Entering the 2009 year on the ASP World Tour sans a major sponsor probably isn’t something Bobby Martinez ever anticipated taking place. However, when a well-publicized contract dispute with longtime sponsor Reef sent the two their separate ways, that’s exactly where the Santa Barbara, Ca. surfer found himself. Driven to once again prove himself as one of the top all-around surfers in the world, sponsored or not, Bobby Martinez claimed another WCT victory at Teahupo’o yesterday by beating out Taj Burrow to win the 2009 Billabong Pro Tahiti.

The win is the second for Martinez at Teahupo’o and his fourth world tour victory overall. From start to finish, Bobby surfed with as much poise, patience, style and confidence as I’ve seen him surf a ‘CT event in quite some time. While Taj was relentless in the final heat, Bobby Martinez was just way too in sync with the wave at Teahupo’o for Burrows to even have a shot. Even with the dominant performance, Martinez’ humble nature shined through in his post-victory comments. “I got lucky finding the good waves and things just seemed to work out for me today,” said Martinez. When GT asked him about the hefty cardboard check that was heading his way, Martinez was quick to let him know that today’s win at Teahupo’o was about much more than the financial reward. “I didn’t start surfing to make money. It’s about the feeling the feeling I feel right now. The money could never overcome the experience of having this feeling.”

A huge congratulations goes out to Bobby Martinez- winner of the 2009 Billabong Pro Tahiti.

*On a side note- I’d also like to thank Billabong for pairing up Joel Parkinson and Andy Irons in the commentary booth, even if it was for just one heat. The combo of A.I. and Parko was classic and made for some truly golden exchanges.

Transworld Surf and Irons Bro Productions presents “A Fly In The Champagne”, released on DVD yesterday. Setting the stage for this showdown of the world’s two best surfers against each other on a remote island in the Mentawais, A Fly In The Champagne documents the rivalry between Kelly Slater and Andy Irons leading up to their showdown in Kandui Island. Produced by ESPN commentator and action sports personality Sal Masakela, the film released yesterday and is exclusively distributed by Transworld Surf.

You can pick up a copy of Transword Surf’s ‘A Fly in the Champagne’ at your local surf shop. Included in your DVD purchase will be a one year paid subscription to Transworld Surf. If you aren’t interested in buying another surf DVD you can always stop by one of the participating shops hosting local release and premier parties this month. Check out the list below for a DVD feature presentation near you, or peep the Transworld Surf site to get a slideshow sneak peek and view the trailer.

Nor Easter Surf Shop. Scituate MA. TBD. Call 781 544 4610 for more info
Unsound Surf Shop. Long Beach, NY. May 16th 7pm at Unsound
Ocean Hut. Lavalette, NJ. May 24th at Ocean Hut. Time TBD.
Heritage Surf and Sport. Sea Isle City, NJ. Dead Dog Saloon May 19th 8-9 and 9-10 (21 and up)
Good Sessions Surf Shop. Jacksonville Beach, NC. TBD. Call 910-353-7070
Sidearm Surf Shop. Wilmington, NC. Beach House May 22nd 9pm
Surf Station. St Augustine, FL. May 23rd 8pm at the shop
Catalyst. Melbourne Beach, FL. TBD. Call 321-728-2960 for more info
Waterboyz. Pensacola, FL. May 22nd 8pm at Skatepark
Love Skatepark. Singapore. TBD
Ecolounge. Venice, CA. May 22nd 7pm at ARBOR.
Axis. Quebec, Canada. May 14th.

If it seems like it’s been forever since the Billabong Pro Tahiti first got underway…it pretty much has been. Between tricky winds and a crossed up swell pattern, Billabong’s contest director Luke Egan has had a hell of a time making the decision to pull the trigger on Rd. 2. Considering he had Billabong’s cash crop surfers Joel Parkinson and Andy Irons scheduled to surf the second and third heats once the call was made, you have to imagine Egan has had all the input he could possibly want or need. Nonetheless, the event is finally back on. Conditions at Teahupo’o aren’t exactly what we’ve come to expect from the Tahitian beast, however they are expected to improve as the day goes on.

