Sunday, February 28, 2010

Tony Silvagni Wins Ocean Beach PLA Pro!!!

Tony Silvagni Wins Ocean Beach PLA Pro
ASP - http://www.aspnorthamerica.com/news_show.php?id=910


Tony Silvagni Wins Ocean Beach PLA Pro

SAN DIEGO, California (Sunday, February 28, 2010) – The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Longboard Qualifying Series (LQS) 2-Star Ocean Beach PLA Pro saw Tony Silvagni (Kure Beach, NC), 23, clinch the event win by navigating through wild 10 to 12 foot (3-4 metre) surf at San Diego’s Ocean Beach Pier.

The four women’s finalists of the Ocean Beach PLA Pro presented by Gidget opted not to surf and evenly divide the ratings points and prize money due to the day’s brutal conditions.

The Ocean Beach PLA Pro represents the first of six events on the 2010 ASP North America LQS calendar and Silvagni’s win today establishes the young East Coaster as the early season frontrunner.

Silvagni not only had to battle the victory at seas conditions throughout his marathon day of competition, but also topped some of the globe’s finest competitive longboarding talent including three-time ASP World Longboard Champion Colin McPhillips (San Clemente, CA), 34, and French standout Remi Arauzo (FRA), en route to clinching his inaugural ASP LQS victory by combining critical rail-to-rail surfing and classic noseriding.

“I’ve made so many finals and it feels amazing to finally win an ASP LQS event,” Silvagni said. “It’s always been my goal to start the year out on top and it’s great to finally accomplish my goals.”

Silvagni, who will be competing in his sophomore year on the ASP World Longboard Tour (WLT), was thrilled to clinch the season opening regional ASP LQS event and hopes to utilize the 2010 American series to sharpen his competitive skills before combating the world’s top competitive talent searching for the crown of ASP World Longboard Champion.

“This is a great kickoff to my year for the WLT,” Silvagni said. “It really gives me confidence going up against the world’s best. Now I’m off to Hawaii to spend time with my girlfriend and will be surfing a lot more.”

For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com or www.aspnorthamerica.org


Ocean Beach PLA Pro Final:

1-Tony Silvagni (USA) 13.17

2- Zack Howard (USA) 11.57

3- Remi Arauzo (FRA) 9.43

4- Colin McPhillips (USA) 4.34



Ocean Beach PLA Pro Semifinals Results:

Heat 1: Tony Silvagni (USA) 17.17, Zack Howard (USA) 10.94, Kai Sallas (USA) 10.60, Josh Baxter (USA) 9.47

Heat 2: Colin McPhillips (USA) 9.80, Remi Arauzo (USA) 8.23, Scott Brandenburg (USA) 8.17, Steve Newton (USA) 3.27



Ocean Beach PLA Pro Quarterfinals Results:

Heat 1: Tony Silvagni (USA) 12.77, Zack Howard (USA) 11.76, Brett Robbins (USA) 6.50, David Arganda (USA) 5.00

Heat 2: Kai Sallas (HAW) 15.33, Josh Baxter (USA) 12.60, Noah Shimabukuro (USA) 8.60, Blaine Lewis (USA) 8.50

Heat 3: Colin McPhillips (USA) 17.67, Steve Newton (USA) 12.43, Ty Roach (USA) 8.56, Tim Reda (USA) 2.63

Heat 4: Remi Arauzo (FRA) 12.23, Scott Brandenburg (USA) 8.20, Cole Robbins (USA) 7.97, Eli Gillis (USA) 7.03



Ocean Beach PLA Pro Round of 32 Results:

Heat 1: Zack Howard (USA) 15.83, David Arganda (USA) 10.57, Troy Mothershead (USA), Dennis Bourg (USA) 4.80

Heat 2: Tony Silvagni (USA) 15.44, Brett Robbins (USA) 6.74, Mike Gilliard (USA) 5.87, Seth Bowman (USA) 5.63

Heat 3: Noah Shimabukuro (USA) 10.40, Josh Baxter (USA) 9.77, Joe Aaron (USA) 6.57, Corey Hartwyk (USA) 5.83

Heat 4: Kai Sallas (HAW) 14.50, Blaine Lewis (USA) 6.87, Eric Marin (USA) 6.00, Mike Stidham (USA) 5.63

Heat 5: Colin McPhillips (USA) 9.17, Tim Reda (USA) 4.03, Cameron Fullmer (USA) 3.50, Jerry Swearingen (USA) ns

Heat 6: Steve Newton (USA) 15.67, Ty Roach (USA) 5.57, Cody Ulrich (USA) 4.83, Brendan White (USA) 1.07

Heat 7: Remi Arauzo (USA) 14.97, Scott Brandenburg (USA) 10.60, Terry Gillard (USA) 8.24, Bucky Barrer (USA) 2.50

Heat 8: Cole Robbins (USA) 6.90, Eli Gillis (USA) 6.50, Josh Rapozo (USA) n/s, Matt Elias-Calles (USA) n/s

ASP PLA Ocean Beach Event #1 - 3rd in my heat

The waves were Knee High and very sloppy! As Noah said perfectly in our heat "its wierd out here!". I took 3rd in my heat with a combined 4.80. I battled back and forth with Cory Hartwyk; he ended up getting the better waves and took 2nd. Fun Contest, but the weather was Poor. OB delivered and the PLA put on a very fun event! Looking forward to the next event!

