During the Grand Opening in April, Wingnut presented Jed with a practical gift from Rich Harbour.

Jed Noll Finds the Right Alchemy on a San Clemente Corner

The first surf shops began as extensions of shaping rooms. Out of the 1940s and into the 1950s, guys like Matt Kivlin, Joe Quigg, Bob Simmons, Jack O'Neill and Dale Velzy ' " then Hobie and Greg Noll and etc - who were busy as bees shaping surfboards in garages and small workshops, found that as demand grew, it was a good idea to hang a shingle and sell surfboards from the front of the store, at the same time they mowed balsa (then foam) and sanded and polished in the back.

Business was slow in the early days, so slow it was possible for a surfer to work the back and the front ' " working with hand tools and planers and focusing on curves and surfaces, all the while keeping an ear out for a tinkling bell or some other warning that a customer had walked into the shop with cold, hard cash.

From those easy beginnings, the surf shop began to evolve. During the surfin' sensation of the 1960s. Greg Noll bought a building the size of a city block, and set up a Rube Goldberg/Henry Ford operation which blew foam on one end and set up an assembly line with produced as many as ??? surfboards a week.

Surf retail also evolved, you might have noticed, into a multi-billion dollar industry. The tinkling bell is now drowned out by the sound of kachinging cash registers, as surf shops are now the size of Gimbals, employing thousands of sometimes vacant eyed personnel, selling everything from wax pickles to $3000 carbon fiber standup paddleboards.

Jed Noll Surfboards is a return to the roots of surf shops, where one man puts his heart and soul and sweat equity into carving surfboards from foam (and hardwoods) and proudly puts his name on a label, and a shingle out front, and toils in the back, while keeping a weather ear on the front, in case some civilian wanders in with eyes full of wonder and fists full of dollars.

Opening a retail store of any kind is a tough hustle these days, and surf shops are even a little tougher. Jed Noll Surfboards is in a town that has maybe a dozen other surf shops large and small, Rip Curl and Icon. All of San Clemente's retail stores come and go from year to year ' " except for The Outrigger. But Jed Noll Surfboards but this one is a little off the beaten path, on the corner of El Camino Real and Pico. Situated between the Knuckleheads biker bar (Sorry: We Are Open) and an Asian antique shop, Jed Noll Surfboards is across the street from the strangely still deceased Miramar Theater. Forty years ago, this building was the location for the Surfer Poll ' " where guys like Greg Noll would get drunk as a Lord and try to get Pat Curren to fight ' " or at least speak an entire sentence.

Surf retail ' " and all retail ' " is all about location, location, location ' " and when you check out Jed's location ' " and if you know Jed, and his lovely parents Greg and Laura, and you like them and/or have a history with them ' " then maybe you worry about Jed a little bit, and wonder if a small surf shop on that corner and in this economy during a time when retail is slowly dying can survive and thrive.

But closer examination is encouraging, and finds that Jed Noll has gone back to the old formula of shaper in the back, seller in the front, but the unique catalyst in his operation are those beautiful, hardwood replicas which take months and years to produce and sell for thousands of dollars. With Jed plowing out the hardwood replicas in the back (along with more the familiar plastic-based short and longboards of today) and his loyal shop manager watching the front, he's hit on a forgotten combination that looks like it's going to work.

Jed is the ultimate tribute to a time when people were honest and hard working and proud of the skills and heritage handed down from their own fathers. In Jed's case, Greg Noll was not just the Henry Ford of surfing in the 1960s, but also the Chuck Yeager, Cecil B. DeMille and P.T. Barnum. Jed is quieter than his dad, but also quietly proud of the Noll legacy and one of the attractions of Jed Noll Surfboards is that it preserves many of the great facets of Noll Pere, and packages it and preserves it in a modern way that is proud but not pretentious.

