News

Happy Gilmore wins South Africa surf round (July 10)
Australian Eighteen-year-old Stephanie Gilmore became the new Mr Price Pro Champion after defeating traveling buddy Jessi Miley-Dyer (Aus), to take her second five-star World Qualifying Series title of the year, before a sea of spectators at Durban’s North Beach, on Saturday.
A standout throughout the ten-day competition, Gilmore is the youngest competitor ever to win a Mr Price Pro title, and has sent her to number one on the ASP WQS ratings.
Locking-on to the only set wave that pulsed through Durban’s North beach in an otherwise desperately flat final, Gilmore got to work on the crumbling wall with a series of punchy, trademark snaps to earn a 6.67 out of a possible ten points, which she backed up a with a 5.50 (out of ten) to take the win over Miley-Dyer.
Drenched in Champaign, sporting her enormous wooden trophy, Gilmore said, “This is my second WQS victory this year and you can’t ask for much better. The wave has been pretty fun all week. You can’t expect to get really good waves at QS’s so this has been decent really. I always feel really comfortable surfing right handers and I just couldn’t be happier right now!
“Funnily enough I didn’t come up against any South Africans in the competition and it’s probably a good thing because they were surfing really well. Rosy Hodge was the overall standout of the event and I’m stoked I didn’t have to surf against her.”
Gilmore’s victory earned her 2000 points, which has sent her from fourth to first on the WQS; a prize complemented by a R28,000 (US$4000) winners cheque.

Plus…
Surfing well from the very first round and winning every single one of the six heats she contested on her way to yesterday’s final, Schuyler McFerran has won the inaugural Roxy ASP Women’s World Longboard Championship.
Overcoming fellow Cali-girl Jennifer Smith in the final at Cote de Basque in Biarritz, in three foot (one meter waves), McFerran has cemented her spot in the history books by becoming the first-ever ASP Women's World Longboarding Champion.
Source: ASP website

Upsets galore for easter surfing (April 16)
While the easter bunny came early for some it was a case of upsets at the Billabong Girls Easter Surfing Festival on Queenslands Sunshine Coast.
In shock results current World Championship Tour (WCT) competitors Sam Cornish and Trudy Todd were bundled out of the event by much less experienced competitors in the small trying conditions at Maroochydore.
Other current and former WCT competitors however stood out in the trying conditions with Silvana Lima, Amee Donohue, Serena Brooke and Pauline Menczer (pictured) all progressing into the Quarter Finals.
In the Pro Junior division it was once again a case of the youth brigade taking charge with last years winner Sally Fitzgibbons again a standout easily moving into the Round of 16. Others to impress included Mischa Davis, Angela Keighran, Lori Kelly, Jemma Lenton, Amy Stewart and Wini Paul.
Source: Surfing Australia

Beachley makes hall of fame (Mar 9)
Australia’s golden girl of surfing, Layne Beachley, was inducted into the Australian surfing hall of fame last night at the surfing Australia complex at Casuarina Beach. Over 250 guests attended the annual event where 34-year-old Beachley was honoured for her lasting achievements in surfing including her six back-to-back association of surfing professionals pro world championships.2005 hall of fame inductee, Mark Occhilupo, presented the major award for the evening, talking of his respect for and pride in Beachley as he did so.Beachley spoke of her love for surfing, her efforts to strive to the top in the sport, and the need for self belief and determination. A number of other awards were made to recognise outstanding contributions to surfing and surfing Australia including: female performance surfer of the year - Chelsea Georgeson, Duke Kahanamoku Service Award to Surfing Australia - Phil Courtney, and Simon Anderson Premiere Club Award – the Torquay Boardriders Club. (Pic by Surfing Australia)
By Katrina Putker
Surfing Australia story

