NEWS JULY 2008

28/07/08

Novy has been sampling the goodness we all know that WA has to offer during the past week. He snuck over early last week and lucked into a few fun days at The Box before the Pro Tour event this past weekend.

His early arrival in the West definitely paid off in the form of his first ever Pro Tour victory at the EBB Pro on Saturday. The seventh event on the 2008 Human Pro Tour will go down in the record books as one of its finest, as a combination of clean offshore winds and pumping swell greeted competitors.

“I’m stoked to have finally won an event, it makes the trip West all that much sweeter”, said Novy who secured his win in the dying minutes of the final just ahead of Dave Winchester, Ryan Hardy, and Ben Delf's who placed second, third and fourth respectively.

Novy will be heading home tonight in anticipation of waves on the East Coast this week.

Mitch Woodland, who has been cruising on the East Coast for the past month, celebrated his 20th birthday in fine style a couple of weeks back.

"We went out in Newcastle and got back at 7 in the morning, so hung over!", he laughed. "I haven't had a night out like that since i turned 18. Newy was an easy option, couple of girls [laughs]." What can you say? There's nothing like a 3am McDonalds binge after a big night out on the booze.

He ventured to the South Coast last week with the Claws and Teeth lads where he "got a few good days, one day at Blackrock and a solo surf at Depot which was gnarly!"

After a month of below average waves - well, for this time of year anyway - and enough partying to last a lifetime, Mitch will be flying back to WA this weekend.

23/07/08
Tommy Smith Japan Update. "The trip is going sick, I love this place! I ended up scoring second on the weekend at the Morey Flipper Cup. Everyone was stoked! I was loving the result and I met a gorgeous girl [laughs]. Living like a full rockstar over here, going into Tokyo on Thursday night to scope out a few more babes. The Japanese love their beers, I have been drinking a little bit but only 'cause they insist [laughs].

"The Manta Emotion Cup is on this Saturday, I want to win this one. Last weekend I was beat by a little Japanese small wave machine, him and another dude hassled the shit outta me in the water but everyone is really kind on land."

Tom will arrive back in Australia with more stories than you can poke a stick at early next week.

16/07/08


The race for the 2008 Human Pro Tour title will head to WA’s south-west corner next weekend as around 100 of Australia’s best bodyboarders assemble for the EBB Pro on 26 and 27 July. The seventh Pro Tour event for 2008 will run in conjunction with the final round of the WA State Bodyboard Series.

Using a mobile approach to the competition’s location, the EBB Pro will take advantage of the abundance of premier beaches that the south-west WA has to offer. The event will be a fantastic opportunity for WA bodyboarders to mix it up in their home state with some of Australasia’s very best. WA’s own Brad Hughes explained how excited he is to have this rolling into his home state.

“It's great to have the event back on down south, it is such a great place for a contest because of the amount of good waves down there plus the swell it gets this time of year. So many bodyboarders go down there to surf places like The Box so it's great to be able to compete down there.”

Hughes, who is currently looking for a solid finish to the 2008 IBA Australasia Pro Tour, will be hoping that his local wave knowledge and experience will help him to come up with a good result. “It will be great to get a result back home, I am finally going to have an advantage over the east coast crew," Hughes said.

Western Australian’s have long lead the surge in bodyboarding’s progression, with the likes of Ryan Hardy, Sean Virtue, Chad Jackson, Adam Leuhman, Joe Jordanoff and Hughes all pushing the sport into the 21st century. WA has no shortage of talent coming through the ranks either, with last year’s Open Men’s National Champion Alex Halsey, Ryan Hands, and Ben Vietch all likely to be in the lead group challenging for the 2008 EBB Pro title.

Surfing WA Events Manager, Justin Majeks is looking forward to a new era in WA bodyboarding and the positive benefits that the EBB Pro brings to the state.

“Surfing WA is committed to the development of young male and female bodyboarders aspiring to join the professional ranks, which these days is highly competitive given the outstanding level of competition mainly focused on the eastern seaboard,” he explained.

