Big News from the new Association of Surfing Professionals

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Big news for pro surfing today with the new ASP making the first of what is probably many announcements about coverage of the 2014 professional surfing. Professional Surf League is the name that is covering the Men's and Women's ASP World Championship Tour (WCT) events plus the ASP Big Wave World Tour

Joel Parkinson cruises through a perfect wave at Teahupoo. Photo: joliphotos.com

Here's the Press release from the ASP:

LOS ANGELES, California/USA (Tuesday, October 15, 2013) – Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) International is pleased to announce media/distribution agreements with ESPN, YouTube and Facebook across the linear broadcast, digital and social media spectrums. Each agreement will commence in 2014 to help celebrate and grow the sport of surfing worldwide. Today’s announcements mark the first national and global media deals in the history of professional surfing.
ASP events enhanced by the media deals include the 26 elite tour events across men’s, women’s and big wave arenas in Australia, Brazil, Fiji, Indonesia, Tahiti, USA, France, Portugal, Chile, Peru, South Africa, Spain and Mexico. Since 1976, ASP has annually crowned the undisputed world surfing champions in a sport that hosts more than 120 million fans worldwide as well as the recently-identified number one sport fan for sponsor consideration and loyalty in the U.S., according to findings by global research firm Repucom.
“Professional surfing is a truly global sport which demands media distribution partners with significant reach. Our newly announced partners have tremendous presence in the innovative media arena and, together, they build the foundation for the ASP media platform,” Paul Speaker, ASP CEO, said. “I personally believe surfing is one of the most dramatic and dynamic sports on the planet and it’s an honor to work with tremendously inspirational athletes in bringing their feats and stories to the public.”
“I find it very fitting that the rebirth of professional surfing in 2014 will be broadcast within the ESPN family of networks and back on ABC as they were the first to support surfing on television back in 1962,” Speaker continued.
ESPN teams up with ASP as the exclusive U.S. domestic broadcaster for professional surfing in 2014 as part of a three-year agreement to showcase the sport’s elite events. The rights deal will allow surfing fans to see highlight shows immediately following the events.
“ESPN is thrilled to be working with the ASP as the U.S. domestic broadcast partner for professional surfing,” Tim Reed, ESPN Global X senior director, Content Strategy and Sports & Competition, said. “We look forward to showcasing the excitement, energy and incredible skills of professional surfers touring the world under the ASP banner. The talent and experience that is being aggregated at the ASP make this a very exciting time for professional surfing as well as a great opportunity for ESPN to extend its X Games brand into professional surfing.”

Respective international linear broadcast deals will be finalized and announced in the coming weeks.
The ASP YouTube channel, along with the rebuilt ASP website which will embed this content via the YouTube player, will exclusively provide fans with more than 3,000 hours of programming, including 26 live streamed events annually across the men’s ASP World Championship Tour (WCT), the women’s ASP WCT and the ASP Big Wave World Tour (BWWT). For the first time in the sport’s history, the ASP YouTube channel will enable fans around the world to go to one global destination to view surfing digitally.
“ASP is committed to putting the world’s best surfers on the world’s best waves,” said Claude Ruibal, Global Head of Sports Content, YouTube. "We're committed to delivering the world's best viewing and interactive experience to amplify these incredible performances, turning the ASP YouTube channel to a daily destination for a world of surfing fans.”
Facebook will serve as the primary social platform partner for ASP with the relationship focusing on fan engagement. Repucom research findings showed the number one sport fan using social media throughout the world are surfing fans, including a characteristic of being six times more likely to engage in social media than the general public. The ASP will use Facebook to engage its rapidly-growing global fan base around surfing, both via broadcasts and connecting fans to the athletes themselves.
"We will be working closely with Facebook and Instagram as the primary social platforms to enhance our broadcast programming – bringing the tribe of surfing fans from around the world closer to the action they love, the athletes they follow and the sponsor brands they support,” Speaker said.
With the start of the 2014 season, fans will experience the future of professional surfing with the convergence of the production, marketing, media, social and sponsorship initiatives under the ASP banner for the first time in the sport’s history. The 2013 season is serving as a transitional year, with new management building programs and partnerships for the rebirth of professional surfing in 2014 when a new look, tone and feel as well as consistent and top-of-class programming will showcase the world’s best surfers in the world’s best waves. To see a preview of the new ASP, go to www.aspworldtour.com/2014
The 2013 ASP World Championship Tour is currently in Portugal for the Rip Curl Pro which runs through October 20, 2013.
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

