Professional surfing is in the midst of it's Australian leg. Translation: There are contests going on all over the place on that lovely continent down under, and let's not forget it is just that; a continent. According to www.dictionary.com, a continent is one of the main land masses of the globe. That being said, it's pretty safe to assume Australia's a pretty big place, it is the only country in the world that occupies an entire continent you know.

Step in Chris Ward. While his peers for the past five years on the ASP World Tour, aka the Dream Tour, got ready to surf Snapper Rocks and Bells Beach for the first two contests of the season, he was stuck surfing qualifying events in an effort to get back into the dream. This would take him from Newcastle on the country's east coast, to Margret's River on the west coast, to Tazmania off the southeast coast. These places are pretty spread out, and if you're not familiar with Australia, there's a whole lot of nothing in between. The nothingness is called the Nullarbor, pretty much a big desert.

In typical unpredictable Wardo style, who one month ago caused a big scene in Morro Bay which resulted in a capsized Coast Guard rescue boat, he decided to drive from the east coast of the Australia to the west coast, and back, and not tell anyone. A feat that only 1% of Australians ever do. He did it in a rental car, and brought his girlfriend along for the ride, who was just getting over her near drowning in the above mention boat incident. The transcontinental drive is thought of as pretty crazy, but doable. What makes what Wardo did so nuts is the amount of time he did it in; from the East coast to the West Coast in 30 hours. Not to mention he went straight into professional surfing contests along the way, and told his sponsors nothing.

I'll let ...LOST, Wardo's main sponsor pick it up from here, they've been in contact with the ever-so-elusive surf character:

Now when most WQS warriors travel to Australia for the events in late February and March, (most)travel by plane from event to event. This year ALPHA team rider Chris Ward decided that to make things interesting he would drive the Nullabar across Australia. Remember he is "the most interesting surfer". So unlike most surfers, who upon losing at Newcastle, drive back to Sydney and hop a flight across the Continent to Perth. Then do the 3 hour drive down to Margies. Chris decided to drive himself and his girlfriend across probably the scariest zone of OZ. Aside from being stuck in the middle of Africa.

He arrives in Margarets with just enough time to surf his heat. When OCCY was interviewed in the competitors area about this feat, he absolutely could not believe that WARDO actually drove it. We're talking only 1% of all Australians have even done this. Imagine losing a heat at HB, then jumping in your car and driving to Florida for another WQS. Then and this is when it gets even better, the rent-a-car company told Chris to leave it in WEST OZ it would be 6,000 Aus dollars. He immediately hung up the phone, looked at his girlfriend and told her to pack, and headed towards Tasmania where the next event was. Now he's got three days to make it to the 16 hour ferry to Tazzy. 3 days for a 4 day drive. Did he make it?

Fast forward 3 days and the boys are down at the event wondering if Ward will make it. Mason surfed early and the boys go back to the hotel. Later in the day they go back down to the contest site and who do they see parked way up the lot all alone with his odometer 6000 Km's further along, and his girlfriend and co-pilot. He makes it and wins his heat with about 2 hours to spare. He gets a result and why not, drives back to Sydney where he drops off the Rent-a-car and flies home. Just another adventure with Mr. Ward.

Total Km's driven 7400. This translates into about 4600 miles or so altogether.

Here are some facts about the Nullarbor according to Astraliantraveller.com - Foot to the floor, it can be done in less than 24 hours - but that's foolhardy in the extreme. Allowing yourself anywhere from five to ten days is best for really embracing the wide expanse, occasional low spinifex and straight, straight bitumen. (Ward did it in 30 hrs or less only stopping on the side of the road periodically to sleep).

The Plain itself covers around 200,000km, and is gutted east to west by the ramrod straight Eyre Highway, which begins at the WA end at Norseman and terminates almost 1700km later in SA's Port Augusta. In between, you'll find only a few things to disrupt your train of thought as you drive. These include: the world's longest straight bit of road (the 90 Mile Straight, 146.6km between Caiguna and Balladonia); giant semitrailers intent on sweeping you into the roadside gravel if you're not careful; hundreds of feral camels (of which a handful are almost certain to stray out of the darkness into your path); ditto Big Red 'roos; a roadhouse or two; tourists (probably German) on bikes; and dozens of shimmering mirages as you slowly succumb to white-line fever.

This past weekend, California was hit by a massive swell that caused mayhem at Mavricks, and giant surf up and down the Golden State. The Central Coast was firing, which has a few secret surf spots that are only accessible by boat. The Morro Bay Harbor, known for being treacherous in conditions like this, was being blasted by 20+ sets. Step in pro surfer, Chris Ward, his girlfriend, his 13 ft. sea pro boat and the AZHIAZIAM film crew. It was hide tide, and with the deeper conditions, getting out through the harbor in seas of this size is "doable." So of course, Captain Wardo and crew headed out, even though they were told not to by Harbor Patrol; there were waves to be surfed.

