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July 2006 Issue
News
2006 NSSA National Championships
By Chris Keet
What do you get when you add over 750 of the nations hottest amateur surfers into the high performance waves of Trestles reef in San Clemente? For most of us the answer is 'an extremely humbling experience'.
Carissa Moore continued her dominance in the girls division and walked away with her eighth and ninth National titles by taking victories in the Explorer Girls and Open Women's divisions.
Local shredder Conner Coffin who went into the Nationals as an underdog, took home the Open Boys title and in doing so is the first person from Santa Barbara to win an Open title since Bobby Martinez. Raised in the point breaks of Santa Barbara Coffin has always had a smooth and powerful style of surfing, perfectly suited to the Trestles peaks. The announcers spent most of the final raving about second place finisher Ezekiel Lau and third place finisher Kolohe Andino who were the favorites going into the event.
Coffin started the final off seven minutes in with an average wave score of a 4.5 on a mid size right. From there his counterparts continued scouring the line up, shredding any piece of a peak that came their way. In so doing they left Coffin alone on the outside patiently awaiting a set. With five minutes remaining in the heat Conner dropped in on a solid overhead left and spanked the lip twice with his backhand attack leaving the wave whimpering like a bad puppy. This set brought Coffin from sixth to second. With time winding down all competitors tried to make a final statement while coffin sneaked back outside. It seemed as though the final would be Lau’s as thirty seconds were left on the clock, however a few lumps ebbed on the outside. With fifteen seconds remaining with Lau in position for the right and Coffin in position for the left, the peak shifted and clearly became a superior left.
Coffin stroked hard and dropped in deep. As he reached the bottom he laid into a Pancho Sullivan style bottom turn and hit the lip straight up in the critical section of the wave, and then followed it up with another six solid turns to the beach. The Santa Barbara contingent exploded as Coffin only needed a 6.5 to take the lead. As the announcers raved about how sick the wave was, Freestyle Watch Co. team manager Chad La Bass turned to me and said, “ where did he learn to surf backside like that coming from Santa Barbara?” Solid surfing and patience paid off and we expect Conner to continue to hold the local flag high as he continues to accumulate competitive accolades in the future.
Another top finisher from the area was Dylan Perillo who dominated the Open Juniors final. Patience paid off for Dylan as he was the last finalist to catch a wave. After dropping straight to the bottom of a solid overhead wave Perillo went into a committed top turn floater and after free falling back to the bottom, he threaded through three smooth off the lips to serve up a combo platter to his opponents, scoring a 9.0. He then waited for 10 minutes to catch a second scoring wave which he stoked into with only 30 seconds remaining. His smooth and deceptively powerful style made it look almost too easy as he took the lip off of the wave with his first turn, followed by two more lip bashes to capture the final.
Special thanks to Janice Aragon and Gayline Clifford and all of the NSSA staff for running such an awesome event! For more photos and a complete write up and results log onto nssa.org.
CHANNEL ISLANDS SURFBOARDS SIGNS AGREEMENT
FOR BURTON TO ACQUIRE ITS ASSETS
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (June 29, 2006) - Channel Islands Surfboards' Al Merrick today announced that the company has been acquired by Burton Snowboards.
The founders of each company, Al Merrick and Jake Burton Carpenter, forged an agreement over the fact that they share a similar mindset and passion for their respective sports.
"Al and I have approached the direction of our companies with the same mindset: putting our future in the hands of the pros who are defining our sports," says Jake Burton Carpenter, Founder and Chairman of Burton Snowboards. "Our identical philosophies on product development are what make this relationship so natural. As we learn more from each other, Channel Islands and Burton can only get better."
Channel Islands will remain in Santa Barbara, California, and Merrick will continue to lead the company he founded in 1969 to create surfboards for many of the world's best surfers.
"I'm very excited about this venture and what we can do together to advance surf technology and lead surfing into the future," says Al Merrick, Founder of Channel Islands. "Channel Islands' goal will continue to be focusing on producing the best surfboards in the world. Both Jake and I have a real passion for staying at the forefront of technology, innovation and design. In the future, I will continue to work in the same capacity that I have always worked in, designing and shaping surfboards."
Jake adds, "Spending time with Al was cool, but you learn a lot more about someone when you go for a surf together. That's when I started to understand the soul of Channel Islands. I look forward to providing a home forChannel Islands for many years to come."
"Having worked with Jake for the past ten years and having known Al for the past couple of years, I have had an incredible opportunity to interact with two very passionate and focused individuals," says Laurent Potdevin,Burton's Chief Executive Officer. "Burton and Channel Islands are authentic brands, and this transaction is a very unique opportunity. Channel Islands will continue to be led by Al, staying true to its roots while gaining the resources to explore its full potential."
About Channel Islands Surfboards:
Founded by Al Merrick in 1969 and based in Santa Barbara, California, Channel Islands Surfboards shapes boards for many of the world's best surfers. For more information, visit: www.cisurfboards.com.
About Burton:
In 1977, Jake Burton Carpenter founded Burton Snowboards out of his Vermont barn. Since then, Burton has fueled the growth of snowboarding worldwide through its groundbreaking product lines, its grassroots efforts to get the sport accepted at resorts and its team of top snowboarders. In 1996, Burton began growing its family of brands to include board sports equipment and apparel brands. Privately held and owned by Jake, Burton's headquarters are in Burlington, Vermont with international offices in Innsbruck, Austria and Tokyo, Japan. For more information, visit www.burton.com.
Meanwhile South of the Border
By Chuck Graham
The Rip Curl Pro Search WCT held at La Jolla, Mexico, began with a bang and pumped through the finals, where three-time WCT champion Andy Irons prevailed over tour veteran Taylor Knox in good three to six foot righthanders.
The first two days of competition, at the sand bottom point, saw epic conditions with eight to ten foot barrels running for 150 feet. Once again, Santa Barbara standout Bobby Martinez got off to a blistering start with the highest total score during the first day of the event. His combined score of 18.13, against wildcard Ben Dunn (AUS), and former WCT champ, Marc Occhilupo (AUS), easily dispatched the pair into the losers bracket.
In Round three, Martinez was up against South African David Weare, and beat him soundly by six points, but in Round 4, Martinez came up short against Bede Durbidge (AUS) finishing =9th.
Current and seven-time world champ, Kelly Slater missed the last event in Fiji, but returned from a nagging rib injury. Although he was ripping in the earlier rounds, Slater was knocked off by good buddy Taylor Knox in the quarterfinals, finishing =5th.
With his first WCT victory in 2006, Irons moved up to second on the ratings, leap-frogging over Martinez and just behind Slater. Martinez finds himself only 225 points behind the top slot, but the 2006 title is anyone's ball game at this point for the surfers rated 1 through 7.
If anything, Martinez is displaying a level of consistency far beyond his years. So far he has a win in Tahiti, and four other top ten finishes, all the while gaining valuable experience as he feels his way through his rookie campaign.
The tour now shifts to the Dark Continent and South Africa's Jeffreys Bay. This will be the sixth stop on the 2006 tour, and marks the half way point in the race for the world title. It's another long pointbreak, something Martinez is accustomed to if you've seen him ripping Rincon the last few winters.
WCT 2006 Top 10
1. Kelly Slater (USA)
2. Andy Irons (HAW)
3. Bobby Martinez (USA)
=4. Taj Burrow (AUS)
=4. Taylor Knox (USA)
6. Damien Hobgood (USA)
7. Joel Parkinson (AUS)
8. C.J. Hobgood (USA)
9. Bruce Irons (HAW)
10. Tim Reyes (USA)
Posted July 2006 Blue Edge Magazine. All rights reserved.
