While Surf Expo is officially over, attendees are still unpacking their booths, following up on new contacts, and hurriedly writing orders to meet deadlines.

Show staff was also busy compiling the show’s attendance numbers, which required a little extra time with all the new attendees. This September’s show attendance climbed 13% overall from last year with a cumulative buyer attendance of more than 11,000 pulled from 6,400 retailers. The show also saw exhibitor numbers climb 14% with 825 exhibitors representing more than 4,000 brands.

“We were super stoked to see not only the increase in buyers, but in the business being done in the booths,” says Surf Expo Show Director Roy Turner. “Our demo day at the Orlando Water Park kicked things off in high gear and floor events were busier than ever. The TransWorld Wake Awards spilled over onto the floor; with many award recipients taking runs on the on-floor wake cable setup. If one word were to describe the show it would have to be diversity, with exhibitors and buyers representing surf, skate, wake, kite, SUP, freedive, and swim and resort categories. Exhibitors are feeling the magic of that diversity as they were able to connect with new cross category buyers as well as service existing clients. Buyers on the other hand were exposed not only to new products and companies but completely new categories.”

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The time has come for the highly-anticipated Quiksilver Pro New York! The sixth stop on the 2011 ASP World Title Race has landed in the city that never sleeps and the world’s best surfers will be battling it out for the $1,000,000 prize purse and their spot for the midyear rotation. The Quiksilver Pro New York is also the first ASP World Tour stop on America’s East Coast and the unique event is expected to see Hurricane Katia deliver some promising swell for the inaugural event!

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. – A two-mile stretch of coastline at Casa Reef in La Jolla was reopened Thursday, following the third confirmed shark sighting along San Diego’s coastline in a week.

The coastline at Casa Reef was shut down, after several people spotted a 12-inch dorsal fin around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday near the Children’s Pool, where a colony of seals live. Just hours later, a group of fishermen discovered a dead baby seal off the Ocean Beach pier with apparent bite marks.

“The only thing that would have done that is something really with big teeth,” said fisherman Jeff O’Connor. “And we figured it’s a shark. And it sure looks like a shark bite.”

The closure at Casa Reef was lifted just before 10 a.m. Thursday because lifeguards, patrolling the area since the early morning, found no evidence of a shark, according to San Diego fire-rescue spokesman Maurice Luque.

In addition to the shark sighting Wednesday in the La Jolla area, another shark was spotted further north in Encinitas and was documented in a picture taken by a News 8 viewer. After receiving the photo taken at Swamis beach, News 8 spoke with a local shark expert who confirmed that the shark in the photo is a 10 to 12 foot great white.

Meanwhile, reports Thursday morning of a 12-inch fin sighting 100 to 200 yards offshore from the 1200 block of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in the Point Loma-Ocean Beach area turned out to be not credible.

A two-mile stretch off Mission Beach was closed last week, after a lifeguard spotted an 18-inch dorsal fin on Thursday. The same area was closed again Friday when a surfer reported seeing a 14-inch fin.

Below is various close-ups of the photo taken Wednesday, August 31 by a News 8 viewer at Swamis Beach. A local shark expert has confirmed to News 8 that the shark in the photo is a 10 to 12 foot great white.

read more at cbs