While Mother Nature’s fickleness has wreaked havoc on the Billabong Pro, Tahiti itself hasn’t been without excitement. The crew at Surfline has some smooth, visually stimulating footage available of super-sessions that have taken place in the downtime. The clip of Kelly Slater and Manoa Drollet’s session at a dream-like right has already reached legendary status. That’s been folllowed up with footage of A.I., Parko, Occy, and Slater blowing up a left not far from the contest site at Teahupo’o. This includes a shot of Kelly dropping in and getting covered up while surfing goofy-footed.

The beauty of what was taking place in the water and the majesty of Tahiti was accompanied with a bit of drama on land. Apparently a semi-secret meeting was held between the ASP and top 45. A few of the guys on tour aren’t thrilled with the new format and wanted to share their feelings regarding this issue. A post on The Extreme Scene summed up that situation quite well.

Having said all that, the Billabong Pro Tahiti is indeed back up and running at Teahupo’o. If you can’t make it to the water yourself, it’s always entertaining to watch a few of the world’s best go to work. You can see all of the live action here

If I want to hear about records, statistics and in-game strategy, I’ll watch baseball and basketball. With surfing, all I really care about is getting the chance to watch the best surfers in the world surfing the best waves in the world. Hopefully someday we’ll have a format which allows that to happen much more often than the system currently being used by the ASP.

Somewhere between Kelly Slater’s vision of a radical overhaul and Da Hui’s discombobulated criticisms of the ASP lies the very real truth that the Dream Tour is in desperate need of a makeover. The new format where the top 16 surfers get automatically seeded to the 2nd round was supposed fix some of what’s ailing the tour. Unfortunately, all it seems to have done is make a bad problem worse. Aside from the appearances of Andy Irons, Josh Kerr, Dane Reynolds and maybe one or two others; Rd.1 of the Billabong Pro Tahiti was weak and painfully boring to watch. If you were to put the Rd. 1 line-up of main event surfers side by side with the surfers who took part in the trials, an argument could very easily be made that the trials line-up contained much more talent. Clay Marzo, Mark Healey, Julian Wilson, and Bruce Irons…or Ben Dunn, Jihad Khodr, Nathaniel Curran and David Weare?

“CUT THE FAT There are 45 guys on the Tour. That’s too many. Cut it in half. There are guys who lose in the second or third round at every contest. One didn’t win a single heat last year. F1 doesn’t have 45 cars on the track for a reason. There should be a competitive level at the top, and we don’t have that.” Kelly Slater

In his Rd. 1 victory over Jihad Khodr, Andy Irons did more than just remind everyone he’s still at the top of his craft, he also put the mile-wide disparity in skill level on display for everyone to see. Khodr had no business being in the water with the 3x world champion at Teahupo’o and was left trying to scrape up 4’s and 5’s on the inside after A.I. opened with an 8.67. This type of situation happens far too often on the Dream Tour and is exactly why they’ve automatically put the top 16 into Rd. 2. Maybe instead of pretending the back half of the top 44 actually belongs with the front, it’s time to trim it down and allow more opportunities for locals and wildcards to go up against the surfers being touted as the world’s best.

As a fan of surfing and someone who likes to see how far it’s progressing, I watch the webcasts to see the best surfers surf the best waves. Unfortunately, for now anyways, the system being used by the ASP doesn’t always allow for that to take place.

Just two events into the 2009 ASP World Tour and it’s already starting to feel a bit like the 2008 version. Playing the role of Kelly Slater ‘08, Joel Parkinson appears to be on a mission to quickly eliminate any semblance of a world-title race. Parko completed the Aussie two-step yesterday, dominating local wildcard surfer Adam Robertson in the final heat of the 2009 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. It’s the second time in Parkinson’s career that he’s found himself ringing the prestigious bell, and from the time the opening horn sounded there didn’t seem to be much doubt that the trophy would eventually be his. To put it mildly, Parko’s firing right now.

There are very few surfers as visually pleasing to watch as Joel Parkinson, his style is something that surfers throughout the world, including most of the fellas on tour only dream of. And much like the Slater of last year, Parko seems to be 100% in sync with everything the ocean sends his way. There’s still a long way to go, Parko will be the first to tell you that, but so far all signs appear to be pointing in the direction of a Joel Parkinson world championship.

