JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa (Tuesday, July 14, 2009) – High drama and excellent scores were the order of the day as rifling six-to-eight foot (2 – 2.5 metre) surf poured through South Africa’s most iconic lineup for Rounds 2 and 3 of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay.

Event No. 5 of 10 on the 2009 ASP World Tour, the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay witnessed the ASP’s top seeds hit the water today, posting the highest scores of the event mixed in with some of the biggest upsets, all going down in what some are calling, “the best Jeffreys Bay ever.”

Kelly Slater (USA), 37, reigning nine-time ASP World Champion and four-time past winner of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay (’96, ’03, ’05, ’08), put in an historic performance, netting four nine-point-plus rides in his Round 2 heat to collect the highest heat total of the event, an 18.84 out of a possible 20 (throwing away a 9.23 and a 9.00).

“It was just unbelievable,” Slater said. “The waves were just pumping. I couldn’t get back out there fast enough. It just kept barreling. I went all the way down through tubes and doggy-doored to the end, must’ve gotten like 4 or 5 barrels on that thing. It was a pretty sick wave. I don’t know what else I could’ve done on it. I surfed it as hard as I could. I’m pretty happy. I had a really good heat – that’s the best heat I’ve had this year by a mile.”

Currently ranked 9th on the ASP World Tour ratings, Slater rebounded from three, consecutive 17ths to start the year with a win in Brazil last week before setting the bar today at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay.

“I feel like the current leg we’re competing on is a strong one for me,” Slater said. “I went to Brazil without much motivation, but it turned out to be a good event for me. Now we’re here in Jeffreys where I feel really comfortable and the next events are ones I usually do well at. A lot of guys are surfing good though – Sean (Holmes), Joel (Parkinson), so we’ll take it one heat at a time.”

Michel Bourez (PYF), 23, 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie, caused the upset of the event today, eliminating former ASP World Champion (2007) and two-time past winner of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay (’02, ’06), Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, from competition in their Round 2 bout. The heat would prove one of the highest-scoring affairs of the event (18.27 – 17.17), with Bourez sealing the win with the event’s first Perfect 10-point ride.

“I was just feeling really good in the water,” Bourez said. “To surf that wave – perfect barrels, long rights – I was definitely ready for that. On my 10, I had just come back from my first wave and was so tired, but I saw that one coming and said that’s the one. It was breaking on the sand, and I got three barrels on it. I was so stoked that I claimed it. I had to!”

Dane Reynolds (USA), 23, 2008 ASP World Tour Rookie of the Year and current ASP World No. 34, put in a sensational Round 2 performance, collecting the event’s second Perfect 10-point ride with some committed forehand hacks before a mind-blowing barrel, en route to eliminating current ASP World No. 8 Jordy Smith (ZAF), 21.

“I kind of started off the heat sitting pretty far up the point,” Reynolds said. “Jordy (Smith) came out and paddled straight by me way up to the top of the point so I was like alright, I’ll just try and get scraps off him. I think that no matter where I surf, anywhere, I like to stay wide I like to see waves coming to me. Even when I’m free surfing, I never sit out the back and wait for sets. I’m always hunting insiders and a lot of the times it messes me up in heats. On that 10, I wasn’t even sure if that was going to be a good wave. I had priority and got to the bottom and you could see it lining up for days – I knew it was going to be good from there.”

REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 3: Dean Morrison (AUS) 13.83 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.33
Heat 4: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.50 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 8.43
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) 15.83 def. Roy Powers (HAW) 7.50
Heat 6: Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.73 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 5.20
Heat 7: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 13.10 def. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 10.87
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.90 def. Heath Joske (AUS) 7.83
Heat 9: Sean Holmes (ZAF) 18.60 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 9.33
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) 13.50 def. Tim Reyes (USA) 11.17
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.27 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 17.17
Heat 12: Dane Reynolds (USA) 17.83 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 13.90
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.84 def. Nic Muscroft (AUS) 9.34
Heat 14: Taylor Knox (USA) 16.43 def. Chris Ward (USA) 12.66
Heat 15: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.50 def. Greg Emslie (ZAF) 16.00
Heat 16: Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.83 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 11.00

BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.60 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.17
Heat 2: Dean Morrison (AUS) 17.63 def. Nathaniel Curran (USA) 11.57
Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) 15.00 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 12.50
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.50 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 12.33
Heat 5: Sean Holmes (ZAF) 15.50. Michael Campbell (AUS) 13.57

REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 3 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 6: Michel Bourez (PYF) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 7: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Taylor Knox (USA)
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)

full story at ASP

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.

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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