Leila Hurst may not be the most recognizable female of the current crop of women dominating the scene, but in the next year, if she continues on the path that she's on right now, there's a damn fine chance that you will know her name. She's got the talent, the charisma, and drive to be cutting through the World Tour in no time. With that in mind, I got a hold of Leila and asked her some random questions. Her answers were telling, kind of...

So what's the best part about being a female surfer today and why?
The best thing about being a female surfer today is being able to travel and meet so many different people. It's great because all the guys are usually really nice to the girls in the water and let us get waves.

Well then what's the worst? There has to be a downside. There's always a downside... [insert menacing/creepy look here]
The worst thing about being a female surfer is having to always fix your bikini and making sure it's not falling off while you're in the water.

God I just hate that too! Such a pain. Anyway, in your eyes, who's the best female surfer today and why?
Steph Gilmore is my favorite female surfer, she has such an amazing style and it always blows my mind to watch her surf.

Yeah, she's okay. I heard she's never been on a real date though. That must suck. But more about you. So where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully in 10 years I will be on the C.T. and having a blast traveling the world!

I hear good things about the world. Moving along, where do you see women's surfing in 10 years?
Right now women's surfing is not doing so well, but hopefully it will still be a big sport when that time comes around.

OAKLEY PRO JUNIOR GLOBAL CHALLENGE ROUND ONE COMPLETED IN IDEAL SURF AT KERAMAS, BALI

(Foothill Ranch, Calif., Oct. 8, 2009) – After two days of perfect conditions, only six heats of the Oakley Pro Junior Global Challenge have been completed and not one of the 18 select world pro juniors has been eliminated. It’s a scenario only possible in an event like the Global Challenge, which is throwing these elite juniors into a World Tour-style competition in a unique venue.

Organizers again ran three high-quality heats across the prime incoming tide with surf fanned by offshore winds, which allowed performance levels to go through the roof.

“We’re expecting and patiently waiting for some big waves over the coming days but these conditions are perfect to begin the event,” ” said contest director Andrew Stark from Surfing Australia. “These opening rounds give these future stars some real quality contest time and familiarize them with the break.”

With a prestigious title and $165,000 in prize money up for grabs, event organizers are making sure surfers will have maximum opportunity showcase next-level surfing.

Today’s heat winners were Brendon Gibbens from South Africa, Balinese local surfer Dewa Made Ardika and Brazilian Jesse Mendez.

Gibbens won the day’s opening heat combining excellent tube rides with stylish and cutting edge on-face surfing.

“I love surfing this wave, ” said the 18-year-old Cape Town surfer after his heat. “I’ve free surfed here a number of times in the past few years and it’s a favorite for sure. I’m really unknown and in this high-profile field I can just go about my surfing and do my best. Hopefully that might be good enough to win.”

The local Indonesian surfers excelled today.

Dewa Made Ardika lead throughout in his heat to take a popular win while Mustofa Jeksen was unlucky, relegated to third position and round two. In the dying seconds of the heat, French surfer Marc Lacomare took a late ride, smashing the sections with some precise top-to-bottom moves to snatch second place and advance straight to round three.

Ardika’s win was the heat of the day. Second and third place surfers Davey Cathels of Australia and Brazilian Alejo Muniz showed flashes of brilliance throughout the heat, both falling on some huge moves suggesting both were refining their surfing here as the event now heads into the all-important elimination rounds.

When Round 2 hits the water, consisting of just two three-man heats made up of the six third-place surfers from round one, the two surfers who finish last in these two heats will be eliminated, while first and second go through to the man-on-man Round 3 heats.

The familiarization and warm–up portion of this event is complete—from here on, it’s cut throat elimination heats as all these surfers chase the $20,000 (USD) first prize purse.

