No Waves in New York?!!?

 Just as Hurricane Irene's influence loosens her grip on the east coast USA.....so the very same beaches will hold a WCT surfing event for the first time. It seems that New York gets some pretty good looking waves more so over the Christmas period which can make the British Winter sound mild, still September's Typhoon season so watch out for the old south swells. For live feed of the event click here. Event starts 4th of Sept.

New York

Chopes overload

Sorry, call it cheap surf journalism or rather sheer awe, but when competition at Chopes was being called off due to it being too big I had to watch this...check out the highlights.....as Taff would say "Sizey":





Now with the event back on track, falling back into the 8ft range it's all fun and games....Well done Euro Star Jeremy Flores not for the perfect 20 point heat but for clawing my way back up the fantasy surf team ratings in the spinalsurfer clubhouse....Owen Wright being a strong contender too. Quarter finals next up! I promise I won't mention the contest again, but the best sustained conditions I've seen in an event.

10 to 15 ft Chopes for today's event

As you can see yesterday's Teahupoo was pretty small, they were calling it 6ft Chopes.....tomorrow they're calling it 10 to 15ft Chopes...thought I'd take a look when it starts

Papeete Tahiti is in French Polynesia and is one of the Society Islands.

Surfer's ear.

A while back I did a post on Surfer's Ear, which is caused by cold water trapped in the ear canal leading to boney growth that blocks the drum and therefore hearing.

 The operation didn't look so fun either...............

Chopes

Chopes is on and despite the 1st round looking pretty awsome, there holding off heats until the 10ft swell arrives in the next few days....it's gunna go off. Click here for live feed.

Owen Wright hits Desert Point Lombok ahead of Chopes

I like Owen Wright, I like his attitude. Here is what he had to say on getting smashed up:



Then you took the slow ferry back to Bali? No speedboats or helicopters for you?
"Nah, this was a trip with the boys, none of that stuff. The ferry ride is kinda slow, and I had a good headache. I was going to stay and surf, it was picking up and getting stitched up and surfing again would have been good practice for Teahupoo but the gash got infected and I had to get out of there?”


Information courtesy of Tracks Magazine

Dane Reynold's Backyard

Dane's Backyard picture comes courtesy of his Marine Layer blog.

Diana Nyad update

UPDATE: CNN is reporting endurance swimmer Diana Nyad has been forced to abandon her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida about halfway through.

The report states Nyad was vomiting when she was brought aboard a boat at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, 29 hours after she jumped in the water.

"I am not sad. It was absolutely the right call," she said later.

CNN also said she had been dealing with ocean swells, shoulder pain and a bout with asthma before being forced to cease her attempt.

Yoou don't know if you don't go, good on ya.

First World surfing event in China

October this year will see the women's longboard tour stop in Hainan Province China for the first time, building on the success of the Hainan Open (click here). The island is home to some pretty good waves by the look of it and Wanning City is hosting the event. I had a dig around on the internet to see what I could find and there were the usual gathering of ex pats and TEFL teachers living there who seem to dig the warmish waterwide array of waves. Imagine if the chinese go surf crazy........Spinalsurfer proverb  "If you think you're one in a million, there's a thousand like you in China!"

Good Luck Diana Nyad.

Last time she attempted to swim from Cuba,30 years ago, she had to pull up after 40 odd hours after an eight foot swell kicked in that kept smashing her into the shark cage she was swimming in!                                                                                             Diana Nyad is already a complete legend in my book. She holds many records in open ocean swimming, my favourite being her two day non stop swim from the Bahamas back to Florida, still she was 30 back then in 1979. Things are a little different these days at the ripe old age of 61 she aims to swim from Cuba to Florida, the convential way has been done before but that's not good enough for Diana. She doesn't want to swim in a shark cage in the most shark infested waters on earth. So for three days without stopping apart from to tred water every ninety minutes to take on food through a pipe, she's gunna get her head down and motor.

 She likes to swim places like Lake Ontario and the Bay of Naples so I can't see her visiting the North Atlantic in January anytime soon, but I'd like to wish her all the best in her attempt.

She has spent over a year just trying to get permission for the swim as there are still no official relations between Cuba and the US....her swim began last night (Sunday)...Suerte!

Barrel riding in Fiji.

Morning glass at Bells Beach Australia.