Tri Bay Sports Blog

Darryl ‘Flea’ Virostko has packed a lot into his relatively short life. He’s won three of the last 6 Mavericks Surf Contests - The big wave contest held every year near Half Moon Bay. Its five-month contest window opened Nov. 1, meaning Mavericks can be held the next time giant swells roll in. And “Flea” will be ready to charge - more ready than he has been in a while. Turns out that “Flea” was pretty challenged by alcohol and is now into recovery.  Read more about his inspiring story. Click here.

The fourth annual World Skin Cancer Foundation’s Slater Brothers Invitational takes place Friday through Sunday at Coconuts on the Beach in Florida, featuring nine-time world champion Kelly Slater, the contest’s defending champion.

There will be 36 shortboard competitors and 24 longboard surfers in the two contests, which — if waves are good enough — will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Depending on wave conditions, this event likely will push back the annual Quiksilver King of the Peak contest at Sebastian Inlet to Monday.

“We have a good time,” said Kelly’s older brother, Sean, the chief contest organizer. “Everyone who has surfed in it always tells me how it is the ‘funnest’ event they’ve ever been in. Some are upset they have to miss it.”

For the full story, go to FloridaToday.com: Click here.

Maybe it’s because it’s the biggest, baddest, best surf contest near the headquarters of Tri Bay Sports. Maybe it’s because it showcases one of our best local breaks. Maybe it’s because it shows the rest of the world that you have to be bad ass to surf the cold waters of Nor Cal. Whatever the reason, we here at Tri Bay Sports LOVE the O’Neill Cold Water Classic.

The competition started today and has been everything that we hoped for. The top seeds took to the water in clean four-foot conditions at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz today and the premier surfers crushed the event’s highest scores while the local favorites fell early.

If you want to see some of the best surfers in the world at their competitive best, head on out to the Lane. The weather conditions are supposed to be good and the swell forecast for Saturday and Sunday is “HUGE”. Check it out.

Footwear brand Kustom is again offering a $50,000 cash reward to the surfer that lands the best and most innovative aerial move between January 1 and August 31, 2010. This contest will once again be surfing’s richest single-manoeuver event. Watch a short video here.

Last year the event was won by the Hawaiian teenage prodigy Dusty Payne, who overcame entries from many of the world’s greatest aerial surfers, including Jay Davies, Mitch Colborne, Ry Craike, Clay Marzo and Chris “Chippa” Wilson to claim the winner-take-all $50,000 prize.

“Kustom’s mission with the Airstrike remains to produce surfing that is so inspired and revolutionary that it breaks all the rules, ultimately changing the face of surfing as we know it,” said Harry Truscott, General Manager of Kustom footwear.

The Kustom Airstrike concept has won support from some of the world’s best surfers, including three-time world champion Andy Irons and 2009 world title contender Joel Parkinson, both Kustom team riders.

The Telegraph, one of England’s more colorful newspapers, reports today that Europe’s first artificial surf reef is being opened in a place called Boscombe, which is on England’s southern shore. The telegraph reports that “The reef has spiralled in costs from £1.35 million in 2006 to £2.68 million”, and that “sandbags covering roughly the size of a football pitch are fixed to the seabed, nearly 250 yards (225m) from the shore east of Boscombe pier. (Click here to read entire article.)

Interestingly, Wikipedia reports that Boscombe is not considered the most upmarket area in the Bournemouth area however the area has improved significantly over the past 5 years. Previously, the presence of drug dealers and high crime rates, along with mainly small and pokey houses have deemed most of the area as unsophisticated. However, with the on-going regeneration plans and new housing developments these problems are diminishing at a considerable pace. Support and interest in the town is likely to improve over the next year, leading into September 2009, with the completion of Boscombe Surf Reef. Citation.