Savannah Shaughnessy was 16 when she first paddled out at Mavericks, the famed surf spot north of Half Moon Bay. As the waves peaked high and crashed hard, she watched from a distance.
A month later, she went farther, moving into the surfers’ takeoff zone – but she never took off.
“I didn’t feel prepared for the power you feel when you sit in that lineup,” the Scotts Valley native recalled. “I felt the intensity of the wave and … More
www.stokednews.com
Kauai’s Sebastian Zietz, 24, has posted the first major win of his five-year pro surfing career at the REEF Hawaiian Pro today to qualify for the 2013 elite ASP World Tour. Accounting for talent like John John Florence (HAW), Sunny Garcia (HAW), Julian Wilson (AUS) and Alejo Muniz (BRZ) along the way, Zietz earned $40,000 in prize money and now leads the 30th anniversary Vans Triple Crown of Surfing series ratings. Conditions today were super contestable with long, overhead waves that allowed maximum scoring potential.
Zietz (above) was  … More
www.stokednews.com
Wanning, Hainan Island, China – Kelia Moniz (HAW) has won the SWATCH Girls Pro China 2012 hosted by Wanning over Chelsea Williams (AUS), claiming her maiden ASP Women’s World Longboard Title. The pair repeated history by meeting in the Final as they did at last year’s SWATCH Girls Pro China, where Williams won, but today it was Moniz who took top honours. Moniz is the second ASP World Champion crowned in China and is a well deserved winner after consistently posting excellent scores all event, but the Final was her most dominant heat by far.
She rode the nose with style and grace, executed  … More
www.stokednews.com
Rather than mope around at home, legions of unemployed Spaniards are riding out the economic crisis on some of the best waves in Europe, driving a surf boom on the country’s northern breaks. With one in four now out of a job in Spain, surf professionals say the number of surfers has jumped on the stretch of coastline from western Galicia to the border with France.
People are taking their unemployment money and  … More
www.stokednews.com