Red Bull Rising
Latest Rising Happenings:
Tim Boal On A Roll
Tim Boal has capped off an incredible European leg of the WQS tour by winning the 5 star Rip Curl Pro held in Zarautz, Spain and almost definitely booking himself a berth on the elite top 45 ASP World Tour for 2009.
"It's an incredible feeling," said Boal afterwards. "It's actually been an incredible couple of months, ever since I made the final at the US Open at Huntington. In that final I was a little nervous and ending up falling on one wave and losing. At this event though, I was more confident and determined not to make the same mistake. I really wanted to win this." Continue reading...
The Twin Tours
"Look, it usually takes about four years to make the jump from the WQS to the WCT, even for the best guys." ASP International Head Judge Perry Hatchet, is explaining just how hard it is to make the jump from the world qualifying series (WQS) onto the top tier of the professional surfing, the WCT. Continue reading...
Spinning The Globe
"This is crunch time, it really is make or break, when the surfers will either crumble, or step up and make it count." Red Bull Rising coach Andy King, was squinting into the sun, watching a heat late in the afternoon, as the sun sets, this time, into a swell ridden Atlantic Ocean. It was the first day of the six star prime rated Rip Curl Pro, held in the heaving beachbreaks and packed streets of Europe's surfing capital, Hossegor, France. Continue reading...
Brazilian uprising: Wiggolly Dantes Wins 2008 Rip Curl Board
Life on the WQS ain't easy, but things go a hell of a lot smoother when you're winning. And for a guy like Wiggolly Dantes (who arguably has the coolest name on tour), his win this past weekend in England at the 2008 Rip Curl Boardmasters definitely eases the burden.
"I had a great time in England and people were so nice to me all week," Dantas said. "We had great waves at the start and tough ones today but it was always lots of fun. So stoked to get this first title, such a big thing. It is a great confidence boost for the upcoming events." Continue reading...
Introducing Tim Boal
"It was a pretty surreal situation, just standing there at the water's edge, surrounded by a full scrum of spectators and media and the Red Bull guys, not knowing if I had won the whole event."
That was Tim Boal, describing pretty accurately what was, by any stretch of the bizarre, a pretty surreal situation. Tim had already surfed through four heats today, progressing from the round of 16 all the way through to final of the Honda US Open.
"Introducing Tim Boal," Andy King has earlier cried, in fierce pride when Tim had surfed with immense flair and huge composure to score a semifinal winning wave with less than ten seconds to go, overcoming home town hero Brett Simpson. Continue reading...
Just Another Day In Surf City
It's a Saturday, oh yeah, sunseekers, its super Saturday in Surf City. I'd been kinda hazy on the chronological side of things. Every day here at the US Open had been kinda bluring together into one long endless summer's day. Each morning, for the last eon had been eerily, uncannily, similar. A hazy dawn would reveal the same three-foot running south swell. By midday the high tide and slight onshore would have chased the haze and the clouds away, and the WQS high-speed warriors would be detonating the Huntington left zippers into the pier, or massaging the slower rights into the packed beach and bleachers. Continue reading...
Walking With The Gods
So I'd always wanted to a pro surfer. I mean, who doesn't? And you know I could have been a contender. If I only had the talent, and the looks, and the drive, and the balance, and the stickers. Did I mention talent? And yet I thought I'd dealt with those demons. Thought I'd driven a sharp arsenic laced stake through the heart of the divide between what I wanted and what I am. And then I came to Huntington, for the Honda US Open. A place built, designed, refined, and aligned with the Godification of the the pro surfer. Here these mini-gods are able to walk around with shiny white new sticks, their brown skin and their glittering futures, right through the adoring Californian mass disciples. Knee tremblingly beautiful girls want to be with you, mohawked nipple pierced 40-somethings want to be you and every one from fat Montana mums, to 17th street bums to young surfie groms want to know you. Continue reading...
From Gilligan's Island to the Holy Grail
"I swear on my mother's grave, that's what I saw, why would I make that up? I couldn't even begin to make that up." I'm in the passenger seat being driven down from LAX to Huntington by Red Bull Rising coach Andy King. And I'm incredulous. Kingy had just told me that only an hour ago, in a mall, he had watched slack jawed, widemouthed and freaked out, as a dog came walking through carrying a cat. Now that, possibly, is weird enough, but not only was the dog carrying a cat, but the cat was carrying a rat. He was too stupefied to even take a photo. The dog, the cat, and the rat just walked by, no owner (or owners) in sight, off into the fluro lit distance. Continue reading...
