We here at Buy Board Shorts want to send our congrats out to Brazilian junior pro surfer Jadson Andre who won the Oakley Rio Pro Junior event this past Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. The contest started last Friday and finished up in clean, 2-3′ surf at at Arpoador Beach.

Andre scored the only perfect 10 point ride of the entire event and won the final round over his good friend Miguel Pupo. Both surfers are guaranteed spots into the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships in Australia in January, 2010.

“We made it quite a heat, each one taking some waves and when I want so much something, it happens. I’m stoked for it. Me and Miguel (Pupo) are brothers and when he was at the peak, I waited in the middle and when I was with the priority he waited, so who surfed better would win the heat” said Andre… way to go… and nice boardshorts you got on there too! 

In an all-Brazilian final, Simao Romao won his second consecutive event title at the 2009 Rio Surf Pro International presented by Oakley on Sunday in clean 2-4′ waves at Arpoador Beach, Rio de Janeiro.

Romao jumped on the surf and took an early heat lead with a score of 6.83, (out of 10.00), with  some clean backside turns and floaters. Next with power moves on the long lefts of Arpoador he scored an almost perfect 9.33 and further extend his lead and seal the victory.

“I’m very happy, stoked, win here again is unbelievable. The best of all is that I can celebrate this title at home, I will not have to travel just like last year when I went from here straight to the airport, now I will make a barbecue to all of my friends, celebrate with then and with my family” said Romao, who with this win moved from 99th to 49th place in ASP Men’s WQS Ranking.

Here is some amazing footage of some present day usage of these ancient boards:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7qfIleqr3g

Australian surfer, Owen Wright, took first place in the SriLankan Airlines Pro in the Maldives yesterday!

According to many of the judges and contest officials this was one of the most exciting and high scoring finals they’d seen in years.

Owen Wright went head-to-head with Pat Gudauskas as the two battled it out for first place. Wright emerged the victor as the final scores gave Wright 19.23 and Gudauskas 18.93 out of a possible 20.

You can read about all the action here at ASP…

In Australia, Margaret River is one of the few surf breaks on the ASP World Qualifying Series capable of really challenging professional surfers by delivering powerful, large surf.

Today a solid six-to-eight-foot swell was pounding the outer reef at Surfers’ Point for the competitors to show their stuff.

The message became clearer even before the opening heat began when veteran Brazilian surfer Paulo Moura signaled to the judging tower by waiving his broken board to hold off on starting the heat and get a new board out to him after his was snapped when paddling to the line-up.

The frantic start failed to rattle Moura, who went on to impressively win the heat, defeating up and coming Hawaiian Mason Ho comfortably on a score line of each surfers top two scoring rides of 13.50 to Ho’s 11.23.

“That was a tough start to the heat and luckily I was able to get the attention of the tower and get a new board out quickly,” Moura said. “Waves like this test us all and you feel good about your surfing when you win in these conditions.”

Australia’s fastest emerging young surfer, Owen Wright, who grew up on NSW’s south coast but has recently relocated to Lennox Head, is rapidly establishing himself on the open ASP circuit and this morning toyed with the conditions to notch up another impressive heat win.

With excellent large surf fore all week, Wright is optimistic about his chances here.

“It’s big open ocean surf and I definitely like the wave as you have plenty of scope to really put together large power driven moves,” Wright said. “If it gets bigger as they are predicting I’m fine with that, I’d prefer it bigger than smaller.”

On Sunday 21 year old surfing sensation and reigning two-time ASP Women’s World Champion, Stephanie Gilmore of Australia , won the Roxy Pro Gold Coast, defeating Melanie Bartels, of Hawaii, to claim the first event on the 2009 ASP Women’s World Tour at Snapper Rocks in her home country.

Gilmore posted the highest wave score of the day on her very first wave with a 9.57 out of 10. She ripped it up with a series of fin releases and power carves.

“It was a really little wave,” Gilmore said. “I had a few flashbacks from 2005 where I was trying to pick off the little ones that were going to grow down the line. Today it just so happened I picked a good one. It is important to get a good start and get a lead early in the heat.”

Sunday’s victory was her 4th consecutive win on surfing’s ASP Women’s World Tour, having claimed the last three events of the 2008 season, and puts her well on the path to a third consecutive ASP Women’s World Title.

“It’s a new start for me,” Gilmore said. “To win on your home turf, in front of all these people, it’s unbelievable.”

We here at Buy-Board-Shorts.com know our customers and blog readers are also interested in surfing so we’ll be sure to keep you posted on other major surf contests and events!

As of today the women’s semifinals are on hold but yesterday the Roxy Pro Gold Coast was held in clean two-to-three foot waves at Duranbah Beach with the women surfers competing in three rounds of surfing before getting down to the semifinalists by the end of the long day.

Stephanie Gilmore, the reigning two-time ASP Women’s World Champion from Australia (show competing in her blue women’s board shorts above), was in sensational form today, beating Megan Abubo, of Hawaii, in Round 3 before ousting fellow Australian, Chelsea Hedges in the quarterfinals.

“It was a great heat with Chelsea (Hedges),” Gilmore said. “There was a lot of energy before we went down to the water and it just felt great. I love surfing with her, but it’s always hard. As I’ve said before, she’s probably the only girl I’ve ever competed against who can throw a 7 or 8 right back in your face at the start of a heat and it really fires me up. Of course, to come out on top is always a bonus.”

Gilmore is now into the Semifinals and looks to be the event favorite, securing the day’s high heat total of a 16.83 out of a possible 20 in her Round 3 heat.

“My last big result at home was when I was a wildcard at 17,” Gilmore said. “It’s always a treat to surf at home in front of your friends and family. Now that I’m through to the Semifinals, I’m feeling really good and hopefully, we’ll get to finish at Snapper Rocks.”

Gilmore will face 2009 ASP Dream Tour rookie Paige Hareb , of New Zealand, in Semifinal 1 when Roxy Pro Gold Coast competition continues.

The 8th Annual Surfing Arts, Science and Issues Conference is coming to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California February 28 and March 1, 2009.

This year’s conference is all about efforts to try and take the guesswork out of making better waves and better surfing equipment. Of course, everyone has a different take on what makes a good wave – and evaluating surfboard performance can often lead to opinions that are little more than ‘psychosomatic’ (Steve Pezman, 2000). However, with some outstanding engineers and clear-thinking surfers on the agenda, as well as a first-ever fin ‘turbulence’ project at the Scripps Hydraulic Laboratory, SASIC 8 promises to be an event unique in the history of surfers trying to create waves and equipment to match their dreams.

You can register here…