It’s that time of the year again — the best time of the year! Baguettes, cafe, siestas, beautiful women, great people and an abundance of world-class waves waiting just a tidal swing away. I’m talking about Europe. This is without a doubt one of our favorite legs of the slog all year long. And with some new stops in the Azores and Zarautz on the contest schedule, it added the perfect spice to the European menu.

People Know Tiago… And for that we say, “Thank you.”
One of my favorite things about coming to Europe is their endless support of their surfers. They really exude passion — chanting, cheering and they regard their surfers as national and worldwide recognizable icons, a true representation of their own spirit, blood and country.

Heading down to the Azores, most all competitors had to depart from Lisbon, Portugal in order to reach the island chain. The planes were small and packed with WQS competitors, so obviously, by first instinct you get that sinking feeling that your board bag might not be showing up on your same flight. Hell, sometimes they never show up.

Read the rest of the story on Surfline.com.

Check out the video here.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Tuesday, July 28, 2009) – Huntington Beach local Brett Simpson’s heroic run at the massive ASP WQS 6-Star Hurley U.S. Open saw him bump up from eighth to fifth overall amongst the hungriest competitors on The Grind and puts him in excellent standing at the halfway mark on The ASP WQS.

All of the globe’s ASP WQS members are competing for one of 15 spots on The Grind by year’s end to their place alongside the elite that make up the ASP World Tour.
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Waves today were pretty bad down here in HB, one to two foot , so the small wave arsenal was the GO– here’s the skinny on what the boys were ridin’! The U.S Open round of 96!!

Pat Gudauskas- 5-11 whip won his heat

Andy Irons 5-11 whip – won his heat

Dusty Payne 5-11 rookie- won his heat

Nat Young 5-9 proton – won his heat

Tanner Gudauskas 5-11 flyer epoxy (2nd advanced)

Nathaniel Curran 5-11 stock tangent (2nd advanced)

Eric Geiselman –white dove (2nd , advanced)

Sage Erickson – 5-8 whip epoxy ( made pro junior final)

Yadin Nichol 5-11 mbm –won his heat

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Hey guys!

We just uploaded some of the images from the game reserve trip we did on my birthday! Make no mistake these animals are crazy real and crazy big! We were tripping out. IT was awesome because you paid the toll, which was about 8 dollars for every person, and you just drove your car into the park. Kinda like jurassic park, the size of the park was enormous. We spent about 4 hours inside and stayed until dark. We didn’t get to see the lions but just about everything else was spotted including one dane dog ha!
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BALLITO, KwaZulu-Natal (Sunday, July 5, 2009) – Just hours after celebrating both his 21st birthday and American Independence Day (both on 4 July), Tanner Gudauskas (California, USA) celebrated the biggest victory of his professional surfing career, taking out the ASP WQS 6-Star Mr Price Pro Ballito today.

Gudauskas defeated Australian James “Taipan” Wood (Aus), rocketing to World No. 6 on the ASP World Qualifying Series and pocketing R159 000 (US$20 000) as well as 2500 ASP WQS ratings points.

“I just can’t believe it, this is a personal best for me!” said Gudauskas. “Every night this week I’ve been going to bed dreaming about winning this contest and putting myself up there where Pat (Tanner’s brother and ASP WQS No. 10 Patrick Gudauskas) was at, and it came through today so I’m fired up!”
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Check out Surfline.com for Spot Check: Lowers. The Guduaskas brothers narrate you through 38 images and share some insight. Have a look!

Hey guys thought if you had any free time you’d be stoked to check out some of the sleds in action! Tanner is riding a proton,
Patrick is riding his mbm+ with vee and myself(Dane), i am riding that mbm+ with concave.  It’s that board I was talking to you about that holds in with lots of speed.

Check it out!

Stoked, thanks, G bros

*Its the top left video with the Sydney Opera House in it…  its just us 3 surfing in Tasmania.

And check out their blog post on Tasmania at the3tree.com.