News |
|
| |
| share this article |
|
share this article |
|
SA has Jordy, Travis and Bianca in the Big Leagues next year. |
| 17/12/2012 |
ASP Top 34
ASP Top 34 Confirmed for 2013 ASP World Championship Tour Caption: Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31, claimed the 2012 ASP World Title at the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons.
Image Credit: © ASP/ SCHOLTZ BANZAI PIPELINE, Oahu/Hawaii
(Saturday, December 15, 2012) – The 2012 ASP World Championship Tour (WCT) season has come to a close following yesterday’s culmination of the Billabong Pipe Masters in Memory of Andy Irons and the clinching of the 2012 ASP World Title by Joel Parkinson (AUS), 31.
While the world’s best surfers prepare for a well-deserved break before the start of the next season, the ASP has determined which surfers will contest for the 2013 ASP World Title: Top 22 from 2012 ASP WCT Rankings:
- Joel Parkinson (AUS)
- Kelly Slater (USA)
- Mick Fanning (AUS)
- John John Florence (HAW)
- Adriano de Souza (BRA)
- Taj Burrow (AUS)
- Gabriel Medina (BRA)
- Josh Kerr (AUS)
- Julian Wilson (AUS)
- Owen Wright (AUS)
- Jeremy Flores (FRA)
- Jordy Smith (ZAF)
- C.J. Hobgood (USA)
- Adrian Buchan (AUS)
- Michel Bourez (PYF)
- Damien Hobgood (USA)
- Miguel Pupo (BRA)
- Alejo Muniz (BRA)
- Kieren Perrow (AUS)
- Bede Durbidge (AUS)
- Travis Logie (ZAF)
- Kai Otton (AUS) Top 10 from 2012 ASP World Rankings (barring double qualifiers):
- Sebastien Zietz (HAW)
- Kolohe Andino (USA)
- Matt Wilkinson (AUS)
- Glenn Hall (IRL)
- Brett Simpson (USA)
- Filipe Toledo (BRA)
- Adam Melling (AUS)
- Nat Young (USA)
- Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
- Tiago Pires (PRT) Two ASP Wildcards:
- Dusty Payne (HAW)
- Raoni Monteiro (BRA) ASP WCT Replacements
(in the event of athlete withdrawal):
1 – Patrick Gudaukas (USA) – next on ASP World Ranking
2 – Yadin Nicol (AUS) – next on ASP WCT
3 – Willian Cardoso (BRA) – second on ASP World Ranking
4 – Heitor Alves (BRA) – second on ASP WCT
The 2013 ASP World Championship Tour will commence with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast at Snapper Rocks from March 2 to 13, 2013.
For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com |
|
|
| Posted by areeshay222 on the 28/01/2013 09:59 |
|
| Posted by simply click the next internet page on the 09/02/2013 14:59 |
|
| Posted by neelam on the 14/02/2013 13:23 |
|
| Posted by sidra on the 22/02/2013 13:21 |
|
| Posted by rabqa on the 27/02/2013 06:17 |
|
| Posted by Greg on the 04/03/2013 22:25 |
|
| Posted by network+ on the 26/03/2013 12:31 |
|
| Posted by divorce attorney minnesota on the 28/03/2013 07:52 |
|
| Posted by Drake on the 08/04/2013 12:32 |
 |
|
| |
| share this article |
|
share this article |
|
What went down on the Miroshga by BOMBsurf reader Liz Louw. |
| 17/12/2012 |
The Miroshga – what went down
by Liz Louw
It’s kind of embarrassing to be caught out on a whale-watching boat when one’s local break is a whale mecca that would put Hermanus to shame, but it was a free trip – my Swedish friend, Emma, offered for me to go with her as a travel buddy. So between that, being able to spend some more time with her and also to check out the reef that turns into Dungeons every winter, I went. My best friend, Rusk, ended up join us for the ride so off we went.
After hanging around a bit and feeding the resident Houtbay harbor seals some fish, we got onboard the double hulled catamaran, the Miroshga, although most of us only became aware of her name while reading news reports in the days and weeks afterwards. We sat at the front of the ship until the number of people boarding started limiting space on the deck so we went up the ladder to the top deck – each of us regretting our blind decision to wear dresses for this particular expedition.
