Grade-2 S3 Supergirl Pro Junior.

This ASP WQS 6-Star event always draws a multitude of international competitors to Huntington's shore for their piece of the $195,000 available in prize money, and ever-valuable ratings points towards qualification for the ASP World Tour and ASP Women's World Tour.

After 15 years of consecutive competition, the U.S. Open has crowned a bevy of marquee surfing talents including eight-time ASP World Tour Champion and current ratings leader on the ASP World Tour, Kelly Slater (Cocoa Beach, FL), Andy Irons (Hanalei, Kauai), C.J. Hobgood (Melbourne, FL), Layne Beachley (Queenscliff, NSW), Lisa Andersen (Ormond Beach, FL) and Stephanie Gilmore (Tweed Heads, NSW)--all of whom are former U.S. Open as well as ASP World Champions, proving the pedigree of U.S. Open Champions to be among surfing's finest.

The GO211 LIVE featuring the Honda U.S. Open presented by O'Neill will open competition with Honda men's U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O'Neill ASP WQS Trials, followed by the O'Neill U.S. Open Junior Pro presented by Honda and the O'Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding. Colin McPhillips (San Clemente, CA), who is a two-time U.S. Open Longboard Champion, will be back to defend last year's title and is focused on a repeat victory at this year's O'Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding.

"Defending my title this year is top priority for me," McPhillips said. "Competing in what is the Super Bowl of surfing is an unreal thing to win and I will do my best to bring that title home another year."

With the O'Neill U.S. Open of Longboarding as McPhillips' main focus, the veteran longboarder has been spending as much time in the water as possible to prepare for the upcoming event.

"My training throughout my entire career is surfing as much as possible." McPhillips said. "The best thing for your surfing is surfing. The only thing different is I have been stand-up paddle surfing a bunch, and really enjoying it."

The defending 2007 U.S. Open Longboarding champ will look to pocket his third U.S. Open title, the event that kicked off his professional career 14 years ago, as the U.S. Open was his first professional victory.

"The U.S. Open is a special event for me because it was my first pro win back in 1994," McPhillps said. "It is also great, because since the event is at home I get to bring my wife and kids with me."

Also running the opening weekend of competition will be the O'Neill U.S. Open Pro Junior and the recently-added S3 Supergirl Pro Junior. The ASP Grade-2 O'Neill U.S. Open Pro Junior will be stop No. 6 on the 2008 ASP North America Pro Junior Series, and will play a crucial role in the qualifying campaigns of the junior men for the prestigious Billabong ASP World Junior Championships.

The ASP Grade-2 S3 Supergirl Pro Junior will be the second women's event of the 2008 ASP North America Pro Junior Series; however, its late addition to this season's series will have the results count towards next year's qualification campaigns.

To GO211 LIVE featuring the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O'Neill will begin competition of Friday, July 18, 2008 at 8am with the ASP WQS Men's trials Round of 96.

For all of the LIVE action at this year's GO211 LIVE featuring the Honda U.S. Open of Surfing presented by O'Neill log onto www.usopenofsurfing.com. For information about the event, log on to www.aspworldtour.com or www.aspnorthamerica.org.

About ASP:

The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) is the governing body of professional surfing. Crowning surfing's undisputed world champions since 1976, the ASP sanctions the following tours: the ASP Men's World Tour, the ASP Women's World Tour, the World Qualifying Series (WQS) and the World Longboarding, Junior and Masters Championships. The ASP is dedicated to showcasing the world's best surfing talent in a variety of progressive formats and has revolutionized the way the world watches surfing via their webcasts. The organization is divided into seven different regions: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, Hawaii, North America and South America. These regions manage all their respective domestic affairs under the guidance of ASP International, which is located on the Gold Coast of Australia. ASP International and ASP North America are committed to the progression of surfing and are dedicated to continuing excellent relationships with their surfers, event operators, sponsors and media. For more information log onto www.aspworldtour.com or www.aspnorthamerica.org.

