BROOKO’S BUSTED BACK

All wired up and ready for Brazil.

The joys and the pains of Surfing!

Surfers live a pretty banging life style. Travel and surfing the best waves in the world. Living the endless summer, beaches, bikini’s and barrels. Well it’s not all like that. Now I’m not one to start winging but the last few weeks have been tough. After my recent good results in

France and the States. I backed it up with a 33rd in Mundaka. (Or should I say the Bakio Pro, as this is what it is becoming after several bad years of waves.) In 1ft close outs. I then jumped on a flight to the Canary’s, A 6 star prime. I have heard nothing but good reports about the Canary’s. The problem was the wind was onshore, the waves were small, we got our wetsuit’s stolen and land is dust, not too different from the moon. I pick up some points and hightailed it out of there to Brazil where I am now.

A quick 15-hour flight and seated next to a huge football forward like person. My back is fucked as he needed two seats and decided to take mine. Luckily I am staying with Jarrad Howse and he has some electrode device called a Compex that has seemed to do the trick. Comps on and

I’m back in the water

‘Til next time I write.

DAMIEN HOBGOOD’S ALL GOOD

Well have not written in so long because not much has been going on until now. I finally got the x-rays back and the bone is pretty much healed back together but I’m taking it real easy because of what happened last time It healed back. I’ve got the go ahead to walk and it feels good but I probably won’t start training on it until November.
Then if everything feels a 100% I’ll try to go over to Hawaii in December and do the Pipe contest. Anon sunglasses flew me over to Australia for an event they did and to hang with the team and crew from Anon so that was a treat since I haven’t been doing much. I’ll hang here for a few days then back to the States where I’m hoping to get the go ahead to do some serious rehab on the legs?

Peace

Damo

RAD SPONSORS, WILD RIVERS.

It’s been awhile since my last blog. Had been on the road for over a month, in the States, France and Spain. Had a great time in America, got hooked up with a new major sponsor, Mada; and also a slick footwear sponsor, Ocean Minded.

Bordeaux, so much fun. © Yep

So I’m pretty happy to be sponsored again and with such rad companies, it had been seven months with out one. I didn’t get to repeat at Trestles but that’s all good, next year might be my year again.

Then I flew straight from the States to France which was fun as always. I didn’t do as well as I would have liked in the comp but I got to surf this river wave that was so fun. Check it out by (clicking here).

There was like 6 sections on it — 2 rights and 4 lefts. We had to chase the wave down the river in a little tinny and jump in, surf a section then jump back in again and fly down to the next one. It was so fun, a bit better then the barge wave I caught a few years ago.

The Straddie Assault, went right down to the wire. © Shieldsy.

Since I’ve been back in Australia, have been back home up to North Stradbroke Island for the Straddie Assault, more on that later, but you can find Parko’s version of events by (clicking here).

I’m out. Talk to you soon.

Bede

PANCHO’S PREDICTIONS

Hello Web Land.

This is getting a little ridiculous. Every single event has struggled to get decent surf this year. Not that you should feel sorry for us but I’m sure everyone can relate to enjoying a quality surf in good waves. Well let’s just
say that has been really rare for us this year.

Europe is always a really incredible experience but it is extremely tidal which means that it’s only really good at just the right tide. There were a few heats in France that had incredible waves. On the flip side I did get two free-surfs away from the contest area that were way more fun than anything else I have had all year on tour.

I’m back at home in Hawaii now and enjoying time with my family before heading to Brazil. Packed up the kids and headed down to Ali’i beach yesterday for the 31st annual Menehune contest at Haleiwa. It was such a treat to see all the kids having fun and absolutely ripping the waves apart. It was perfect size for them. 2-3ft.

I was blown-away by the level of surfing. The next generation of surfers coming out of Hawaii is mind-boggling. I will go out on a limb and say that by 2016 there will be at least 12 Hawaiians on the men’s WCT tour and at least five on the women’s WCT tour.

The best thing about the Menehune event is the emphasis on having fun. I hope wherever you are you’re having fun!

Cheers

Pancho

LIGHTS, CAMERA, CJ

 

Gallic Goodies © Sarge

I’ve been hanging in France with Dion Agius filming with Kai Neville and trying to get a section going for Taylor Steele’s new movie. Just bolting down to Spain when the comps on as I cant stay down there, it does my head in. You don’t surf enough there and the waves have been fun in France.

Dane Reynolds rocked in the other day and is on the same programme. I’ve seen the waves that Kai already has of Dane and it’s enough to make you want to quit surfing! Kai’s friend Beren has also been filming with Dion for his dion.tv web episodes that he has on the globe.tv website that’s been pretty funny as well.
Not too much for words right now but good times have been had.

Peace Ceej

FREDDIE’S FINGERPRINTS

making my mark.

The days seem pretty long down here in Mundaka, especially since the waves are flat. Tired of sitting in our room and staring at each other, my girl and I decided to head down to Guernica for the day.

Guernica is about a 15-20 minute drive from Mundaka. The town is a little bit bigger and there seems to be a lot more going on. We spent most of our day at a museum covering the bombing of Guernica and how they recovered peacefully.

My girl gets all Zen.

My girl gets all Zen.We also checked out an art exhibition called “Signs for Peace”, by Claus Miller. His paintings were created on the idea of peace, using fingerprints of famous people. Albert Einstein, Muhammad Ali, Dali Lama and Martin Luther King are among some of the historic finger prints used. It was a cool and educational way to kill time while waiting for surf.

A cool day out and it sure beats looking at a flat ocean.

BROOKO WINE CLUB

A couple of good results and then bang, a kick in the nuts 33rd. We are hanging out in Bakio, a small beachside town close to Mundaka. After making up so much ground and looking good to get back in the 27 … last, ouch … Oh well back on the WQS and over to the Canary Islands.

Step 1: Drink the bar dry.

Step 2: If bar stocks are depleted, drink the winery dry.

In the mean time I have been enjoying the local culture, eating and drinking with my Basque family Margaret and Txetxu. They home most of the Australians and today they showed us around one of the local wineries. We walked through the fields picking grapes from the vines and ended up drinking from the different vats … Pretty cool.

CAMBO BASQUES IN BAKIO

“Here’s the Occ making the most out ot Bakio”

How’s it gaarn!! Been in Europe for the last two weeks and I’m in Spain at the moment for the Mundaka event. The waves have been pretty small so I’ve been keeping busy; heaps of sightseeing and skating; there’s some sick skate parks in France. We‘re staying in a cool place in Bakio at the moment where, of an evening, we eat at the legendary Joshe Mari. I’ve been staying with the Wills family, Chucky and Wife of Chucky, Jayden and Symone. The kids have been teaching me clappy games, and card tricks … ouch! Jayden just smashed me with a spitball! Comp was on yesterday at Bakio, small but contestable waves.

Talk soon I’m goin’ surfing

Cambo