The good folks over at Vans have just dropped the trailer for their first ever surf film Get-N-Classic Volume 1. The accomplices are as follows: Joel Tudor, Nathan Fletcher, Pat, Tanner and Dane Gudauskas, John, Ivan and Nathan Florence, Dylan Graves, Alex Knost, Andrew Doheny, Kalani Chapman and Jason "Ratboy" Collins. The trailer is pretty amazing, can't wait to see the whole enchilada. It's gonna be available for download August 8th.

Pro surfer Tanner Gudauskas might never win a world title, but his recent out-of-water performance was nothing short of epic, placing him among an elite few world-class human beings doubling as top athletes. Read his touching blog post below, about an encounter inside a doctor's office, and see if you agree:

What is it about waiting rooms? People take the first part of that description too seriously. Waiting. It's like they are allergic to the spoken word. I have been in and out of doctor's offices for the past month and have tried to strike up conversation in every "waiting" room. Crickets. I feel like I might as well be getting treated for the Bubonic plague more than my ankle. Nobody talking. That is until today. When I met Shirley.

I was early for my appointment and apparently so was Shirley. She was seeing a different doctor at the practice. We have something in common. Ankles. Well we get to talking and conversation starts to run. We are sprinting now, and we talk about music, traveling and staying active. She said that the ankle injury has sidelined most of her activity but the treatment was helping bring her back. What a lovely person Shirley is. The other people in the office start to laugh at our jokes, and see that we have broke the mold. Normality isn't for us.

The door opens with the doctor standing, calling for Shirley. We say goodbye with a wave and go our separate ways. I think to myself that this is what life should be. Harmless. Talking to strangers and laughing. Man some people take this whole life thing too serious. Looking at the lady in the far corner of the room whose face is stuffed in a magazine, I head in for my last laser session feeling like I accomplished something. It was a conversation in a waiting room. Small success.

After a fairly uneventful session I open the door to see standing in the hallway, it's Shirley. She had just finished her treatment. I ask, " feeling better?" She replied with an enthusiastic, "Yeah, I feel great!"

So I pay up and notice that Shirley is taking a couple of business cards from her purse. She was going to call a cab. So I offered my phone if she needed it. She explained that last time the cab driver took a full hour to arrive and pick her up. I asked if she lived close. "Yes, I live a couple of streets south on National, would you mind giving me a lift?"

Of course.

Shirley's birthday is coming up. She will be 91 years old. Laughing she says it's a real "Killer!" Taking the elevator down she is looking up at me, I think she stood about 4-ý feet tall. She reminded me of my grandmother. Awesome. And sure enough she lived about a 10-minute drive from the office. I couldn't imagine this little lady with blue tinted coke bottle glasses waiting on the side of the corner for an hour. She was sharp though. Chatty.

Pulling into her suburban driveway I wished her well and thanked her for the warmth. But she wouldn't let me leave for home without hearing one song on her harps accord. It was beautiful. I laughed inside thinking about THE WEDDING SINGER, when Adam Sandler gets paid in meatballs for voice lessons. But here I am on National street, inside Shirley's house admiring the look and music of the Harp's Accord that she gives lessons on. Was it music, ankles, or was it positive energy? I don't know. But connection to other human beings is a miraculous thing. I am thankful for my meeting with Shirley, however short it was. It was simple.

-- Tanner

Images of Tanner Gudauskas are courtesy ©ASP 2010 Kirstin Scholtz. Drawing of Shirley is courtesy of Tanner Gudauskas

-- Note: To visit the Gudauskas brothers' blog please click here

Most of the big boys rebounded today at the Billabong Pro in Brazil as conditions improved for Round Two.
Kelly Slater, Taj Burrow and Mick Fanning all survived their loser's round forays after being defeated on Saturday in Round One. Slater (below) looked solid vs. Brazilian wild card Messias Felix.

But three-time world champion Andy Irons wasn't so lucky. His world tour comeback has been lackluster so far. Now three events in Irons' competitive career is officially on life support. Andy has two more events to get his act together. A very solid result in South Africa or Tahiti to keep his career afloat.

