Team Updates

Check out this link to a Vanity Fair article including Alana Blanchard. This is the second time recently that Alana has been featured in mainstream magazines; she just made Rolling Stones "Hot List" which featured a full page about her.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/07/surfer-girls-outtakes200907

Bass made the Round of 24 at the Sri Lanken Pro and walked away with over 1500 pts. This has shot him up in the rankings from 92nd to 58th. He now has a solid shot and getting seeded into the US Open and maybe even qualifying for the CT this year. We don't want to jinx him though. Good job Bass.

Bass just came by the factory to pick up some new boards before he heads off to the Maldives for the SriLankan Airlines Pro. It is a 6 Star Prime so if Bass gets a good result he will be on track to get seeded into the US Open. His results at Trestles has really boosted him into the mix and allowed him to pursue the high rated contests. Here are some photos of Bass with his new boards:

Check out this Day in the Life feature on Alana Blanchard by Surfer Magazine.
http://surfermag.com/photos/flash/alana-blanchard-day-in-life/

Alana Blanchard created a new website. It has tons of photos and videos, as well as bio and other info about Alana.

Check it out: http://alanablanchard.com/

Rising Star Sebastian “Sea Bass” Zietz left for North Narrabeen, Australia today to compete in the 2009 Billabong World Junior Championships. This will be Sea Bass’ first time competing in the World Juniors.

A good result at the World Juniors will be a great ending to an already great year for Sea Bass.

Good luck Bass!

The recently dubbed “Hottest Female Surfer” (Transworld Surf) has just proved herself on the world stage. Alana Blanchard has officially qualified for the Women’s 2009 WCT. Alana began the year doing ‘QS contests without the goal of qualifying for the WCT, but after a few good results it became evident that she should go full on. Her hard work paid off and now she has the opportunity to compete in the most prestigious women’s surfing tour.

Other fresh faces joining the 2009 Women’s WCT include Coco Ho and Sally Fitzgibbons. These girls have set the stage to make the 2009 Women’s WCT the most excited yet.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California (Sunday, October 26, 2008) – The Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) saw an action packed week of competition with two ASP 6-Stars and a ASP 4-Star. Gabe Kling (St. Augustine, FL), 28, finished second at the Estoril Coast Pro at Cascais, Portugal, securing a spot on the 2009 ASP World Tour.

All surfers competing on the ASP WQS earn points towards qualification for the ASP World Tour. North American surfers Nathaniel Curran (Ventura, CA), 24, and Kling have officially secured positions on the 2009 dream tour, while Patrick Gudauskas (San Clemente, CA), 22, is also in excellent position to secure an ASP World Tour seed as well.

Kling has made a remarkable comeback from a rocky first half of the ASP WQS season. The Floridian fought off pneumonia and a knee injury and managed to make a remarkable comeback to qualify for next year’s ASP World Tour, which began at the Honda U.S. Open.

"It has been a strange year and I almost feel like it was two years in one," Kling said. "To have that many big events until the end just made my year and I am lucky I had the opportunity to come back that fast with three events in a row. I am stoked to be back on tour next year."

Kling finished second in the Estoril Coast Pro behind an unstoppable Jean de Silva, who claimed the event in a close, low scoring Final of 9.83 over Kling’s 9.67, both scores out of a possible 20, to claim the ASP WQS 6-Star win. Kling’s result gives him another shot at the ASP World Tour. The regular-footer competed on the ASP Dream Tour back in 2007, but was unable to requalify for 2008. The Final berth by Kling finds him back on the tour for 2009.

"I am stoked with the result but it is very disappointing not to be able to surf," Kling said. "The conditions were testing and I surfed four times today which made it hard for me but I just couldn't sit at the right place and I missed a couple of better waves."

Gabe Kling has had a great couple of weeks. First he had a solid result in Brazil, boosting him into qualifying contention. Now that he placed 5th at the La Santa Surf Pro in the Canaries, Gabe has jumped to 9th place on the WQS with 11,163 points. Al Hunt from the ASP had this to say in his WQS Situation Room Report, "As you can see from the list below we now have 11 guys with over 11,000 points, which was the magic number a few months ago and I still feel they are safe."

It has been an up and down season for Gabe but now it looks like we will be seeing him on the WCT next year.