OK, we know who won the World Titles, Triple Crowns and Pipe but the big question is “Who won the annual touch footy State of Origin played at Sunset primary school? Emotions were runing high so please excuse some of the language. Take your side and yell for your team….
Cheers,
Whits
Pipe was pumping for the first two days … The World Title went down and everyone has already seen that so I wanted to show you all a few waves with a little retirement send off to legends Greg Emslie and Phil Macca.
Enjoy,
Whits
OK all, I had a shocker … The Eddie big wave event was on and in my total excitment I whipped out my Flip to capture all the crazy rides and my battery was dead.
I was able to capture the highlights on TV as it was live, so here are the biggest drops of the day..
Enjoy
Whits
Hi Again….
Us Aussies don’t have Thanksgiving but I wish we did. It’s like Christmas, all the food you can eat, a few beers and a great vibe. Hope you enjoy a ride around the Thanksgiving vibe at the Oakley house.
Cheers and beers.
Tom Whits.
Been cruising the South Pacific for a good couple of weeks now. © Joli
After starting the year in two rights, it was time to escape and go left for a while.
Fiji … The perfect week to go surf lefts and warm up for Tahiti. My Team Manager at Oakley, Ronnie, gave me the short notice call — and who wouldn’t jump on a four-hour flight to surf Cloudbreak and Restaurants for a fun week with no contest singlet?
US surf forecast website, Surfline, had a great bunch of crew going for the week and I was lucky to go for the ride. Fun waves all week, up into the 5′ range, was such a cool warm-up before Tahiti. Just surfing with crew really stoked to be out there makes a world of difference.
I tagged Ace and Parko on the Saturday changeover and I was like a grommet; up early, surfing, in to eat, back out at another spot, eat again, back out for a late, and then a cold beer to talk about the sessions and cool happenings of the day.
I popped over to Namotu to catch up with our good friends Mandy and Scotty, which always involves a few tins. Big shout out to all the new mates I made that week, so cool to surf with you all and set the excitement that was shown in the water.
That done, it was a little longer flight to Tahiti, and here we are. …
Well, it’s the third last day of the waiting period and I haven’t surfed a heat yet, kinda weird. Had some really fun sessions and a few cool tubes before the crowd on our massive(not) rubber ducky with Otts, Dayoof and Macca. H
Hopefully these last few days are fun, with some more tubes, and we’ll be sitting around sipping cold Hinanos with a big trophy!
Gotta get back to my sixth coffee for the day, it’s getting cold.
Au Revoir,
Whits
Some new mates from Fiji, Dougy Ron, Matty, Mika And I — – Tommy
Bronte pigs, winners are grinners! © Global Surftag
Hi All,
Long time no blog. I’ve been having way too much fun to sit down and write but I did find a little time so here we go …
Christmas and the New Year at home is all about summer and chillin’ out. The weather is all-time, waves not so good but I was happy to forget about surfing for a while.
Christmas with the family and New Year’s Eve was great but my fun was New Year’s Day, I had a dress-up ping pong cocktail party for those of my friends who could back up after a big New Year’s Eve.
First to arrive was Clouse (Jarred Howse) and the bloody marys started from there. After hours of different cocktails the ping pong started up, and I could go into the ding dong battles of epic proportion but I lost first round and was back on the couch crying into my bloody mary so I’m not giving anyone else glory. (Sorry Bruns, u did smash us all).
After the New Year I was off on holiday to Thailand! Yep, no waves there either and I didn’t mind. Still had a sore knee so was perfect to rest and sink a few more cocktails. Some amazing places there and the food was all time. Tried so hard to not put on weight but came home a little over fighting weight, hahaha.
The elephant that helped me propose.
I also proposed to my girlfriend, which was the highlight of the trip. She never saw it coming and thankfully said “YES”.
Home now and time to get ready for the start of the tour, the feet are getting itchy to surf my brains out which is great. Got the competitive juices flowing with the state Surftag team bout and, yes, The Bronte Blue Ducks took it out.
If you want to know exactly how we got our name “The Blue Ducks” check the site next week when I take you on a tour of my home beach. © Global Surftag
Such a fun event — we had to surf the trials and ended up winning the whole thing, not only that, we won every heat!!!
Well, I’m done. I never look at my computer this long. My eyes are getting weird!
Seeya on the Goldie,
- Whits
Looks good but doubt the shot was !!!
Hello Frothers,
Back from good times in Europe but all I have to froth is the milk for my coffee as it’s pretty bad waves here at the moment!
The tour has been pretty damn fun with lots of really good waves. Trestles pumped and Hollywood was offshore, the beachies in France were punchy and the golf course pure, and we finally got to surf Mundaka doing its thing!
