Home of, The Regular Guy and Adventure
What better way to slide into the weekend than to watch two beautiful surfers in perfect, fun, warm water right handers! Alana Blanchard and Leila Hurst surf Salina Cruz, Mexico, all to themselves and the camera crew. How fun do these wave setups look? Add two gorgeous gals in bikinis and I could hang there all day.
WOW, what an incredible day of big wave surfing. South Africa can be proud as we watched Matt Bromley charge one of the biggest tubes of the day before the contest started, followed by Grant Twig Baker charging into the semi finals – which will go down today! Check out the highlights video below, i know its 16 minutes, but it is so worth it, I promise!
PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Oaxaca/Mexico (Friday, June 24, 2016) – South Africa’s Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker started his campaign for the 2016/17 World Surf League (WSL) Big Wave Tour (BWT) title with a solid second place finish in his Round 1 heat of the Puerto Escondido Challenge in Mexico on Friday.
Held in monstrous 10 metre (30-foot-plus) unruly waves and challenging beach break conditions, the 2013 BWT champion from Durban showcased his big wave skills, finding several huge hollow tubes, and demonstrating his commitment and bravado by taking several bone-crushing wipe-outs.
Will Skudin (USA) claimed the heat win with a 22.07 heat total over Baker by only 0.74 points. Rogercin Ramirez (MEX), event wildcard and local favorite, opened Heat 2 with a huge barrel, pulling off a technical exit to earn an authoritative 9.00, which brought the large hometown crowd to their feet.
Ramirez held the lead against the field, but with 15 fifteen minutes left in the 75 minute heat, Skudin and Baker fought back to secure the first and second positions. Skudin, Baker and Ramirez advanced to the Semifinals while BWT heavyweights Billy Kemper (HAW) and Damien Hobgood (USA), along with local wildcard Coco Nogales (MEX) were knocked out of the competition.
“It was hard to find those corners out there,” Skudin said. “It was big and heavy, and I just put my head down and kept on going. I was hoping that eventually I’d lock one down and make a good barrel. Unfortunately, I didn’t make a really good barrel, but I made it through the heat.”
Reigning BWT Champion Greg Long (USA) led the field with back-to-back solid scores in Round 1 Heat 1 and was the first surfer to secure his place in the Semifinals. Long set the pace for the opening heat of the event by picking off multiple right-hand barrels to earn a 20.01 heat score (out of a possible 30).
Albee Layer (HAW) secured a 12.83 heat score and the second position. Kai Lenny (HAW) and Gabriel Villaran (PER) battled for third place, but it was Lenny who showcased full commitment as he pulled into a deep barrel and edged out Villaran by only 3.10 points.
“The waves are really good right now and there are a lot of corners if you know where to sit,” Long said. “I actually deliberately rode a much bigger board than I ever do out here. There is a lot more volume so I could cover the ground that I needed to. It is something new for me, but in a heat if you can’t catch a wave, nothing else matters. My strategy was to keep moving around wherever it was clean and I locked in four waves.”
2014/15 BWT Champion Makuakai Rothman (HAW) charged through Heat 3, with Pedro Calado (BRA) and BWT veteran Carlos Burle (BRA) close behind. Rothman, last year’s BWT runner-up, locked in a near-perfect 9.50 and a solid 7.80 back-up score. Calado fired with an excellent 9.07 and 6.93 to earn the second position. With only 0.29 points between Burle and event wildcard Angelo Lozano (MEX), Burle’s 23.56 heat total was enough to advance to the Semifinals.
“This is my second time to Mexico and the waves are really fun,” said Rothman. “I was just in the right place at the right time. I am not thinking about the end result. I am just thinking about my first wave tomorrow morning and hopefully I am in the right spot. The local boys charge.”
Jamie Mitchell (AUS) netted the highest single-wave score of Round 1, a perfect 10.00, with an extremely technical barrel ride in Heat 4. Mitchell’s final heat tally, a near-perfect 29.03, was the highest of the day, earning him the heat win and a place in the Semifinals. The bout also saw high-scoring rides from local wildcard Jimel Corzo (MEX) and Rusty Long (USA), who will also progressed to the Semifinals.
“I think we were all worried about the fourth heat with the wind coming up, but I think we scored the best conditions of the day,” Mitchell said. “The tide was dropping, the winds stayed glassy and the swell was peaking. I found an early right hander and nearly made it out, which put me into a good rhythm. I found that left and didn’t think I was going to make it, but somehow I pulled out of that. It was an historic day. Incredible surf and incredible barrels.”
Event officials will reconvene tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. local time (about 3pm SA time) for a possible 7:30 a.m. start.
For more information, log onto WorldSurfLeague.com where the Puerto Escondido Challenge will be webcast LIVE.
Just moments after the WSL Big Wave Awards and the level stepped up again with a session that is quickly going to shake the conventions of big wave surfing. Captured below is one of the craziest waves ever caught, ridden and then absolutely murdered on by a surfer. How this guys survived I simply cant imagine.