“Through the fantastic support of EBB we are able to bring the best of Australia’s bodyboarding talent pool to WA and give our kids invaluable competition experience and opportunity to see what it takes to cut it with the very best. The Surfing WA team of professional staff is thrilled to be in the position to deliver what is hoped to become one of Australia’s biggest bodyboarding events, and an ongoing feature on the Western Australian surfing calendar”.

The IBA Australasia two star rated EBB Pro will kick off from July 26th 2008 with over $3000 worth of prize money up for grabs in Open Men, Open Women, and Drop Knee divisions.

Download Entry Form here.

11/07/08

So, that's just taste of what Novy has been up to on his travels with the Digital Children throughout the first half of 2008.

Michael has been laying low on Queensland's Sunshine Coast over the past week or so after an unsuccessful SIC Trials campaign. Well, he did secure a spot in the Main Event as a reserve but who would be stupid enough to give up their place in the premier event on the IBA World Tour, right?

He will be hanging out on the Gold Coast for the next few days helping Eppo at Bodyboardshop. If you are in the area today or over the weekend, drop into the Burleigh Heads store and say g'day!

Novy's 08/09 LMNOP models will be dropping in stores across Australia in the very near future. Check out the LMNOP website for more information on his two new models and the entire 08/09 range.

08/07/08

Winston McCall dropped into UNITE. HQ yesterday to hang out and pillage us of some new product. Apart from some time on the road in June with Parkway Drive for their most recent Australian Tour, Winston has been cruising at home in Byron Bay for the past couple of months. He has managed to luck into plenty of good waves along the Far North Coast, NSW during his time off from his hectic schedule.

Parkway Drive will headline Hardcore 2008 in Sydney this weekend. Tickets are on sale now. For the full line up and more details click here.

Winston and PWD will once again be heading back to the US in July/August to tour as part of the Thrash And Burn Tour, joining the likes of Darkest Hour, Misery Signals, Stick To Your Guns and many more. They will then return to Europe this November where they will be headlining the Never Say Die Tour along with Unearth, Despised Icon, Protest The Hero and many others. Go here for dates.

4Play just released four new Damian King models in their 08/09 range which is available in stores across Australia now. For more information, head on over to the 4Play website and download the new 4Play 08/09 Catalogue.

03/07/08

Tom Smith spent the last week hanging out at Manta HQ working on some new rides with Manta shaper / team manager Reon Fisher. Tommy is gearing up for his upcoming trip to Japan where he will be competing in the Manta Emotion Cup held on 26th and 27th of July in Fukushima, Japan and also the Morey Flipper Cup held in Chiba, Japan.

Reon commented. “The purpose of Tom’s trip to Japan is not only for the promotion of Manta but to encourage more Japanese males to take up the sport of Bodyboarding. Japan is one of the only countries in the world where Bodyboarding is heavily female orientated. I think Tommy will be able to showcase the more hardcore technical aspect of the sport to the Japanese and hopefully encourage more males into the sport. Originally we had planned for John Showell to go over for the events, but we didn’t want to disrupt his Shark Island [Challenge] training. Tom became available for the trip and we thought the Japanese girls will love his blond wig," he laughs. "It should be fun times for Tom as he is the face of the contest.”

“The original plan for my trip to Cronulla was to qualify for the Island contest," Tom said. "After a third round bomb out I was devastated."He continued. "When Reon told me about the Japan trip I was amped on the idea. I now plan on focusing all my energy that I had planned for the Island into taking out the Japan events. I got some new boards so I am chomping at the bit to get them in the water and get ready for Japan.”

The Manta Tom Smith TRS Model is available in stores across Australia now. For more information, go to the Manta website and download the Manta 08/09 Catalogue. And while you're at it, check out this clip.

02/07/08

Movement Issue 24. "This issue runs with our first dropknee cover in almost two years, the exact amount of time since our last all-dropknee trip, the next instalment of which happens inside.

"The heavy wave crews and those who smile at other people’s foolhard-bravery will be suitably appeased with a Shipsterns bonanza staring Dave Winchester, some Sydney crew and a new young face whose proving a local sensation, Charlie Ward.

"Our pick of the nation’s unsigned talent took the new season’s board models on media trips to various corners of Oz, surfing everything from wedging D’bah to big, ledging Lunas and profiling their rides along the way."

Movement Issue 24 on sale now! Check out the teaser here.

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