Heat 3: Noah Shimabukuro (USA) 14.16, Corey Hartwyk (USA) 5.90, Brandon Garske (USA) 4.80



ASP Article - http://www.aspnorthamerica.com/news_show.php?id=905

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Huge waves at Mavericks injure spectators !

Huge waves at Mavericks injure spectators

Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/


The Super Bowl of Surfing lived up to its legend Saturday, and then some. The waves at Mavericks were so massive - the biggest in the history of surf contests, some said - that they caused collateral damage on the sidelines.
Long before South African Chris Bertish tamed a pair of monster swells to win the $50,000 first prize at the seventh Mavericks Surf Contest north of Half Moon Bay, a series of waves crashed into some of the thousands of fans who had flocked to the beach to try to see the action.
Just after 9 a.m. near Pillar Point, 13 people were injured and at least 40 people were knocked off their feet, officials said. Many of them had been standing on a short concrete wall and were thrown into rocks or mud by a surge of water.
A stage set up for an award ceremony toppled, while sound equipment meant for a beach broadcast was swamped.
The most serious injuries involved broken bones - including a man with a broken leg and a woman with a fractured ankle. Three people were taken by ambulance to local hospitals.
Wave faces up to 50 feet high
The injuries prompted authorities to evacuate one stretch of the beach and stop allowing newcomers to enter the main viewing area. Still, hundreds remained as vendors on the beach continued to sell pizza, sausages and T-shirts.
Some of the wave faces at Mavericks appeared to be more than 50 feet high. They were clean and smooth - ideal for surfing - thanks to low wind. Bertish was among those who said the waves might be the biggest ever surfed in a contest.
So big were they that they nearly knocked Bertish out in the first round. He said he was sucked back into a wave that he was trying to paddle past and was held underwater so long that he nearly blacked out.
"Finally I saw blue sky - the brightest blue sky you've ever seen in your life," said the 35-year-old Cape Town resident, who does marketing for two surf companies.
Bertish was competing in his first Mavericks event after years of trying to get in. He flew 36 hours after learning the contest had been called, leaving after work Thursday - "I didn't even pack a toothbrush," he said - and landing just after midnight Saturday.
Both of his boards didn't arrive, Bertish said, prompting a baggage handler to tell him, "Don't worry, you can just rent one."
Hoping for a view
Instead, Bertish used a board he had stashed with his friend Jeff Clark, who discovered Mavericks, first surfed it as a teenager, and co-founded the contest in 1999.
Before Bertish caught his first wave, thousands of spectators gathered at a nearby beach, arriving despite being warned by organizers that the surfers - a half-mile into the ocean - would be difficult to see. Some arrived at 4 or 5 a.m.
Organizers had provided nearby parking and shuttle buses to the beach, but had also encouraged fans to watch a Webcast or live feed on the big screen at AT&T Park in San Francisco, where admission was $25.
Hundreds clambered up hillsides trying to view the competition. Some hopped fences. But it was foggy and the waves were so big that a surfer on one wave could be obscured by the wall of water in front of him.
Many people simply sat on the beach and watched a big screen. Others stared out at the water, in the general direction of the contest.
"We're catching the Mavericks even though you can't see a friggin' thing," said Debbi Jones of Menlo Park. "Now we can say, 'I was there.' "
"I thought I might have seen a person at one point," said her husband, Conrad Jones. "But it was fleeting."
Injuries 'predictable'
The waves that injured spectators rolled in before a 10 a.m. high tide. They did not come without warning: The wall hit by a surge of water had already been covered by smaller incursions, but fans had returned to it.
One wave knocked down Betsy Foreman, 48, of Ukiah (Mendocino County), and broke her ankle. She had been part of the way up a hillside with other fans but had come down and was walking away from the water at the urging of San Mateo County sheriff's deputies.
"The wave knocked us down and washed people on top of us," said Foreman's fiance, Dan Quarles. He didn't blame organizers, saying, "You take your chances."
Mary Gram, 51, of San Rafael appeared to have a broken or dislocated middle finger on her right hand. As she waited for medical attention, she said, "I guess I'm lucky. But I lost my iPhone."
Grant Washburn, a 42-year-old surfer from San Francisco and a veteran at Mavericks, said the injuries and wrecked equipment on the beach were "absolutely predictable."
"They should never have put anything there," Washburn said. "There's a high tide with a 25-foot swell, and they set up right where the water washes over. This is why I tell my wife and kids not to come."
"That's why the engineers put a wall there," he said. "It's well documented and understood by people. You could have easily had a kid, or an adult, killed."
'Consistently bombing'
Keir Beadling, the chief executive of Mavericks Surf Ventures, said organizers will investigate what happened to see if changes need to be made. But he downplayed the injuries to spectators, saying they should have been watching on the Webcast or at AT&T Park.
"It's probably been blown out of proportion," he said on his cell phone, while riding in a boat a half-mile from the shoreline. "We're all having to deal with Mother Nature. Everybody has to exercise common sense."
The injuries, he said, "are the type of things that happen when you're out in nature. We're not in a parking lot ... to watch these guys surf in these conditions is extraordinary."
Surfer Ion Banner said the waves were "consistently bombing." In the first heat of the day, he was running out of time and needed a big score. So he paddled into a wave that he said he might have normally skipped.
"It was brutal. I free-falled 10 or 12 feet. I never even connected. My board was doing a wheelie," he said. "It was one of the 10 worst wipeouts I've ever had."
When he emerged from the "spin cycle" of the crashing wave, his nose was bleeding and his right eye was bruised. He was dizzy and felt ready to throw up. Worst of all, time was up and he was eliminated.
A majority of the surfers voted over e-mail to hold the contest Saturday after consulting weather reports and buoy readings. But some voted no, worried that the waves might be too big, wind-chopped and dangerous.
The event came after a stormy offseason in which Mavericks Surf Ventures sacked its contest director, Clark. Clark sued last month, saying he wasn't paid thousands of dollars in promised salary and royalties.




Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/13/BATA1C1AAA.DTL#ixzz0faTpDKHe

 

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

STEVE SCHAFER RIP

STEVE SCHAFER RIP
Florida surfer killed by shark while kiteboarding
By: Terry Gibson
http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/steve-schafer-rip--florida-surfer-killed-by-shark-while-kiteboarding_40850/

Last Wednesday, this small, tight-knit surfing community lost one of its favorite sons to a shark. Thirty-eight-year-old Steve Schafer was kiteboarding off the south end of Stuart Public Beach when lifeguards saw him fall and fail to get back up again. Schafer was an artist, graphic designer and central figure in this close and caring surf community
Veteran lifeguard Daniel Lund, a longtime surfer, and once a shark-bite victim, paddled out on the rescue board through strong northeast windswell. He heard Schafer say he'd been bitten, and there were sharks in the water, so Lund used the sail as a shield while he put Schafer on the rescue board. Schafer lost consciousness during the paddle in and never regained it
Schafer, who was equally competent with a kiteboard or shortboard under his feet, may be the first recorded victim of a shark attack while kiteboarding. Two years ago, what was probably a bull shark did major damage to a surfer just north of Stuart Public Beach. But the last fatality, likely caused by a tiger shark, happened in 1982.
To call this place "sharky" is an understatement. Stuart literally sits on the boundary between the tropics and temperate climate zones, so many species that normally live as far south as the Caribbean and as far north as Chesapeake Bay frequent this area. Plus, the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie river systems converge here to flow out the St. Lucie Inlet. With more than 800 described fish species, these are the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America. And, extensive reef tracts surround the inlet, which is essentially a rivermouth. The Gulf Stream current, which runs about 10 miles offshore frequently spins eddies into nearshore waters. Because of this mosaic of habitats, millions of pounds of Spanish mackerel and bluefish come ashore here in the winter. Blacktip, spinner, tiger, bull, dusky and even the odd migratory great white shark pass through and forage on the myriad bait.
 
There was considerable discussion about the species of shark responsible. It was suggested that a great white might have been the culprit. Juvenile great white sharks are seen here, though there has never been a recorded great white attack in Florida. Experts such as the University of Florida's George Burgess will continue to assist with the autopsy, but after examining the wounds and over-laying shark jaws it appears that either a tiger or bull shark was the culprit. Burgess said that he might have a final answer within ten days. (It is not always possible to discern species from a bite.)


Some wonder if the massive fish kills experienced several weeks ago due to historic low temperatures may be influencing shark behavior somehow. And many experienced local surfers attest that nearshore waters are much cloudier since Martin and St. Lucie counties last pumped offshore sediment on the beaches -- sediment that proved to be various kinds of mud. Further, massive canal discharges from Lake Okeechobee appear to have caused sedimentation and re-suspension issues on local reefs. Dirty water is a common denominator in most Florida shark bites, and the water was roiled by sideshore winds when Schafer was attacked.

Experts continue to warn surfers that we are the most vulnerable water users, and to avoid surfing in low-light conditions and when other fish such as baitfish or mackerel and bluefish are obviously present. Dr. Grant Gilmore, the scientist who first described the 800-odd fishes that frequent this area, says that the time of the attack is no surprise at all. Most foraging occurs early and late in the day. Schafer was hit around 4:30 p.m.

The attack provoked a variety of responses: shock, awe, terror and disbelief. A memorial paddle out was held today, Saturday.

Schafer taught Surf Central Surf Shop manager Teague Taylor to surf when they were kids. Taylor said, "I just can't picture anyone, let alone a friend being circled by sharks here in Stuart, Florida, especially Steve, doing something that he loves to do, doing something that he's done most of his life."

By: Terry Gibson
http://www.surfline.com/
http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/steve-schafer-rip--florida-surfer-killed-by-shark-while-kiteboarding_40850/