The Surf Blog Spot

Watch surfing highlights from the first day of the 2009 Quiksilver Pro – Gold Coast, Australia.

Check out Kelly Slater riding a 5′4″ rounded nose surfboard that he shaped→ Go to Round 1, Heat# 8. Slater is insane! I have a 5′6″ fish surfboard (about 3″ thick and lime green) from the 1980’s and I think that thing is hard to ride. But Slater is Slater for a reason. That’s why he has 9 world titles. What else does he have to prove?

The event was called off Sunday due to strong onshore winds and smaller swell. The contest directors will make a call Monday morning (Local Snapper Rocks time).

LIVE surfing contest webcast

The 2009 Quiksilver Pro started February 27 with surfers competing at Duranbah Beach.

Check in everyday for live streaming contest video, results, photos and news.

Quiksilver Pro presented by LG Mobile

The first event of the 2009 ASP World Surfing Tour kicks off this week on the Gold Coast of Australia. The 2008 ASP awards ceremony will also go down this Thursday in Coolangatta, Australia. This event will precede the first 2009 ASP surfing tour event. The Quiksilver Pro presented by LG main event runs from February 27 – March 11.

Kelly Slater (age 37) will be back this year contending for his 10th world title. He already has a record 9 ASP world titles and this year he could make it an even 10. Kelly Slater is the youngest (age 20) and the oldest (age 36) surfer to win a world surfing title. That is a pretty amazing achievement!

Does anybody think Slater will make it a Slate(n)r this year??

The second 2009 ASP event, the Rip Curl Pro, will take place at Bells Beach April 7 – 18.

Here are some notable surfer awards at the 2009 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast awards ceremony.

Awards Recipient List:

2008 ASP World Champion: Kelly Slater (USA)
2008 ASP Women’s World Champion: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)

2008 ASP World Tour Runner-Up: Bede Durbidge (AUS)
2008 ASP Women’s World Tour Runner-Up: Silvana Lima (BRA)

2008 ASP World Tour Rookie of the Year: Dane Reynolds (USA)
2008 ASP Women’s World Tour Rookie of the Year: Nicola Atherton (AUS)

2008 ASP World Longboard Champion: Bonga Perkins (HAW)
2008 ASP Women’s World Longboard Champion: Joy Monahan (HAW)

2008 ASP WQS No. 1: Nathaniel Curran (USA)
2008 ASP WQS Women’s No. 1: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)

2009 ASP World Tour surfing schedule

Are you tired of your 9 to 5 job and want to find a new one?  Do you want to work for Billabong, Hurley or Volcom??  Travel the world and bring your surfboard.

Find a surfing industry career or board sport job today!

Look for your next job on boardsportjobs.com

Oh well, I didn’t make the final cut at the Wheel of Fortune tryouts.  The audition was almost 2 hours long and there were about 70 people total.  I had high hopes of being the next Wheel of Fortune superstar, but I guess I wasn’t good enough.

There were 4 Wheel of Fortune ”coaches” there choosing who made the cut and who didn’t.  The audition was in a medium sized hotel  conference room and the contestants all had their own chairs. There was a digital puzzle on a projection screen in front of the room and the contestants were called on randomly to solve the puzzles.  The contestants had to stand up where they were seated, choose a consonant, choose if they wanted to spin or pick a vowel, and then decide if they wanted to solve.  One of the WoF employees would spin the wheel, 2 coaches would look at us and judge us, and the other one would put up the chosen letters on the screen.  Each potential contestant only had 2 chances to “try out.”  About 3 seconds if you yelled out an incorrect letter and about 1 minute if you got a few letters in a row.  After the projection screen puzzle solving, we were given a 5 minute written puzzle exam.  We had 16 partially filled out puzzles and had to solve them in 5 minutes.  Make that 5 very quick minutes.  I filled out 5-6 puzzles and only filled in the other partial puzzles.

After the exams and mock digital puzzles, the coaches came back into the room and read off the names of the winning contestants.  Needless to say, I was not on the “Made It” contestant list.  Too bad, so sad.  Now I have to wait a full year before I can try out again.

Just a heads up…I am off on my Big Adventure tonight.  I will be away from The Surf Blog Spot for a couple days because I am auditioning for the most watched syndicated program since May 1984.  Hopefully I will make it all the way to Pat Sajak and Vanna White!!  That’s right, I am auditioning for the famous Wheel of Fortune.

I received an email last week for an audition spot on February 4.  The tryouts are in Culver City, CA and the audition will last 1-3 hours. I won’t know until the end of the audition if I made it or not.  Wish me luck!!

Does anybody have any strategies or insider tips?

Sign up for the Wheel of Fortune!!