Today’s results:

Round 1:

Heat 1: Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 15 .27, Sam Wrench (AUS) 12.83, Charly Martin (FRA) 4.17
Heat 2: Billy Stairmand (NZ) 16.34, Granger Larson (HAW) 11.67, Dillon Perillio (USA) 6.66
Heat 3: Kai Barger (HAW) 12.24, Arashi Kato (JPN) 10.03, Noa Deane (AUS) 7.17
Heat 4: Brendon Gibbons (ZAF) 11.00, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 8.83, Mustofa Jeksen (IND) 8.40
Heat 5: Dewa Made Ardika (IND) 12.00, Davey Cathels (AUS) 11.67, and Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.26
Heat 6: Jesse Mendes (BRA) 14.00, Nat Young (USA) 10.84, Clay Marzo (HAW) 6.73

When Round 1 resumes, the following heats will be surfed:

Heat 1: Alejo Muniz (BRA), Clay Marzo (HAW), Noa Deane (AUS)
Heat 2: Charly Martin (FRA), Dillon Perillo (USA), Mustofa Jeksen (IND)

For contest director and Billabong frontman Rainos Hayes, you couldn't have asked for better conditions than what greeted the Billabong Pro Junior at Sunset Beach this morning. Blue skies, sheet-glass conditions, and overhead lines stacked out to the horizon, it was as clear as the crystal waters affront that the Pacific was dishing up some of the best surf and conditions of the year. And today, the boys had it all to their lonesome.

With that in mind, it was fitting that the country's best surfers converged on Sunset Beach for the Pro Junior event. You name a top junior and he was there competing today. Kolohe Andino, Cory Arrambide, Tyler Newton, Alex Smith, and the rest of their talented junior brethren were all on hand to duke it out in the event. And they all meant business.

"We try and keep it in the water, but we all really want to win. And we all know it," said rising star Kaimana Jaquias.

As the day wore on, the serene conditions that met the early rounds deteriorated as a slight north wind came ashore, adding a bit of chop to the lineup. But the faltering winds didn't stop the competition from getting out-right ridiculous as the juniors continued to tear down all preconceived notions of what is considered possible in the sport.

Once regarded as the wave all others are measured against, Sunset Beach hasn't necessarily been the peak du jour of the current crop of progressive surfing. But today, when given an empty lineup, the kid's proved that Sunset can be just as rippable as Rocky's, if not more so. Frontside wafts, throw-tail reverses, and the occasional man hack were weaved through out each heat with a surgical precision.

"I love coming out to Hawaii. Yeah, Sunset's a tricky wave, but it gets pretty fun," said Newport Beach's Andrew Doheny. "It's definitely a lot bigger than it looks from here." Although Doheny wouldn't progress to the final, his surfing was the stuff of legends today as he proved he's more than capable than just getting lofty at 54th.

With the final approaching, the Hawaiian surfers placed three out of four surfers in the main heat. Kauai's Alex Smith and Maui's Albee Layer took on Oahu's Kiron Jabour and California's Cory Arrambide. Uncharacteristic of the day, the final went flat for the first 10 minutes, leaving Cory Arrambide nestled in first place with two small-wave scores under his belt. But as the clock ticked away, a set approached and Haleiwa's own Kiron Jabour did the island proud and tore the opening wave of the lone set a new one, earning himself a win and the admiration of the best young surfers in the country. Arrambide would take second, Layer third, and Smith fourth.

And to think, this is just an appetizer of what's to come this winter.

Photo Credit: Tony Heff

By Ben Marcus

White sharks aren't exactly uncommon along the Malibu coast although, like movie stars, the alpha predators are pretty good at staying out of sight, and are only occasionally seen and photographed.

Now Los Angeles surfers, kayakers and ocean goers are on edge after local surf shop owner Randy Wright captured startling photos of a juvenile great white shark jumping completely out of the water. On October 3, Wright was kayaking off the coast of Malibu doing volunteer field research for the Shark Research Committee, a private foundation dedicated to white shark activity along the west coast.


Armed with his Canon 40D digital camera he anchored just southeast of the surfers in the beginner surf break at Sunset. Wright waited, hoping against hope to capture proof of what several surfers have claimed to see in fleeting glimpses: a white shark jumping completely out of the water.