Fast-forward a few hours. Good waves were scored, video and photo clips went down and the crew decided to head in. By this time, the tide had dropped and the harbor was being closed out by 25 ft. + surf. Captain Wardo apparently has a method of getting in during conditions like this, which the Coast Guard doesn't even know about. Simply put, he rides in on the back of the last set wave. Piece of cake, right? Yeah, but not when your engine starts sputtering, so it was back out to sea for Wardo and crew.

A recap of the situation; it's low tide, there are 20 ft. + waves breaking through the notorious harbor and the U.S.S. Wardo is having engine problems. In Wardo's life you call this a typical Saturday, but the US Coast Guard calls this a serious situation, so in a came a 47' rescue boat.

I'll let the crew over at Wardo's main sponsor, ...LOST, who just got off the phone with him take it from here:

They put Chris and his girl on the boat and tied up Ward's boat to the back of their 47 foot Coast Guard boat. The Coast Guard guys were all strapped in up top. Ward and his girl were not. The guys told them to hold on as tight as they can if anything happens, and if they fall off they would rescue them from the water. Kind of like a warning on an airplane you never think you'll have to heed. Up top Chris thought to himself that there is no way this thing is turning over.

Then going into the harbor - low tide - pretty much every wave closing it out - the captain tried to ride in ON the wave - on the second wave of the set, even though the other officers were saying "third wave". Ward wondered why they didn't just ride the back of the wave in like he would have done and has done in the past. As it started to turn over, Ward grabbed his girlfriend tight and they held on - when upside down underwater - Ward couldn't hold onto the boat and got washed around probably 20 feet under while still holding onto his girl.

They popped up next to the boat as it was just popping back up after the set. The jet ski guys were nearby as Chris was shouting to grab the girl onto the ski. Chris grabbed onto the sled, on back, and was prepared to let go if he slowed them down too much to get away from the next 15 foot set (knowing he could make it swimming, but his girl might not). I commented that that's probably the heaviest thing his girl has ever been through - he said "maybe the heaviest thing to happen at that harbor" (note he didn't even for a second consider that it was one of the heavier things that happened to him) Then in the same breath he started talking about how good the waves were at Big Rock "kind of like the one day when I was wearing the hood" and telling me how our video guys need to be more on top of things... and then his phone went dead.

For more on what went down in Morro Bay that day head over to www.azhiaziam.com

"...LOST isn't good for people. You send us all around the world, with this image of Wardo and Corey, guys that really rip. And we don't do anything but lose first f--king heat. It's just like Strider said, 'We don't want no contest sections.'"

That was a hammered John Robertson right before his section in ...LOST's 7th (I think, it's all a blur) video The Decline. It's probably not word for word, I still only have that one on VHS, and I don't own a VCR anymore. Anyway, that pretty much sums up a ...LOST movie. The talent's there, but ...LOST is also going to show What's Really Going On and What's Really Going Wrong, which is the titles of their second and third videos, their first being the cult classic Dysfunctional.

It started that way, and even though ...LOST has since blown up as a company, is still that way. They stick to a formula; they show you best surfers in the world, they show you the not-so-best surfers in the world, they show you the best waves in the world, they show Huntington Pier. Then they turn around and show what comes with surfing besides the waves and sand: the parties, the debauchery, the girls, the burn outs, the drugs, the heads on fire, the crackheads, the drunken stair surfing, the fights, the puking, etc. You name it, it's been in one of these videos. ...LOST paints a picture for its video audience of how the other half lives. No golf playing, acoustic jamming millionaires here. Just guys who are barley getting by, but surfing everyday.

That's not to say the big time pros aren't in their videos. I'm pretty sure Slater and Curren have been in almost all of the them. It's just the way these videos are presented is like nothing else those two will be in. Plus, the ...LOST team has has some pretty damn good surfers. At one point, one of the original team riders Chris Ward, was considered California's next hope for a World Title. His surfing as a 15-year-old in those first few videos blew minds. He has always been one of the best free-surfers in the world, but you never know what your going to get with the guy, which isn't a good contest characteristic. Good for the audience though, it's funny watching a hungover, bed-headed mess running down the beach on his way to a heat he's 15 minutes late to, after already outright missing his previous heat, claiming he got confused. ...LOST has even talked of making a Wardo signature alarm clock, complete with the infamous pic of his dazed stare, and fresh out of a stooper hair, on his way to surf in surfing's version of the NFL, NBA or MLB. He survived on that tour for 4 years on pure natural talent.

