Mavericks Is On

Not wanting to miss out on this winter's XXL wave action, the contest at Mavericks was finally called "On" and will be firing it up at 8am PST on Saturday ... that's 4pm UK time. This wave has a storied history and has provided some classic pics & vids over the years. Winner of the last Mavericks contest was Greg Long, who also won the "Eddie" in December, and he's in Heat 3 along with the likes of Carlos Burle, Brock Little and Kenny "Skindog" Collins.

All 24 riders know the wave well, but for those of you who don't here's our take on it.

"Mavericks: Hairy paddle out from south side of Pillar Point. Current sucks you south of the peak and you have to scrabble. Some go by boat from the harbour.

Way out to sea, Mavericks bowls up almost cartoon-like over a deep ledge reef in a minimum 10ft of swell. It forms impossibly steep, concave drops, and for this reason really needs to be surfed on the glassiest, cleanest of days. It does fade into a channel, but controlling the drop well enough to set a rail and get there is why experts / total hell-men only need apply. 10-35ft. Tight crew of tough guys. Fall / Winter. Supreme danger. Spectators only."

Click here for more info on surf spots around the US & Hawaii

Porthleven Firing

The expected swell arrived down in the UK's south west over the weekend and conditions at many spots were awesome. Porthleven is known to be one of the UK's best spots, and it was absolutely pumping on Saturday ... click here for pics, vid clip is at the end.

Here's our brief take on Cornwall's finest:

"Fickle, splendid wave. Known for its hollow rights over a flat rock shelf, it gets sucky at low to mid tide, when pretty square barrels are possible. Higher tides are OK too but dead high is often rippy, back-washed and flat. Needs very big west, or solid / big southwest swell. 3-10ft plus. Advanced! Crowded if it ever gets on in summer. Can get awesome."

Click here for more info on surf spots around the UK & Ireland.

Weekend in Cornwall Anyone?

Everyone's excited about a nice big winter swell that's heading for the UK this weekend and into next week. Charts on Magicseaweed are predicting a 16.5ft swell hitting Fistral on Saturday morning, and if the winds play ball even The Cribber might show up. The UK surf mags Carve & Wavelength are hyping it up and will no doubt be keeping us all updated with reports, pics and clips.

So, when the swell hits, where's the best spot to head out to? For somewhere easy to get to and with plenty of parking we'd be off to Newquay's Fistral Beach, the most well known spot in the area:

"Signs all through the town of Newquay, huge carpark on the beach.

The most famous surfing beach in England. Whilst reef breaks and some coves may get better waves, the probability of getting good waves on any given day of the year is higher here than just about anywhere.

South Fistral works through all tides, with good lefts and some rights. It's a bit more protected on bigger days with a southwest wind. North Fistral is often bigger, and gets hollow at low tide, especially off the rocks at the top end, where there's usually one of the best left and right peaks. Little Fistral, right around the corner, and almost swallowed up at high tide, can have great shape too on low to mid. Autumn swells from NW-W are best but it is consistent all year round. 1-8ft, intermediate +. Crowds in the summer and plenty of room in the winter.

The Cribber, out the back of Towan Head off Cribber Rock, is a fickle off-shore reef for hell-men, although it rarely breaks in a rideable way. It needs a very big groundswell in the 8-12ft range to show, and perfect south-east offshore breeze to hold shape. In these conditions it'll hold any size."

Click here for more info on surf spots around the UK & Ireland.

Little Bit of Hurlyburly

"Hurlyburly: noisy disorder and confusion" ... at least that's the official dictionary definition anyway. Out at Burleigh Heads, QLD a couple of days ago Aussie surfer Dean Bowen was making his own noise by winning the Hurley Burleigh Pro Junior. Hurley have stumped up quite a bit of prize cash recently and the $25,000 winner's cheque was the largest ever given for a first place at a Junior event. Highlights of the final down at the bottom.

Here's our breakdown of the classic Queensland point break:

"Burleigh Heads: head S from Surfers on Gold Coast Hwy past Nobby's Beach. Left to Goodwin Tce. Walk down and around the headland for jump-off and paddle through big hard rocks. Paddle fast and straight!

Legendary right-hand point break, refracting around the headland over a boulder bottom in-filled with sand. Will take anything from NE to S swell, but a solid SSE wraps to generate very long rides.

In the right conditions, Burleigh can produce perfect, hollow, long-walled waves, breaking all the way in to the sand bottomed inside. It will handle a lot of size; over 10ft if swell is in the south, but currents are insane, and constant rowing for position is required. Conspicuously consistent for a point break, but can be of lesser quality for long periods when sands drift away and out of shape. Protected from winter south winds, so its crowded all year round. If too small here, head south around the point to Tallebudgera for pretty consistent beach break action on most tides, early morning or in NW to SW winds."

Click here for more info on Aussie surf spots.

