last month cover boy and newly engaged Joel Centeio was rulinggg the cover and now this month is Kauai’s rising sun Kaimana Jaquais throwing and nice tailblower on the Torrey Meister signature pad! so sikkkkk
you da man kaimana cheehoooo!
This week, the second stop of the 2008 Nixon WTA wrapped in Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa. Taylor Knox claimed top honors, after scoring the highest heat score early in the competition, during heat seven of the first round. With a heat score of 19.70, one of the highest in J-Bay contest history, the tour veteran set the bar high and held his position through the end of the competition.
The Nixon WTA is a winner-take-all event, which awards a custom, limited edition Nixon timepiece at four different stops along the ASP World Tour. Each of the custom Nixon 51-30 tide watches feature a gunmetal finish, a custom-engraved WTA case back, and diamond baguette indices alternating with hand applied flags representing each of the four contest regions. These four one-of-a-kind timepieces are each valued at over $10,000 USD.
“I’m just happy to do it in a year that so many good surfers were there,” stated Taylor of his win at J-Bay.
Last year’s winner at J-Bay was Kelly Slater, who took the WTA title with a heat score of 19.23 during the quarterfinals.
With competition now complete in South Africa, the WTA will reconvene in Mundaka, Euskadi, in September where the award will go to the surfer who gets the longest tube ride. The last stop of the WTA will be held on the North Shore of Oahu this winter, and the final prize for the year will go to the overall Triple Crown winner.
Hey everybody. AG checking in. I hope this finds you well.
Unfortunately, I cut my hand in late June. It turned out to be more serious than I thought. I severed two tendons in my index finger, and a nerve in my thumb. No fun, ha. Because of its severity, the tendons were put back together with microscopic surgery. This was the first time I have had surgery, and hopefully the last! The doctor put me in a mini-cast to keep my wrist bent, because if I open my wrist it will tear the repair he made. I’ve had the cast on for the last three weeks. I will be getting it off on Tues of next week. Wooooooo.
But, the fun doesn’t end there! It will then be time for a few weeks of rigorous physical therapy. So, it is safe to say I will be out for this month. For someone like me who surfs 24/7, not being able to surf can make a man insane in the membrane! I think you all know, it isn’t in me to just sit back and watch this time go by. No way. I am taking this as an opportunity. An opportunity to re-group, re-focus, and come back twice as strong and healthy as before! I have been training my ass off 6 days a week at a professional sports center ( que Rocky theme song now……ha) . I especially feel that with all of your continued support, even through this bump in the road, I will be more positive and amped than ever before.
Bottom line I want to thank you for all of your continued support. I will keep you updated on my progress.
When I get the green light to get back in the water, I feel bad for anyone that gets in my way
Game on!
Peace
Alex
check out Joel Centeio on the cover of this months FREESURF magazine!
Joel has been ripping and working hard!
check out Joels signature pad w/ paisley print so good ya
Taylor Knox Makes History at the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Sunday, July 13,2008)- The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) will jot one down in the history books as veteran ASP World Tour campaigner Taylor Knox (Carlsbad, CA) posted the highest combined heat score in Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay history with a near flawless 19.70 out of possible 20 points. The natural footer performed a crushing forehand attack earning him single wave scores of 9.9 and 9.8 out of possible 10.
Knox’s history-making performance allowed him to advance effortlessly into Round 3 over ASP World Tour standout Joel Parkinson (Coolangatta, AUS), who scored a perfect single wave score of 10 out of possible 10 points in his Round 1 heat against the American powerhouse despite the loss. The dominating surfing unleashed on the perfect right-handers of Jeffreys Bay marked Knox’s career best combined heat total.
“It’s really enjoyable to be in a heat like that, it was unreal.” Knox said. “It was exciting, because Parko got the first wave and I could see that it was such a good wave and I knew that once it went by me it would barrel. Right then I saw a big one out the back and just thought, ‘I’m going to get barreled.’”
Aside from his amazing heat total, Knox had a throwaway 9.00 out of possible 10 point score, making his Round 1 performance a heat to remember.