This whole ...LOST phemonom started in Orange County's most southern town, San Clemente, which is only fitting. In that, the surf industry's most rebellious brand spawned from the town that birthed some of the world's most rebellious surfers: Archy, the Fletchers, the Beschens, Wardo, Joe Crimo, Geoff Brack (who bit some guy's finger off in a bar fight, I had to add that, because that's pretty heavy), etc. It's something in the water down there that makes you question everything, and do what you want. Which is what ...LOST Really Does.

Over the years there have been some impostors, but everyone knows ...LOST was the original. They have always shown WHAT REALLY GOES ON, which brings me to the point of all this. To celebrate the fifteen or so years of all this, ...LOST has released What Really Went On, a greatest hits like DVD that takes you from the first video to the last, with some never-before-seen extras in between.

Here's three teasers:

Contest Director Mike Parsons threw the back end of the Top 45 into the water for Round One of the Billabong Pro today, having chosen the new one-and-done format to make the most of the clean 3-foot lineup that materialized at Supertubes. With only an average size swell approaching Jeffreys Bay in the contest window, competitors battled not only each other, but J-Bay's speedy wind tunnels and ferocious rocks that always threaten skin and fin when it's small. Thanks to some friendly winds and a healthy dose of sand wedged between the rock fingers there were some pretty incredible barrels to be had. As night fell on J-Bay, Parsons managed to also complete two heats of Round Two.


Nathaniel Curran put in his best performance of the season against Jay "Bottle" Thompson in Round One. He looked sharp in the unforgiving speed sections. Curran has a tough road ahead, though, as he's up against the red-hot Adriano De Souza next. Photo: ASP/CI/ Cestari via Getty Images


Opening day proved to be a successful one for most of the American contingent. Even Nathaniel Curran and Dane Reynolds moved into the next round, which is worth celebrating since both of them are having such shocking seasons. Timmy Reyes and Chris Ward backed the young Californians up with convincing wins over wild cards Devyn Mattheys and Torrey Meister, and then late in the day, as Round Two got underway, C.J. Hobgood kept his roll going by defeating Michael Picon with some incredible backside tuberiding, where he put his Heisman Trophy stance to work.

While the U.S. mainlanders suffered no casualties today the Hawaiians weren't so lucky. While Kekoa Becalso and Roy Powers both advanced Dustin Barca had the unfortunate luck of drawing perennial J-Bay powerhouse Sean Holmes, who by now should be considered the world's most dangerous wild card. Holmes, who is always a giant killer at J-Bay, looked silky smooth against Barca. Sadly, Barca was surfing strong, indeed well enough to beat anyone else in the round except Holmes, so this loss hurts. With Holmes moving forward into Round Two world number four Taj Burrow will be losing sleep tonight, as he's next on the menu for Holmes.

The other painful loss belonged to Fred Patacchia, who, according to his blog, has been itching to get things moving in Jeffreys Bay. In his Round Two match against a very furry Kai Otton Freddy was never able locate his rhythm. Otton, meanwhile, weaved through one of the longest, cleanest barrels of the day on his backhand, which sent Freddy packing.

If you happen to be up late tonight you'll definately want to be tuning in for the highly anticipated Occy vs. Curren duel. Occy had the entire lineup in stitches today during a warm up session. When Curren went flying down the line past Occy, the Occ yelled, "Bring it on!" The boys loved it. Even Curren's son, who was sitting right there, had a good laugh. The clash certainly seems to be fueling some old cold war patriotism, as the Top 45 are passionately choosing sides. Slater is said to be commenting the dual, which should make it even more interesting.

Here's what's on tap tonight if you feel like pulling a late one..

OCCY vs. Curren (TBA, but could go first thing.)

REMAINING BILLABONG PRO JEFFREYS BAY ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 3: Jeremy Flores (FRA) vs. Dean Morrison (AUS)
Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Nathaniel Curran (USA)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Roy Powers (HAW)
Heat 6: Tom Whitaker (AUS) vs. Ben Dunn (AUS)
Heat 7: Kieren Perrow (AUS) vs. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Heath Joske (AUS)
Heat 9: Taj Burrow (AUS) vs. Sean Holmes (ZAF)
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) vs. Tim Reyes (USA)
Heat 11: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Michel Bourez (PYF)
Heat 12: Jordy Smith (ZAF) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)
Heat 13: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 14: Taylor Knox (USA) vs. Chris Ward (USA)
Heat 15: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Greg Emslie (ZAF)
Heat 16: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Chris Davidson (AUS)