Indefatigable is my word of the day. A persistingly tireless and ever stoked, cortizoned up Neco Padaratz bounds around the boat emanating little waves of happiness that get absorbed by pretty much everyone within a 2k radius. He is stoked his back is ok, he is stoked the waves are fun, lined up walls, he is stoked to compete against his competitors, he’s even stoked when he loses…Not that he doesn’t want to win as much as the next man or Sophia. I was stoked his back was ok though. Although a little later in the day when he was absolutely lighting up Sultans, I, and many others, were beginning to think his back may not be so bad…We will give him the credit though. I just think life and surfing lifts him.
And so to Day Two of the comp and twin fins. Two things I should point out here, one when I came on this trip I thought it may be a luxury jolly for a few surfers who no longer surf the WSL. You know, turn up, few beers, surf a bit and leave. Not so. Luxury yes, 100%, as branded the most luxurious surf comp certainly I have ever heard of. This place is insane and the guests, media and surfers are being treated like royalty. Four Seasons Maldives are literally pushing five star luxury boats out. The jolly bit however, not so much. When the call is made it is down to business Everyone in the comp wants this title bad. I mean real bad. Sure they are a bunch of very agreeable characters, Gerr probably quieter than I imagined if I am honest, but they are preparing for and going into each heat as if it is a battle for a world champs. This comp means something, more so it has something. It is a unique challenge that brings together surfers who excel on a variety of craft that we all love. From the view figures it seems to be resonating with you guys too. I just wish you were all here to see it live. It is pretty awesome…
Second thing. I have never seen so many surfers hit the lip so hard or carve so solidly on our little duo finned friends the twin fins. From a classic MR shapes to 80’s style/modern day hybrids and keel fins, whatever, they were smashing it. When I arrived at Sultans in the morning to hear Tubeway Army and other 80’s classics coming off the commentary boat I was kind of expecting a few loose tails off the bottom, maybe a little bit of speed loss, the odd hand jive to compensate for an outdated design, that kind of thing. How wrong I was. Full rail carves were the order of the day, along with deep barrels and multiple controlled hacks…The action would not have been out of place at full blown WSL comp. You have seen the single fin action, well the twin fin comp was better.
Dorian as it turns out loves surfing small waves…I know. I thought he was just about waves etched with the reapers face these days too. And he wants to win. He blew up today. Rolled back the years and rolled up the sleeves for what was a proper job on his hands. Fellow finalist Rasta obviously has complete command of his vehicles, and an array of ballsy full rail carves which he unleashes interspersed with soulful nuance and fantastic flow. He also has solid core of contest knowledge to draw on. He sits among the elite as one of the best surfers in the world. Nice guy too. If you ever met him I am sure you would like him.
All the champs had their moments today. Harley Ingleby, well the best way to describe him is that no shortboarder would want him in their heat, like at all. He is well known as a longboarder, but if you saw him surf on shortboards you just wouldn’t know it. He is that good. I am now convinced he could ride and pull airs on a fridge door.
I was pleased for Gerr today. He spends lot of time watching the lineup and analysing, he obviously wants to do well and yesterday wasn’t his day. His board let him down rather. Just a little too chunky. Today I saw the full graceful bottom turn, projection and hacks that set him apart in his hey day. It was great to see him linking his turns through fast flowing sections. The G Man was a great surfer, still is. Sofia meanwhile is still scaring everyone with her power hacks. She is so bloody nice, polite, smiley… give her a section and it is devastation, spray flying about everywhere, and what the hell… She’s like a size six but puts six foot alpha males to shame. Power earns respect, she has it from everyone.
In the end Dorian took the win over Rasta in great final and it’s game on for the title, as we head to the thrusters. I suspect, if the swell plays ball, we are going to see another escalation in performance and I can’t wait.
As for the Brazilian Storm of Stoke personified, well last time I saw Neco he had just had a full massage in the spa and bounced along the jetty like and 18 year old off for his first legal beer. Lord only knows how much energy he will have for the thruster event. The bloke is a whirlwind of smiles. Got to love that.
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Dave Rastovich retained his Single Fin title in a dramatic day at the Four Seasons Maldives Champions trophy, beating a shredding and highly emotional Neco Padaratz in the final.