Posing with the toilet we didn’t believe existed behind the tiny door leading down
to it – when being on a boat was all still fun and games.
The weather was beautifully sunny as we cruised through the harbor, but as we turned out towards Duiker Island to ogle at seal colonies, we were met by a chilling wind. Once or twice a random thunk caught us off guard as Rusk’s water bottle and sunblock popped out the side pockets of her backpack and cluttered down the boat into the sea. I zipped her camera and phone out and zipped them safely in a main pocket, both of us assuring the questioning guide that it would actually be a blessing for our Nokia relics to end up in the sea. It would not be long before this flippant wish was granted.
John, one of the guides and a charming Rasta chap came up to tell us about the areas we were gazing out at – Sentinel Point, Duiker Island and Dungeons, which he explained to the group was one of our heaviest big wave spots in SA. I told him my ex-boyfriend had surfed here and he looked amazed and asked me incredulously what kind of a girlfriend I was that could drive a man to risk his life living on this edge? We had a good chat after that and he piped up to the crowd that we could come find some perlemoen around these waters but that we didn’t hear this from him.
After a while of whale-less wandering ,the boat turned around to go investigate reports of a whale sighting more towards Noordhoek side. As we tugged along a massive swell came along, hitting us side-on and lurching us port-side before rocking back to our original standing. After a moment of initial shock, we resorted to a slightly amused relief that everything was OK. After all, this charter had been running for years and surely this was nothing out of the ordinary. As successive waves rocked us violently back and forth it became a sort of a fun, nervous game with Rusk clinging onto the railing for dear life saying, “Dude, with my luck I’m going to be flung off this bloody boat!”. Now Rusk and Murphy’s Law have come a long way and she has a knack for making remarkably accurate statements like this one. “Why is he riding parallel to the waves and meeting them head on?”, I asked out loud.
We didn’t hear any commotion or panic downstairs, but maybe 5-10minutes later someone exclaimed “Look down!” and we did to see the stern had taken on a significant amount of water. Again, the initial shock, but once again the reassuring thought of “They’ve done this for years, there must be a way of dealing with this.” Say 10 minutes later the gradual realization of “Oh no, there isn’t. We are sinking. We are. Actually. SINKING.” Surreal words reserved for on screen entertainment and far away news reports.
The ‘manne’ sprang to action attempting to untie the lifeboat while life jackets were passed up to us from below. After great efforts the knots, tied too securely to prevent theft while docked in the harbor, were unceremoniously cut off by someone’s trusting pocket knife. The lifeboat spontaneously unfolded and, since its docking rope (painter) had also been cut, it popped up and blew clean off the boat. One of the crew was in after it, clinging on in an attempt to bring it back to our flooded vessel. I had my boots and lifejacket off, all keen to jump in and help swim it back to the boat but the current was already whisking it off too far for this to be a useful effort. Instead, I decided to go make myself useful and turned to Rusk to hand her my handbag and boots. Rusk, frozen in shock, told me not to entrust them to her and rather hand them to a calmer, more capable Emma.
Downstairs the majority were huddled up in the hull, as far away from the sinking bit as they could get. Only John was alone at the stern trying to untie the life rings, so I joined him. We were perched on the submerged row of seats, battling with yet more impossible knots and holding on every time a wave spilt onboard washing us off our perch. John handed me another lifejacket as I had forsaken mine for swimming after the lifeboat and we made some headway with the knots.
By this time the flares that had been shot up had attracted the attention of a nearby birding boat, The Extravaganza. The boat came closer, but stayed about a hundred meters away from our vessel which had drifted, unnoticed by us on board, into a hazardous zone dubbed both ‘The Washing Machine’ and ‘Baklei plaas’ if you get the picture. I saw that 3 or 4 people had already jumped off and begun the swim towards the non-sinking vessel, so I went to front to assist whoever wasn’t a competent swimmer. I was balanced on the edge of the boat to go, but Mara, a 12 year old German kid , had insisted on untying her shoes before going swimming. I urged her to leave them on so we could get going, but when I looked up I was greeted with the sight of a powerful breaking wave surging toward us, side on probably reaching almost up to where the top deck started. I realized that this wave was a force our boat would not be able to handle so, resisting any instinctive and potentially fatal urges to dive straight off the boat and into the wave, I held Mara and myself back, clinging onto the railing of the seats as the wave rushed onto the boat. It knocked me over in a backwards somersault, pushed down onto the ground between the seats as the boat swayed violently to port side before the momentum brought it back the other way, ending hull side up. I just remember going with the flow of it and being mercifully spilt out next to its big white belly as it rolled over, leaving a number of people trapped inside the hull.