Tales From Friday the 13th
It was time to clear out. "Let's go free surfing, let's go find some waves, that's as good as it gets in surfing," frothed Kauai's Gavin Gillette, and he was spot on. Competition wise everything may have not gone exactly to plan, but with the swell switch seemingly stuck on "four-foot and pumping," and with foam fringed coral reefs sluicing in every direction, it was time to find some waves and unleash some free surfing action. Continue reading...
Full Moon Fever
"I was so in the zone, just getting right into my surfing, that it wasn't till I duckdived and saw the bright stars through the roof of the wave that I remembered that it was the middle of the night." And so Julian Wilson, the 19-year-old wunderkid from Queensland, Australia, talked through a full-moon session last night at Pasta Point. Julian competed in the Sri Lankan Airlines Pro over here, and, although not an athlete on Red Bull Rising, he decided to spend the week on board and try and soak up as much information and inspiration from the WQS high performance program as he could. Continue reading...
Live From The Maldives
"I'm going to sleep well tonight," Michel Bourez is sitting on top of a Dhoni, a traditional Maldivian boat, and the transport equivalent of a truck in these parts. "I've tried to just two hours a day surfing, but I must have done at least four hours today, the surf was too good." We were chugging along a glassy Indian Ocean on the roof of the Dhoni, under a molten pink tinged sky, five minutes before dusk, heading back to the Teate, a sweet boat, Maldives Red Bull Rising HQ and our home for the week. Continue reading...
Blogs From The Boys
Michel Bourez's Blog Up and Down Through Europe
Well I'm back in my apartment having just surfed in my first heat at the Rip Curl Pro in Zarautz. I won my heat so, yeah, it's a good start. It has actually been a pretty full-on couple of weeks, with some downs and some big ups. We drove down to Portugal after surfing the comps in France and turned up to some fun waves the first couple of days - the swell was four or five foot and everyone was out there ripping. I was with the Red Bull Rising coach Kingy, and the other athletes on the program and everyone was surfing way better in the good conditions. A bit of power helps eh? Continue reading...
Tim Boal At Home In France
I actually had the previous yesterday afternoon off from surfing. The surf was pretty big, and there were a few big barrels around, but for some reason I felt a little tired and wanted to switch off. I went to the driving range with Clipper and hit a few balls. It felt good to get away, but then again, with golf, it just gives you something else to stress and think about. But it was still fun and then I drove back home, about half hour south from Hossegor, back to Biarittz and had dinner with my girlfriend Eladie, and had a pretty early night. I slept pretty well, I don't tend to wake up or be too nervous. Continue reading...
Tim Boal Shares His Thoughts After A Big Day Out
Well it's been a big day, I knew I had to surf four heats and I did that, so it's cool. The boys went out last night, but I just went to a vegetarian cafe and laid low and was pretty quiet and had a chilled night. I didn't feel tired through the day, even though in the end I surfed four heats. I probably felt the nerves in the semi more. I actually fell a lot and in the end scraped through with a six point ride with about five seconds to go. That last wave, well I had a 1000 things going through my mind, I mean I was thinking too much, which for me is bad thing and I didn't even know what I was going to do on the last turn. Even then I still didn't think I had the score, but I got it. I think I had a few boos from the crowd in the stands, as I took out Brett Simpson, the local guy. Continue reading...
Michael Bourez: Right Now, I Don't Want To Talk About It.
Well it's been a good week. Before here, after Durban, I had a couple of weeks back home in Tahiti, and oh my God, it was pumping. It really was. We had a couple of sessions at Teahupoo - maybe six to eight feet. The swell was a little west, but there from south ones and yeah it was so good. So I was relaxed and happy and ready for the comps, ready to do well. After this event we go straight to Japan and then on to England and then Europe, so its a big leg and a pretty important one. Continue reading...
Tim Boal's Sushi Dinner
Well I've been thinking about the heat for a while, I mean I've traveled along way for this event, so you know it's there. But I suppose it was yesterday I really started focusing on in it. We went out for a surf in the competition area last night before dark, in some of the worst conditions you'll ever come across, and I was checking out how my board feels and getting ready and so its only human to go over what might happen in the heat the next day.
And then I went out for dinner with the rest of the Red Bull guys to a sushi place up near Seal Beach - I may have ordered the biggest plate of food I've ever seen, the leftovers could feed an army, so anyway that was that, I went to sleep, trying not to think about it too much.
