Our boy Collin Goddard just sent over some photos from the amazing run of swell we’ve had here in Southern California.

The Arcel attack is back my friends!

Yesterday I headed down to Oceanside where I picked up some new Arcel core boards.  With Polypro foam no longer being produced, the first batch of Arcel core boards

to come from BSD Bodyboards.  Arcel was developed for bodyboards in the mid-80′s.  This is a light, strong foam used for bodyboard cores. It’s properties include main

taining it’s stiffness even in warm waters. The downside is the ease with which it dented when you squeezed it. So, now that bodyboard manufacturers are limited with Polypro, some special companies have been able to resurrect Arcel cores.

Check out the new BSD line.  The Arcel is a lot stiffer, lighter, and faster than the new Polyethylene/Polypropylene core (3-d core) combo cores out on the market.  BSD boards are here.

For years now Stealth has been one of the most popular high performance swimfins on the market over seas and now riders in the US can finally get their hands on them.  Coming real soon to www.eBodyboarding.com are the Stealth 2′s.

Stealth Fins has the most dominant team in bodyboarding when it comes to a fin company… The Stealth S.02 fins were designed with the feedback of major top riders such as Ben Player, Pierre Louis Costes, Jake Stone, Dave Winchester, Michael Novy and Joe Clarke.

The Stealth S.02 is made of the highest grade of premium malaysian rubber with a soft foot pocket and stiff blade for ultimate thrust. The Stealth S.02 fins FLOAT and have the distinctive straight angled blade. These fins will be offered in all black or black/orange.

Unlike the majority of swimfins on the market today, Stealth S.02 fins have specially designed drainage holes on the bottom so rocks and other debris doesn’t get stuck in your fins while surfing. The foot pocket is also made of premium soft rubber to ensure better comfort while riding.

All the tech stuff on the box. Their good and work the insane, that’s all you need to know…

The 2010 Turbo Bodyboards Pipeline Pro presented by Body Glove has beeen won and run, with Pipeline saving the best for last with the competition wrapping up on the final day of the 2 week waiting period.

Conditions were epic, with perfect 8 to 12 feet Pipe and light offshore winds all day, keeping the thousands that lined the shore thoroughly entertained.

Amaury Lavernhe of the Reunion Island was the one who came up trumps, blitzing through his final heats.

Lavernhe threw down the gauntlet to his combatants in the final with an outstanding combined wave total of 17.50, which included a perfect 10 for a huge pipe barrel to backflip.  He then backed his perfect score up with a 7.5 for another huge barrel to roll.

Lavernhe took out Diego Cabrera of the Canary Island with 14.65, Jared Houston of South Africa with 14.20 and Damian King from Australia with 10.75.

“I am so stoked, I can’t believe it”  Said Lavernhe

“I have been here for 3 weeks and I have been training for this day.

“I just took this heat by heat and I didn’t want to think too much about the final”.

Diego Cabrera, who has come off the back of a win at the last IBA World Tour event at Confital in December has continued his stellar competitive run.

“This is my dream, I am very very happy as this is the first time that I have ever been in a pipe final and the second time in a Grand Slam final” said Cabrera.

Though Jared Houston missed out on second only by .45 points, he was thrilled with his performance in the competition after spending over 3 months on the North Shore in preparation.

Originally excluded for the event due to surfing in an unsactioned bodyboarding event, Houston was the one who spearheaded the campaign to the IBA riders board to have the ban lifted at the end of 2009.

“I am so stoked, this is everything that I have been working towards this year so I am so happy that it has paid off”  said Houston

Terry McKenna, the IBA International General Manager, who was also one of the key drivers behind this event is thrilled with how the comp rolled out in 2010.

“There was not a better way to begin the 2010 IBA World Tour season”  Said Terry.

“Winning this event is only second to winning the world title, I am thrilled that Amaury has won this event as he is the deserved winner”.

All photo’s Bryan Pezman

Hubbard won The Foam Company Drop Knee Pipeline Pro contest yesterday at the Banzai Pipeline.

The one-day event was run in clean wave-face heights that ranged from 6 to 12 feet.

“Today was perfect conditions for drop knee,” said Hubbard, 27. “And the level of competition is really high, so you had to be at your best in every heat.”

