Rusty

The Coca-Cola Saquarema Pro 2010 had another great day of surfing with the Brazilian, Willian Cardoso, being crowned as the new king of Saquarema after a thrilling heat against Marco Polo, both from the south of Brazil.

Marco Polo decided to start early in the heat surfing as many waves as possible, while William opted to wait for the best waves as he did in his previous heats. He was rewarded in the last ten minutes with a 9.0 and 7.73 to take the win.

"I have no words. Winning here at Saquarema with the beach packed seeming like a stadium, it's an indescribable feeling," said Willian Cardoso. "I did not start the heat well, I was anxious, doing wrong moves...When I found nine points, I saw that I already turned the heat situation and when I was paddling back I got another good wave and only then began believing in the win."

With the 3000 points earned, Willian is now the sixth Brazilian among the ten who qualified for the 2011 ASP World Tour. He rose up twenty positions, jumping from 52 to 32 after the 19th stop completed in the Coca-Cola Saquarema Pro 2010.

The California kid, Nathaniel Curran, was the other surfer defeated by Willian in his winning campaign. He had a very tough heat against Willian, needing 14.17 points to overcome the Brazilian 17.20 pts.

"I started well and had good expectations, but he (Willian) had the best waves to make the highest-scores of the heat. I had to wait for a good wave, but it didn't happen", lamented Nathaniel Curran, who jumped from 72 to 54 in the ASP World Ranking. "I'm happy with my result, it was exciting surfing here. It is a place with great waves and this makes the tour much more exciting."

FINAL RESULTS OF COCA-COLA SAQUAREMA PRO 2010:
1 - Willian Cardoso (BRA) - scores 9.00 + 7.73 - US$ 20.000 e 3.000 pts
2 - Marco Polo (BRA) - scores 7.33 + 6.33 - US$ 10.000 e 2.250 pts

SEMIFINALS:
SF 1: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 17.20 x 14.17 Nathaniel Curran (USA)
SF 2: Marco Polo (BRA) 14.46 x 11.43 Travis Logie (ZAF)

QUARTERFINALS:
QF 1: Nathaniel Curran (USA) 13.66 x 10.86 Ricardo dos Santos (BRA)
QF 2: Willian Cardoso (BRA) 11.53 x 9.07 Heitor Alves (BRA)
QF 3: Marco Polo (BRA) 12.83 x 10.97 Jeronimo Vargas (BRA)

Rusty's Kevin Sulllivan came out the gates firing, winning his first round heat at the O'Neill Coldwater Classic 6 Star WQS Event! Kevin scored a 12.84 to take out fellow QS competitors Brendon Gibbens, Luca Guichard, and Stuart Campbell.

"I flew from Maui all the way to Scotland in one shot! 17 hours of flying two 6 hour lay overs and a 5 hour drive to Thurso Scotland! I have never been so jet lagged in my whole life." says Kevin.

"The drive was one of the most scenic views I've seen with nothing but nature and ancient historic castles! To have been through all that and win my first heat, I'M PSYCHING!"

Kevin is set to take on Brian Toth, Diego Rosa, Beyrick De Vries in Heat #6 in the Round of 96. The contest will resume today with the first Round of 96 heat and the call is set for 11 PM PST. Click here to watch the live stream!

Results Heat #4 (ROUND OF 128)
1. Kevin Sullivan - 12.84
2. Brendon Gibbens - 10.50
3. Luca Guichard - 7.67
4. Stuart Campbell - 5.30

Nate Yeomans is set to resume his 2010 WCT campaign at the Ripcurl Pro: Bells Beach. The Men's contest runs from March 30th to April 10th. Nate will be surfing in a stacked heat against Andy Irons and Dane Reynolds, who is coming off a quarter final appearance in the Quiksilver Pro.

UPDATE: Nate is set to go in Round 2, Heat 10 against Kai Otton

Head on over to Ripcurl's site to watch the contest live!

