If you were watching closely yesterday—and you can be sure we were—you might have noticed a number of familiar surfboards being ridden during the WSL Longboard World Tour event in Sydney.   Photo Credit to @caitmiersphotography @wsl As the world’s best noseriders battled it out for spots in the semifinals, many of the top performers were on boards by Thunderbolt Technology—the same longboards that we have proudly been stocking here at Hawaiian South Shore for the past few years. These longboards utilize a patented, space-age construction process that integrates internal carbon fiber stringers throughout the board, producing unique, advantageous flex characteristics while still remaining true to their classic shapes. Photo Credit to @caitmiersphotography @wsl The Thunderbolt Technology must really work, because three of the eight surfers in the men’s quarterfinals were on Thunderbolt boards, along with Taylor Jensen, who was just barely beaten in round four on his TJ Pro. Waikiki royalty Kai Sallas squared off against his protégé Kaniela Stewart, both of them riding Sallas’ designs in the Thunderbolt construction. Photo Credit to @caitmiersphotography @wsl Kani ended up beating his mentor in a feel-good heat that saw the two of them chatting and laughing between waves—they even shared the last wave of their heat, with...

Margaret River is never an easy wave to surf, let alone compete on—and this year was no exception. After enjoying classic, perfectly groomed conditions at Bells, the tour headed west and was met by something very different. The first few days of the waiting period were windy and wonky, and any hope of running heats at The Box were dashed pretty quickly as it became clear that lip-line floaters and chop hops were going to be the flavor of the first few rounds. Then the second half of the window went ballistic, with cleaner (but still tricky) triple-overhead+ sets hammering Main Break. In other words, it wasn’t the easiest week to be a competitor in Western Australia. But the tour had business to attend to, so the men and women quickly got to work. Margaret River was the fifth event in a 10-event schedule, so at the end of the contest the mid-year cut was going to come into effect, which meant a third of the field would be cut. People were literally surfing for their careers, and a number of big performances were put in by lesser-known names, particularly on the women’s side, where nearly all of the top...

Understanding the World Surf League’s Mid-Year Cutoff and What It Means for Our Favorite World Tour Competitors If you’re as big a fan of professional surfing as we are, then you may have found yourself wondering what the commentary team at the Bells Beach Pro were talking about when they kept referencing the mid-year cutoff. For those of you who still don’t fully understand the World Surf League’s new format—and we don’t blame you, because it’s painfully complicated—here’s a comprehensive explanation of how it works and how it affects your favorite competitors. First of all, as in year’s past, the WSL Championship tour has 10 stops. The biggest differences in the schedule this year is that the men and women are surfing all 10 stops together, as well as the fact that Sunset, G-Land, and El Salvador are all on tour this year, while Snapper Rocks, Mexico, and Fiji are not. Oh, and just for good measure, the tour started in Hawaii this year instead of ending here. Halfway through the season, after five events have been contested (Pipeline, Sunset, Supertubos in Portugal, and Bells Beach and Margaret River in Australia), there is a mid-year cutoff. At this point, the...

WSL World Tour Starts at Pipeline on January 29 Photo By @adventures_ofjess   After an abbreviated 2021 season and a three-month hiatus, the world’s best surfers are dusting off their jerseys this month and getting ready to battle it out for the 2022 world title. While the world tour historically ended in Hawaii, the WSL adopted a new schedule last year that sees the tour start here on Oahu instead. The first event of the season kicks off at Pipeline with a waiting period from January 29 through February 10, and the world’s best are already in town warming up. After an epic showing at Da Hui Backdoor Shootout last week, both world tour competitors and local wildcards alike are fired up to compete at the heaviest wave on the planet, and with the epic run of surf and pristine conditions we have had all month, there’s a good chance the waves will be firing for the event. After Pipe, the second event of the season will be contested at Sunset Beach, which means that the rankings will be well-established by the time the tour leaves Hawaii. Based on his performances over the past few months (winning both the Haleiwa...

