The lack of internet for most of my trip put a cease to all blog posts from down under. For that reason, there is a flurry of blog posts to come in the near future all most of which will be from Australia. It’s been slightly overwhelming trying to sort through everything and find a logical place to start, so I kinda ended up starting at the end of my trip. Sort of reverse chronological style. Here are some photos from Manly, where my adventure ended, and where the inaugural Australian Open Of Surfing took place and people flocked to the beach to watch everyone spin in the air above gutless waist high waves dribbling into the beach and score 9′s. People came in by the ferry-load from Sydney. Similar to the US open, but less 13 year old girls running around in a dust cloud like canned sardines most of whom are covered in writing and obscenities, and more die hard proud aussie surf fans coming to cheer their country’s best surfers on hoping one of them would win. All faces were turned toward the ocean and it’s little wind waves instead of swimming through a see of people in search of the next booth with free stickers and body paint. Sure enough, they prevailed and the people won with Hurley putting on another incredible event successfully entertaining surf fans on international shores.

Part one of the two webisodes we will be making from my last trip to Hawaii. The weather was beautiful, the women were beautiful, and the waves were amazing. This video has all the smaller days that we ventured to Rocky point and small Backdoor and Off the Wall mixed in with some Sunset. We are going back in a few weeks and watching this video gets me excited to be warm again! Enjoy!

I just recently saw this video and I really like the fact Julian is promoting something he believes in. His Mom has had cancer in the past so Juilian knows how deeply it effects peoples lives. He has been involved with cancer benefits in the past. A few years back at the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper, he rode a pink board the whole contest then sold it online to raise money for breast cancer charities. Very admirable. I hope to see more people join with some kind of charitable projects soon.

Going into the event my only goal was to get one wave that I was pleased with… I did it! Somehow I also made it out of the trials and into the main event. In the main event I also made a few heats. Going in with no expectations to make it, I was really pleased with my performance. I had so much fun being able to surf with only 3 other guys and absolutely cannot wait until next years event!I learned a lot and got some great experience. Below I’m in the white jersey paddling over the wave.

Pipeline came alive! It started pumping yesterday morning. There was some really good waves made and some even better wipeouts. You always see the guy who gets the good waves photos and clips but I wanted to show what happens out at Pipe to “non pipeline specialist.”

Hurley Phantom boardies. Best in the business! I honestly can’t imagine surfing in anything besides them. Really been diggin the Bloc Party models. Working on some new color ways with the boys too… Black and Red, and a few other ideas!

The day after my round 1 heat I had a day off (I’ve ended up having 3 days off). Our good friend Beren Hall lives down in Byron Bay and we decided to go for a quick drive south of the Goldy to go visit him. We surfed a super peaky rippable bank on a beautiful beach with no one around until we were surfed out before heading into the town of Byron for some lunch. In a state of food comatose we decided that gliding on some longboards at the Pass sounded more appealing than trying to shred a blown out beach break on full stomachs. So we scrounged up 3 logs and headed out to The Pass. The wind was light offshore and the waves were small but groomed to perfection and running down the sand bank. It felt amazing to ride a long board. The simplicity of standing in one place on a board and just playing with your speed and trim felt really fresh. Thanks Bez, Dion, and Warren for letting us borrow their boards!

Well, the contest finished at Sunset yesterday in fun Sunset! I made the semi’s and had a super close heat. There weren’t too many waves in our semi and I got knocked out of advancing in the last minute. It was a tough loss but a keeper result in the ratings to qualify for world juniors next year, which is the main goal. Zeke Lau, the man to beat the whole contest, won the final and 4 G’s! Congrats Zeke! Besides surfing Sunset, we got some super fun days out at Rocky Point. Everybody was out and there was some serious ripping going on. Mason Ho solidified himself as my new favorite surfer those couple times I saw him surf. He was doing these HUGE airs over dry reef with these awesome old school 80′s look-downs. I was psyched. Jimmicane was here shooting the Surfing Magazine swimsuit edition and we snuck a photo and some sneaky butt clips for the upcoming webisode. Yes, they’re amazing. The waiting period for the Volcom Pipe Pro started today and is looking like we are a go for a possible start Wednesday. Until then…

Here are some screen grabs:

Gerr and I arrived at our humble abode here on the point at Burleigh yesterday and let me tell you, the life down under is the good life. We made our way out from Brisbane by way of Chase Wilson and his ozzie friend Anthony. They are legends and we thank them greatly because if it weren’t for them we might still be figuring out the confusing train system. But, our journey did entail stacking the car quite high with board bags. People honked at us the whole way trying to warn us of our catastrophic board stack, but we just threw them all a thumbs up and kept on driving. Once at Burleigh we surfed the super fun rock bank out frontAnyways, Parker and Perry are in Hawaii while Gerr and I are here for the World Juniors. Unfortunately FATBOYSURFCAMP is disassembled and I greatly miss my counterparts. We’re going to have an epic time, and so will they, but it’s just not quite the same without the team fully assembled. I’m exhausted, Gerr’s exhausted, and we’re getting up at 430 to surf straddy, so I’m passing out. Good night…..ZZZZZ

Well, it wasn’t how the forecasters claimed it was gonna be, but there was still a lot of fun waves. It was crowded beyond belief but both Conner and I managed to get a few fun waves. Check out the new vid:

Perry, Oda, and I arrived about three days ago to the lovely island of Oahu. Conner couldn’t come because he is going to Oz for a run of events so I’m the solo Coffin on the island. I was sad to leave Conner for a month, but really excited to be here.  It’s pretty weird not being here with him actually. I think I’ve only been here one other time without him. Anyways, the waves have been really fun! There’s a junior Pro at Sunset this week so I’ve mainly been surfing out there trying to figure out my boards. Besides surfing sunset we’ve been doing the usual: eating a lot of food, being perverts on the beach while girls are laying out, and then eating even more food. Below are some photos from the past couple days. Hope the contest goes well! 

First off, let us thank you for everyone’s participation in the giveaway. Everyone’s ideas were great and it was very hard to pick a winner. In fact, we will probably use most of your ideas at one point or another throughout the lifetime of our site. With that being said, we picked Taber Bartoshesky. Stayed tuned for the next giveaway and a chance to win some free YWT swag.