At 8:47 Wright heard a loud splash but caught only a glimpse of a splash as he turned in the direction of the noise. All he could do was hope it would jump again. According to the Shark Research website, ' at 9:00 AM exactly, I noticed some movement towards my left and quickly turned the camera and fired off 4 shots of something airborne and splashing.' Not satisfied with those photos, Wright changed his position and waited an hour, but the wait paid off: "At exactly 10:00 AM I heard another splash on my starboard side, towards the Bel Air Bay Club. I missed the breach, but shot the remnants of the splash."


When Wright made it back to his surf shop he took the camera out of its water housing and downloaded dozens of images, hoping for the best: ' Our jaws literally dropped when image #73, 74, 75, 76 appeared' a breaching shark in mid-air!'

The shark that Wright captured was not as potentially dangerous as other sharks that have been seen along the Malibu coast of late. The last fatal attack there was in 1989, when two UCLA students disappeared while kayaking near Point Dume. Tamara McAllister, 24, was found dead with a shark bite to her leg, while Roy Jeffrey Stoddard, 24, was never found.

In July of this year, a local cinematographer named Dave Ogle also got lucky with his camera. While filming an ad for a local helicopter company, Ogle looked down and saw a 14 ' " 16 foot white shark swimming within half a mile of surfers at Surfrider Beach.


Southern California surfers have been paying a lot more attention to shark sightings after last year's deadly attack on a swimmer in Solana Beach, CA.. Dave Martin was swimming just outside the surf zone last April when a white shark bit him.

Up the coast, surfers around San Onofre have been spotting a juvenile shark in their lineup for the past two years. Early on, they nicknamed the shark "Fluffy," but the size estimates of fluffy keep growing, and some are saying its only a matter of time before she gets curious and starts nibbling.

With a near-perfect sandbank at Mundaka accompanied by some lake-like conditions, it's safe to say that the ASP pundits have had a bit of time on their hands over the course of the last few days. Number crunching, point dialing, and figure factoring—the stats for the title race in 09 are in.

According to a recent report published online at Stabmag.com, the ASP's Al Hunt has publicly stated that with Parko faltering in the past two events and Mick gaining momentum, there's a high chance that this year's World Tour champion will be chosen at the Billabong Pipeline Masters in Hawaii later this winter.


What's he smiling about?

According to the report: “It looks 99 percent looks [sic] like it’s going to Pipeline," says Hunt.

The numbers don't lie. As of press time, with the first eight heats of the Billabong Pro Mundaka concluded, the following figures round out the '09 title race.

• Mick and Joel are separated by 146 points, or one round, meaning there is no chance of the title being decided at Mundaka.
• Should one of them win and the other loses in the first round at Mundaka, there is a chance the title could be decided at Portugal.
• For the title to be decided in Portugal, the winner of Mundaka would have to win again, while the loser would have to again bomb in the first two rounds.

The race for the title has come down to Joel and Mick alone, with Kelly, CJ and Bede all statistically dead in the water. Currently, if either Parko or Fanning make it Round 4 in the next two events, the aforementioned are effectively completely out of the race. But then again, stranger things have happened in the ASP's history, but not much.

According to the story, in the 26 years Hunt's been with the ASP, he's never seen such a poignant shift in the ratings.

"There was 2003 with Andy and Kelly going blow for blow. And 2000 when Machado won three out of the last six but nothing like this,” he says.

With the ASP facing some murky waters, having a legitimate title race come down to the wire must be sounding like an act from the Almighty himself right about now.

Here's to hoping that Hunt's numbers reflect a vicious battle for the ages. Stay tuned, things are getting mighty interesting.

For more info, go to Stabmag.com

Yazzy Hilial has made a career of exploring the northern reaches of every continent for quality surf. Over the past year he's been spending time up in the Arctic Circle, gathering images for a new film appropriately called the Arctic Surf Film for now. The images are breathtaking. The waves aren't bad, either. Just don't forget your dry suit. More to come on this...

