Kolohe Andino has solidified himself a spot on the 2012 world tour commencing in late February at Snapper rocks, and to celebrate, he unveiled his new website. In this digital age, having your own web-presence has become vital to both fans and athletes, so I'm sure this puppy has been in the works for some time.

KoloheAndino.com is in it's infantile stages, with 3 videos up in total, 2 old and 1 new. Now that the lights have been turned on, we'll get to see where Kolohe's going with this..

Here's Kolohe's early winter in Hawaii video, hopefully we get to see some behind the scenes footy of his terrifying heats at Pipe this year..

After three consecutive days of voodoo and surf sacrifices, the long awaited swell has arrived at Kangaroo Island. Kinda. It was waist high, and by the time the finals limped into action, the onshore wind had torn the little running lefts to shit.

Nevertheless, with 6-Star points on the line, the quarterfinals were sent out to the sand bank at the gorgeous Vivonne Bay in South Australia.

The lone American left in the draw was none other than Kolohe Andino. With this win replacing his lowest result, his spot on next year's tour is all but locked. This is Kolohe's 5th win this season, tying Gabe Medina for wins on the year (though Gabe won a prime and 2 WCT events).

Kolohe now sits at 24 in the world rankings, comfortably within the top 32 roster for next year.

Qualification is a slippery slope. The Hawaiian season is just starting, and empirical evidence would suggest that crazy things can go down, and let us not forget that the ASP is capable of making mistakes when it comes to simple math, so who knows.

This event marks the first ever at Kangaroo Island, a beautiful pile of rocks just off the coast of Adelaide, and ironically the strongest national showing was from another island off the coast of Australia: New Zealand. Kiwis RIchard Christie, Billy Stairmand, and Jay Quinn all charged into the quarters, unfortunately taking each other out in rapid succession, leaving Quinn in the final to face Andino.

Kolohe was THE standout of the entire event, and he smashed the final as well. Good on ya mate!

Final
Kolohe Andino (USA) 15.33 def. Jay Quinn (NZL) 13.64

Semifinals
SF1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 17.17 def. Mitch Crews (AUS) 15.27
SF2: Jay Quinn (NZL) 11.83 def. Richard Christie (NZL) 8.50

Quarterfinals
QF1: Kolohe Andino (USA) 16.20 def. Michael Dunphy (USA) 14.50
QF2: Mitch Crews (AUS) 12.76 def. Evan Geiselman (USA) 11.17
QF3: Jay Quinn (NZL) 13.90 def. Billy Stairmand (NZL)
QF4: Richard Christie (NZL) 13.17 def. Perth Standlick (AUS) 9.80

In the long run this may be a war, but today the aerialists won the battle in Santa Cruz.

Due to a lagging South Swell, delays and lulls attempted to sour an otherwise great day of competition at the O'neill Cold Water Classic. Heats 1-12 of the first round were run at the fabled point at Steamer Lane.

The list of heat winners reads more like the Modern Collective cast plus the entire ...Lost/Mayhem team than a typical WQS heat sheet. Mason Ho, Ratboy, Cory Lopez, Kolohe Andino, Nate Yeomans, Davo, Luke Davis, Dusty Payne, Evan Geiselman, Julian WIlson, Wilko, Miguel Pupo. All moving on to Round Two after solid performances in head high rights at the Lane. Innovative surfing: rewarded.

A peaking South Swell should see competition resume tomorrow morning. Watch it here.

O'NEILL COLD WATER CLASSIC ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Mason Ho (HAW) 12.53, Jason Collins (USA) 12.10, Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 11.87, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.03
Heat 2: Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) 12.37, Cory Lopez (USA) 9.20, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 7.24, Brent Dorrington (AUS) 4.83
Heat 3: Kolohe Andino (USA) 16.63, Richard Christie (NZL) 13.90, Michael Dunphy (USA) 9.93, Rudy Palmboom (ZAF) 9.06
Heat 4: Nathan Yeomans (USA) 14.90, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 13.23, Adam Robertson (AUS) 12.07, Sunny Garcia (AUS) 11.87
Heat 5: Shaun Joubert (ZAF) 13.10, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 11.77, Gavin Gillette (HAW) 10.86, Jonathan Gonzalez (CNY) 9.37
Heat 6: Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.94, Hizunome Bettero (BRA) 12.50, Austin Ware (USA) 11.33, Tim Reyes (USA) 10.90
Heat 7: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 15.34, Willian Cardoso (BRA) 9.80, Brian Toth (PRI) 7.17, Roy Powers (HAW) 7.16
Heat 8: Luke Davis (USA) 15.37, Joel Centeio (HAW) 10.60, Alain Riou (PYF) 8.03, Nicholas Squires (AUS) 7.40
Heat 9: Nat Young (USA) 15.27, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 13.30, Heath Joske (AUS) 12.24, Kevin Sullivan (HAW) 7.17
Heat 10: Dusty Payne (HAW) 15.67, Dion Atkinson (AUS) 13.84, Joan Duru (FRA) 11.73, Dale Staples (ZAF) 8.47
Heat 11: Evan Geiselman (USA) 11.50, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 11.07, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 10.77, Jeronimo Vargas (BRA) 6.66
Heat 12: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.47, Lincoln Taylor (AUS) 13.10, Mitch Crews (AUS) 12.86, Matt Myers (USA) 9.90

Kolohe Andino has been having one hell of a Brazil trip. Two weeks, two event wins, and now sitting at 24th in the world, he is looking very good for qualification at season's end.

Andino beat Brazilian Hizunome Bettero in a heated final to take the Quiksilver Brazil Open, a week after winning the Supersurf International in Sao Paolo, both events are 6-star WQS events, just below the Prime events in terms of points.

