The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) 1-Star PLA Pro Championships saw local talent Taylor Jensen (Oceanside, CA), 25, take out the men’s division, while fellow San Diegan Cori Schumacher (Cardiff, CA), 34, clinched her second consecutive women’s ASP North America Longboard Title when she won the PLA Pro Championships presented by Gidget in the peaky two-to-three foot wind-swell on offer at South Oceanside Pier.

Jensen, who grew up surfing Oceanside’s beachbreak, was trailing in third place behind Tony Silvagni (Kure Beach, NC), 22, but battled back to overtake the lead by combining two lengthy noserides and progressive turns to eventually place the field in a combination situation before claiming the PLA Pro Championships, the last event on the 2009 regional series.

“I just lucked into a wave,” Jensen said. “Brendan (White) took the one before it and I just sort of lucked into it and it worked out.”

Jensen, who has also been living in Australia, has been splitting his time between the two nations and was thrilled to take out a win at home after traveling back from Australia.

“I was getting really excited about this contest on the flight over,” Jensen said. “There is hardly ever a contest here, so to win one is pretty special.”

Jensen dominated several ASP LQS events this year, claiming three contest victories while finishing No. 11 on the ASP World Longboard Tour. After capping his season off with an additional victory, he’ll look to next year where he’ll be competing as one of the world’s finest longboarders on the 2010 ASP WLT.

read more at asp

With a halo of ugly weather encircling the Hawaiian Islands and a dismal short-term forecast on the horizon, the opening day of the Vans Triple Crown coughed and sputtered to life this morning at Haleiwa with the Reef Hawaiian Pro. It was by no means a pretty start to the heralded million-dollar trifecta—in all honesty, the lineup looked downright depressing, bearing an uncanny resemblance to a bad Brazilian sandbar—but it was a start to the series nonetheless. – read more at surfermag

RESULTS:

Round of 136: Results shown in order of 1st place through 4th. 1st & 2nd advance
H1: Sean Moody (HAW), Anthony Petruso (USA), Derek Ho (HAW), Makuakai Rothman (HAW)
H2: Michel Bourez (PYF), Richard Christie (NZ), Myles Padaca (HAW), Kaipo Jaquias (HAW)
H3: Solomon Ortiz (HAW), Izuki Tanaka (JPN), Daniel Jones (HAW), Kiron Jabour (HAW)
H4: Bruno Rodrigues (USA), Kamalei Alexander (HAW), Hira Terinatoofa (PYF), Love Hodel (HAW)

Round of 128
H1: Granger Larsen (HAW), Damien Fahrenfort (ZAF), Mason Ho (HAW), Nathan Carroll
H2: Alejo Muniz (BRA), Dylan Melamed (HAW), Sean Moody (HAW), Jarrad Sullivan (HAW)
H3: Lincoln Taylor (AUS), Jayke Sharp (AUS), Jean da Silva (BRA), Liam McNamara (HAW)
H4: Cory Lopez (FL), Brad Ettinger (USA), Anthony Petruso (USA), Paulo Moura (Brz)
H5: Evan Valiere (HAW), Nathan Edge (AUS), Diego Rosa (BRA), Blake Wilson (AUS)
H6: Joel Centeio (HAW), James Taipan Wood (AUS), Michel Bourez (PYF), Marco Giorgio (URY)
H7: Andre Silva (BRA), Luke Campbell (AUS), Masatoshi Ohno (JPN), Kevin Sullivan (HAW)
H8: Raoni Monteiro (BRA), Marco Farney (BRA), Richard Christie (NZ), Jay Davies (AUS)
H9: Hank Gaskell (HAW), Alain Riou (PYF), Nat Young (AUS), Hugo Savalli (REU)
H10: Gavin Gillette (HAW), Heath Joske (AUS), Mark Matthews (AUS), Solomon Ortiz (HAW) H11: TJ Barron (HAW), Jason Shibata (HAW), Hizunome Bettero (BRA), Charlie Brown (BRA)

David Mailman, in his third year as President of the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Europe, just got back from the Rip Curl Pro Search in Portugal where he spent a couple of weeks along with the world’s best surfers as official announcer.

Also known as one of the ASP events’ main beach and web announcers, President Mailman sat down with ASP media to discuss about next year’s official changes that will give the sport a new boost in its evolution.

Apart from being the President of one of the seven ASP regions in the world (along with South America, North America, Hawaii, Japan, Australasia and Africa), Mailman has spent more than a decade around professional surfing events witnessing the evolution of the sport through different positions including four years as a marketing director for Quiksilver Europe.

Find out what Mailman a.k.a the Voice has to say about the changes that will occur in 2010 for the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) in Europe…

read the interview at surfeuropemag