“I’ve had 10s before but I don’t think that I have ever backed it up with a 9.70 so I’d say that this was probably the highest scoring heat I’ve ever surfed,” Knox said.
Aqua East National Kidney Foundation Pro AM in Saint Augustine FL 5,000 spectators and 250 competitors. More than a surf event raises money to fight kidney diseas, FL REP GT held it down on the microphone all day.
Update: look for On A Mission to be at the largest National Kidney Pro AM event memorial day weekend at Cocoa Beach FL. 550 competitors 250,000 spectators bringing in $300k for NKF.
“golden voice” GT
KONG’S BOOT CAMP HAS ME PUMPED FOR J-BAY
I call it Kong Boot Cap, or KBC for short.
I’ve just checked myself out of KBC to get ready to jump on a silver budgie and fly to South Africa to surf one of my favourites waves, J-Bay.
It’s time for a few of us, me included, to fire a few shots back at one Mr K Slater, otherwise it’s no-race for the world title this year.
That’s easier said than done, of course.
And after Kelly won at Cloudbreak to extend his lead, I knew I personally had to put some real energy into the break between the South Pacific leg of the Dream Tour and the Billabong Pro at J-Bay.
So it was off to see King Kong to submit myself to a mental and physical beating.
Kong is, of course, Gary Elkerton – and I sometimes question my sanity in telling him that I need him to hone my act ahead of a big challenge.
That’s cos Elko is not a bloke to be messed with.
He only knows how to do things one way – his.
Those who know him instantly recognise that trait.
It was one of the things that made him such a formidable competitor on the ASP tour for over a decade, finishing runner-up on the world rankings three times.
Growing up on Straddie where there’s a strong fishing community, Kong was already a legend for having grown up home-schooled on his Dad’s trawler, discovering big-wave outer-reefs along the way.
His big-wave riding still blows me away. Nor has he slowed down.
It’s crazy how fit he is. I feel like I’m at the peak of my fitness but I have to go so hard-out to stay ahead of him in some of the conditioning we do that sometimes I’m certain I’m going to die.
All he’s doing is showing me I can push harder.
Kong’s won the past three ASP World Masters Titles (aged 35 years and over) against fierce competition from fellow legends of his era like MR, Rabbit, Shaun Tomson, Tom Curren, Martin Potter, Cheyne Horan, Michael Ho, Terry Richardson and Damien Hardman.
Elko was hugely bummed when the defence of his title in Brazil this year was delayed cos he’d been training the house down.
Kong was behind my preparation for the start of this year’s Dream Tour.
I’d never gone into a season so confident, and I think that showed with the equal 3rd and runner-up at Superbank and Bells in the first two events.
Mentally and physically, I felt really strong through the Australian leg. That was a direct result of the particular work Elko and I did together in January and early February.
The two South Pacific contests were always going to be about consolidation for me, and I feel I achieved that in holding down the No. 3 slot coming into J-Bay.
But to meet the challenge Kelly has thrown down to all of us means digging deeper.
I needed some KBC time between legs.
Kong approaches things differently to other coaches that I’ve seen with some of my peers on the tour. I’m not going to go into detail cos I genuinely feel some of the stuff he’s imparting is giving me a real edge.
This is a guy coming from a knowledge bank as big as some of the slabs of waves he likes to be towed into nowadays.
Not only is there his ASP experience but also his involvement in the early coaching direction Quiksilver was getting into.
Elko has worked recently with me on physical conditioning and mental preparation.
The thing is I can talk to him about really critical things cos I know he’s been in the same situation so many times during his career. He’s really candid about what he got right, and what he got wrong.
My heat management has been one of the biggest areas of improvement for me over the past 18 months or so, and when Kong tells me I can get better yet, I know he’s right.
We’ve also been doing heaps of free surfing together and that’s primed me too.
This is my seventh time to J-Bay. I went there three times as a wildcard before I was on the tour and it’s a wave I love.
I’m chasing a strong result and it never hurts when the event is at a place like J-Bay which I feel suits my surfing.
cheers-
Bede
i followed these easy steps and now i surf like a goofy foot version of Taylor Knox. incredible!
click HERE
