Sharks are most likely to attack surfers and other unsuspecting swimmers in shallow water, on Sundays, during new moons and especially in August, according to a study released Thursday just in time for summer.

Young surfers in black and white bathing suits are most vulnerable toshark attacks or bites, the University of Florida study found.

It based its conclusions on observations and statistics gathered over a 50-year period in Florida’s Volusia County, known as the “shark attack capital of the world.”

“Human, shark and environmental factors combine to create a perfect storm of favorable conditions in Volusia County for attacks, particularly near Ponce Inlet between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach,” said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida.

read more at yahoo.news

Billabong International Limited today announced it has reached agreement to acquire the Southern California surf retailer Becker Surf and Sport.  The acquisition includes Becker’s five brick and mortar retail stores and the beckersurf.com online business, but does not include the Becker Surfboards arm of the business.

Billabong North America president, Paul Naude, said Becker is an iconic surf retailer and holds a distinguished place in the surf industry. “Becker is a name that has been synonymous with surf since the 1970s and, as both a brand and a retailer, it has helped shape Californian surf culture,” said Mr Naude.

“Billabong looks forward to preserving the Becker heritage and growing the speciality boardsports retail channel to ensure premium brands can continue to deliver an authentic experience to the end consumer.” Dave Hollander, co-founder and president of Becker, said Billabong and Becker had a mutual respect for one another’s place in the industry and a shared vision about the future of surf retailing.

“Paul and I have been friends for years and we have always discussed the future of the industry and boardsports retailing and have a common goal to ensure specialty retail remains intact,” he said.  “We were looking for a strong partner to take the Becker brand to the next level and Billabong is a perfect fit.

“Billabong, through Paul, understood that we wanted to keep the surfboard name and manufacturing. They understood how important it was to keep that part of our heritage in the families that have owned it for 30 years. “That was a big deal for us and few others would have understood the dynamics of this in relation to the big Becker picture.”

Becker Surf and Sport and the online business will both continue to operate as multi-branded retailers. The acquisition price was not disclosed.

story via Transworld

FLORIANOPOLIS, Santa Catarina/Brazil (Sunday, May 23, 2010) – On the decisive heat of the event, Aritz Aranburu took two regular waves to claim the title of Maresia Surf International 2010 in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The Brazilian Rodrigo Dornelles was second place, finalized the 12.67 x 6.67 points in the good waves at Mole Beach in Sunday.

“I’m so happy. It was a very good event for me, we had some pretty hard days and today everything went right to me,” said Aritz Aranburu, who jumped from 60th to the 35th place on the newASP World Rankings. “Unfortunately, we could not get good waves in the final, I did not surf my best, but that was good enough to win. Rodrigo (Dornelles) is a great surfer and was a pleasure to make the final against him. It’s great to win here in Brazil.”

MARESIA SURF INTERNATIONAL RESULTS
FINAL:
1 – Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 12.67
2 – Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 6.67

SEMIFINALS:
SF 1: Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 13.17 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 10.94
SF 2: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 12.40 def. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 11.17

QUARTERFINALS:
QF 1: Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 8.77 def. Robson Santos (BRA) 10.94
QF 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 10.90 def. Sebastien Zietz (HAW) 10.33
QF 3: Caio Ibelli (BRA) 9.26 def. Pedro Henrique (BRA) 10.33
QF 4: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 11.93 def. Leandro Bastos (BRA) 10.33

read original story/photo via asp