The Bubblegum Blog

December 09 Archive

Mick Wins World Title

DECEMBER 15 2009

Mick Fanning claims second ASP World Title at Pipeline

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 December, 2009 : - - Pipeline, North Shiore, Hawaii -- Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, has been crowned the 2009 ASP World Champion, following a stunning performance at the Banzai Pipeline today.

Heading into the final stop of the 2009 ASP World Tour season, Fanning held the ASP ratings’ lead over fellow Gold Coast surfer Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, and with Parkinson’s Round 3 exit in today’s Billabong Pipe Masters at the hands of wildcard Gavin Gillette (HAW), 23, Fanning secured his second ASP World Title.

“I’m just a bit overwhelmed right now and I don’t quite know what to say,” Fanning said. “It was hard out there. I was trying to get ready for my heat and then Gavin (Gillette) got that one score as I was paddling out and, I don’t know, I just sort of slowed down.”

For the first time since 2003, the ASP World Title came down to the final event of the season at the Billabong Pipe Masters. “This title is way more fun,” Fanning said. “I was much more relaxed for this one – besides the last few days, I was really nervous.” The 2009 ASP World Tour season will go down in history as one of the most dramatic, with Parkinson winning three of the first five events before Fanning rallied in the latter half of the season to overtake his good friend.

“I knew I was surfing well,” Fanning said. “It was just a matter of getting that result. I knew it was going to turn around sooner or later. I don’t know, it’s weird the way the world works.”

Fanning’s 2009 ASP World Tour results are as follows:

Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast: Equal 3rd Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach: Equal 5th Billabong Pro Teahupoo: Equal 9th Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro: Equal 5th Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay: Equal 17th Hurley Pro Trestles: WINNER Quiksilver Pro France: WINNER Billabong Pro Mundaka: Equal 9th Rip Curl Pro Search: WINNER Billabong Pipeline Masters: Equal 9th In the end, and reminiscent of Fanning’s 2007 ASP World Title (clinched in Brazil), the lightning-fast natural-footer was in the water with Parkinson (in between heats) as the scene unfolded. The two lifelong friends embraced, exchanged words and paddled in separate directions.

“We just sort of sat there and hugged and chatted about what’s happened over the last few days and how nervous we both were,” Fanning said. “It was hard to watch what happened to him this year. He had such a stranglehold on the tour and then he had that ankle injury, so as a friend it was hard to watch that. If I wasn’t in the race I would have been gunning for Joel for sure.”

For securing the 2009 ASP World Title, Fanning has also been awarded and extra $50,000 from the Vans Triple Threat bonus package.

While the 2009 ASP World Title has been decided, the 2009 ASP World Tour season is far from over with one more day of competition remaining at the Billabong Pipe Masters. Following his clinching of the 2009 ASP World Title, Fanning fell to Dean Morrison (AUS), 28, in the opening heat of Round 4.

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Greg Long Wins The Eddie

DECEMBER 08 2009

San Clemente's Greg Long, who has emerged in recent years as the world's premier big-wave surfer, added another major accomplishment to his resume by winning the prestigious Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau contest Tuesday at Waimea Bay on Oahu's North Shore.

With enormous waves pumping in from the north, Long survived a nearly sheer drop down one of the larger set waves late in the event's final heat. Judges scored the ride a perfect 100, which helped propel Long past Kelly Slater, who had led through most of the daylong competition.

The mountainous wave, with a face exceeding 40 feet, exploded at Long's heels and a towering wall of whitewater swept over him like a horizontal avalanche. He received the score on the heaviness factor and the potential consequences if he did not make the drop.

"I'm humbled just to be in this event," Long said afterward of a competition that honors a legendary North Shore waterman and is held only on years when truly epic conditions exist.

Long, a regular standout in the yearlong Billabong XXL Big-Wave Awards, caught another wave as the heat drew to a close, for a lesser score, but it was enough to give him a 10-point lead over Slater in the best-four-scores format.

Waimea was at its earth-shaking best, with the swell holding most of the day and pulsing even larger toward the end of the competition, which featured literally dozens of remarkable rides, but also breath-taking wipeouts, broken boards and the world's elite big-wave surfers thrilling crowd of thousands by charging all the way into the 15-foot shore break.

This marks only the eighth time in 25 years the Aikau contest was held. Slater, who has an unprecedented nine ASP World Tour titles, won the Aikau event in 2002. Bruce Irons, who finished fourth Tuesday, was the defending champion after winning in 2004. Sunny Garcia, a former world champion, was third.

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