When it comes to drop-knee bodyboarding — which requires the competitors to ride bodyboards with a one-knee stance —Hubbard showed why he is regarded as the best in the world.

He is the three-time defending world champion of the drop knee world tour. Last year, he won all three contests on the tour.

Yesterday’s contest was the first stop on the 2010 world tour.

“I definitely feel like I have pressure on me,” Hubbard said. “I always feel like I have to make the finals at every contest.”

His abilities were pushed to the limit yesterday.

He trailed for most of the 25-minute heat, then took the lead with around five minutes remaining with a score of 8.1 (out of 10) for a nice barrel ride. Hubbard finished with a two-wave score of 15.2, which was enough to edge Australia’s Kim Feast.

“He’s such a good contest rider,” Feast said of Hubbard. “Maybe it’s the Hawaiian genetics. He’s got these waves to hone his skills on and today it was perfect.”

Ricky Alvarez of the Big Island held the lead early in the heat, and ultimately finished in third place.

Bud Miyamoto of Kaua’i was fourth, Sacha Specker of South Africa was fifth, and Jacob Pembrook of Kaua’i was sixth.

Hubbard received $1,500, which was fitting since he paid the $5,000 deposit fee out of his own account to secure the contest. Last year, there was no drop knee contest at Pipeline due to a lack of sponsorship money.

“I just wanted to make sure we got a chance to surf Pipe,” Hubbard said.

Hubbard and his older brother, Jeff, are still in contention in the Turbo Bodyboards Pipeline Pro, which needs one more day of competition.

The full draw with results can be found here

Stewart captures bodysurfing again

Mike Stewart of the Big Island won the Pipeline Bodysurfing Classic for a record 12th time yesterday.

The final was also staged at the Banzai Pipeline.

Stewart last won the event in 2008. It was not held last year due to a permit issue.

Chris Kalima was second, Mark Cunningham third, Frederic David fourth, Craig Watson fifth and Steve Kapela sixth.

The highly anticipated Ring of Fire sequel is finally here after three years in the making; following the global travels of California’s best bodyboarders.

It contains top-notch action from Hawaii, Australia, California as well as locations off the beaten path in mainland Mexico, the South Pacific and central Baja. The film also documents trips to uncharted territories in the Pacific Northwest in search of virgin slabs.

Ring of Fire 2 will be premiering in Southern California in May 2010. Visit the Uprising Films Facebook page for updates and premier information.

And check out footage from last years Pipe event:

Jamie O’Brien Turbo Bodyboarding Pipeline Pro from Waldron Bros Production on Vimeo.

Day two of the 2010 Turbo Bodyboards Pipeline Pro Presented by Body Glove has continued today at the insane Banzai Pipeline.

Sets were a solid 6 feet (2.0 metres) and conditions were picture perfect for the majority of the day.

The action moved into overdrive as the competition progressed through the rounds of 96, 80 and 64, eventually weaning the field down to the final 48 riders.

Hawaiian Vaj Lederman, who gained a local wild card into the event, ripped through all of his heats and was by far the stand out surfer of the day.

In the round of 96 he put together a combined wave total of 16.90.  This included a near perfect 10 for a huge double barrel at Backdoor.

“From take off it looked like it was a long curving wave, right down the line, through the bowl at pipe, to backdoor and right down to Off the Wall”.  Said Vaj.

“I pulled into the wave and about half way down I didn’t think that I was going to make it out, the wave then re-sectioned all of the way down, somehow I gave a quick chest lift and it gave me the speed to get through the next section and I just doggy doored it out of the close out.

“I am feeling really healthy at the moment and I have been doing lots of training in the water”.

Vaj moves into the round of 48 where he  will face off with 24th seed Ardiel Jiminez of the Canary Islands, 25th seed Brad Hughes of Australia and South African ripper Jared Houston.

Terry McKenna, the International Bodyboarding General Manager has been thrilled with the event so far and excited by the prospects of the event concluding with one of the best swells the event has seen in many years.

“Today we saw the many different faces of pipeline, conditions changed from big and perfect, to big and messy, this means that the riders have to show there versatility to progress”  said McKenna.

“The forecast for tomorrow is looking big, so lets hope that conditions are good enough to conclude it in some great waves”.