In long 4-5 foot waves Padaratz has won the hearts of spectators and organisers during his heats and was absolutely over brimming with stoke and energy when he sustained an injury in the final. Neco had threaded the best tubes of the day, two behind the foam ball, in a highly charged display. “I am so fortunate be here, more than you will ever believe,” he had said earlier in the day, before heading out and smashing his heat. “I was sat there reflecting on life and the ups and downs over the past years when this wave came to me and it was just perfect,” he said apres heat, “I took it as a sign, and then another came through. It was just amazing,’ he continued. He was clearly having time of his life and showing it drawing hoots from the boats in the channel and a standing ovation on his return. His final didn’t go to plan however, as he aggravated an old back injury and had to be returned to the Mother Ship clinging to the side of a rib. Obviously he was in pain, but more obvious was the stoke still boiling within as he threw mini shakas and smiles through the grimaces. Won a new fan in me, that’s for sure.
In earlier heats World Longboard Champ Harley Ingleby absolutely smashed his first round, proving he can actually ride anything as good as anyone, but succumbed to a slow period of waves during his semi final. Full top to bottom hacks, roundhouses, he blazed early on. Skindog had told me he would have a fiver on him to take the title and it wouldn’t have been a bad bet, but as Rasta said, “Contest surfing is a funny thing. You are reliant on nature, and sometimes nature just doesn’t want to play.” The waves just deserted the champ on the turn on the tide ending his title hopes.
Rasta put on a great display of swooping power gouges, linked turns and just generally produced joyful surfing, punctuated with a bit of body English through all his heats for a worthy win. He is up for his title defence and being a lover of a twin fin must now be favourite to retain his title.
Other highlights of the day included a couple of Dorians’ thousand mile stares, which are worth the Air Miles here to witness in person. (Would do a great James Bond I think). He left the boat right after his loss. Despite all the big wave charging I think Shano still has the competitive bug deep within. I think all top former surfers have probably have it, it just takes a hooter for them to come out swinging like an old boxing pro on hearing a bell. They may deny it, they may culture a different image, but that hooter goes and a dog is in the fight.
Diminutive Sofia Mulanovich also impressed, man-hacking the backs out of some hefty sections (unfortunately she needed more co operative runners to progress). She has a handicap advantage in her heats but to be honest if I were surfing I think I would be appealing that and trying to keep her off the set waves. #Danger
Tomorrow sees the start of the Twin Fin comp. I hope Neco is ok because the comp will be poorer for his loss and reading between the lines it could genuinely mean more than a few bucks and a trophy to him. (Get behind your heroes, Brazil). I have feeling Dorian wants more, and Gerlach, who didn’t really get going on his single fin will be back on a craft more suited to his style. Should be an interesting day, stay tuned…
The Search For Freedom is a story told through the eyes of a group of extreme sports experts who created a cultural phenomenon. Featuring legendary skateboarder, Tony Hawk, and multiple-world champion surfer, Kelly Slater, who alongside their peers in the extreme sports world, have helped shape the action sports revolution we know today.
Written and directed by Jon Long (IMAX® Extreme), The Search For Freedom features some of the most outstanding cinematography ever shot of the extreme sport world led by the brightest pioneers, legends, visionaries and champions of surfing, snowboarding, skiing, skateboarding, mountain biking and more.
With insights from icons including Danny Way, considered by many to be the greatest skateboarder ever; Robbie Maddison, world record holder for the longest distance jump ever covered on a motorcycle (almost 400 feet); Bob McKnight, creator of Quiksilver, one of the biggest surfing brands in the world and Robby Naish, who shocked the world of windsurfing by winning his first World Championship aged just 13, The Search For Freedom is a unique glimpse into the human side of the world of extreme sports.
Not to be missed, The Search For Freedom is available to own on Blu-ray and DVD from 10th August 2015 and Digital Download on 27th July 2015.
It’s easy to see how Jamie O’Brien became known as one of surfing’s most entertaining figures. He’s a barrel-riding master, movie producer, prankster and all-around game changer. Not to mention the star of a successful web series now in it’s fourth season, Who Is JOB 5.0. Determined to make the latest installment of the original series his wildest one yet, JOB turns up the heat – literally – by surfing on fire at one of the most dangerous waves in the world. To check out the video and read the full story click here, and tune-in to Red Bull TV on August 7th to catch the complete behind-the-scenes episode.
