Jordy Smith RIPs

The man has moves unlike any other! (Photo: Red Bull)

There has been a lot of banter and speculation on Jordy Smith the last few months and the tight loss to good mate Travis Logie at Snapper Rocks just added fuel to the fire. The bottom line is the man does rip hard, whether he gets a world title or not! So just sit back, drop your jaw and be amazed!

1721 Kilometers with Jordy Smith from steven michelsen on Vimeo.

The Perfect Storm - Billabong Pro Jbay 2012

Wok and I hard at work! (Photo: AVG)

First things first, I arrived in Jbay on the back of a 41 hour trip from LA. To say I am broken would have been an understatement. Never the less, I woke to perfect waves at the best point in the world and a contest site frothing for what was going to be one of the best 6 Star events of all time. The biggest storm of all time was on the horizon and contest director, Luke Egan, wanted the event done before it arrived. Enter 3 days of 24 heats per day and a crew of workers and surfers who went full tilt to the finals, where the most full tilt surfer of them all was awarded victory in the form of Brazilian, Adriano da Souza. While this was all going on I found myself in the holy grail of seats for a person dedicated to talking about surfing, the Billabong Pro webcast booth, along with my main man Wok. We were given an opportunity and we both grasped it with open arms. My feeling is that we brought something fresh to the webcast and hopefully that will be rewarded with more time in the booth at big contests. We snuck the event under the storm radar and then got thoroughly bolted by what must be the most insane storm I have ever seen at Jbay. It was ok though, we were happy to chill indoors with a glass of Red wine after the best contest in a very long time!

Here is my radio show with fellow commentator, Greg Long, contest director, Luke Egan, Billabong SA main skiet, Chad da Arcy and Billabong Events manager, The Heff! Have a listen and understand fully what went down at this momentous event!

SoundCloud Link: Listen Here

If for some reason you were living under a rock, check out the video highlights.

Kelly Slater's Secret Atoll

Kelly Slater, who is missing the Billabong Pro in Rio, due to a tropical reef cut on his Heel, went on a little exploration holiday for Surfer Magazine just before that and discovered a new wave. The wave is a super long right hand barrel and it looks like Kelly made the most of it...

The Best of Winter X Games 2012

WOW - that's my first response at this year's Winter X Games. There were so many firsts from Shaun White's perfect 100 score in the Men's Superpipe leading to his 5 Peat, also a first. Then there was the first ever Snowmobile Frontflip for Gold and let's not forget that horrible double backflip attempt that ended in tragedy. Here is the "Best of' video for 2012...



All of these amazing rides, runs and wins were not enough to take my number 1 highlight, which in 2012 went to one man, Mark McMorris. He became the first person to win double Gold at Winter X, by taking out both the Slopestyle and Big Air events. First up was the Big Air where he pulled the first ever Triple Cork in competition...



After the highs of this win, Mark decided it was not enough and he had to ride one of the biggest and cleanest Slopestyle runs of all time. Check out the incredible scale of the giant rail transfer, followed by huge airs over the kickers. All of this added up to the Gold for Mark...



An amazing event and I cannot wait for the Summer Games of 2012!

Shaun White rides a perfect 100 point ride gets the X Games Five Peats

The flying tomato, Shaun White, proves that he is the best Pipe rider in the world at X Games 2012, with a perfect 100 point ride. This took the gold for Shaun which also meant he took the first ever X Games Winter Five Peats. (Meaning he has won the Superpipe Gold 5 times now.) Those not clued up on Snowboarding may wonder why he got a perfect score for this run. Its simple, huge elevation (Take a look how far out the Pipe he is on his first setup air.), two perfect double corks (Meaning he is rotating off axis) and an absolutely flawless run, with no wobbles or sketches. The man is the king! For more X Games madness check out their YouTube.