I have been over here at Bells for a little over a week now. The waves on the famed Bells bowl were pumping the first 2 days I arrived. Andy Irons was claiming it was some of the best Bells he has ever surfed in the 12 years he has been coming here. Since then things have slowed down and the surf has gone dormant. I got 3 new boards just the other day and since the surf is flat what better time than to spiff out the new crafts with a custom spray. Yea, its arts and crafts day!

-n8

Nate Yeomans takes a little break from the ASP Tour for some free surfing and a trip to the Currubin Wildlife Sanctuary.

ROAD TRIPPIN' THROUGH OZ

CURRUBIN WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

Interview from Waves Magazine

Congratulations. How do you feel?
It's pretty funny actually, I win a comp when I wasn't planning on surfing in comps.

Do you reckon your mind played a bit of reverse psychology with itself to score the win?
I dunno. I guess I didn't put any pressure on myself. I wasn't riding any of my boards and having a few beers and wines each night which might have even helped a bit.

I've heard some people say that it's one of the best finals they've ever seen. What sort of feedback have you received?
Yeah, I've had a lot of positive feedback. I guess those last minute clinches get people worked up. They're always the best finals to watch and it was nice to be at the receiving end of the win for once.

Whose boards were you riding?
I rode Ryano's (Bautista - Rusty team manager) board in one heat. I rode mine one day and then I rode Jayke Sharpe's board on the final day. I picked it up, it felt good and it ended pulling through for me.

What was Taj saying when you fought your way out of combo-ville with eight minutes to go?
He was frothing. He told me that my wave was sick and was kinda stoked. I was like 'I can't believe I pulled it.' I asked him what score I needed after it and he told me I needed a ten but I only needed a 6.5. He let me have another wave and got the score and he started clapping. It was sick.

I heard you were congratulating him with eight minutes still on the clock?
I was congratulating him with 15 minutes to go (laughs). I was like, 'four in a row mate. You're heavy. That's so good. You're going to be killing that single ranking system after winning this, Snapper and the Burleigh 'QS.' I was asking him how long it's been since he's won the Margaret's comp and he told me it was like 15 years or something (1997). I was like 'fuck man you must be stoked.'

You've had two finals with him so far this year. Is there going to be a friendly rivalry between you two?
I wish. I hope so. He'd be a good guy to have a rivalry with. He's the best in the world right now. Far out.

When you flew home from WA, didn't you pay $2000 for a seat that didn't recline?
I was so rattled about it. It was heavy (laughs). I spoke to 'em though and I think they're giving me coin back for it.

So, now you've made two WQS finals, will you be tackling a few more comps or sticking to your guns and giving them a miss?
I've only planned on doing five more this year. I'm doing Trestles because it's epic and the US Open because I need to be there for my sponsors. I'm going to be living in the States in the second half of this year so I'll also do Santa Cruz and the Hawaiian leg at the end of the year.

You moving the whole family over there?
Yeah, we're going to Bali for three and a half months and heading to The States for three and half months.

Lastly, how is the movie coming along?
Good. We've racked up heaps of footage so far and are currently dealing with Sony for the music. We're hoping to have heaps more footage from Bali. We're hoping to hit some lesser known spots and nail some exclusive stuff with me and the boys. - Ethdog.

This past weekend Rusty's Josh Kerr pulled off a stunning come from behind victory to take out top ranked Taj Burrow and claim the 2010 Drug Aware Pro! However, before he could celebrate on the podium, he had to go through some stiff competition which included former champ Mick Fanning (twice), Cory Lopez, and Adrian Buchan. Scroll down for all the video highlights from Josh's road to victory.

