ASP World Champion Mick Fanning is dealing with a public relations nightmare after going toe-to-toe with Charlie Smith, an Australian journalist from STAB Magazine. Now, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney's Jewish community is upset after Fanning used the phrase "F---ing Jew" four times during an interview with Smith.

According to the Herald, the New South Whales Jewish Board of Deputies discussed the matter during a community meeting Tuesday night, where members voiced their concerns over the remarks. Chief executive Vic Alhadeff blamed both Fanning and the magazine for the blunder.

''While one might expect a surfing magazine to push the edges, printing inflammatory material is irresponsible and does nothing to promote social harmony,'' Mr Alhadeff told the Herald. ''The publishers ought to exercise greater care and
greater caution.''

In the article, Fanning takes issue with Smith. ''You totally f---ing write off surfing and then you make money off surfing...You're a f---ing Jew.''

Fanning is now busy apologizing "unreservedly" for his comments, while pointing anger at the magazine. Smith, it's worth noting, was acting as "guest editor" for what Stab called their "Fascist" issue.

Stab, under the direction of publisher Sam McIntosh, is renowned for its provocative editorial content that's constantly straddling -- and crossing -- the line between hilarious and utterly offensive. And McIntosh is apparently comfortable managing controversy.

McIntosh told the Herald that the "Fascist" issue referred to the "close mindedness" in surfing, and that Fanning's comments were newsworthy.

In a statement to the The Sun Herald, Fanning noted: "I consider the article to be offensive and arguably designed to cause hurt and distress.'' He also claimed he'd been resisting the interview from the start.

"Prior to the exchange with the reporter, I had refused to speak with him because I understood he worked for Stab magazine and that it had previously published articles which I believed were racist and anti-Semitic. I strongly object to views, statements and comments of that nature.

''I acknowledge that my decision to use words that were inappropriate - albeit in an attempt to be ironic, knowing they were of the type favoured by the magazine - was misjudged and wrong. I don't have or condone any form of racist or, more particularly, anti-Semitic view."

Fanning will be hoping to put this blunder to rest quickly as he seeks to defend his ASP World Title. The second stop of the ASP World Championship Tour is the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, and Rip Curl is Fanning's primary sponsor. Stab, meanwhile, will be enjoying another round of limelight.

The waves are bombing in West Oz, and so too are a few of the ASP's top seeds, as world champion Mick Fanning lost to Josh Kerr Friday afternoon in some solid conditions. It's the first time ever Kerr has beat Fanning in a man-on-man heat.

From the press release...

Trailing for most of the heat, Kerr found a late wave in the dying minutes after Fanning had taken a wipe out holding priority. Needing a 4.57 to progress to the quarter-finals, Kerr took off right and hit three nice moves, landing his final manoeuvre surrounded in foam. The big crowd at Surfer's Point were on edge as most thought it too close to call but the judges liked what they saw awarding him a 6.93 and sending Fanning out of the contest.

Earlier in the day, local favorite and current World Number 1 Taj Burrow charged through to the quarter finals, winning his Round of 16 heat by a wide margin over Spain's Aritz Aranburu. Burrow handled the huge conditions with ease riding seven waves in his heat for a combined score of 15.33. "It was great fun surfing big waves. I got some great waves and really opened up a couple of times on my backhand," said Burrow.

The large crowd at Surfers' Point cheered every wave and Burrow's sixth wave of the heat got the loudest response. Dropping into a very large left, Burrow nailed a big backhand sweep off the top on his way to scoring an 8.50 for that ride. After the heat Burrow was content, "Being relaxed is my only strategy and I am not concerned about the result. I am on the best roll in my career and I just want to keep doing what I am doing as it seems to be working."


Mick Fanning's last minute wipeout (above) cost him the heat victory. Meanwhile, local boy Taj Burrow (left) continued his roll.

One of the most significant changes to this year's ASP tour is the implementation of the One World Ranking System, which effectively has eliminated the two tier ranking system.

Since 1992, surfers on the ASP World Tour and those trying to qualify for it have been competing on two entirely separate tours with separate rankings. The World Tour and the World Qualifying Tours were two very different universes.

But the new point system is changing all that.

This year all ASP surfers will be ranked internationally on the same list. While the ASP World Title race will still have its own ratings list, those same 32 surfers will be ranked against the entire ASP field on the One World Ranking too, which, ultimately, will determine whether or not they remain eligible for the ASP World Title.

The net effect of all this is a very positive one for fans, who will be seeing more of the top surfers hard at work this year.

Last year's 6-Star Prime events are just called Prime events this year. But they carry significantly more weight, with a very healthy dose of World Ranking Points -- points that will prove very valuable this year since the ASP World Title field is going to be reduced to 32 surfers from 48 midway through the season.

Consider this: CJ Hobgood won the first Prime event in Brazil, three weeks before the race for this year's world title got underway at the Quiksilver Pro. By winning the prime event in Brazil, Hobgood racked up 6500 points, exactly the same amount of points Dane Reynolds earned at the Quiksilver Pro, an ASP World TItle event, for finishing in 3rd place.

As a result, CJ Hobgood is already ranked number 2 on the Men's World Ranking, above the likes of Jordy Smith, Bobby Martinez and Dane Reynolds. While this doesn't mean a whole lot yet, the Men's World Ranking will become even more important as mid season nears.

This also explains why 33 of the ASP's Top 44 surfers have ventured over to Western Australia this week to compete in the Drug Aware Margaret River Pro. Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, Taj Burrow, CJ and Damien Hobgood are just a handful of those competing. They're each starting in the four man Round of 96 heats, much to the delight of the Margaret River crowd.