Have you ever wanted to make history? Have you ever wanted to be the first to do something? Well, here is your chance. It’s been over a month since Volcom announced it would give away $10,000 to the first surfer to successfully execute and document a ‘kick flip’ and the contest will continue to run until a winner is crowned.  Although there are numerous videos floating around the internet of documented attempts, there has still been no sign of a surfer landing a “proper, above-the-lip” kickflip, as Volcom describes it. 

In order for the kickflip to count, the surfer must launch in the air, flip the board with their front foot, and cleanly land and ride out of the wave.  There is to be no towing, grabs, wakeboards, boogie boards, trays, shoes or dolphin-assistance. Yes, you read that correctly–no dolphin assistance.

It is only a matter of time before Volcom hands over a big check to some lucky surfer who’s been stomping waves, not for the money, but for the feeling that comes with  being the first ever surfer to document a kickflip.  This is an extremely difficult trick, but surfing will always be a sport where limits are pushed. Volcom is simply adding a little extra motivation for surfers all over the world. What are you still doing reading this? Grab your board and start paddling out. It’s time to make history!  

Go to Volcom Kickflip-Off Contest for official rules and entry forms.

<span face="Arial" style=""></span>[http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/01/surf50_3.jpg]With Memorial Day weekend behind us and schools dismissing their classrooms, summer is (unofficially) here. The season for  vacations and road trips is upon us, and I’ve got a few trips lined up that I’m looking forward to. However, none of my plans are nearly as cool as the trip two Australians, Jonathan Durrant and Stefan Hunt, just completed.

Durrant and Hunt traveled for seven months to complete their mission to surf in all 50 states. When told that they couldn’t possibly surf the inland states, they found &quot;waves&quot; in irrigation ditches, snow and even in a potato field. Raised in St. Louis, I was curious to see where they chose to surf in Missouri and was expecting to find they took on the Mississippi River. I think they did one better in checking off Missouri by surfing down the steps at the Arch.

Their rules were simple: to surf all 50 states, “surf” was defined as being on a surfboard with some sort of momentum, and to document and share the experience with as many people as possible.

To top it all off, they had an ice cream truck donated to them by a sponsor to help minimize their costs. However, during the 20,000 miles they traveled, it seems the truck ended up being more trouble than it was worth. It needed two engines, two alternators, one muffler, one repaired fuel tank, one battery, one ignition coil, two rewiring repairs and three tows.

Judging by their stories and pictures, it looks like it was worth it.

(Photo provided by Getty Images)

[http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/femalesurf.jpg]In surfing, the participation and performance of women have been surging, boosting industry profits. But going on 50 years since Kathy Kohner Zuckerman (nicknamed Gidget), earned grudging respect from the guys — and two weeks after pledged to pay equal prize money to women — gender equity for the sport remains a point of contention.

The Association of Surfing Professionals men’s and women’s world tour seasons began last week on Australia’s Gold Coast, near Brisbane, with the men’s Quiksilver Pro and the women’s Roxy Pro. The contrast is stark.

On the men’s tour, 45 surfers compete in 10 events, with the Quiksilver Pro offering $300,000 in prize money. The women’s tour consists of 17 surfers in seven events. The Roxy Pro, which was won by Chelsea Hedges on Monday, paid a total of $80,000 in winnings. Layne Beachley, the seven-time and defending women’s world champion, said the surf industry needed to do more.

“There is always room for improvement, both at the elite level and at grass roots,” Beachley, 34, said in an e-mail message from Australia. “And considering the industry have made an enormous amount of money through its representation of this lifestyle, I feel that the disparity between the incomes of the men and women still have a long way to go to become ‘equal.’ ”

[http://active.typepad.com/.shared/image.html?/photos/uncategorized/73202071_2.jpg] Have you ever wondered why surfing seems to be so much easier for kids than adults? This is because people of different ages learn surfing in different ways. Here's some tips on learning to surf for children, teenagers, and adults:

Children

Young children are usually eager to learn all sorts of things and learn it quickly. Children learn gross motor skills like &quot;jumping to their feet&quot; easier than the fine motor skills. When instructing or learning, spend more time on style, body positioning, where to look and foot positioning across the stringer than other skills.