The sight from Sentinal Point overlooking Bakleiplaas, where the Miroshga capsized. Taken on a much calmer day than the 13th of October when the accident happened. One could see Dungeons breaking that day and on the day of this photo all that gave the surf spot away were swirls of currents over the reef.
My two friends, who’d remained on the top deck were first lurched towards the wave then shot off backwards as the boat flipped over. Later at the NSRI base, Rusk told me that even though she hadn’t seen it, she’d felt aware that one of the men helping with the life craft had been knocked by the heavy mast pole as they were flung off. I suspect the man who got knocked was Peter Hyatt, the Welsh tourist who was confirmed dead fairly soon after we were gathered at the NSRI base.
When I resurfaced, there was no sign of Mara, she must’ve been knocked clean off the other side of the boat with the wave’s first rush. I asked her mother who had washed up on my side too, but she couldn’t tell me that she’d seen her daughter, so I swam back to the boat –the current was taking us out quite fast- and around the other side in search of her. Along the way I scooped up my hoodie and handbag floating around in the swell as small victories, but as I got closer to the upturned boat I experienced the most excruciating moment of my life; knowing that there might be people trapped underneath and not knowing where Emma and Rusk had ended up, knowing that my breath hold could last long enough to possibly help any trapped people, but also that with the surge and white water I would be putting myself into a situation where I could see jack all and risk being knocked unconscious and become yet another person in need of saving. Ultimately it was the soul wrenching feeling of not knowing whether it was wisdom and reason or fear and cowardice doing the talking in my head. That moment was a painful one, treading water in sight of the hull, torn between the two paths.
I pushed onwards, finding a Vaalie guy with peroxided hair bobbing along, gripped in panic. I approached him, making sure I could duck under the water if he tried to clamber on top of me, and tried to calm him down. He was uselessly flailing about and gasping that he couldn’t breathe so I hooked my arm under his shoulder and swam on to find Mara. I found her around the other side of the boat (the wave must’ve knocked her clear off on its first surge). She was treading water and not panicking, but when I reached her and asked her if she was okay she clung around my neck in fear.
We headed off towards the Extravaganza which had repositioned itself due to the swell and currents, forcing us to swim through the impact zone (locally dubbed “The Washing Machine”) with Vaalie guy’s panicked breathing not assisted by having walls of white water rushing over us. He kept yelling that he’s not going to make it and that I should just leave him to drown. Vaalies.
Out of the impact zone, as I was wondering how much longer this swim was going to be still, we were mercifully picked up by a blue dingy already fairly loaded with a bunch of diving guys, used scuba equipment strewn across the floor. I thought nothing about who they were, just grateful they’d picked us up, until one of the chaps announced in his best Capie accent “Don worrie don worrie, we’re poachers but today we’re here to help!”. I could’ve hugged the oke.
They ferried us to the Extravaganza which had already picked up the majority of the stranded passengers. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Emma’s silhouette through one of the windows. She looked fairly calm so I believed that Rusk was there with her. After a slightly less than graceful transition from poaching to birding boat, I finally spotted Rusk crouched behind the captain’s console, her face a mixture of white and green. But she was there and they were OK and we were extremely lucky to have found one another so soon already. Many of the groups had not been as lucky and silent shock and worry hung over the boat as we made our way back to harbor.
Rusk and Emma, who made her South African newspaper debut as ‘the Swedish tourist clad only in her
underwear and an emergency blanket’. Emergency blankets sponsored by PEP.
We were already overloaded and the captain refused to pick up any more so I sat next to and comforted a lady whose husband was clinging to the upturned, tossed about hull of the Miroshga (there was no lifejacket big enough for the large oke). I thought about jumping off so I could float about and he could be picked up and taken ashore, but it would’ve caused even more panic for the already shocked people and I figured the loss of my weight from the boat would be insignificant to the gaining of his weight on board.