The idea of surfing on fire began over a year ago when JOB reached out to his fans asking them for ideas of what he should do next, when he received a direct message on Instagram. “They said ‘it would be cool if you lit yourself on fire’ and I thought, might as well. So I went into Red Bull and I said hey, I want to light myself on fire and go into a barrel at Teahupo’o, and they looked at me like are you for real?” O’Brien recalled.
Teahupo’o, a big wave surfing mecca on the southwest coast of the island of Tahiti, French Polynesia, is not only known for being one of the heaviest waves in the world, but also that it breaks over an extremely shallow, sharp coral reef. As if surfing this ferocious wave isn’t challenging enough, try adding fire to the mix. That’s where the expertise of second generation Hollywood stunt coordinator Riley Harper came into play. “I was so stoked when I got the call from Red Bull to do this project,” Harper confessed. “My friends and I had actually talked about this before because we’re all surfers and have done a lot of fire burns on movies and we know it’s something that has never been done before.”
Over the course of 12 months, Riley, O’Brien and team performed two fire safety tests in California and one additional test in Hawaii to assess the feasibility of the idea and to get Jamie comfortable with being set on fire. They spent months testing various combinations of fire protective layers and even had Body Glove make a custom wetsuit for JOB, moving all the life-saving flotation devices to the front of the wetsuit and away from the fire. “They were telling me how some people panic and react differently around the fire, they think they’ll be fine and they get lit on fire and they just panic. So I was like god I hope I don’t panic,” says O’Brien.
On the morning of July 22, after a year of preparation and waiting for the perfect swell conditions, O’Brien was finally ready. It took a team of nearly 25 people including members of fire safety, water safety, production crew and photographers who all came together to make Jamie’s dream of surfing on fire a reality, and the result was indescribable. “When you’re on fire in the barrel, the whole wave lights up fluorescent orange. It’s a really crazy feeling that you can’t even explain. I’ve been surfing big waves my entire life but this time I had this flame just wrapping around my head, which was pretty insane! Something totally different than anything I’ve ever done before,” O’Brien shared after he completed the feat.
It’s not an easy process, even for a team of professional stunt coordinators, safety personnel and surfers, but when each step is performed correctly, the final product is a brilliantly illuminated surfer in the middle of the dark ocean. In short, don’t try this at home.
To watch previous episodes of Who Is JOB 5.0, go to redbull.tv/whoisjob5, and tune-in August 7th for the full story.
Yep. Those clever chaps in the Basque Country have only gone put disco lights in the WaveGarden test facility. All night surfs are now a thing.
Wavegarden, pioneers in man-made wave technology, recently conducted a series of tests at their headquarters in Northern Spain in order to check how its technology can improve different aspects of the surfing experience. The first of such tests focused on surfing at nighttime, using a state-of-the-art lighting system and featuring the talents of former European surf champion Vincent Duvignac, big wave surfers Natxo Gonzalez and Axi Muniain and Zarautz local surfer Asier Maqueda.
In partnership with a range of leading technical suppliers, Wavegarden is refining their ability to light up facilities at night which, apart from making spectacular imagery, will allow surfers to catch waves before or after work, or school, especially in winter months when daylight is limited.
Night surfing in itself is not a new proposition. Surf competitions have been staged in the ocean at night in the past, achieved by flood lighting the ocean similar to a football stadium. However, night surfing has had limited success as it is complicated to set up, impossible to illuminate a large enough area to fully see the waves approaching, and difficult for surfers to clearly see the wave formation and water texture.
In Wavegarden’s preliminary research, lights are strategically placed underwater to create an effect never seen before, while providing a truly unique experience for the surfers. “Lighting the waves from underneath the water is a new concept and key to Wavegarden’s client proposition”, confirmed Wavegarden’s CEO, Josema Odriozola. “We used software programs to modify the light coverage, intensity, and color. We even managed to install a light on the moving wavefoil to illuminate the wave for the entire length of the lagoon”.
“It was necessary to experiment with the angle and depth of the lights to optimize the reflection inside the wave. Although we understand that external lights will be required at commercial facilities, the focus of this research was below the waters surface”, Odriozola added.
“I’ve surfed at night before but this is something completely different”, explained Frenchman Vincent Duvignac, recognized as one of Europe’s most talented and stylish surfers. “When you surf now seems irrelevant: Natxo and I surfed until 2am and could have kept going except we became completely surfed out”.
Wavegarden’s night surfing test was documented by celebrated French surf photographer Greg Rabejac, who has been shooting surfers at night for over the past 3 years in France, Spain and Morocco.