With that in mind, right about now is when the Dream Tour could really use someone in the form of an Andy Irons; someone to rattle some cages and shake shit up a little bit, someone to let everyone know it’s not quite time to bust out the champagne. It’s one thing that most of media has already handed Parko the title but you also get the feeling many on the Top 45 are actually pretty stoked on that idea as well. Hopefully someone rises up to challenge Parko soon or the ASP may just find themselves with another yawner second-half of the year. No one likes to watch a surf competition that’s sans the top surfers, and last year proved that mysterious illnesses and injuries tends to reach epidemic status right about the time the world title becomes out of reach.

Congratulations Joel Parkinson, winner of the 2009 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach!

Credit: Transworld Surf

There has been a lot of hype recently about the trip that Transworld Surf organized for Kelly and Andy in the Mentawais. Not only is Transworld featuring the trip in next month’s mag, but looks like they’ve also made a movie out of it, in conjunction with Irons Brother’s Productions.

This should be a pretty awesome flick. Two of the world’s best surfers who’ve traded blows for years now(both on and off the tour), giving us an in-depth look at the rivalry from their own perspectives. Plus, with those two surfing some of the most epic waves in world, I’m sure the surfing will be pretty ok too.

If only Transworld could get them to trade blows in UFC bout- now that would be exciting. The movie is coming out March 15th, 2009. Check out the trailer.

“This year is all about surf trips, and being anywhere but sitting on my ass at home. I want to chase swells all year long with my friends, and do a couple of select Billabong contests as a wildcard.” – Andy Irons, Freesurfer

The cat is now officially out of the bag. 3x World Champion, 4x Pipeline Masters winner, holder of 4 Triple Crown of Surfing titles, and one of the best all-around surfers to ever step foot on a board, Andy Irons, is stepping away from the ASP World Tour in 2009.

Whispers of Andy’s upcoming year off have been floating around for some time now. You could sense something just wasn’t right for the Kauai native as far back as his opening heat of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast in ‘08. Something was missing, and the only surfer to put fear in Kelly Slater’s mind appeared to be a shell of his former self. For whatever reason, the passion and the fire inside seemed to be non-existent.

Riding a wave of support from the Billabong team, and following in the footsteps of little bro. Bruce, A.I. will relinquish his 2009 spot on the Dream Tour and pretty much just travel, blow minds while surfing the best waves throughout the planet, and stock up on endless amounts of fresh new material for our viewing pleasure.

“Bruce’s decision messed with me a little bit. Yeah! Imagining him surf perfect waves without me anywhere around is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night. There is a big difference in retiring from the tour and taking a break, though.”

I absolutely love that Billabong is deciding to back Irons up on this move. I always felt like Andy slogging around some of the shitty surf that goes on throughout the course of the tour is kind of a waste. And it’s not like he’s retiring for good. In fact, if he actually does decide to return, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see a re-charged Andy Irons come back in 2010 and unleash hell on the rest of the tour.

Until then, we get to witness one of the all-time amazing surfers blow up on the types of waves he should be riding, waves that allow his aggressive, attacking style to be let loose on. And we’ll all be better people for it. You can count on it, Andy Irons is going big in 2009

Make sure you check out the full interview on Surfline.com.

Young Gun, Julian Wilson won’t be chasing a world title anytime soon. Instead, he’ll be spending the next year doing what he does best, chasing swells and blowing minds as he stars in his own surf movie that’s backed by Andy and Bruce’s production company, Irons’ Brothers Productions.

“I’m not going to do the ‘QS next year; I’m going to do a movie,” Wilson said. “I’ll do a few events I can get wildcards into through Quiksilver, but I’m definitely not chasing them. It’s going to be all over the world. We’ll pick some locations, wait for the best swells and fly there. I’m excited about it.”

I’m pretty excited about it too. Julian is on his way to quickly becoming one of the best surfers in the world and is probably already one of the better air specialists, if not the best. His surfing style doesn’t mesh well with the ‘take-it-down-a-notch’ surfing that’s needed to compete on tour. He’s more comfortable pushing the limits and taking surfing to levels never thought possible, as you can see in the video below.

Julian doesn’t need judges to put limits on what he can and can’t do on a surfboard. The only one that should be putting limits on his surfing is himself, and so far it doesn’t appear he’s put much of a limit on it at all.