While the North Shore has quieted down for Christmas, joining the rest of us in taking a holiday and providing very little to get anxious about on the current forecast, last week was pumping—and just in time for the HIC Pipe Pro, which was a qualifier both for the Pipe Masters and the 2022 Challenger Series. The entire population of the North Shore had been watching the forecast for the past 10 days, with the first properly NW swell of the season telegraphed for over a week by just about every swell model and surf forecast in existent. But the swell ultimately ended up surprising just about everyone, as it came in much larger than the forecasted 5.7 feet at 15 seconds. Of course, we can’t know exactly how big it was, because the Waimea buoy went down a few days before the swell hit. But based on the numbers on Buoy 51101 (which is located 175 miles northwest of Kauai and peaked at around 9 feet at 17 seconds, Oahu saw some legit numbers during this pre-Christmas swell. How legit? Well Sunset was pushing 8-10 foot on the sets during the evening session as the swell filled it, and...

Surf Blog: Rain Swell and Last Contest of the Year PHOTO CREDIT TO WSL It has been a rainy, unruly week here in Hawaii, with a huge, super northerly swell intersecting with raging Kona winds and lots of rain. The entire state has been put on a state of emergency, Big Island had a blizzard conditions at high elevations with upwards of a foot of snow, and a handful of surf spots fired under the rare conditions, while everywhere else was pretty bad. But amongst all the chaos, the World Surf League got down to business, completing the last Challenger Series event of the year at Haleiwa. The Challenger Series is the new qualifying series, so there were a lot of people whose tour aspirations hung in the balance at this event. Despite the fact that the event was held in big, crazy conditions at Alii Beach Park, the cream ended up rising to the top. At the end of the day, Hawaiians and world tour surfers dominated, and a new crop of rookies earned their way onto tour.   PHOTO CREDIT TO WSL   In the men’s event, it was all John John Florence all the way through. No...

WSL Longboard Tour Is ON!   Now that the WSL shortboarding world tour has ended for the season, the focus has moved to the longboard tour, which has two championship events on the roster, as well as a 1000-point qualifier in Brazil in November. The longboard world tour kicks off this week on September 29, as 36 of the world’s best longboarders (18 men and 18 women) head to the Surf Ranch in Lemoore, California. The world’s most famous wave pool hosted a specialty longboard event in 2020, but this is the first time that results at the Surf Ranch will count toward the cumulative world title. Kelly Slater’s wave is well-suited to longboarding, as it is a long, perfect, relatively sectionless peeler that tops out at around chest- to head-high—pretty much every longboarders dream setup. While the Cuervo Surf Ranch Classic is the first longboard world tour event of 2021, 🤙🤙 the rankings from the abbreviate 2020 season are still in play when it comes to crowning a world champion. Points from the February 2020 event at Noosa Heads, Australia, will be combined with points from the Surf Ranch, and the final event of the 2020/21 world tour will follow shortly...

Carissa Moore and Gabriel Medina World Champions Photo Credit to WSL This was a weird year for the WSL world tour. The abbreviated season started at Pipe (it normally ends there), then had events at Sunset and Steamers Lane cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. A four-event leg in Australia got things going again, but then Brazil and Tahiti were cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic, which left only two events on the schedule—the Surf Ranch and Mexico. When the dust had settled, Gabriel Medina and Carissa Moore had both dominated and were way out in front. But to make things just that little bit stranger, they weren’t declared world champions. This year, the WSL sought to increase viewership through a new format that involved a winner-takes-all final event at Trestles. Rather than world tour points contributing toward the world champion’s final tally, it was essentially turned into a qualifying series for the world tour event—the idea being that a single-event world championship would make for great TV and generate lots of hype around a guaranteed champion crowning date, similar to sports such as football and basketball. The problem, of course, is that surfing is not football and basketball. It is...