By Chris Mauro

Matt George arrived back in Sumatra today. It's been just over ten days since his last visit but the longtime surfer was compelled to take part in the relief efforts underway there after last week's devastating earthquake. At LAX, he found a group of like-minded surfers heading down to lend a hand. "They said they weren't exactly sure what they were going to do," George explained while on layover in Singapore. "I was barely off the ground and I already had recruits...They have no idea how much this can change them."

Then again, neither did George when he was headed down under similar circumstance in the wake of the huge earthquake and tsunami that struck Sumatra back in 2004. At the time George was rather adrift for a 43-year-old. On the surface he was a former pro surfer turned senior editor at Surfer Magazine. But loosen him up over a beer and you might be lucky enough to hear about his youth as Navy brat, his Navy Seal attempt in his early 30s, his misfortunes as a Stock Broker or his various episodes as a Hollywood writer and actor.

George admits to being a little eccentric. He's certainly never short on passion. Rallying people is one of his greatest gifts, but whether he's tapping the ghost of Winston Churchill or Bluto from Animal House hinges entirely on the audience. His range of delivery runs the gambit.

George got involved in the 2004 tsunami relief effort when Bill Sharp, an old magazine friend, was spearheading a small aid mission to Sumatra on his own dime. Sharp knew there were thousands of villagers stranded and hurting on the dozens of tiny islands just off the coast. The wave quality there makes that zone the Disneyland of the surfing world. He paid for George to come help and report on the relief efforts.

Upon their arrival they pressed officials on the ground for answers regarding the Mentawai chain of islands. Eventually they were told a boat would be sent up in a few days to "assess" what was needed. "Bill lost it," recalls George. He was screaming, "If you want an assessment just turn on the TV! The place is @#%$! What else do you need to know!"

The experience was heart breaking for the two of them. Logic and emotion were in a constant state of war. "But we were both so stunned by how badly the government and aid organizations were stumbling around in the dark that we decided to take a few matters into our own hands," says George. In order to get help where it was needed they formed a new relief outfit called Surfzone Relief Operations (SRO). "We found a wooden 85-foot pinisi schooner that we could charter to deliver the aid ourselves. Bill maxed out his credit card to pay for it."




A crew of surfers from the U.S. and Australia joined them, including Timmy Turner, a pro surfer from Huntington Beach known for exploring remote corners of Sumatra for months at a time and documenting his wave discoveries. But they still needed medical aid. Padang is short on doctors to begin with. Post-disaster they were impossible to find. George asked a clerk at his hotel what he'd do if his own mother needed medical attention.

The clerk told him to try the nearby University, and it was there that sisters Ulya and Patra Fasrini immediately volunteered to join the surfers. Ulya, a doctor, and Patra, a biological engineer, eventually convinced their friend Wati, a nurse, to join too.

In full veil, the women boarded the boat with the bare-chested tribe of western hedonists. Over the next six weeks the rag-tag little group completed three separate missions up the coast. They delivered 75 tons of aid to dozens of villages tending to thousands of people. "We learned effective relief work is pretty simple," says George. "They don't need energy bars. They need water, some breeding stock, and basic tools that will help them get their lives back." The group delivered goats and chickens, fishing poles and canoes, water and medical supplies, but it was the women whose aid was priceless, as they were saving dozens of lives.

"Death was everywhere," says George. "But they went straight into each village and got the job done." Ulya and Patra returned to Padang emboldened. They quickly formed an organization called KOGAMI, which means "preparedness" back in Padang. With the help of George's leadership, they arranged for the first tsunami-evacuation test ever run in the city. Some 15,000 people participated.

George debriefed Indonesian President Susilo Yudyono on the plan, and the President thanked all the surfers for their many efforts. "When he realized the entire staff behind the evacuation operation was made up of women he was astonished," he recalls. KOGAMI even garnered some ink in Time Magazine.