The 2010 Bodyboard Pipeline Pro presented by Body Glove will take one more full day of surfing to complete, tomorrow is about a 80% chance to run with a huge 17 feet North West swell forecast to hit the North shore.

Stay tuned to the event official website www.fluidzone.com/pipe for the LIVE webcast and all of the latest results.

All Photos by Pezz (Mahalo Bryan)

END OF RELEASE

IBA MEDIA CONTACT:  TIM DOMAN, tim@surfingsouthaustralia.com.au This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Australian Number: +61 438 385 280
Hawaiian Number:  808 389 1237

ABOUT THE EVENT

The International Bodyboarding Association World Bodyboarding Tour, is the worlds official tour and each year crowns the World Bodyboarding Champion.

The waiting period for the event runs until the 26th of February, allowing officials to only surf in the biggest and best possible conditions.

The IBA/TURBO Pipe Pro is a Grand Slam event, carrying double ratings points and a cool USD$25, 000 prize purse.

The Turbo Bodyboards Pipe Pro is presented by Bodyglove and powered by Fluidzone.

Brenden Newton joins the Respect Crew

Respect Bodyboards is proud to announce his last crew member. None other than the world class bodyboarder Brenden Newton. “I just signed Respect Bodyboards and I´m really excited about that because I really belive in the company, in what they`re doing”, declares Brendan.

So Brenden joins the select crew of nutbags from all corners of the planet like the Brazilian underground charger José Otavio; the french all rounder Eric Gamez or the aussie underground global roamer Simon Murphy.

Put Your Name Here: Brenden Newton

Rui Ferreira, rider & team manager, decided it was time to look for some representation at Oz, cradle of the world bodyboarding panorama. So we launched the Put Your Name Here contest in Australia in order to find the most outstanding riders out there.

We received a lot of mails with footage, photos and CVs from guys all over Australia, and surprisingly one of them was Brendon’s. He was looking for a sponsor, and we were looking for somebody like him (very hard to find). No doubt it was kind a miracle. He was all we were looking for. He’s got the talent, the potential, the courage, the style, the charisma, … everything.

As renowned photographer Trent Mitchell stated in a recen Riptide magazine: “…He wants to push it harder than ever before. This is the future. It’s not a forecast; it’s the catalyst for Brenden’s future and, in turn, the sport’s”. And at Respect we think that too.

The man

“Brendo”, as he is famously known, has been tagged as one of the most crazy loco big-wave riders ever. To the public and in the exclusive group of big-wave chargers he is known as the best, the craziest and importantly the most acomplished.

Undoubtely, Brendo deserves his undisputed title of “the craziest bodyboarder ever”, he is a very peaceful and calm person though. Since he burst on the scene in 2003 in the bowels of a massive barrel at Shipsterns, he became obsessed with big waves. Brenden has travelled all around the world in the search of the biggest, most powerful, hollow and dangerous caverns on earth. Australia, Tasmania, Tahiti, Ireland, Canary Island, … wherever the BIG WAVE is waiting to turn up he is already paddling. He has became in one of the pionners of big wave bodyboarding, even though he keeps blowing everyone’s mind in small and mid-wave surfing with his depured style and inimitable flow.

2010. Innovation is here!

We here at Respect have come out with a crew of misfits not too fond on the status quo, a team who sees things differently, some may call them crazy but we call sheer genius!! It´s not about the 9-5 but living to live! We here live for the ocean (wedges, slabs and ledges!) together with the help of the craziest and newest innovations in cores and materials and our diverse  crew from all corners of the globe we bring you the best in 2010! Take the path less travelled and ride with us….Team Respect.

So the Respect 2010 range will have amongst all its models 2 signature models of Brendo: the Brenden Newton Usual and the Brenden Newton Performance.

The first one, the Brenden Newton Usual will feature Engineered Flexible Core (EFC™), NXL skin, Surlyn + Mesh and a 3 Variable Stringer System. The second one, the Brenden Newton Performance will feature a PP core, NXL skin + Ergonomic Pads System, Surlyn + Mesh and a TriFlat Type S™ stringer. Two different configurations to answer the needs of the most demanding riders. Available very soon at the best surf shops.