Not-quite underdogs dominate the surf (Mar 7)
From the Roxy Pro web: Numbers one and two in the world, Chelsea Georgeson and Sofia Mulanovich respectively, were ousted from the Roxy Pro by underdogs today... if you can consider Steph Gilmore, the reigning event champ (pictured), and Silvana Lima, the Brazilian rookie who scored a perfect 10 on her first ever WCT wave, underdogs!
Former Roxy Pro winners Megan Abubo and Layne Beachley also advanced and will go head to head in the quarterfinals.
Sam Cornish used last minute heroics to outscore Keala Kennelly in heat three when she caught the wave she needed with 15 seconds on the clock.
Rochelle Ballard, Trudy Todd and Mel Redman-Carr round out the main event winner's circle with only half-a-day's worth of surfing needed to decide the 2006 Roxy Pro champ.
The Samsung Expression Session held after the completion of round three rewarded Jacqueline Silva of Brazil $1500 for the best wave and Keala Kennelly of Hawaii the same wad of cash for best manuever.
Round Three Heats:
Heat 1: Megan Abubo (HAW) defeated Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS)
Heat 2: Layne Beachley (AUS) defeated Heather Clark (ZAF)
Heat 3: Samantha Cornish (AUS) defeated Keala Kennelly (HAW)
Heat 4: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) defeated Chelsea Georgeson (AUS)
Heat 5: Silvana Lima (BRA) defeated Sofia Mulanovich (PER)
Heat 6: Rochelle Ballard (HAW) defeated Claire Bevilacqua (AUS)
Heat 7: Trudy Todd (AUS) defeated Rebecca Woods (AUS)
Heat 8: Melanie Redman-Carr (AUS) defeated Julia Christian (USA)
ASP World Tour

Roxy Pro starts with a bang (Mar 2)
Yesterday, the first day of the Roxy Pro, saw the 2006 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Women’s World Tour kick off with a bang, or more specifically, a crash here at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast of Australia.
Event favorites Chelsea Georgeson (AUS) and Stephanie Gilmore (AUS), who are the reigning ASP world champion and Roxy Pro champion respectively, accidentally collided at the end of their highly anticipated heat three clash.
"There wasn’t much time left and I had been falling off on all the other waves so I was just waiting for that one good one," said Georgeson who swapped spots on the leader board with Gilmore several times throughout the 30-minute heat, but ultimately came out on top.
"I knew Steph got the first one of the set but the second one was good too so I took off. I was so into what I was doing and was concentrating really hard, so when I did a floater and came down, I wasn’t looking where I was going and Steph was right there. I was like ’Oh my God’ and jumped off my board to try and miss her!"
Georgeson did miss Gilmore but not her board, which she ran over before wiping out. Fortunately, neither of the local lasses were hurt and, finishing first and second in the round one heat, will meet again in round three.
"I was pretty amped to just go out there with Steph and surf like we do when we free surf. It builds my confidence to beat her because she is such an awesome surfer," Georgeson said. "I know how well she surfs out there because I watch her surfing out there regularly. I’m just stoked to have come out on top after that heat and we’ll just have to see what happens in the next one."
Both girls opened their accounts with waves in the 9.0 or "excellent" range today, with wildcard Gilmore earning the highest wave score of the entire contest thus far, a 9.33 out of a possible 10.
"It was good fun, straight of the bat we both had really good waves that had us pumped for the rest of the heat. I thought I had her there for awhile, but she got me back there at the end," Gilmore said. "It would have been cool to beat her, but you get that and we’ll get to match up again so, hopefully next time."
The highest heat total of the day, however, belonged to an in-form Layne Beachley who scored 17.50 out of a possible 20 points with her best two waves. Beachley, a former six-time world champion as well as the 2003 Roxy Pro champion, was forced to sit out the Hawaiian leg of the ASP Women’s World Tour in December of last year and hadn’t surfed for over four months before arriving at Snapper Rocks last week.
"It’s good to get the first heat out of the way. It wasn’t until I had a break from the sport that I realized how much I love it and how much I miss it," Beachley said. "I felt like it was going to be a gradual climb with gradual momentum gained throughout the event, but I started pretty strong and the waves are really conducive to high scores so I was patient and picked out the good ones."
Beachley faces South Africa’s Heather Clark in the next round.
Other round one standouts were 2004 world champion Sofia Mulanovich (PER) and ASP Women’s World Tour rookie Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS). A relaxed Mulanovich posted one of the higher heat totals of the day despite only committing to two waves.
"This is usually the event where I feel the most pressure on tour but I feel good, said Mulanovic. "I’m just having fun. I’m more relaxed than last year. I only caught two waves in that heat, that’s how relaxed I am."
Fresh from an ASP World Junior title and now batting in the big leagues, an excited Miley-Dyer made her presence felt in her round one heat, winning it and avoiding round two in the process.
"I was really stoked. I woke up this morning and found out the contest was on, I had a couple of friends ring me and say ’. this is your first heat in the ’CT ever,’ and I though about it and went ’no way’," Miley-Dyer said. "Coming here to this event, seeing all the scaffolding and stuff, I got really excited. I was quite nervous going into the event, I really wanted to get through that heat and skip the second round."
Compeition continues today, though there were concerns about the swell and whether it would be enough to support the competition.
ASP World Tour