In the morning I just got up and got my boards ready and tried not to eat too much - just an orange and some water and then went down the to the comp. I was in the third heat, so I didn't have that long to wait, so I had a little 20 minute free surf on the other side of the pier. I actually felt pretty good in the free surf, I finally have a good board and I've been feeling pretty good in the last few days, so it was a confidence booster. I've had a some pretty bad results in the last few comps which affects your confidence, so it felt good to be surfing like that. Continue reading...
Gavin's Take on California
"I love coming to California, I really do. You know it's a good place to prove yourself and even if the waves are sloppy, it's still such a good place to do well. To me, down here, it feels like a real sport. There's the infrastructure and the hype and just the interest, so I'm always excited to come to California and try and win. Before here I'd been home back in Kauai for a little while, I went home to work on my boards and my surfing and gather my marbles and just get ready for this event, the Honda US Open. I came in about a week and a half ago - I came early as there was no waves in Hawaii and I heard there was swell here, so I got here as quickly as I could. Continue reading...
Red Bull Rising World Qualifying Series Schedule
Sri Lankan Airlines Pro
Where: Pasta Point, Maldive Islands
When: June 9th-15th
Check out everything that went down at Pasta Point.
Honda Men's U.S.Open of Surfing presented by O'Neill
Where: Huntington Beach, CA
When: July 21st to 27th
Stay tuned for live coverage coming up next week.
Rip Curl Boardmasters
Where: Fistral Beach, Newquay, England
When: August 5th to 10th
Rip Curl Pro
Where: Hossegor, France
When: August 18th to 24th
O'Neill World Cup
Where: Sunset Beach, Hawaii
When: November 24th to December 6th
Who Da Guys?
Gavin Gillette
Hawaiian surfer Gavin Gillette can't remember a time when he wasn't surfing. "I've been surfing since I can remember, I've always been on a board", the smooth, lanky, natural footer said. "It's in my blood, mom and dad who are my tow-in partners, are both amazing surfers", says the 21 year-old from Kilauea on the northerly island of Kaua. "I grew up surfing Pinetrees on Kaua'i's north shore." Continue reading...
Clint Kimmins
Clint Kimmins learned to surf as a three year old when his dad started pushing him into waves and that initial passion has never left him. "I started surfing when I was a little kid and have not been able to stay away from it (since)", said the 23-year-old who reckons that apart from attending the Selection Camp for the Red Bull WQS Program last January, his career highlight to date was winning the World Under 16 Title in 2000 in Bali. "My strength has been in big waves but my passion is for contests", says the Gold Coast surfer. Continue reading...
Tim Boal
The stylish natural footer, with a mix of French, Irish and Caribbean blood coursing through his veins, looks set for a mammoth year on the WQS. With Red Bull Rising's support, combined with a pure, almost freaky talent, his last year's best ever WQS ranking of 43 is set to be eclipsed in 2008. It's not a question of if, but when, for this true waterman. "It was the best week of my life", said Tim Boal about participating at the Red Bull WQS Selection Camp last January. Continue reading...
Wiggolly Dantes
Big things are expected from Wiggolly Dantas, the latest in the long line of hot surfers coming off the Brazilian conveyor belt. While his small wave act is typically electric, it was in the 2006 Monstor Energy Pro, held in big, epic and dangerous Pipeline, that Wiggolly showed he has the potential, talent and determination to be a star of the sport. These characteristics shone through at he Red Bull Rising selection camp. "It was a great surprise to be selected," said Wiggolly. "Among so many excellent surfers from different culture and countries, we all have the same desires to build friendship through surfing", says Wiggolly. Continue reading...
Michael Bourez
The nickname Spartan tells a lot us about Michael Bourez. His body is seemingly chiseled out of hard granite and his ability and courage is unquestionable. Destined to take over the mantle from fellow Tahitian Manao Drollet as the best surfer at the world's heaviest wave, Teahupoo, Michael is the complete surfer. Last year he beat world champion Kelly Slater in three feet French beachbreaks at the Quiksilver Pro and while his big-wave act is well established, it's his pure natural talentthat will see him reach the upper echelons of surfing. Quiet, respectful, funny and hard as nails, it is no surprise why he is the wild card in the Red Bull Rising pack. Continue reading...
The Story Behind Red Bull Rising
Last January 19 of the world's leading junior surfers were invited to the Red Bull WQS Selection Camp held in Australia. After an intensive selection phase only four made the cut into Red Bull Rising, Red Bull's high performance program. The surfers that made this unique elite athlete surfing development team were Brazilian Wiggolly Dantas, the Hawaiian Gavin Gilette, Clint Kimmins from Australia, and Frenchman Tim Boal. The fifth surfer, Michel Bourez from Tahiti was nominated through a wild card due to his outstanding talent. Continue reading...
