WE were less than 30 minutes from our destination of Robertsport, home to Liberia’s nascent surfing scene, and gliding along what one local had accurately described as “the best dirt road in the country,” when my driver, Andrew, and I got into a loud and boisterous fight.

“Whooo? People live on that mountain?” Andrew said incredulously, after I’d idly commented that it might be nice to have a vacation house on Grand Cape Mount. He whistled at the Western nonsense I was spouting after living 25 years in the United States. “No way,” he said. “Not in Liberia. You’ve been in America too long. People will only go to the mountain to make witch or talk to their ancestors.” To drive home his point, Andrew pulled over to ask a man walking along the road his opinion.

Sigh. Next to us stretched Lake Piso, the 40-square-mile, drop-dead beautiful oblong lake that dominates western Liberia, near the Sierra Leone border. Just ahead loomed the lushly green — and in Andrew’s eyes, ominous — Grand Cape Mount, the last natural landmark between us and the big waves at Robertsport. The waves that I would be examining to see whether Liberia, my birth country, could transform itself from poster child for West Africa’s wretched civil wars to travel posters for West Africa’s best surfing.

read full story at NYTIMES

140 of the world’s best professional junior surfers are set to invade the pristine North Stradbroke Island (Queensland, Australia) for the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Grade-5 Oakley Pro Junior.

Running from February 9-13 and held in the famous waves surrounding North Stradbroke Island, the Oakley Pro Junior is the first stop of Oakley’s international junior surfing series, which is grown to become one of the most notable in the world.

This week’s Australasia event will spearhead 2010’s Oakley Pro junior series, which includes competitions in South Africa, USA, Brazil, Japan, and Europe – culminating in Bali with the Oakley ASP World Junior Event, which has just been confirmed as part of the brand new ASP World Junior Tour (WJT).

Now in its fourth year, the Australasian Oakley Pro Junior is one of the richest and most prestigious professional junior surfing events in the world and the event’s lineup reflects that.

Headlining the competition will be local star and current ASP Australasia Junior Men’s ratings leader Mitch Crews (Currumbin, Qld), as well as fellow Queenslander Chris Friend (Alex Headland, Qld), Davey Cathels (Narrabeen, NSW), Dean Bowen (Gerroa, NSW) and a host of internationals including Chad Du-Toit (South Africa) and Nat Young (USA) to name just a few.

Top competitors from this week’s event will qualify for the October’s Oakley ASP World Junior Event (Bali), where they will compete for their share in the world’s richest junior surfing prize-pool of $75,000.

Visit www.oakleyprojunior.com for news, photos and updates relating to the 2010 Oakley Pro Junior.

The Oakley Pro Junior will commence February 9 and conclude on February 13, 2010.

2010 ASP Australasian Junior Men’s Series Ratings

1. Mitch Crews (Currumbin, QLD) – 6490 points
2. Chris Friend (Alexandra Headland, QLD) – 5930 points
3. Davey Cathels (Narrabeen, NSW) – 5420 points
4. Dean Bowen (Gerroa, NSW) – 5000 points
5. Chris Salisbury (Newport, NSW) – 4400 points

original story by ASP

With the completion of the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships fueled by Monster Energy earlier this month (won by Maxime Huscenot (REU) and Laura Enever (AUS) respectively), ASP International has confirmed the activation of the ASP World Junior Tour (WJT).

“The WJT is a natural development for the ASP and serves as recognition for Billabong’s vision and long-standing support for world junior surfing and for the sheer and immense surfing talent we now have coming through the ranks,” Brodie Carr, ASP International CEO, said. “The WJT provides additional opportunity for junior surfers to establish a career as a professional surfer and to really make a name for themselves as ASP World Junior Champion.”

The Oakley ASP World Junior event will be the first stop on the 2010 ASP World Junior Tour, running at the high-performance wave of Keramas in Bali from October 2 – 13, 2010.

read more at ASP