We reached the harbor and were ushered up to the NSRI base, past the crowd of onlookers and reporters that had already gathered to the scene. Inside, every kind of emergency crew and their aunt were bustling about wrapping folks up in blankets, treating people for shock and making a hundred separate lists of who was present, who’d been rushed off to hospital and who was not yet accounted for. Our trio sat with little Mara on the NSRI couches, opposite the groups of people huddled together in shock, still missing a friend or family member.
There was however an Australian couple who had already left. For the first time in the whole experience, I felt sick to my stomach when I overheard one of the NSRI crew informing another that they’d left to be on time for their “Cheetah Experience” at Spier. Their tour guide was still trapped under the hull of the Miroshga, being battered around in the freezing Atlantic. The inhumanity of this left me nauseous and disgusted.
In contrast, I spotted the captain, Gregg Louw, sitting on a table, looking miserable and in shock. Not only had he been in charge of the boat’s voyage that had gone horribly wrong, but as I sat there with him he told me how when the boat had flipped, he’d ended up near his beloved crew member, John Roberts, who was tied up in rope. He had frantically tried pulling John up to get air, but in the rough swell it was an impossible task. John remained a missing person until the next morning when a recovery crew found him, 41m under the sea, still wrapped up in the rope.
The rest was all photographers and reporters mobbing outside trying to glean any inaccurate statistics, comments and pictures of US survivors. But at the end of it all, after a heroic rescue attempt that recovered the three survivors trapped in the hull, our hearts go out to the Hyatt’s and the Roberts’ families who both lost a much loved and irreplaceable partner and father. May they rest in peace.
John’s family, who are dealing graciously with the loss of their beloved son and father.
|
|
|
| Posted by Patrique on the 18/12/2012 11:48 |
|
| Posted by fran on the 21/12/2012 04:52 |
|
| Posted by shopia on the 26/04/2013 09:08 |
|
| Posted by Green on the 29/04/2013 13:25 |
|
| Posted by Compaq on the 03/05/2013 14:41 |
|
|
| |
| share this article |
|
share this article |
|
Finally a top end technical wetsuit at an affordable price. |
| 02/12/2012 |
The Reef "Pro Diamond" is here!!
The "Pro Diamond" has the ultimate in flexibility, warmth, technology, comfort, while still allowing you free movement with increased water time. The "Pro Diamond" is made up with 87% "Diamond Pile Flex Jersey" making it one of the fasted drying wetsuits in the world to date.
Wetsuit Features:
• Diamond Pile Flex Jersey - dries faster than other Jersey’s, Double Knit, 20% lighter, Absorbs less water, internal irrigation flow system for drying.
• Superlight neoprene rubber - Lighter by 20% than regular Neoprene. Softer, more stretch, easy to put on and take off, allowing better feel and freedom of movement.
• Neck Entry System – Designed to keep water out and adding extra flexibility across the back.
• Seams - Nylon II Stretch taped and welded seams, Stronger more Flexible and water tight while still giving you total comfort.
• Titanium - Internal lining for added warmth.
• Latex Seals – restricts water entry.
• Supra-Tex Knee – Durable, flexible outer, lightweight, protecting you and your board without compromising your comfort.
• Seamless Shoulders and Underarms – Unrestricted movement giving you full flexibility.
• #3 Drainage System – Allows excess water to drain freely without compromising warmth.
• Dura Mesh Skin Torso – Reduces Wind Chill and adds grip to you board while paddling.
Available in Men's & Ladies from December 2012
|
|
|
| Posted by Bryan on the 03/12/2012 09:14 |
|
| Posted by Sonny on the 03/12/2012 09:45 |
|
| Posted by TrevorG on the 03/12/2012 10:08 |
|
| Posted by robin on the 03/12/2012 10:58 |
|
| Posted by Grant Stringer on the 03/12/2012 12:09 |
|
| Posted by Kapenschtaten on the 04/12/2012 12:24 |
|
| Posted by Zoo on the 04/12/2012 13:53 |
|
| Posted by Tony on the 05/12/2012 20:32 |
|
| Posted by Emely on the 07/12/2012 23:01 |
|
| Posted by Olive on the 12/12/2012 16:39 |
|
| Posted by Grant on the 03/04/2013 10:57 |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
.jpg)
.gif)