Malibu Invitational 2013

Bali Time 2 Ulu's

I had some good memories in Canggu, but it was time to take a taxi to The Bukit Peninsula. The Bukit has a very tropical feel with good size mountains and valleys. The Bukit was scattered with good surf and plenty of hotels. My first session was at Padang Padang and it wasn't firing but it only had a few guys out. As I came in from that session I saw Brad Gerlach surfing a peak across the channel so I decided to paddle back out. It was cool to run into Brad and he happened to be with one of Indo's best surfer's- Rizal Tanjung. Meeting Rizal was really cool after my long history of watching the many Taylor Steele videos that featured his amazing surfing.  I was excited to check out Uluwatu and get my first waves out there after so much hype. The next morning, I rented a scooter and made the drive to Ulu's with my lady Caterina on the back of the bike. I had a few issues finding it initially, but eventually a friend I saw pointed me in the right direction. I was really impressed by the views from out in the lineup. It felt amazing to see everything from that vantage point. It was also an experience paddling out through the large cave. After you surf, the local peanut gallery has your photo from several different angles on several different computer screens. If you ding your board in the cave or on a wave, they will also patch your stick right up for your next sesh. It is quite the experience and when you leave, getting to the top of the long flight of stairs will have you sweating. By then you are ready to immerse yourself into a nice room with the air conditioner on full blast.

    This is from the Monkey Temple around the corner from Uluwatu.

This was an abandoned hotel on the cliff. This was a cool spot where I would check the waves and                                        graffiti.

    The cave was intense at high tide but low tide was nice.

   

    This is at Temple's a section furthest up the reef at Uluwatu.  

    This was a real fun wave!!

    Bali Pig- Dog...

   This is the called the racetrack section. Super fun but a little tricky on the backhand. 

Bali Time #1 Canggu

This past trip to Bali was a true blessing. I got to experience nearly the whole Island. The waves are epic in Bali but if its not pumping there are plenty of really cool things to do. I had a wonderful travel companion my girlfriend Caterina to go on day trips to exotic places like The Monkey Forrest or Tannah Lot.  We had a blast together and felt like it worked out good for a couple's trip.  She was still entertained while I went surfing. It is kinda dreamy or feels like a cool movie while your there. The Island of Bali has something for just about everyone. A lot of people travel to Bali to find out more about their selves. I got to know more about my surfing as the waves give you a fair amount of time to react. 

It is getting more and more crowded every year and the building is growing as well. It was such a beautiful place but I did see a lot of trash and that was kinda a bummer. I did see efforts though from certain organizations that are trying to pick it up. It all goes to the ocean and the marine life is all very unique in Indonesia. After a few rain storms the water quickly changed colors and looked dangerous because of floating pieces of trash like plastic bags,sticks(with nails), coconuts and other random things. 

I spent some time in Canggu at the beginning of my trip which is a popping little surf area. It has sandy beaches and some healthy restaurants.  For me it was fun to have some variety in the surf spots and plenty of size.  It was a great spot for any level surfer and also cool for a photographer to capture the evening light or rice fields.  I will be posting more from other areas of Bali. Thank you for checking out my post!! Also keep up on Sundance Beach Blog

    The Temple at Echo Beach.

   Tannah Lot is a must see in Bali.

 Bali Bliss for Caterina

    The Duck-dive...

   The setup

    The moment

    After the moment

 

    The 2:00 O'clock special.

 After a long day of surfing it was awesome to see this sunset. 

We going to Bali!!!!Thanks to Oakley.

Progression Sessions by Nick Liotta

http://www.sundancebeach.com/blog/

Lucky 13

I had a Fundraiser a few months back. The community came together in more ways than one. I am so grateful to have the support from everyone who came.   Here are some pics. The music and vibes all were really good so big thank you to  Klockywyze, and The Upbeat also The Brewhouse, Freestyle Watches, Channel Island Surfboards, Sector 9 Skateboards, Powell-Peralta, Sanuk Shoes, Volcom, Famous, DePaola Vineyards, A & H Gaspar Jeweler, Darkride Skateboards, Chris Burkhard, Josh Pomer, Gil, Gina Garland, Spirit Earth Natural Products, Surf Happens, Just Chill, Sundance Beach,  Isurus Wetsuits, Zola,  La Supa Rica, J7 Surfboards, Benny Bermudez, & Arbor Santa Barbara. YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!

I got to go to Argentina for my first ASP contest this year thanks to all your support!!!

PRIZES!

Skateboards, Photos, Artwork, clothes were just a few things we raffled off. 

My Mom slanging raffle tickets and sister Erica laughing.

Frank!!!!

Jim Brateris, Frank Rizzo, Andrew Bennette 

Love my girl friends xo

Klockwyze killing it!

Megan and Rizzo 

The hard part was getting through the people to raffle off goods.

Dance floor was on...

Ashley, Rachel, and Caterina

 Mr. Carey Larson rocking the stache

 The Upbeat! One of my favorite bands ever!!

Thank you again!!