To this day, George remains adamant about the huge role women play in relief efforts. "They're tough and compassionate. And because they instantly connect with other women better than men, they uncover the real truth" 'however ugly' "much faster. Men are more likely to fall victim to the corrupt local leaders who sometimes want to control of all the aid. It's easy abuse power in those situations. But women won't stand for it. I don't know how to explain the female ego, but I know that in those situations it's not about them' "it's about their children."

George and Sharp made their follow up SRO effort in August of 2005. In New Orleans their new team of surfers used Wave Runners to zip around and pluck stranded victims from rooftops and drop them into safe zones. "We were one of the first teams to reach the Superdome" George recalls, "which we had to flee in terror."

When the Katrina response was just as slow, ineffective and corrupt back here in the U.S.A. George's disgust with governments and large aid organizations grew. "We were witnessing a travesty at every level, top to bottom." Still, SRO was dramatically swift and effective in New Orleans' "so much so the Navy recognized 'those surfers' and provided them with inflatable boats to tow behind their skis, which allowed them to reach even more people.

Yet Sharp went deep into debt financing the two efforts, and his fledgling outfit was temporarily mothballed while he went back to supporting his family. So George, who is still single, formed Last Mile Operations, a new outfit with a simple mission: getting aid all the way to its intended target. "It's that last mile where most relief efforts fail. That's where LMO comes in."

One month into his new venture, George was hiking the steep inclines of Kashmir, Pakistan, the hotly contested mountain area between India and Pakistan where the Taliban run free. A small California non-profit contracted LMO to get relief to thousands of earthquake victims. The job was rife with life-threatening challenges' "the perfect proving ground for LMO's effectiveness.




The beardless, bald, and ghostlike George was the proverbial fish out of water in the forbidden hills where Osama Bin Laden is rumored to be hiding. "Naturally, all the aid was stuck in all the familiar places," George says. "But with winter coming there was no time to wait, so we taught survivors how to make sturdy A-frame shelters out of the existing rubble, after bringing them tools to do it. Then we started carving helicopter pads into the steep hillsides so the supplies could come before winter hit."

When local police found a California surfer building helicopter pads in a renowned hot zone they had plenty of questions for George. After providing a thorough debriefing he was taken to a nearby United Nations post. "Pretty soon we had all the helicopters we needed."

The U.N. was eager to help George, and he was happy to become part of their team. But as the months wore on he grew equally disgusted by the corruption he saw hampering their larger efforts. Before joining the U.N. George had instructed a local factory how to make lightweight fiberglass rooftops. Nearly 100 at a time could be stacked in a single helicopter. But at the U.N. there was an outside contractor within an inside track. The contractor was getting paid ten grand apiece for his corrugated tin roofs. The locals fiberglass roofs were grounded, despite the fact that only ten of the heavy roofs could be delivered at a time. "I could go on for days about that kind of stuff..."

George stayed in Pakistan for eight months, providing shelter for thousands. Someone at the U.N. station in Islamabad tipped off ABC's Nightline about "the surfer' up there in the mountains helping the locals. Nightline producers did a full segment on him. He finally decided to leave only after he was advised that the Taliban put a price on him. Now he says it was probably for the best because "some of the contractors I had issues with would have been equally happy to see a bullet through my head."

Today the most important element of LMO is educating a new breed of first-responders through his SERF (Surfers Education & Relief Force) program. George and his team teach fully accredited writing courses while on surfing trips to Sumatra, while simultaneously introducing students to new cultures and more effective methods of relief to those who need it. It's all part of his ultimate dream to create a giant unarmed force of professional first responders. "I think that would do wonders for our country."

Though he's still quick to criticize governments, the U.N. and several of the large aid agencies, he stays in good graces with them. "I won't relent when I see utter failures," he says before pointing out that he's made friends in those organizations that share his frustrations and appreciate his ability to deliver. In fact, he made this trip to Padang in his U.N. slacks and loafers. But his surfer's force will be operating freely once he gets there.