Dear friends, bodysurfers, handboarders, sponsors, supporters and ocean enthusiasts... We are happy to inform you that the 2017 Point Panic Experience will be held next week FRIDAY & SATURDAY SEPT. 1st & 2nd with the following heats to be held on each day: DAY 1 (Fri. Sept 1st) All Bodysurfing (except keiki 19 & under) Women's bodysurfing & Women's handboarding DAY 2 (Sat, Sept. 2nd) Open Handboarding Keiki (19 & under) bodysurfing & handboarding Bodysurfing Grand Championship Due to estimated participant numbers, we tentatively plan on using a 4-person priority system for the 20-34, 35-49, 50+ bodysurfing age divisions, the open handboard division and the grand championship bodysurfing heat.  We also tentatively plan on using a longer (time-wise) 6-person heat format for all womens and keiki (19&under) divisions.  Therefore, based on the number of early entries received from June till today, we only have these remaining open spots left: DAY 1 (Fri, Sept.1st) 19 heats total Bodysurfing 20-34: 6 Bodysurfing 35-49: 0 Bodysurfing 50+: 12 Bodysurfing Women: 5 Handboarding Women: 6 Due to popular demand, we are INCREASING the number of available spots in the BODYSURF 50+ division from 2 spots to 10 MORE!!! If you want IN, you know what to do!  This...

2017 Point Panic Experience Early Sign-Up Day Saturday, June 10th 10:30AM - 4:30PM Hawaiian South Shore, 320 Ward Ave. Kaka'ako, HI Early Entry Fee: $40 for one division, $70 for two divisions Late (Beach) Entry Fee: $50 for one division, $90 for two divisions One event T-Shirt included per person with entry in one or two divisions. Official start to accepting early entries. All entries completed on Sat, June 10th will be entered in raffle prize pack drawing to be held at 4:30pm. A one-time Fri-Sat (or Sat-Sun, surf permitting) bodysurfing/handboarding event with holding period from June 23rd to mid-September. Bodysurfing Men's age divisions and handboarding open men's division with women's divisions in both bodysurfing and handboarding.

1. Talk about who you are. I grew up in Mililani during the 1980s when it was still a relatively small town compared to today. After high school, I moved to the Big Island and attended the University of Hawaii at Hilo while my family moved to the island of Molokai. I lived on Molokai off and on for ten years building my father’s house on Hawaiian homestead land, and I worked as an electrician with him all over Maui County. In 2008, I returned to Oahu to pursue a master’s degree at Hawaii Pacific University and have lived here on the island I grew up on ever since. I'm primarily a shortboard surfer (my favorite breaks are Off the Wall, Backdoor, Sunset Beach, Backyards, and Velzyland), but during the summertime, when the waves are flat on the North Shore, I either bodysurf point panic or surf some less crowded eastside spots. I'm currently a PhD student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a professional musician who specializes in performing for wedding ceremonies, cocktail hours, and receptions. My dream job is to become a fulltime, tenured communications professor and teach college students here in Hawaii.   Kanekoa BodySurf Point Panic 2. How did...

Looking Ahead to the Big Wave Awards Ask 100 big wave surfers if they’d rather win the Big Wave World Championship or the Big Wave Ride of the Year award, and you’ll get a pretty even split between the two. While a world championship puts you in the history books, Ride of the Year honors go to the single best big wave ridden all season—and for most people, that one wave will probably qualify as the best ride of their life. Every April, the WSL Big Wave Awards celebrate the best in heavy water heroics, bringing together the hardest charging men and women for one night of red carpet awards, raucous partying, and hilariously inappropriate monologues by Greg Noll. This next weekend, the 2017 Big Wave Awards will acknowledge the best rides from March 2016 to March 2017. Here are my predictions for the winners. Wipeout of the Year: Wilem Banks While all of the nominees are cringe-worthy, Wilem Banks’ pin drop to lip explosion at Mavericks in late January is on another level. Big wave board designs have taken a monumental leap over the past decade, with more width and thickness and fuller templates giving surfers that extra boost...