Mother nature seems to be turning things on for the big boys, too, as the swell is pumping. Let's hope the same thing happens at the Nike 6.0 Pro at Lower Trestles in May, which should attract an even bigger talent pool.


Above: World Champion Mick Fanning competing at the Drug Aware Pro in Margaret River, Western Australia.

Pro surfing took a step forward Thursday. The next generation of world tour stars finally made a claim on the ASP's top spots at the Quiksilver Pro.

One day after the sport's biggest A-listers (read: Slater, Fanning, Parko) humbled the Freshmen class of 2010, they were slaughtered by a very lethal collection of second and third year pros poised to make runs at their lofty spots.

Today's lesson? Well, we learned that after a couple of trips around the ASP fast track, Jordy Smith and Dane Reynolds are finally comfortable in their world tour running shoes. On Thursday their equipment looked good, minds relaxed, nerves calm, and their surfing was freakish as Smith and Reynolds eliminated Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson respectively in some hard fought clashes.

The A-lister carnage actually started in the fourth round when Mick Fanning was upset by Kai Otton. It was a razor thin win for Otton, who has looked solid all week. Mick shouldn't be the only one checking the replays and second guessing the scores of the first exchange.

Smith and Slater squared off in the final heat of the same round, and Smith, very wisely, jumped out to an early lead. Looking loose, lively and powerful Smith took it to Slater, who simply couldn't catch up.

The quarterfinal showdown between Reynolds and Parko was an instant classic. The chunky Snapper walls were the perfect canvas for both surfers to put their entire arsenals on display. The heat lived up to its billing, too, and will likely be remembered as a seminal moment in pro surfing history.

Parko was his silky-smooth self while ripping his backyard to shreds, but Reynolds managed to finally put all the pieces together, which let him take his tour act to a whole new level. The spontaneous tail blowing, rail carving and tube riding was the best surfing of the entire event, and Parko--even with his two scores in the 8 range--couldn't do anything to stop the onslaught.

On Friday, Smith and Reynolds will face off in the second semifinal, in what's obviously the most highly anticipated showdowns any rabid tour fan could hope for. For what it's worth, Reynolds has owned Smith so far in man-on-man heats. The winner will face either Bobby Martinez or Taj Burrow in the final.

Should the two Californians, Reynolds and Martinez, go the distance, it would be the first time that's happened since 1985, when Tom Curren and Mike Parsons met in the Stubbies Pro final at Burleigh Heads. What's also noteworthy is that for the first time in years there's no Gold Coast local in the top four.

This is gonna be good.



Dane Reynolds (top) and Jordy Smith (bottom) put on what was arguably their best ASP performances to date on Thursday at the Quiksilver Pro while taking out top seeds Joel Parkinson and Kelly Slater.

Reality bit the 2010 tour rookies hard on Wednesday. Battle-hardened veterans of the ASP tour wasted no time feasting on fresh tour meat at the Quiksilver Pro. All remaining members of the 2010 rookie class were eliminated during Round Three by world tour A-listers: Parko, Fanning, Taj Burrow and Kelly Slater.

World Champion Mick Fanning got things started by coasting past Brett Simpson, reminding the kid from Huntington Beach (who cost Fanning $100,000 at the U.S. Open) that he was on Fanning's turf at Snapper.

Joel Parkinson gave Dusty Payne a good thrashing while showing absolutely no signs of last year's ankle injury. He did, however, resemble the Parko we saw early in the season.

Taj Burrow finally managed to put the clamp on the very dangerous Owen Wright, who wreaked havoc with the big guns last year as a wild card and is hoping to carry that momentum through in his rookie season.

Then, on cue, after a day of brutal passing rain squalls and 30 mph winds the skies parted as Kelly Slater took to the water against Patrick Gudauskas.

After a slow start, Slater put on his most inspiring performances in years. Though the scores didn't reflect it (because tubes were harder to find than a few heats earlier) his precision and handling of the throaty Snapper walls was as good as it gets. Slater's little swallow tail with a scooped deck fit the the low-tide bowls like a glove, and his movements and thoughts were one and the same as he surpassed even the best mind surfing session.

You could say it was vintage Slater, but that implies he was better in the past, and 38-year-old Slater looks like he's still getting better.

In the final heat of the day -- one of the best third rounds of competition you could hope for -- Jordy Smith fought off a late charge by Tiago Pires to survive.

As for the other notables: Bobby Martinez took down a still rusty Andy Irons. Dane Reynolds came from behind to
beat his Quiksilver teammate Jeremy Flores. Reynolds nabbed the lead in the closing moments after a shaky start. "Jeremy gets phsyched for big heats," said Kelly Slater, watching the Reynolds vs. Flores match. "And Dane's got a huge target on his back because he's Dane."

Reynolds admitted he was struggling in the stormy conditions. "I'm sure it's pretty easy for Mick and Joel when it's like this but I was lost out there."

Bede Durbidge, on the other hand, was finding every good wave that came through on Wednesday. The 6'1" Durbidge stood tall in number of ferocious caverns. He emerged repeatedly to earn scores in the 9.0 category, giving him the highest heat total of the day.

As good as the Round Three match ups were, Round Four is looking even better, but witnesses won't be forgetting Wednesday's action for some time, as it was some of the best Round Three surfing the tour's ever seen.

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)

Heat 2: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)

Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)

Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)

Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)

Heat 6: Daniel Ross (AUS) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)

Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)

Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)