Chelsea gets her ducks in a row at the Drug Aware Pro

They were calling it Super Sunday, Ladies Day at the Drug Aware Pro and if all the punters around the contest had their money on one person it was that gal, Super Sally. At some stage this week Sally Fitzgibbons had earned the nick name (a typically Aussie thing) of Super Sally or variations of it. The buzz on the beach on the final day was all about a Super Sal vs Tyler Wright final. Both girls had been ripping and looked headed to the final showdown.
Out of the wings emerged the Super Mum, Chelsea Hedges, who had taken a year off the WCT tour in 2008 to have a baby and was now back in the women's contest mix and causing some havoc.
She hadn't won a contest since 2007 although she came very close in the WCT final in Portugal last year, which was won by Coco Ho. "I just ran out of steam in that final,' said Chelsea after arriving back on the beach today. '...I wasn't going to let it happen again."
Super Sal had racked the highest heat score of the whole contest, both mens' and women's, with an 18.43 points out of a possible 20 in the semis but couldn't repeat it in the final.She tried mighty hard and almost nailed it with her last ride. It put her into the lead but Chelsea had split the peak with her, gone right, and snatched the lead back as the hooter sounded.
The weird thing today was from the quarters on there was one natural footer and one goofy in each heat and to make it even weirder most of the rides were backhand waves. Chelsea had one forehand wave in the final while Sally surfed left the whole time.

Just a a foot note, the DNA flow runs deep in OZ. Felicity Palmateer , who made the semi's is a second cousin to former world pro surfer Josh Palmateer while Tyler Wright, who made the other semi, is the brother of Owen Wright. Dad Rob was caddying for Tyler and was stoked to have one of the siblings make it through so far. 'We had one go up and one go down this week," he said after Tyler's quarter final and was disappointed that she didn't go further but "...it's not a bad result for Tyler."

Chelsea got all her ducks in a row today and welcomed the win. She reckoned it was a great warm up for Bells which starts next week.

That's it from WA, it's been a great week here in Margaret River, the country bush smell is unbelievable and it's a great arena. Good days on the beach with sun and surf and good red wine to top off the end of the days. The Cow Parade has been a moo'ving experience and we even scored a green flash for our last sunset.
We're now headed to Bells later this week.
CYA
Peter 'Joli' Wilson

Last Minute Gasps at the Drug Aware Pro

Here's a little update from the west.
The 'situation' of the day were the last minute gasps. A bit like last night when I was stopped for a random breath test by the local cops. I passed and so did a lot of guys today. So many last gasp waves. Adrian Buchan nailed one in the last seconds and Josh Kerr snuck past Mick Fanning in their Round of 16. The funny thing is that Josh has beaten Mick twice in this contest; once in the 4 man heats of the Round of 96 and again in the man on man rounds. Air specialist Kerr was joking that Mick beat him in the Boost Air Show last weekend in Sydney and now he's beating him in a 'straight' WQS contest. Maybe it was the local red wine coursing through his veins courtesy of a Rusty sponsors dinner that helped scrap through.

Today was a morning of convoys. The word went out that North Point was sure to be going off...a bit like St Patricks day. Hire cars in packs of 4 or 5 were darting all over the place. North Point was packed at first light but the little dirt car park was jammed with locals utes and 4WD's. No hire cars, they were still on the roads looking for a decent wave.
The swell was definitely 'pumping', somewhere in the 12' range, but way too south for most of the breaks. A lot of the crew ended up back at the contest watching the action and in the words of one of the surfers... "when the Gudangs (Gudauskas Bros) can't find waves then there aren't any around.'

Cory Lopez got everyone 'moo'ing' today. He caught a triple overhead bomb and proceeded to try to emulate Tom Curren's mid 80's wave. Margs was huge when Curren caught a wave and rode it over 250 yards to the river mouth of Margaret River. Cory came very close today, pumping his board at the end but with about 30 yards to go the wave backed off and he had to kick out. The surfers in the competitors tent were all up and riding the wave with him and the event commentators were yelling and laughing as Cory tried to make the river mouth.