With the Pipeline Masters coming to a close last Friday, the dust has now settled and next year’s ASP World Tour picture is becoming clear. The departure of Andy and Bruce Irons from the 2009 door has opened the door for Marlon Lipke to become the first ever German on tour.

Speaking of Andy and Bruce, with both of them failing to end up in the Top 10 on the final ratings, this is now the first time in it’s 32 year history that no surfers from Hawaii ended ranked above the 10 spot. Freddy Patacchia was the highest ranked at #12. Hopes of bringing the title back to the islands will now be resting on his shoulders as he is the only Hawaiian returning from 2008. Kekoa Bacalso and Dustin Barca round out the rest of the small Hawaii contingent for 2009.

Take a look at how the 2009 ASP World Tour is set to be stacked-

ASP World Nos. 1-10:
1. Kelly Slater (USA),
2. Bede Durbidge (AUS),
3. Taj Burrow (AUS),
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS),
5. C.J. Hobgood (USA),
6. Adrian Buchan (AUS),
7. Adriano de Souza (BRA),
8. Mick Fanning (AUS),
9. Bobby Martinez (USA)
10. Jeremy Flores (FRA).

ASP World Nos. 11-27:
11. Luke Stedman (AUS),
12. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW),
13. Andy Irons (HAW),
14. Chris Ward (USA),
15. Kai Otton (AUS),
16. Tim Reyes (USA),
17. Tom Whitaker (AUS),
18. Kieren Perrow (AUS),
19. Dayyan Neve (AUS),
20. Bruce Irons (HAW),
21. Mikael Picon (FRA),
22. Dane Reynolds (USA),
23. Taylor Knox (USA),
24. Damien Hobgood (USA),
25. Heitor Alves (BRA),
26. Jordy Smith (ZAF)
27. Ben Dunn (AUS).

The Top 15 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) surfers in ranking order are:
1. Nathaniel Curran (USA),
2. Chris Davidson (AUS),
3. Michel Bourez (PYF),
4. Gabe Kling (USA),
5. Jihad Khodr (BRA),
6. David Weare (ZAF),
7. Josh Kerr (AUS),
8. Nic Muscroft (AUS),
9. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW),
10. Greg Emslie (ZAF),
11. Tim Boal (FRA),
12. Dustin Barca (HAW)
13. Tiago Pires (PRT),
14. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)
15. Drew Courtney (AUS).

The three 2009 tour wildcards went to injury applicants, Dean Morrison (AUS), Aritz Aranburu (EUK), and ASP WQS No. 16 Marlon Lipke (GER). Lipke will be the first German ever on the Dream Tour.

The bru’s over at Stab Magazine just released these juicy little nugget’s of industry information.

- Andy Irons will take next year off to chill and do some surf trips. He will aim for a wildcard in 2010. Billabong is backing him all the way, and has just given him a new five-year deal. (Parko’s just signed up for another five, too.)

- Wonder why Bobby Martinez has been shredding Pipe with no stickers on the nose of his board? He’s no longer riding for Reef. Despite the tough economic times (and his management persuading him to put ink on paper), Bobby walked away from an offer that was three-quarters of what he’d asked for. When he simmered down, Bobby went back to Reef, saying okay, I’ll take the deal, but Reef had withdrawn. It’s gonna be tough trying to find a company with $500k kicking round in its marketing budget right now. But Bob has signed some of the smarter deals in surfing. Remember seeing huge Monster energy drink green and black “M” on the bottom and deck of his board? Rumors suggest this nets him around $US300k.

- As always, Dane’s endorsements are the subject of constant speculation. The latest has it that the golden child is going to break his deal with Quik to join Analog. With Burton’s backing, Analog’s certainly got the cash. But Dane has not suggested he’s even thinking about moving, so the rumour remains unfounded.

The Andy Irons info actually makes a lot of sense. Time away from the Dream Tour has worked out well for past champions Curren, Occy, and Slater. And if Billabong is backing this, chances are there will be unreal amounts of fresh footage of Irons freesurfing to look forward to next year.

As for the industry as a whole, especially regarding sponsorships, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming month with the economy being what it is. Everyone is re-evaluating their financial strategies and chances are we’ll be hearing more stories similar to the Bobby Martinez/Reef situation.