surfing equipments

GOLDEN BREED PRO HIGHLIGHTS
AUSTRALASIAN LONGBOARD TOUR
Noosa Festival offers $10,000 total prize money

The ASP-rated Golden Breed Mens Pro at the Noosa Festival of Surfing, presented by Global Surf Industries, will be the highlight of the Australian leg of the ASP Australasian Longboard Tour, with many of the best longboarders in the world hoping to wrest the Noosa title from California’s Taylor Jensen.

The inaugural Australia-New Zealand tour begins at Sandy Bay, New Zealand in early February, before jumping the ditch for the 1-star LQS Golden Breed Pro in Noosa, immediately followed by the Malfunction Pro in Kingscliff and, in July the winter Whalebone Classic in WA. With points from three of the four events counting towards final pro rankings, the February-March season is likely to entice a big international field.

The icing on the cake for touring pros is that the New Zealand LQS is part of a five-event domestic tour sponsored by Hyundai, with an additional $20,000 prize money up for grabs between January and March. Local longboard pros like Josh Constable and Jackson Winter have already found that the Kiwi tour is fun and lucrative, and they are sure to be joined by many others in 2011.

The traffic across the Tasman the other way is also expected to be substantial, as Kiwi longboarders aim to make it on the international stage, with the winner of the Hyundai Tour receiving an all-expenses-paid trip to Noosa plus entry into the Golden Breed Pro.

It was also confirmed this week that Revo Eyewear will sponsor the women’s pro LQS event at Noosa. More details on the Revo Women’s Pro soon.

A total of $10,000 will be offered in prize money at the Noosa Festival, with other money events including the Noserider Pro, the Seaglass Project Finless Challenge and the Laguna Bay Longboards SUPS Pro and 5KM race.

TICKETS NOW ON SALE
FOR SURF FESTIVAL MAJOR CONCERT

Early-bird tickets are now on sale for Zinc 96.1 Night In The Woods, the major music event of the 2011 Noosa Festival of Surfing. The six-hour concert in Noosa Woods Park will feature an incredible line-up of bands and solo acts in the surf-roots-rock genre.

Headlining the concert is roots sensation Dallas Frasca, dubbed the new Janis Joplin. Dallas has been getting extraordinary acclaim for her festival gigs over the past year, and this one, in the beautiful environment of Noosa Woods, is not to be missed.

Also on the bill are the ever popular Band of Frequencies, whose brand of funk has featured on so many recent surf film soundtracks, they have become synonymous with the sound of surf. Hot rockers from Byron Bay, Marshall and the Fro will make their Noosa festival debut, with super cool blues and rock pickers Asa Broomhall and Kim Churchill also playing, along with special guests.

Zinc’s Night In The Woods kicks off at 4pm on Saturday, March 19, with full bar and café and plenty of rain cover in the natural amphitheatre of the Woods.
Buy tickets at early bird prices online NOW.
LAGUNA BAY LONGBOARDS STAND-UP PADDLE DIVISION NOOSA’S BIGGEST EVER

Noosa’s own Laguna Bay Longboards will sponsor the biggest ever stand up paddle division at the 2011 Noosa Festival of Surfing. In a joint announcement, Laguna’s Tully St John and festival director Phil Jarratt said the expansion of the division was in keeping with the tremendous growth of stand up around the world.

The four-year-old Stand Up Paddle Pro surfing event will be joined by amateur divisions for seniors (over 45) and women, plus a 5-kilometre “loop” race on Laguna Bay prior to the Festival’s opening ceremony on Sunday, 13 March.

“We wanted the SUPS at the Noosa Festival to reflect what’s happening everywhere in the world of stand up,” said Tully St John. “That is, everyone is doing it, from surfers of all ages to serious watermen and surf paddlers, from kids to mums who see it as a great workout. Laguna Bay Longboards SUPS will cater to all of them, and we expect to attract stand up paddlers from all over.”

Festival director Phil Jarratt said he was delighted that a local surf company had come in as sponsor. “Under his various surfboard brands, Tully has been a major player in the local industry for quite a while now, and it’s great to see him developing SUPS alongside traditional surfboards. While stand up has developed a life of its own in many land-locked places, on our coasts we want to see it grow side by side with surfing, and so does our governing body, Surfing Australia. We’re all from the same tribe, and the Laguna Bay SUPS division at the Noosa Festival will demonstrate that.”

Tully said he had been inspired by recent stand up paddle races, such as the Battle of the Paddle in Hawaii and California, to work with surf club officials in creating a loop course close to the beach, so that spectators could watch the entire race “up close and personal”. Competitors will paddle five times around a one-kilometre triangular course, punctuating each circuit with a beach sprint. “Racing is always thrilling when you’ve got the paddle in your hands,” Tully said, “But we want to make it just as exciting for the spectators.” The Battle of the Paddle at Doheny Beach, California in early October, broke spectator records with almost 10,000 people gathering to watch a thrilling race, with more than 800 competitors in the water.