While Cory was going for glory Sunny Garcia was hiding from the public. He'd tried to pull in on a huge right and got blasted for his trouble. The resulting wipeout disrobed him and tore two fins out of his board.
Sunny was stuck in the channel calling for the jet ski while scrambling to get his trunks back from the end of his leg rope. He was joking about it later and laughed when the cold water jokes came out.

Who's on form... CJ, Taj, Bede and Cory. Heat of the Round on paper was Josh Kerr and Mick Fanning while the heat to watch was Sunny Garcai and Neco Padaratz. They hadn't met since Pipeline in 2008. This time it was Sunny coming out on top. The swell's dropping and they'll crown a champ tomorrow.

Peter 'Joli' Wilson

Parko heads to the pointy end

Well we’re half way through the year and Parko is the runaway leader on the ASP World Tour. This is probably stating the obvious and if you applied the same scenario to Kelly Slater this time last year then Parko’s first world title would be a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’.

Bounce this around the number crunches who follow the ASP world tour and the word is that Parko’s title is not necessarily a certainty. Basically there are five World tour events to go, four back to back over the next eight weeks and ‘anything could happen’.

When Joel won in J-Bay one of the first guys to congratulate him after all the media had disappeared was his good mate Mick Fanning. Mick had been in a similar position to Joel two years earlier and he just gave his friend a big hug and said. “Just one step closer mate.”
It was almost as if Mick had conceded that this was going to be another of the ‘Cooly Kids’ chance to hold up the World Title trophy even though Mick, who is rated at #7, is still in the mix for this years title race.

The main contenders are probably the Hobgood twins, Taj Burrow and Adriano de Souza. Bobby Martinez would have to be considered an outsider and Kelly who is in the Top 10, but I his own words figures he could be still in the race with a ‘…. mathematical outside chance.’, but not a lot of people are giving him this chance. Beware of the underdog you ask? Well he’s definitely that but the wheels would really have to fall off a few guys’ campaigns ahead of him to even give him a sniff.

Will this be Parko’s year? There was an injury scare out of Bali with Parko hurting his ankle. Team Parko have down played the injury via Twitter and blogs on his website but there haven’t been many sightings for the past few weeks. Could have a lot to do with the lack of surf on the Gold Coast. We’ve been getting summer Northerlies in winter. It’s a few days into Spring but the surf hasn’t improved much. There have been almost no waves since the end of July on the Gold Coast. Other Ct surfers have been around but they have also been going stir crazy because of the conditions.

The Hurly Pro, Event #6 on this years tour, is only four days away and you can bet a lot of the Gold Coast crew are already in California trying to get a few waves at Trestles because they haven’t been getting any at home.
Will this be Parko’s year? It certainly seems like it at the moment. He’s being in such consistent form since late last year. The 2008 Triple Crown is testament to that and three wins out of five events is nothing to be sneezed at.
I’m hitting the road in a few days time with six weeks of contests through Europe on the itinerary. Will I get a shot of Parko holding that world title trophy above his head in the next six weeks… I certainly hope so.

Joli On Safari

Just returned from a successful trip to Jeffrey's Bay in South Africa. Great surf for the Billabong Pro with a strong win for Joel Parkinson but not a lot of great free surfing. Missed a swell by a few days and then hung around after the contest waiting for two bumps on the Surfline swell maps. One came and went without much activity while the second bump provided plenty of surf in the 2 metre range with over 60mm of rain. Not ideal shooting weather. Shaun Tomson was on hand for the second swell but with overcast skies and more rain I ended up heading to the game reserves of Shamwari and Pumba to shoot four legged animals instead of the usual two legged surfing variety.
Got nice and close to lots of animals including hippos, elephants, rhinos and lions.
The scary thing was that a lioness took a liking to our open Landrover and charged us. Came within a metre of leaping into the truck. Scared the hell out of everyone including our ranger, who hightailed it through the bush to get away.

One of the elephants got nice and friendly too. Gave us a little 'don't argue' when we got a bit close but it all makes for some interesting photos.

Arrived home to Coolangatta to beautiful winter days and no decent surf. Bells Beach pumped on the weekend but my bags need to stay unpacked for a few days.