Happy Gilmore dominates Roxy Pro (Jan 30)
From Surfing Australia: Australia's teenage surfing sensation, two-time ISA World amateur champion Stephanie Gilmore, couldn't have asked for a better birthday present, the Gold Coaster celebrating her 18th today with a resounding win over fellow world title holder, ASP Pro Junior Champion Jessi Miley-Dyer (Bronte, NSW) in the blue ribbon WQS division of the Roxy Womens Surf Festival held at Woolamai Beach, Phillip Island.
In clean and highly contestable 1-1.5m waves, Gilmore easily outpointed Miley-Dyer 17.67 points to 9.00 in the 30 minute final, showing the free-flowing class and maturity that first rocketed her to international surf stardom one year ago when she claimed the Roxy Pro World Championship Tour (WCT) event on the Gold Coast as a wildcard.
The 5-star triumph is Gilmore's first WQS win from just two starts and earns her valuable ratings points in her bid to officially qualify for the 2007 ASP Womens World Tour. Along with the appearance this week by reigning ASP Womens no. 1, Chelsea Georgeson, the performance of Australia's young stars further showcases the current supremacy of Australian womens surfing.
“I'm just blown away!” said Gilmore. “After working so hard all week and with so many girls from around the world in the comp, to come out on top is just amazing! From the start I wasn't expecting a win, that's for sure. I've been watching Chelsea and Jessi and all the other girls ripping and was thinking maybe I'd make the quarters, or the semis, then far out … everything just fell into place. It's just blown me away. I couldn't ask for a better birthday present that's for sure!”
Surfing Australia report

Oz surfers head Pro line-up (Jan 17)
From Surfing Australia: Australia’s supremacy of women’s world surfing will be unveiled at next week’s Roxy Pro Women’s Surf Festival at Phillip Island in Victoria (Jan 24-29) with an historic three Australian world champions included in the elite international line-up. World no.1 Chelsea Georgeson (Gold Coast -- pictured above), Quiksilver ISA world amateur champion Stephanie Gilmore (Kingscliff) and ASP world junior champion Jessi Miley-Dyer (Bronte) will compete against each other for the first time as reigning Queens of the surf.
Georgeson, 22, is a two-time winner of the Festival (2003 & 2004) and fulfilled a childhood dream by winning the ASP women’s world title in Hawaii last month when she narrowly defeated close friend, Sofia Mulanovich (Peru).
Eighteen year-old Gilmore stunned the surfing world by winning the professionally-rated Roxy Pro at Snapper Rocks last year and is the current holder of the U/18 girls Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship crown.
While 20 year-old Miley-Dyer is still tasting success after claiming victory in the U/21 World Pro Junior Championships at Narrabeen, Sydney just a fortnight ago.
It’s a first for Australian surfing, three girls flying the green and gold simultaneously at the highest levels of the sport. A remarkable achievement considering the incredible talent that has emerged globally thanks to the recent boom in women’s surfing.
In its fifth year, the annual tournament which boasts seven divisions including the highly rated 5-star World Qualifying Series (WQS) is renowned for attracting the cream of women’s surfing to Phillip Island’s world class surf breaks each January.
“It’s amazing for Australia to see three girls at the top. We are like the young crew coming up and we all won world titles last year. It’s inspiring for younger girls from Australia too, they’ll all be psyched about seeing what is possible,” said Georgeson preparing for her first competitive outing for the year.
Georgeson will be using the event as a warm-up for the upcoming World Championship Tour (WCT) event on the Gold Coast which will run from Feb 27 to March 12 in her backyard at Snapper Rocks. But despite the added attention of her new-found fame, she won’t be putting too many expectations on herself.
Surfing Australia

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