With just two 6-stars and two Primes events left in the season, Kolohe has secured himself a spot, assuming he doesn't pull a Yadin Nicol before the Hawaiian season. Kolohe will most likely surf the Hawaii events for experience's sake, and with the pressure off now, it should be a great learning experience for the 17 year old from San Clemente.

With Kelly Slater closing in on his remarkable 11th world title a lot of big ASP tour drama is shifting to the massive race to make it into the Top 32 of the world rankings. With more than ten surfers either in danger, or in the hunt, interesting twists and turns are happening daily.

But a quick look at the world rankings is only half the story, because before surfers can gain any ratings ground, they first must backup any of their Top 8 results that might expire, as each result has a shelf life of exactly 12 months. With that in mind it's important to note that some surfers have much bigger holes to dig out of than others.

Here's a look at who's on the bubble, beginning with number 22 ranked Taylor Knox. After looking closely at the hill each surfer has to climb before any ground can be gained, I took the liberty of predicting the likelihood of them doing so. As you'll see, the current rankings are very fluid indeed.

22. Taylor Knox is 6,636 points shy of replacing the 10,800 points expiring before year's end. Probability: Low. He can't afford any slips, and needs one more solid result just to stay put, so he's in danger despite this ranking.

23. Patrick Gudauskas is 3500 points shy of replacing the 7000 that expire before year's end. Probability: Low. With two world tour events left, he's got work to do. Hello Santa Cruz.

24. Chris Davidson has a whopping 12,058 points that are expiring before year's end and very little in reserves. Probability: Low. But he's already in Round Four at Portugal, which means he's now only 8058 points shy.

25. Travis Logie is 2867 points shy of replacing the 5292 points expiring before year's end. Probability: Good. A win against Adriano de Souza in Round Three would have gone a long way toward getting him out of the hole.

26. Dusty Payne is 4,949 points shy of replacing the 9050 that will expire before year's end. Probability: Good. But if he doesn't get past Parko in Portugal on Tuesday, Payne will need another strong Pipeline finish to hold his ground.

27. CJ Hobgood is only 1750 points shy of replacing the 7050 that are expiring by year's end thanks to his strong reserves. Probability: High. Ceej needs one more quarterfinal in a Prime to stay put. Anything more is gravy.

28. Kai Otton has already backed up what's set to expire by year's end. Probability: High. He has a good chance of moving up from here.

29. Brett Simpson has 258 points shy of replacing the 3550 that expire before year's end.Probability: High. Brett also has a good shot at moving up the ladder.

30. Yadin Nicol has no way of replacing the 4626 points that will expire by year's end, but he will likely get the injury wildcard anyway.

31. Kieren Perrow is 6250 points shy of replacing the 8000 that will expire before year's end. Probability: Very Low. He blew up at Pipe last year. He'll need to do the same this time to survive.

32. Tiago Pires is 1159 points shy of replacing the 3016 that expire by year's end. Probability: High. Although turning lower after his Round Two loss at home in Portugal.

33. John Florence is 1691 points shy of replacing the 3941 that will expire before year's end. Probability: High. Being eligible for three world tour events (including one in his backyard) should help him dig out and climb.

34. Kolohe Andino (below right) is 1137 points shy of replacing the 2057 that will expire by year's end. Probability: Good. One more solid result could put him on tour, and he knows it.

35. Freddy Patacchia has already replaced the 4753 points that will expire by year's end, and then some. Probability: High. Having ripped his way into Round Four, and Hawaii around the corner he's ready to start climbing.

36. Adam Melling is 804 points shy of replacing the 3807 points that will expire by year's end. Probability: High. But after bombing out in Portugal expect to see him at the Prime in Santa Cruz.

37. Dane Reynolds has a whopping 12,500 points to replace before year's end and no motivation to do so. Probability: Very Low: Don't fret, there will be more Yellow Teeth giveaways on his blog.

38. Tanner Gudauskas is 1857 points shy of replacing the 4114 that will expire by year's end Probability: Good. He cant' be counted out being that he's been on a tear lately.

39. Daniel Ross is 3474 points shy of replacing the 7074 that will expire by year's end. Probability: Good. He's a battler with multiple shots. That said, he's got serious ground to make up.

40. William Cardoso is 2177 points shy of replacing the 3503 that will expire before year's end. Probability: Low. But he shouldn't be taken lightly.

41. Thiago Camarao (right) is only 168 points shy of replacing the 868 that will expire by year's end. Probability: High. He's a real threat with a strong chance to climb.

42. Jesse Mendes is 1157 points shy of replacing the 3557 that will expire by year's end. Probability: Good. He still has ground to make up but look out for this kid in 2012.

43. Cory Lopez is 4560 points shy of replacing the 6417 that will expire before year's end. Probability: Low. The odds certainly aren't in his favor, but Cory being Cory and all, he's still a dark horse worth watching.

Upon further examination, the aforementioned surfers fall into one of four categories:
1. On shaky ground: Though currently in qualifying positions, Taylor Knox, Chris Davidson, Patrick Gudauskas, Dusty Payne, and Kieren Perrow are all in danger of sliding fast given the holes they're in.
2. Holding steady: Travis Logie, CJ Hobgood, John Florence, Brett Simpson, Tiago Pires, and Adam Melling each have work to do, but are on solid ground.
3. Clear and present dangers: Freddy Patacchia, Kolohe Andino, Thiago Camarao and William Cardoso are ready to pounce and make the most of their opportunity.
4. Outside looking in: Dane Reynolds, Tanner Gudauskas, Daniel Ross, Jesse Mendes and Cory Lopez are long odds, but well within striking distance.