Check out a gallery of more craziness from the day before here: http://www.tracksmag.com/gallery-huge-puerto-escondido/
See video of Mark Healey’s incredible ride, the day before, below.
Mark Healey – Puerto Escondido 2015 from Jon Aspuru on Vimeo.
The crew at Arbor have a solid track record of great movies, whether Snowboarding or Downhill Skating. So I was pretty dam excited to watch their latest Downhill piece, Grade.
Caliber Truck Co. and Arbor Skateboards, in association with Blood Orange, present GRADE; a downhill/freeride full-length film chronicling a year of travel with our top team riders. Tag along with James Kelly, Liam Morgan, Tyler Howell, Brandon Tissen, and Jordan Riachi as they travel to some of the most critical and challenging roads in the world. GRADE was filmed on location in Mexico, Hawaii, Northern Sierras, Laguna Beach, Australia, and Switzerland.
There are moments watching this film that I was literally breathing hard and clutching the armrests on my chair. You can almost feel the adrenaline shooting through the riders veins with every wobble and vehicle drive by. I highly recommend watching it!
GRADE from Arbor Collective on Vimeo.
I am sorry Ken Block, but you have been outdone. The Gymkhana videos were insane, but the Recoil series has just stolen my heart. I now want a Trophy Truck more than a night of elicit happenings with Alana Blanchard. Just in case you missed Recoil 1, see below! (I can guarantee if you watch 1, you will watch both!)
How do B.J. Baldwin and an 850 horsepower Trophy Truck with 39 inch asphalt slaying Toyo tires follow up the retina stinging, mind blowing piece of incandescent cinematic magic that was #RECOIL? The answer: by introducing the world to URBAN Off Roading in #RecoilTWO!
Finally the long debated and sought after question of what would happen if you unleashed one of these Monsters onto the unsuspecting Urban Streets is answered in one of the most visually stunning pieces ever shot.
Filmed in front of a live audience in BJ’s second home of Ensenada, Mexico, never before has a full blown race car of any sorts been set free on public roads in the middle of the day, full of people, traffic and the everyday hustle of metropolitan life. From jumping over city streets to careening down undeveloped housing pads and ripping through the waters of the Pacific Ocean #RecoilTWO is truly a sequel that is better than the original.
Rip Curl’s Tyler Wright, Pauline Ado and Nikki Van Dijk trade perfect barrels in a single session in Mexico.
Scoring deserted beach breaks is just one of the perks of the job for the girls who are all pro Surfers on tour – check out these Mexican gems.
We all love free! Vans were one of the first brands in surf to realize the power of organic, viral distribution for marketing when they started putting out free films a few years back. Everyone loves a free surf flick to amp up too! So enjoy this one…
Vans embarks on an incredible journey of global surf exploration and progressive surfing in Get-N Classic, Vol. 3, starring a multi-talented cast of the world’s best surfers ever assembled under one banner. Filmed on location in Hawaii, California, Scotland, Peru, Australia, Mexico, Indonesia and the Caribbean, Get-N Classic, Vol. 3 reveals history in the making, featuring breathtaking destinations and phenomenal once in a lifetime waves. With a variety of talent exemplified by multiple generations of surfers including Nathan Fletcher, Joel Tudor, Dane Reynolds, the Gudauskas’ brothers, Nathan Florence, Leila Hurst and more, the third installment of Vans’ Get-N Classic series provides a unique documentarian perspective of the Vans Surf team and their exclusive surf discoveries from around the world.
This video absolutely blows my mind. It shows that once a Great White has decided on attack, firstly you will not see it coming and secondly there is very little you can do. When the sharks are not in attack mode and just being inquisitive or territorial, there are slower approaches, gentle nudges and very little use of the mouth and teeth. While my absolute worst nightmare, I cannot help but be fascinated by these giant hunters who are the masters of their domain. Also keep an eye out for the teeth raining away while the shark is biting the camera, its absolutely unreal.
In 2013, a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution took a specially equipped REMUS “SharkCam” underwater vehicle to Guadalupe Island in Mexico to film great white sharks in the wild. They captured more than they bargained for.
REMUS SharkCam: The hunter and the hunted from Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. on Vimeo.
One of the biggest names in Bodyboarding attacks the lineup at Puerto Escondido! Huge, gnarly beachbreak surfed without fear.
A few weeks in Puerto Escondido. Directed, edited and filmed by Richard Lornie from Chout Films. Additional footage by Noam Eshel and Reid Southall. Huge thanks to Clive and Adriana from Aqua Luna hotel.
Hubb’s Mexican Dream… from Chout Films on Vimeo.
Wow, this blows my mind. Seriously how insane is that park setup all made out of dirt with elements from park and street. Time for the boys here in SA to get serious and build this haha.
Some of BMX’s best riders gathered in Guadalajara for a competition that tested all of their skills – Red Bull Dirt Conquers. The unique setup combined BMX Park, Street, and Dirt features, pushing the riders to get creative and dig deep in their bag of tricks to string together some insane lines!