Laguna Bay's Tully St John in action
BIG WEEKEND OF TEAM EVENTS TO KICK OFF NOOSA 2011

Three separate teams events will herald the start of the 2011 Noosa Festival of Surfing, presented by Global Surf Industries, with some insane surfing going down over the weekend March 11-12, ahead of the official opening ceremony at sunset on the Sunday.

Festival director Phil Jarratt said that a new-look celebrity teams event and an international club challenge would join the hugely popular Family Challenge. “Teams events are always a great crowd-pleaser and a wonderful way to get competitors wound up for the week ahead, so we’ve devised a couple of beauties.”

The International Clubs Invitational will feature 16 of the world’s leading longboard clubs up against each other in an action-packed event that will use a successive surfer format. Said Jarratt: “There’s been a lot of interest expressed already by clubs on both sides of the Pacific, and we think this is going to be a hotly contested event. This year we had Noosa versus Malibu, next year both those great club teams will be taking on 14 others.”

The Corporate Cup will be the major charity fundraiser of the festival, with companies around Australia invited to field a team. Each corporate team will have two staff members and a guest surfer, with the guests expected to number world and Australian champions and other celebrities.

The Family Challenge enters its third year at the Noosa Festival with parent/child combos from around the world hot to win the prestigious trophy.
Teams events will begin on Saturday, March 11, with the Corporate Cup expected to conclude that day, the Clubs Invitational concluding on Sunday and the first round of the Family Challenge ahead of the opening ceremony.

Entries will open for the Family Challenge early September. For information on any of these events, info@noosafestivalofsurfing.com, or phone 07 54735676.
THE FESTIVAL IN A NUTSHELL
When?

Saturday 12 March to Sunday 20 March, 2011
Where?

Surfing at First Point, Noosa (alternate site Access 12 Noosa West Beach). Entertainment venues beachside, to be advised.
What’s On?

Mens and women’s, boys and girls amateur longboard surfing over 12 age and open divisions; specialty events including noserider, finless, retro, old mal and stand up paddle; teams events including Champs for Charity, Family Challenge and International Clubs Challenge.

Out of the surf a full week of great surf-related family entertainment, including music, film, auctions and product launches.
How do I enter?

Use these links to enter online or download a form to fax or post.

Many of the Top 34 call one of the Mainland coasts home, but unless their last name is Gudauskas, they haven’t surfed their home break on Tour. But with the plethora of breaks the US coastlines offer, are there any spots besides Lower Trestles that are worthy enough for the world’s best? The ASP thinks so.

According to the 2011 ASP World Tour schedule, a new stop will be added at “East Coast, USA,” nestled snugly between Teahupoo and Trestles on the contest calendar. With over 3,000 miles of coast from Maine to the southern tip of Florida, “East Coast, USA” is just about as ambiguous as you can get. The ASP refused to comment further, as they probably have their hands full trying to figure out what no one before them has: how to predict a hurricane. Without one, most East Coast breaks look impotent compared to the rest of Tour schedule, which includes posts like Jeffrey’s Bay and Pipeline. However, the US is arguably the heart of the surfing world and a new Tour stop could be huge for their red, white, and blue surf fans.

The decision, however, has undoubtedly raised many questions. Why the East Coast? Are the wave possibilities there the best the US has to offer? What factors go into choosing a WT venue? Aren’t there better options on the West Coast? The short answer is yes, but the long answer is a bit more complex. Two months ago, ASP officials and surf forecasters were contacted about the potential for a new World Tour stop, but nothing they said seemed to point to an impending East Coast event. “The continental US enjoys a slew of excellent wave venues that could host an ASP World Tour event,” said the ASP International Media Manager Dave Prodan. “The Eastern seaboard is home to several solid waves as well – albeit, consistency is a problem.” A lack of consistency can be a pretty big problem. Lay days, heat restarts, and groveling competitions can make a contest at one of the best spots in the world look like an attempt at a Lake Michigan Pro. This factor is what makes a competition at one of the premier East Coast breaks seem like a gamble.

“I think there are less than 20 spots in the world that meet the standards for a WCT event,” said ASP North America Tour Manager Brian Robbins. That’s an incredibly short list, and one that I would be shocked to find any East Coast spots on. Although the hurricane swells that hit the East can make some of the most gorgeous tubes imaginable, consistency remains king in the contest world.

Noosa Festival offers $10,000 total prize money

New 6' Foamie Board Surfboard Surfing Surf Board Perfect for beginners

East Coast Surfing - USA

Categories