ROUND OF 96 HEAT #13

Results:
1. Josh Kerr - 13.77
2. Mick Fanning - 12.96
3. Marlon Lipke - 12.10
4. Jake Paterson - 2.43

ROUND OF 48 HEAT #7

Results:
1. Adrian Buchan - 14.50
2. Josh Kerr - 13.74
3. Wiggolly Dantas - 11.27
4. Dean Bowen - 9.16

ROUND OF 24 HEAT #6

Results:
1. Nic Muscroft - 14.00
2. Josh Kerr - 10.67
3. Blake Thorton - 9.67

ROUND OF 16 HEAT #5

Results:
1. Josh Kerr - 14.93
2. Mick Fanning - 12.57

SEMI FINALS HEAT #2

Results:
1. Josh Kerr - 14.50
2. Corey Lopez - 10.33

2010 DRUG AWARE PRO FINAL

Results:
1. Josh Kerr - 17.03
2. Taj Burrow - 16.50

Aerial Maestro Josh Kerr Wins ASP PRIME Drug Aware Pro pres. by Rusty

Josh Kerr claimed an incredible come-from-behind victory at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) PRIME Rated Drug Aware Pro at Margaret River.

Kerr defeated the home town hero Taj Burrow in front of the largest crowd ever seen at Margaret River estimated at 7000.

Burrow appeared to have a stranglehold on the Final when he opened with an excellent 8.5 ride and shortly after backed that up with another excellent 8 point ride leaving Kerr requiring a combination of two scoring rides to win.

In the final five minutes, Kerr caught two waves and unleashed three highest degree difficulty aerial moves, landed them all and scored a perfect 10 point ride followed by a 7.03 to turn the final around and take the win.

"I thought it was well and truly over and I even said to Taj out in the water that he'd won and how amazing it was for him to win four events in a row!" said an ecstatic Kerr after the final.

"I said I'm going in on this wave and as I rode the wave I thought I'd try and put on a show for the crowd and pull a big air. I landed it, saw another section and landed again and all of a sudden I have a perfect 10 point ride and I'm in with a chance!"

"I grabbed another smaller one on the way back out, knew that on a smaller wave I'd have to again go big with an aerial and I landed again! - It all happened so fast that I'm still shocked. It's easily the biggest win of my career and I can't believe it."

Final scores in the final saw Kerr on 17.03 to Burrow on 16.5.

Burrow was philosophical about the defeat.

"Surfing against a guy like Josh Kerr you always know he's capable of massive scores but that was amazing, he virtually congratulated me in the last five minutes and then caught that wave. He deserves the win, those aerials he pulled were massive, there was nothing I could do to stop him today."

Burrow remains the number one rated surfer in the world and feels confident leading into his next major event at Bells Beach in just over a weeks time.

"I feel great about my surfing, my boards are going well and I'm on good roll at present and I'm really looking forward to the next event. Hat's off to Kerr today, he surfed amazing!"

Kerr heads to Tasmania next week and the determined Queenslander is now positioned to again re qualify for the elite ASP world tour.

Chelsea Hedges (AUS/Gold Coast) won the Association of Surfing Professionals 6-Star Prime Rated Drug Aware Pro at Margaret River defeating Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS/NSW) in a nail-biting finish.

In what is believed to be a first for surfing, the final result went down to the last wave which both surfers surfed in the final 30 seconds!

A recent rule change allows 2 surfers to surf the same wave providing they split the direction and when Fitzgibbons, who held priority and elected to go left, Hedges quickly decided to go right and both girls scored well on their respective backhands on the same wave.

Fitzgibbons took the wave requiring a 7 point ride to win the event, and she scored a 7.4 to go to the lead however, Hedges improved her score with a 6.4 ride to regain the lead and take the win.

“That was an unbelievable finish” said a delighted Hedges after the win.

“It’s a recent rule change that we can split the peak and I was fortunately discussing it with fellow competitor Paige Hareb (NZ) this morning and we were saying how we thought it could work at a break like this and amazingly it has won the event for me!”

“”I knew when Sally started paddling for the wave she’d get the score to beat me and my mind raced on the idea to go right and better my own low scoring ride of a 5.5 and I did that with a 6.43 to win.”

Today’s result for Hedges continues the great start to the season for the 2005 ASP World Champion who placed 3rd in the opening event of this season and the 26 year-old who had a year off competing in 2008 to have a child is feeling great about her form.

“I came back last year after having a baby and was tentative and unsure how I’d cope with the new young emerging surfers like Sally and my 2009 season was just a fair one.”