New Season Kicking Off at Sunset

The 2010 edition of the WQS is already under way, starting out with the Sunset Open out on Oahu's North Shore. This winter's epic conditions appear to be continuing and after a couple of lay days due to closeouts, the contest is expected to pick back up again on Tuesday. For a WQS 1 Star there have been some serious names attracted to this event ... Sunny Garcia, Freddy P, Jamie O, Pancho Sullivan and John John Florence.

Here's what we think about Sunset and a couple of the surrounding spots:

"Sunset: Set of reefs dealing with swells from N through W. Northerly swells break the wave up into different peaks, and make the place a little more sharing as a result. On a classic big West swell with trades, Sunset is a heavy, jacking peak that develops into a hollow, sucky, thick lipped beast. These swells catch the trades side-offshore, and the result means heavy long-boards and serious intent are required to get you into the wave. 4-15ft. Major rips. Crowds. Experts.

Sunset Point, further inside, is a quality R breaking at 3-6ft on NW-W swells. It can lose shape on N swells. Crowds. Intermediate.

Just East is Backyards; fickle, often shifty proposition that goes left and right, and works from 4-12ft. Currents and unpredictable peaks absorb surfers well. Expert or tow-in.

Finally, Outside Sunset: huge right tow-in spot when Sunset is closed out. Can work all the way through Outside Backyards, which is a right / left outer monster too, with shallow reef under the end section. Hell-men only!"

Click here for more info on Hawaii & US surf spots.

Eat Like You Surf: Lean and Mean!

Still trying to beat the bulge leftover from the festive season, here's a little inspiration for you from Jim Kempton's "Surfing The Manual" on a healthy surf diet:

"Martin Potter, the 'super-kid' from Durban who started his surfing career by beating future three-time World Champ Tom Curren for the 1981 NSSA International Team Challenge and then just weeks later won the final against 1978 World Champ Shaun Tomson, was a gregarious partier in his early days on the tour. I could go out and have a big night, drink heaps of beer, and wake up the next morning without a hangover, he would recall. My body dealt with everything. There were contests I won after staying up all night. Not enough of them though - he was as inconsistent in his first five years as he was flamboyant. Potter had the talent in spades - but not the discipline to prevail in the clutch. Then in 1989 he got serious, started training in a non-surfing fitness routine that got him in the very best shape of his young life - and promptly won an unprecedented six contest victories on his way to the World Title. The moral of the story? You can survive a lot when your body is a 24 year-old temple, but given two equally talented opponents, a well-trained, highly-fit, health-conscious competitor will triumph every time.

Diet may be one of the most debated health topics being discussed today. There are dozens of diets purported to help you lose weight or stay fit - eat only meat, don't eat carbs, eat more protein, eat only at lunch - the list goes on and on. None of these diets will actually keep the weight off, make you fit, or sustain your nutritional needs long-term. In fact most diets are harmful, either because they remove needed nutrients of some kind, or set you up with bad eating habits themselves. Studies have shown time and time again that dieters on a long-term basis end up gaining more weight than those who don't diet. Don't let anyone kid you: the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you eat. And there are only 2 ways to do this: eat a little less and exercise a little more. No diet will work properly if you do not have the balanced nutritional components. You need fruits (almost all kinds are good and much better than fruit juice) and vegetables (the green leafy kind are best), for essential nutrients; protein for strength (best to get them from fish, chicken, soy bean products and limited lean meats); carbs for fuel (try to get your carbs from whole grains high in fibre); healthy limited fats (like salmon, nuts, peanut butter and avocado, and some dairy (skim milk, low fat cheese, a few eggs a week)."

As Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz says, "Set your sights right now on being a champion. Live high on the best health habits you can muster. Make greasy foods, salty snacks and sugary pops a seldom, not a frequent mischief. Follow the song in your heart that tells you that the sweet sea is the greatest high"

New Year, Fresh Talent

Happy New Year to one and all ... here we go, steaming out of the "Naughties" and into a brand new decade. Checking out the surfing calendar and it's straight into the Billabong World Junior Championships out at Narrabeen in OZ. Looking at some of the past winners of this comp it's definitely worth keeping a track of. Parko, Andy Irons, Adriano de Souza, Jordy Smith and Kekoa Bacalso have all triumphed in the past and are now regulars on the ASP Dream Tour. Two of this year's surfers have already qualified for the 2010 Dream Tour. All eyes will be on Owen Wright and Jadson Andre to show just why they are getting hyped to take over from the older guys.

The comp is due to kick off on Jan 9th just north of Sydney at Narrabeen. Here's our take on this classy spot:

"North Narrabeen is a very consistent long left at the lake mouth which can produce a perfect barrel all the way in. There's also an occasional R point type set-up, further up off the rockpool on bigger days.

Alley Rights, just to the S, breaks into the same channel, and has a shark reputation.

Just off the middle of the car park is ... Car Park Rights. Another generally well-shaped bank that delivers steep take-offs and barrels on a mid tide.

To avoid crowds, you can check the peaks further down South towards Collaroy. You may get less shape but there's a good chance of a lonely session."

Click here for info on more spots around Australia.