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Photos by Greg W.

Come join us at the Channel Islands Surfboards Store in Santa Barbara this SATURDAY, JUNE 17th from 12-3PM for our last Backyard BBQ of the Summer!

Enjoy complementary burgers, desserts, lemonade and snacks as we offer 20% off all bikinis, CI-branded gear and Analog Clothing!

Also, don’t forget to come and sign up for our raffle. We will be giving away CI goodies at the event and you can also enter to win one of 2 signed CI team boards that we are giving away at the end of the summer!

Hope to see you there!

Channel Islands Surfboards
36 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
805.966.7213

Ponto Beach, Carlsbad 9am – 1pm.

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Come join the fun Saturday night at the Channel Islands Surfboards Store in LA! RSVP now, there’s limited space available. We Look forward to seeing you here!

STORE: 8175 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA
PHONE: 323.370.1700
RSVP: rsvp@cisurfboards.com

…And yes Dane did make this poster!

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Friday, April 30, 2010) – Nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (Cocoa Beach, FL), 38, has taken the ASP World Title ratings lead after an impressive runner-up finish to ASP Dream Tour rookie Jadson Andre (BRA), 20, at the third ASP World Title event of the year, the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina. Slater’s second place finish saw him overtake early season ratings leader Taj Burrow (AUS), 31.

Surfers competing in the first five of the ASP World Title events on the 2010 calendar are out donate top performances in an effort to land within the top 32 on the ratings. After the fifth event of the season, the current 45 man format will be scalped to a 32-man field for the back half of the season.

Slater, who entered the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina fresh off of a win at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach, continued to build momentum throughout the Brazilian event and his traditionally impressive form continued when he charged through this year’s talented field to post back-to-back Final appearances while surpassing Burrow to take the ASP World Title No. 1 position.

“It definitely puts me in a good spot this season heading into Jeffreys (Bay) and Tahiti,” Slater said. “I think it’s been almost two years since I’ve led the rankings and yeah, it feels good. Obviously, you want to win every heat, but that said, I didn’t lose to a Mick (Fanning) or a Joel (Parkinson) or a Jordy (Smith) who are probably bigger threats in terms of the title. Jadson (Andre) winning here today is special and it’s probably something that he’ll remember for the rest of his life.”

Dane Reynolds (Ventura, CA), 24, matched his best result of the 2010 season with a solid third place finish after topping local Brazilian favorite Adriano de Souza (BRA), 23, with committed backside blow-tails in their Round 4 match-up. The progressive aerialist fell to eventual event winner, Andre, in their Semifinals bout and is currently rated equal sixth amongst the world’s best surfers.

“Jadson (Andre) really found a rhythm early and I wasn’t able to get anything going until the end there,” Reynolds said. “I felt like I was pushing through the waves a bit too much. It’s okay though. Equal 3rd is a good result and it puts me in a comfortable position moving forward. I had a good time here in Brazil. I had some fun heats and I’m looking forward to the next one.”

2001 ASP World Champion C.J. Hobgood (Melbourne, FL), 30, also logged a solid result for his ASP World Title campaign after a relatively sluggish start to the season with a fifth place finish at the Billabong Pro. The Floridian goofy-footer usurped South African Travis Logie (ZAF), 30, and Australian Tom Whitaker (AUS), 30, before falling to fellow American, Reynolds, in the Quarterfinals. Hobgood now sits at 18th on the ASP World Title ratings.

Taylor Knox (Carlsbad, CA), 38, who is currently competing in his 17th year on the ASP Dream Tour, capitalized on his unmatched competitive experience to navigate through the tricky Brazilian conditions to take a fifth place result at the Billabong Pro Santa Catarina, pushing the Californian to 16th on the ASP World Title ratings.

The fourth ASP World Title event will be the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay, which boasts a waiting period from July 15 through 25, 2010.

More Coverage

Surfline

ASP

Californian style guru Tom Curren vs Australian surf hero Mark Occhilupo. One heat. Two legends. Three reasons to be at Bells Beach this Easter.

The rivalry between Australian wunderkind Mark Occhilupo and California soul champion Tom Curren produced the most exciting competitive clashes in the history of surfing. Their 1986 heat at Bells Beach is critically considered the best heat ever surfed in pro surfing.

During the 1980’s no rivalry was more heralded than the Tom Curren / Mark Occhilupo challenge. Whenever the two surfers came up against each other in heats, sparks flew, temperatures rose and onlookers gathered to witness unmatched and historic wave-riding duels.

“I saw Occy before he became a household name, when he was first breaking out, it was at Jeffreys,” said Curren. “He had so much energy, just pushing every turn with so much speed and power.”

“I watched his footage over and over and seeing him for the first time I remember thinking his anticipation going into every turn was something great; something amazing.”

Occy – amped, animated, and outspoken – was a young Aussie mischief-maker and a powerhouse hell-competitor beloved by everyone. Curren – enigmatic, humble, and deceptively understated – was a precise but devastatingly savage contest opponent idolized globally.

“I first saw Tom surf when I was really young in Cronulla, it was at Wanda Beach,” said Occhilupo. “He was staying at Jim Banks’ house, I walked over the hill to the beach after school and it was like solid 6-8ft and he was the only one out.”

“I think he won the Beaurepaires that year and the first time I saw him he was at his peak, he was just ruling.”

No matter where the event was held or who else was in it – there were always two camps, the Occy troop and the Curren crew. It was goofy vs. natural, radical power gouges vs. the sublime style-master, Australia vs. America.

“Tom was already schooling guys when I came on tour and he was in some serious form, no one could touch him,” said Occhilupo. “I couldn’t get close to Tom, I had to scratch and work to get to that level.”

“I beat him at the OP Pro in Huntington twice in a row and the rivalry probably started there and then went to Bells and various heats around the world tour,” said Occhilupo. “There were literally thousands of people on the pier and they were all shouting for Tom, I had to come out and upset the motion.”

“I only remember being in the zone,” said Curren. “Occy was pulling out every trick, he had that little extra.”

“Both of us were pushing as hard as we could, but he won that one with a wave at the end, I just remember it was very tense and very tiring as well.”

Curren went on to win 353 heats, 33 events and three World Titles while Occy won 380 heats, 12 events and one World Title. Both featured in spectacular comebacks – Tom returning from a two year hiatus to clinch his third crown from the trials in 1990 while Occy’s well documented rise to the 1999 crown after a decade in the wilderness is one of the greatest feats in sporting history.

The Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay held Round 1 of the Occy vs Curren “Clash of the Icons” in South Africa last year and we’re putting the duo back in the water and on the webcast again this year at Bells.

Check out the video on RipCurl.com

Al reaches into the hat and draws the first name. This winner will win Danes old short board, autographed and sprayed up as well.


And the winner of The signed Dane Reynolds board is………………………………. Aric Ellis!! yeeeoooooooooeeeeeeew.

Here’s a close up deck shot of the dane board for the giveaway, our winner Aric Ellis, this is yours!!

Heres a bottom shot of Dane’s board. This board is the Rookie Model, something very similar to the board he rode in his second heat as well as his quarter final heat against Joel parkinson at Snapper a few weeks back.

Next Al reaches in to pick the winner of the Kelly Slater signed Wizard Sleeve . Conner’s smirk tells me something is a little fishy here, he probably rigged the drawing so his brother Parker will win.

And the winner of Kelly’s signed wizard sleeve is…………………………….. Tyler Swanson!! Yahooooooooooooooo. All winners will be contacted by phone or email this week . Thanks for participating and we hope to be able to do something like this every month.