“This year I’ve stepped up my training and preparation and my boards are great and winning here has me in a perfect place as I head to Bells Beach for my next event – I can’t wait!”

Fitzgibbons was disappointed to place 2nd but knew when she saw that Hedges had taken that last same wave that she’d probably lost the final.

“I finished the ride and felt great as I knew that I’d achieved the score to go to first but then I glanced across the peak and realized Chelsea caught the same wave and inside me I sought of knew she’d probably won as she only had to improve on a low score so it was disappointing for me but full credit to Chelsea, she surfed great and her early wave in the final was the wave that won it for her.”

Today’s win was 26 year old Hedges first ASP victory since she won the Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast in 2007. The following year she had the season off to have daughter Mieka, came back last season and finished the year in 7th position on the ASP World Tour Ratings.

The next event for both Hedges and Fitzgibbons will be at Bells Beach beginning March 30th.

Quarterfinalists Decided in Massive Surf at Drug Aware Pro pres. by Rusty

Huge surf provided ideal conditions as the world's top surfers charged the 12+ feet waves at Margaret River today.

An absolutely rampaging Josh Kerr took out reigning world champion Mick Fanning in the Round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals. Kerr controlled the heat early when he scored an excellent 8 point ride on a solid wave and performed some critical vertical moves to win the heat by 2.36 points - Kerr's 14.93 to Fanning's 12.57.

"That's the first time I've beaten Mick in a man-on man heat so that's a notch in the belt," said Kerr.

"I saw Mick fall on his last wave and knew I had a chance to take the heat. I felt good on that last ride, three strong turns in these conditions and I was confident I'd nailed the score and that's how it turned out" said Kerr.

Local favorite and current Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World No. 1 surfer Taj Burrow lead the charge by easily winning both his round of 24 and round of 16 heats to advance through to tomorrow's quarter finals where he will face fellow WA surfer Yadin Nicol.

"It's seriously big out there this morning," said an excited Burrow after the heat win.

"The largest sets are closing out the bay and we had to really had to communicate with the Jet Ski water patrol and avoid some of those sets - I concentrated on surfing the smaller 10 feet sets, which worked well for me."

Big wave surfers were in their element today.

Late in the day C.J. Hobgood dominated the break scoring both the day's highest scoring ride of a 9.17 along with the day's highest heat tally of 17.17 in his big win over Heitor Alves from Brazil.

"I love it out there, it's really like surfing in Hawaii and there's so much wave face to work with," said the 2001 World Champion.

"I'm excited about tomorrow with clean offshore winds and excellent conditions, it should be a great day to finish."

Adrian Buchan won the closest duel of the day defeating Vic Muscroft in a heat that saw the lead change multiple times. Buchan's last ride in the final 30 seconds when requiring a 6.4 wave score and registering a 6.8 saw him take the heat to advance to quarter final three tomorrow.

The final two heats of the day, with strong winds and consistent solid sets were won by Corey Lopez (USA) and Sunny Garcia (Hawaii) and they will face off in tomorrow's 4th quarter final.

Contest Director Mike McAuliffe, an experienced Margaret River surfer, adjusted the event schedule maximizing the Men's division on the peak of this swell and at this stage is aiming to complete the Men's final of the Drug Aware Pro presented by Rusty around midday tomorrow with the Women's scheduled for Sunday.

"The swell has peaked today and will slowly but I expect it to remain quite solid to 2m and with ideal winds the weekend's looking really good. If anything, tomorrow's conditions will be ideal for super high performance surfing which will be fantastic for the large crowds we're expecting here."

UPCOMING HEATS (QUARTERFINALS) - CALL SET FOR 3:30 PM PST

Check out the live stream by clicking here!

Quarterfinal 1: Taj Burrow, Yadin Nicol

Quarterfinal 2: C.J. Hobgood, Bede Durbidge

Quarterfinal 3: Josh Kerr, Adrian Buchan

Quarterfinal 4: Corey Lopez, Sunny Garcia