Contest-wise it was a little slow for me, but u get that in our game. I was able to get something happening in Spain which was cool as I was on the bubble to re- qualify.
Surfing Mundaka again was epic, that place is really cool and with the crowd looking down onto the waves it creates a real cool stadium feel.
Our mate Belly with the world title.
A big congrats to king Kelly for his ninth title, it was pretty special watching that freak do his thing this year: and also to Ace Buchan, the legend, for winning his first ‘CT. I’ve had enough of this keyboard already (such a slow typer), so I’ll just add some shots of us having fun out of the water!
Best time ever riding mopeds around France. We looked so tough, all in black, until Bede crashed, totalled his bike and skinned himself!!!
Hope you’re all well in web world,
See ya in the surf,
Whits
Hello web world,
How are we all? Been a while since I wrote, been a little lazy and having a little too much fun!
What’s been happening with me? Well, contest wise, it’s been a bit of a mixed bag. Tahiti went well (besides giving Manoa a 10), I had a ball, living the dream at Teahupoo, getting tubed, keeping fit playing footy in the yard, and enjoying a cold Hinano as the sun set.
Taking it all in at Teahupoo. © Joli
Two wildcards in the final was a bit strange. They went well and used their "nothing to lose" advantage well in the inconsistent surf (ha ha, I sound sour).
Fiji was a different ball game – looking at the maps we were all so excited to get there. I got sick about four days before we left and didn’t get healthy ’til I got home. That place is so, so fun, and watching the boys surf, eat and have fun all day was the worst as I slept all day, but I guess u got to cop it on the chin. I manned-up and tried to surf my heat but the old chicken legs had no power and lost with a tiny total.
Oh well, take it as a throwaway and move on. Plenty of contests to go and should be fun watching everyone chasing that freak with the lady’s name!!! He has been on fire, looking totally relaxed yet focused and not holding back, really impressive.
Enough about contests, we have been home for a while and it’s been so cool. Not the best weather but lots of waves. Getting into the rhythm is epic; doing some training, and the best stuff – watching the Roosters and playing golf.
Well, looks like more waves for us here in Syd after this rank storm moves off us. Might have a sneaky run down the coast with a few of the boys, think Bede is even flying down for a day or two. Will let u know how our trip went!
The boy from Straddie is such a legend and making the tour look easy this year! © Joli
Well, that’s what this kid has been up to. Hope you’re all getting fun waves.
See ya round,
Whits
Haha, so this one’s not from a wedding, but a real funny shot of TB and Ben Dunn … Oh shit, wait, that’s not Ben, it’s Snake Pato, with hair!!!
Hello all,
Sorry it’s been a little while, us pro surfers get bit selfish sometimes! It’s been such a crazy-busy start to the year; haven’t really stopped since Christmas.
I won’t bore you with all the details but — along with the usual training and getting ready for the start to the year (which has started pretty slowly for me, with two 17ths) — I’ve had about one million weddings to go to. Must be a sign of getting old! Haha, not that old ay, Snake!!! From the Goldie to Sydney to NZ it’s been fun.
Here’s some shots of a few and I’ll try and get more fun ones soon. Still recovering from Anthony Macdonald’s (brother of Phil’s) wedding!
Oops, not a wedding but a cool shot of the boys at a charity night for Y.O.D.A (Youth Organ Donation Awareness).
How good is a wedding on the beach!!! Lifetime friend Caruscy, gettin’ hitched.
With Azza Graham and my old sparring partner Hitcho.
These gents’ names are actually Dick and Harry so all three of us together was funny stuff.
The new Mr and Mrs James. An amazing wedding in Queenstown NZ.
Christmas with the mates at Bronte.
Hello all u freaks in web world, hope u all had a great festive season and Santa was kind to u all! Gee it’s been great to be home although I haven’t enjoyed the swell like all the boys up the coast. Speaking to Luke Munro, he said it was some of the best waves he has ever seen — even had Luke Stedman not letting go of the rope on his first wave as he saw it triple sucking up!!! Hahahahahaha.
Sure, they had some strange boardies and a little less rocker on their boards, but since the olden days, surfing and beer have been always been ruling the roost during Christmas at Bronte.
Spent Chrissy at home, ending with plenty of drinks on top of Bronte clock where all the boys end up for a beer! Showed some overseas friends the Syd fireworks for New Year’s and enjoyed a lot of good food and cold beers, so the rig is looking not the best! Time to get into shape now for the new season.
Sydney New Year’s.
Heading to South Africa tomorrow for a surf trip with my sponsor Oakley which should be good!! Always fun to check out a new area, hope we get some waves. I will be hooking up with the South African BRUs; Davey Weare, Royden and Greg Emo so that will be wicked!!
Keep safe and I’ll fill u in with the trip when I’m back!!
Hope you’re getting waves!
Whits
