The Quiksilver Welsh Nationals

The Quiksilver Welsh Nationals will once again be held over the May Day bank holiday weekend of 1st, 2nd and 3rd May at Freshwater West, Pembroke.  The back up venue of Whitesands, St Davids is also available to organisers should conditions at Freshwater look to be unfavourable. The event which showcases Wales best surfing talent in a variety of disciplines' / age categories is the biggest surfing event in Wales with record entries and fantastic backing from Quiksilver this promises to be yet another superb event.

Current Open Champion Lloyd Cole is in a race to be fit in order to defend his crown successfully having recently undergone hip surgery on a nagging injury. Should Cole fail to reach fitness in time the likes of Harry Cromwell, Rob Blyth and Josh Hughes will fancy their chances of taking his crown!

In the women's event Beth Mason will be hoping to put a run of titles to her name as she looks to defend her tile from previous Champion Jo Dennison and a fully fit Gwen Spurlock.

The Quiksilver Welsh Nationals have been on somewhat of a role over the last couple of years with excellent conditions and good weather! Organisers will be crossing their fingers in the hope that all their good luck vouchers haven't been used up and that Freshwater West will once again deliver the goods. What ever the  weather, with three days of continual action competitors will be tested by all sorts of  conditions  making victory at  Freshwater a true challenge of skill and fitness.

We look forward to seeing you at the event and wish all the very best of luck, entry forms are available on this website and should be received no later than Thursday 29th April.
More information on the web site: www.welshsurfingfederation.org.uk

Kelly Slater takes the lead on the ASP World Tour

The team Quiksilver surfer, Kelly Slater made the final alongside Brazilian Jadson Andre at the third event of the ASP World Tour in Santa Catarina Brazil.

Despite a great run early on in the week, the American couldn't find the waves to match the event local and rookie in the final of the event.  The young prodigy Jadson Andre unleashed an aerial display to score 14.40 points.  Kelly Slater couldn't better his 14.00 points in the thirty-five minute final.

In the semi final, Kelly Slater defeated Owen Wright who was victorious over Jeremy Flores in the fourth round.  Earlier in the competition, the Floridian had beaten Brazilian Messias Felix, then American Tanner Gudauskas and finally Australian Chris Davidson in the fourth round.  In the quarter final he was man-on-man against South African Jordy Smith and emerged victorious with a total of 15.43 points.

This second place result in the final took him to the top of the overall rankings on the ASP World Tour ahead of Jordy Smith (ZAF) and Taj Burrows (AUS).

After his victory in the second event of the ASP World Tour at Bells Beach ‘King Kelly' showed us once again his determination to win a tenth World Title.

Of note was also the strong performance of Dane Reynolds (USA) who surfed sensationally throughout the competition, but finally came unstuck against Jadson Andre.  This third place result also ensured he climbed the ASP World Tour rankings to joint 6th place.

The next event of the ASP World Tour will take place in Jeffrey's Bay in South Africa between 15th -25th July.

The Quiksilver King of the Groms kicks off in Europe

The Quiksilver King of the Groms is the major worldwide tour for surfers in the U16 category. The leading competition for elite young surfers from around the world for over 20 years, the event remains a veritable rite of passage for budding talents hoping to embark upon a professional career. Jérémy Florès (Fra), Aritz Aranburu (Euk), Taj Burrow (Aus) or Miky Picon (Fra) all came to prominence in this contest. More recently, Reunion's Maxime Huscenot, who became ASP Junior World Champion 2010 in Narabeen, and Brazil's Gabriel Medina who took the ISA World Champion title in January, both achieved their first successes on the international stage at the King of the Groms, before going on to hugely promising pro careers.

Selected in some 20 countries on every continent throughout the spring of 2010, the current 18 best young surfers around will come together next September in south-west France, during the Quiksilver Pro France 2010 (the only French leg of the ASP World Tour), to compete in the International Final of the King of the Groms, in the same conditions as the world's top senior male surfers.

As a prelude to the International Final, the European tour consisting of 14 stages will have its very own final, to be held in Zarautz on the Basque Coast in early August, where two European surfers will be selected to go through to the Final of the King of The Groms 2010. The European Series will kick off in May in the French Antilles and Canaries, and will continue across the continent through June and July (see schedule below). For the first time Morocco enters the euro series.

European Final in Zarautz (July)
32 surfers competing (18 qualified on European Series + 4 wildcards)
Best 2 surfers qualified for the International Final

International Final (September) during Quiksilver Pro France
18 surfers competing (Best 2 surfers of European Final + 14 qualified on International Series + 2 wildcards)

Calendar, News, photos and videos available on http://www.quiksilverlive.com

Injured Slater Bests Fanning to Claim Fourth Bells Beach Title

JOHANNA BEACH, Victoria/Australia (Friday, April 9, 2010) - Kelly Slater (USA), 38, former nine-time ASP World Champion, has claimed his fourth Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach presented by SNICKERS title over reigning two-time ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, in clean three-to-four foot (1 metre) waves at the backup venue of Johanna Beach.

The second stop on the 2010 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach was completed over four different venues this year, with Round 1 at Bells Beach, Round 2 at Thirteenth Beach, Round 3 and the opening half of Round 4 at Winkipop before the final day was completed at Johanna Beach.

Following a relatively slow start to the highly-anticipated Final, Fanning unleashed with a 7.17 to take the lead. The lightning-fast Australian strung together a series of high-speed maneuvers to pull ahead and put the Floridian on the ropes.

However, Slater would answer back with an incredible Alley-oop aerial maneuver, boosting so high his feet separated from his board before he recovered for an 8.93. Slater then paddled out into another excellent wave, scoring an 8.10 to bring his total to 17.03 out of a possible 20 - a lead that Fanning would no surpass.

Miguel Pupo wins Quiksilver Pro Junior in Brazil

The first stop of the ASP South American Pro Junior Series 2010 showed high performances surfing from the best juniors in South America. In the men's division the two standouts surfers, Alejo Muniz and Miguel Pupo, made the final very exciting till the last minute.

Alejo Muniz was leading the final with scores 7,83 and 6,10, while Miguel Pupo with the score of 8,0 points on his second wave was patiently waiting for another high score wave to take the lead.

Around 1 minute to go, a little left came and Pupo, using the priority, made the most of it to score 6,43 and take the win. “I was confident that the wave was going to come for me, so I waited to give the best of me, and I'm sure everything is going to be better from now on”, said happy Pupo.

Miguel had the best performance of the event on the semifinal against Peterson Crisanto, scoring 9,17 and 10 point ride, that also gave him the DC Best Wave prize.
The other semifinal saw Alejo Muniz beating another Brazilian Kristian Kimmerson to advance to the final.

Quiksilver Pro Junior - Results
Final –
Miguel Pupo (BRA) 14,43 def Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13,93
Semifinals –
Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12,16 def Kristian Kimmerson (BRA) 4,77
Miguel Pupo (BRA) 19,17 def Peterson Crisanto (BRA) 8,50