The final day of the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast presented by Land Rover culminated today with perennial ASP World Title threat Taj Burrow (AUS), 33, and four-time ASP Women’s World Champion Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), 24, taking the respective wins in clean two-to-three foot (1 metre) waves at the primary venue of Snapper Rocks.

The opening stop on the 2012 ASP World Championship Tour, the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast enjoyed sunny weather, light winds and a capacity crowd for the final day of competition, with the world’s best surfers putting on a spectacular display of high-performance surfing.

Burrow defeated dangerous South American Adriano De Souza (BRA), 25, in a Final that came down to the wire. De Souza caught a wave in the dying minutes and launched into a massive air-reverse, requiring a 7.87 out of a possible 10 to take the lead. The judges deliberated until after the siren sounded and when it was announced that De Souza came a mere 0.27 short, Burrow was chaired up the beach and declared the 2012 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast champion.

read more at asp

Quiksilver Inc. will lay off 168 more people at its Huntington Beach headquarters, according to a notice filed with the California Employment Development Department.

The restructuring will result in 150 actual layoffs and elimination of another 50 positions, said the company. Quiksilver estimated it would save $40 million annually by eliminating the jobs.

The announcement is just the latest round of layoffs at Quiksilver. Last year, the company cut 397 in Orange County alone, according to records filed with the state Employment Development Department.

Last month, Quiksilver surprised the action sports retail industry when it said it would not participate in this month’s annual Action Sports Retail show in San Diego.  In December, the company said it would close 25 of its surfwear stores.

Robert B. McKnight Jr., chief executive, noted the previous cuts last year, which reduced costs more than $35 million.  He said the spending cuts are across-the-board, but with an eye toward minimizing the impact on customers and other business partners.

“All levels of our organization are affected by these actions as nearly 20 percent of the employees involved in the reduction hold manager-level titles or higher,” said McKnight in a company statement. “Our management team has worked together on these cost reduction measures with the primary goal of becoming better positioned to weather the current environment and to meet our business objectives moving forward.”

download PDF of the press release

read more at the OC register

If you plan on doing more than just surf on international surfing day read on…

Come celebrate International Surfing Day this Saturday with the Quiksilver Foundation and the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Conservatory at Bolsa Chica State Beach. The event is free and open to the public.

Schedule:

• 7:00am – Beach Clean-Up Begins (south parking lot at Bolsa Chica State Beach)
• 9:00am – Open Surf Session
• 11:00am – Lunch with Taco Bell and Sambazon

The morning is set to kick-off at the south end of the park with a beach clean-up and an open surf session to follow. Surftech will be demoing their quiver of the latest surfboards and SUP boards. Entrance into the park is free for volunteers who show up between 7:00am and 9:00am.

Taco Bell will roll up in their new taco truck to hand out free lunch for the first 300 volunteers. Sambazon will also give away free smoothies. And as an extra special thank-you, Quiksilver will give away special event tee-shirts. Check-in at the Quiksilver tent to get a wristband for lunch, smoothies and tee-shirt.