The Northwest Surf Shop Challenge

I was super excited when I got the call from Blake Howard at CI asking to surf on the CI team.  We had Brandon Smith, Pat Curren, and Pat Ecker (CI shop manager) on our team. We showed up got some free surfing in and got our strategy figured out. Which of coarse was to catch one wave each and return to the beach. The conditions were great but the waves were pretty small.  The team stayed optimistic on our way to the final even though our first heat was so so. Pat Ecker started us off with a mid five point ride which was one of the best scores in that part of the final. I tagged Pat and hobbled over the exposed reef and paddled out the back and waited for at least 25 minutes for a decent wave. A set loomed and I thought this will surely decide a trip to Bali. I tried to control myself and just finish the wave and not forget to claim it. I tagged Pat Curren and sure enough my score came in at a 8.83 not a sure win at that point but I knew we were close. Pat went out hustled up the point and got his score a 6.7 within a few minutes. At this point we knew we had a solid chance. Then we sent out Brandon Smith with time and points on our side. Brandon paddled out to the takeoff spot and guarded the lead. He posted a solid score himself and came in to touch the rock. We could not believe we won a trip to Bali or took out the Santa Cruz teams(who won every year so far). We walked up the stairs and got our prizes and details from Oakley. I want to personally thank Oakley and Contest Director Darren Brilhart for these events I hope they continue to have them. Below is Oakley's press release



SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., April 23, 2013 – This year’s Oakley Surf Shop Challenge Northwest regional qualifier at Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz, California, had all the ingredients for a day of exciting competitive surfing; talented surf shop team riders and employees from Pacifica to Santa Barbara, an iconic righthand pointbreak, a unique and challenging team format, and beautiful springtime conditions. The only missing ingredient was the swell, which was unfortunately fairly weak, with lulled out, tide-sensitive conditions that varied in the one-to-two-foot range.

 Despite the somewhat meager surf, Contest Director Darren Brilhart proceeded with the contest. The Oakley Surf Shop Challenge contests take an alternative spin on competitive surfing. Invited surf shops are able to choose four surfers per team, consisting of two professional surf shop riders and two surf shop employees. These teams must work together in a 60-minute, rotational tag-team showdown, sending out one rider at a time, among them one predetermined “whammy” surfer, who has the option of raising their hands at the end of their ride, doubling the total of that wave’s score. With only a three-wave maximum allowed per surfer, this “whammy” surfer can make or break a team’s chance of winning, and when there aren’t many contestable waves, one ride can make the difference between sweet victory and bitter defeat.

 Take for example, in the pre-lims, Team Freeline Design’s Peter Mel caught a miracle runner during a wave-starved heat’s final moments, tearing it apart to the tune of a 7.6. Unfortunately, “whammy” surfers are predetermined, and Freeline had chosen teenage phenom Nic H’Dez for his lithe frame and small wave prowess, who earlier was only able to come up with a 2.0 to whammy, thus ending Freeline’s chance at the trip to Bali.

 As usual, the Santa Cruz teams dominated the field, sending three local teams into the Final (O’Neill Surf Shop, Pacific Wave and Arrow). The underdogs were Santa Barbara’s Channel Islands Surf Shop, and basically everything went their way during the 60-minute Final.

 At first it looked like the locals would retain their dominance with O’Neill’s Shaun Burns picking off a smooth 5.5, but Channel Islands answered back with a clutch performance by whammy surfer Killian Garland who proudly claimed his 8.83 score with a series of fin releases and smooth cutbacks. Along with Garland’s final winning performance, Channel Islands was backed up with a strong performance by young Pat Curren, who grew up surfing Rincon, another world class righthand pointbreak. Garland was humble regarding his victory yet stoked to be a non-local team stealing the win from the long S.C. dominated event. “For sure, I was super stoked to get that wave and it’s rad being able to win as the level of talent in Santa Cruz is always so high. Those guys rip”.

 Along with a free plane ticket to Bali and spending money, Channel Islands Surf Shop will combat six other regional qualifiers for $10,000 in the Championship event, held in June at Keramas. Next up, the series stops at the Ala Moana Bowls on May 10 for the Hawaii regional qualifier and the last qualifier will hit Newport Beach, California at the end of May. For all of the latest information including photos, video footage, results and more, check out surfshopchallenge.com and surfteamchallenge.com.

 Special thanks to Oakley, SURFER Magazine and other event partners, Bubble Gum Surf Wax, Futures Fins, New Era, SOL REPUBLIC, and Watermans Sunscreen for their support, without which the Surf Shop Challenge series would not be possible. Final Results: Channel Islands Surf Shop (33.23 pts) O’Neill Surf Shop (18.6 pts) Arrow Surf Shop (8.93 pts) Pacific Wave (5.97 pts) 2013 OSSC and OHSSTC Schedule: April 5 – Southwest – Seaside Reef, Cardiff, Calif.* April 9 – Southeast – Ponce Inlet, Fla. April 13 – Mid-Atlantic – Kitty Hawk or Nags Head, Outer Banks, NC April 16 – Northeast – Manasquan Inlet, Manasquan, NJ April 19 – Northwest – Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz, Calif. May 10 – Hawaii – Ala Moana Bowls, South Shore, Haw. May 31-June 1 – West – 54th/56th Street – Newport Beach, Calif.* June 17-22 – National Championship – Keramas/Canggu, Bali, Indo. http://www.surfshopchallenge.com/  http://www.oakley.com/