Roxy ASP Women’s World Longboard Championships (WWLC)
ASP Women’s World Longboard Title Decider
La Côte des Basques, Biarritz – France
July 10-14, 2009

ROXY ASP WWLC FINAL
1st, Jennifer Smith (USA) 12.25 pts
2nd, Coline Menard (REU) 9.55 pts

ROXY ASP WWLC SEMIFINALS
Heat 1: Coline Menard (REU) 11.75 pts  Def. Justine Dupont (FRA) 9.15 pts
Heat 2: Jennifer Smith (USA) 15.25 pts Def. Chelsea Williams (AUS) 13.25 pts

BIARRITZ, France (Tuesday, July 14, 2009) – Jennifer Smith (California, USA), 23, won the Roxy Jam in Biarritz today to claim the second ASP Women’s World Longboard title of her brilliant career after defeating fellow finalist and outsider Coline Menard (Reunion Island, FRA), 21, in the final exchange of the 2009 edition. Smith, who dominated the final bout from the beginning until the end, confirmed her stellar Semifinal run where she managed to score a 9.25 point ride, the highest wave score of the event, defeating Menard confidently.

“To win a second world title is just unbelievable,” Smith said. “That heat against Chelsea (Williams)… I was ready to bow out in the semis and I had no idea I was going to get that wave and this score down. I was feeling pretty confident after that and when once I made the final I was definitely looking for the second title, for sure.”

Smith, who raised her world title trophy in front of a cheering crowd at La Côtes des Basques, signed an unexpected stellar come-back on top of the international hierarchy today, after several months without a win.

“I had no expectations this year as I had not won an event in months, maybe a year,” Smith said. “I came over here to give my best and see what happens, and I made the final and won it. It’s just so good to get a second one. I am going to celebrate with all my best friends that are here tonight and fly back home tomorrow.”

With three favorites and one outsider in the Semifinals, the 2009 Roxy Jam witnessed spectacular levels of surfing through the four-day waiting period, the new 32-woman format bringing more intensity into the ASP Women’s World Longboard title race. Menard’s final berth showed again how strong the French female longboarders were getting with a second representative making the final in three years.

read more at ASP

We apologize for the misprint of an old story earlier today. new story:

Jumbo Humboldt squid wash up minutes after 4.0 earthquake hit off the coast of La Jolla

It was an odd start to the morning in La Jolla. First residents were jolted out of bed at 7.34 a.m. by a 4.0 magnitude earthquake that was centered 19 miles out to sea.’

“I was having coffee up on the balcony and I felt it shaking,” Kate Lutkemeier said.

She wasn’t the only one.

“I heard my doors and windows rattling, thinking that somebody was trying to get in my front door actually,” La Jolla resident Mary Skeen said.

The quake was felt all over the county, which isn’t uncommon in San Diego — but what happened just minutes later was a little fishy.

“We just got here about 15 minutes ago and Lilly, what did you see on the beach?” John Feher asked his little daughter. “Squid, squid, squid, squid, squid.” she replied.

Dozens of dazed Humboldt squid which were roughly three-to-four feet long and weighed close to 40 pounds were flapping around on La Jolla Shores beach.

“It’s like their equilibrium is all messed up and they don’t know what they’re doing and they can’t back out there,” Bill Baumann said. “It was like they got  — I don’t know  — all shook up.”

It didn’t take long for the seagulls to swoop in and start feeding on the squid, so beachgoers ran to the rescue and tried frantically to save them by throwing them back in the water. That proved to be a difficult task for several reasons  — they were extremely heavy, very slippery, and when the good Samaritans did manage to get them back them in water, the squid didn’t know where to go and kept washing back up.

“Some people were saying it was the earthquake this morning that caused them to get disoriented but who knows? Feher said.

He wasn’t the only person to mention that theory.

“A state guy was out and said the earthquake caused (it),” Baumann said.

Lifeguard Sgt. David Rains said that is one of several possibilities — there are a lot of fishing boats in the area so there is a lot of fish activity and those kind of creatures always follow the food supply. He also said there have been a lot of water inversions and the water has turned from warm to cold  — but he doesn’t know for sure.

“Why are they here? Why are the squid here? I can’t honestly tell you,” Sgt. Rains said. “I don’t know if it’s tied or not to the earthquake.”

According to the lifeguard, swimmers should be wary of the creatures and keep their distance.

“The Humboldt squid can be very big and very powerful and they may be dangerous,” Sgt. Rains said. “It’s just something I wouldn’t mess with until you’re sure that it’s dead. They’ve got a lot of suckers and claws and a parrot like beak and they can inflict some damage.”

A spokesman for Scripps Institution of Oceanography said at this point they do not see a connection between the squid and the earthquake, but plan to look into it. Dozens of squid washing up at the same time is unusual but it has happened before, according to Sgt. Rains. But Mary Skeen said it is a first for her.

“I have never seen squid in the 42 years that I’ve lived here on the shores in La Jolla,” she said.

For now there are more questions than answers; did the earthquake cause the squid to wash up or was it simply a coincidence? Just ask the little girl who helped daddy push some alien looking creatures back out to sea.

“Is it a mystery?”  Feher asked his little daughter Lilly. “Yeah,” she replied.

original story at nbc

5th Annual Reef/Sweetwater Pro-Am

Wrightsville Beach North Carolina
10 – 12 July 2009

Aaron Cormican, of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., outlasted his peers Sunday at Wrightsville Beach to win the pro division of the Reef/Sweetwater Pro-Am for the second time in the competition’s five-year history. Cormican won the event in 2006, and beat out his good friend Jeremy Johnston, the 2008 champion, also from New Smyrna, in the tournament final.

“This year has been a really good year for contests for me,” Cormican said. “It’s a hard event, there’s a lot of good surfers here and I’m stoked. It’s a dream right now, man. Life is good.” Cormican took home the trophy and a $5,000 first-place prize Sunday for his winning effort. Johnston came in fourth place, Dylan Goodale, of Kauai, Hawaii, was the runner up, and Matt Keenan, of Ocean City, N.J., placed third.

The surf conditions worsened with each day of the competition. Sunday morning the water was glassy and the waves were in the knee- to thigh-high range, but Cormican said his ability to thrive in smaller conditions has played a part in his recent success on the East Coast.

read full story at surfersvillage