"We don't really need any more large aid organizations," he explains. "We need smaller, more effective operations that can strike fast' "there's a big difference."

To illustrate this point he paints a picture of the damage that would be done if LMO received a ten million dollar grant. "We'd be bogged down into complete bureaucratic hell" and that would make us useless. But with ten thousand dollars we can save a bunch of villages in the next couple of weeks. That's the difference between goals."

I last heard from George while he was on layover in Singapore. He was assessing the latest updates, formulating his execution strategy and undoubtedly bringing his new recruits up to speed on their plans. "The whole place has been leveled so basic shelter is the big need in and around Padang right now. We'll hit the ground running, using bamboo and rubber from inner tubes to make flexible, waterproof shelter."

As for when he's coming back? "This story will be off the headlines within hours back in the U.S., but there are more than a million people in Padang and a lot of them will still need help, so we'll be here for a while."

No, you won't find us converting you to any particular form of religion here, but what we will give you is a few tidbits of info on the upcoming Billabong Pro Mundaka next week. Now, Mundaka, she's a fickle lady, producing heaving left-hand perfection one day, and slippery Spanish slop the next. What will Mundaka have in store for the tour this year? We'll have to wait and see, but until then, here are a few pros to keep your eyes during the event:

Parko: Talk of his incompetence has been rampant lately. But seriously, give the guy a break. He's had two 17s, yes, but he's also had three wins and a third. You don't get to be Joel Parkinson by coming completely unglued under pressure. Have a little faith, people. That said, he's had a good run in Spain in the past, placing second to CJ Hobgood in 2008. Prior to that, he's had a ninth and a third respectively, leaving me with the revelation that the man knows his way around Spaniards and left-hand points.

Fanning: Hot on his best mates heels, you can bet that the Tour's fitness guru is going to be competing in the Billabong Pro Mundaka on full-throttle. In the past, like Parko, Mick's shown that he can find success at Mundaka, taking a fifth in 2007 (in 2008, Mick didn't compete in the event due to injury) and prior to that, in 2006, he made the quarters. Although he hasn't had the same success there as, say, Bobby Martinez, that doesn't mean that Fanning won't execute this year at crunch time. Speaking of Bobby...

Bobby Martinez: Plain and simple, Bobby M. is the preeminent left-hand tuberider on tour. He's won twice at Teahupoo and twice at Mundaka. As last year's event champ, Bobby has proven himself the most competent of World Tour surfers in Spanish waters bar none. Currently rated ninth going into Spain and without a major sponsor, Bobby stands to gain a lot from a good showing at the event. If you're a betting man, you'd be wise to put you're money on Bobby.

Stay tuned as later on in the week I'll bring you three more surfers that stand to show well in Spain.

(Click above image to see more of Damian's work)

DAMIAN X FULTON
Southern California. Home of the Beach Boys, Malibu, Gidget, the Endless Summer, blondes with large breasts and small bikinis. The California Dream has been xeroxed into our brains for years by music, TV, and movies. Now once you turn off the television, and actually see it for yourself, the reality just might ruin the dream. Artist Damian Fulton has grown up in this contradiction, and it shows in his paintings.

Damian Grew up 10 miles inland of the beaches of Orange County, in Southern California. Surf City USA was off beckoning in the distance, and for Damian, his Schwinn Stingray was the only way to get there. As a result, he developed a very different vision of beach culture in Southern California, a vision which would be shared when he took up painting. Damian attended college at Cal State Fullerton, painting vans, murals, and even self-publishing an art magazine. His paintings and cartoons could be seen on surf contest posters, and in publications such as Surfer and BMX Plus Magazine. Damian has gone on to a career in advertising and directing, but still finds time to paint.

visit damianfulton.com for more of Damian's work