Luckily, Andy has two months to get into fighting shape, because frankly, he's still looking a bit soft in the middle, and his surfing isn't nearly as threatening as a result. A dead giveaway of this is his heavy reliance on the layback snap of late. The layback snap -- while at times flashy -- is a lazy maneuver. It takes far less effort than a full-body wrap around. It's the move you push out when you're out of energy. Andy's batteries still need charging.

Much of the story in Round Two was the horrific rookie slaughtering. Dusty Payne, Brett Simpson and Nate Yeomans were among the victims. But Owen Wright and both Tanner and Patrick Gudauskas advance straight into Round Three after their strong performances in Round One on Saturday.

As is usually the case heading into Round Three, there are some solid fight cards on the schedule. Here are a few I think could get interesting...

Parko vs. Matt Wilko -
Parko's lit his first heat up, surfing smoothly and with a hunger we haven't seen yet this year. But Wilko is looking to get some traction here. He's dangerous in these conditions. This is no walk in the Park for Parko.

Damien vs. Jadson Andre -
Two very dynamic goofygooters. Damien's been having a rough go of late, and Andre -- who has a healthy bag of tricks -- is also on his home turf. This one will get interesting.

Adriano vs. Pat Gudang -
The more I think about it, the more I realize these guys have very similar approaches. Adriano is the defending champion, but Pat has proven that he's not easily intimidated...and he'll be looking for launch pads.

Dane vs. Kekoa -
On paper you wouldn't think this would be close -- especially in Brazil. But Kekoa never looks like a major threat on paper even though he almost always is. The guy throws some serious power into his turns. Dane will have to take to the air to get past him.

Bede vs. Owen Wright -
This is a battle of the machines. Mr. Wright is in desperate need of his first good result and some momentum. But Bede is a notorious giant killer. Nobody's going to roll over in this one.

Freddy vs. Jeremy -
Two of the guys who're always lurking just below the headlines even while putting in some very solid performances. They're well matched in the bag-of-tricks department.

Kelly vs. Tanner Gudang -
Another one that isn't close on paper...But keep this in mind: Historically, Slater has more problems with rookies and wild cards than he does title contenders. Gudauskas will have plenty of motivation -- the problem is it could just be too much. Surfers tend to abandon their game plans against Slater, when they should be thinking more like Rocky Balboa in the original. In other words, just go the distance and make it respectable.

Jordy vs. Ben Dunn -
Jordy seems to be playing the game well right now. Speed is the key for him against Dunn in Brazil conditions though, so board selection will be key. Smith gets confused by equipment choices. That's why this one could surprise.

Taylor vs Tiago -
Tiago can never be taken lightly. And Taylor will never take anything off of his heavy turns -- even here. This will be a tough match for Knox. Though he's from Portugal, Tiago has some serious fans in Brazil.

The ASP World Tour as you've known it is no more.

The full impact of the changes announced last fall during the European leg are now being realized, and they're much more significant than first thought. Apparently Slater's threats weren't in vain.

The reason for the surprise? Well, the ASP didn't actually implement their new "world ranking" system until the beginning of this year. Word on the street is the process was a much more painful to figure out than anticipated (which explains why they unveiled it with very little fanfare).

The major sticking point was deciding how to properly format the new "world ranking" that will ultimately control a surfers destiny in the years ahead. Valuing the ASP's various tiers: World Tour, Prime, and Star events, was no easy feat, as each level's results had to be merged into the larger ranking picture.

When their homework was finally completed the ruling was to punish losers and reward winners more significantly at every level. Going forward, this means there will be a much higher turnover at the top ranks, and job security for surfers like Jay Thompson (above) will be non-existent as ranking volatility increases.

Ultimately, the best part of these changes is surfers can rise faster than ever before to the world championship level. The scariest part (for them) is they can fall just as fast.

Most fans are already aware this season has been essentially cut in half. Indeed, after stop number five in Tahiti, the 12 lowest ranked surfers on the current World Tour will be sent back to the minors as the field is reduced to 32. Only the top 22 of the remaining 32 will qualify for the 2011 World Tour based on their World Title ranking. The remaining 10 slots will be filled by using the all-inclusive "world ranking."

All points earned -- regardless of tier level -- count toward a surfers World Ranking.

While things out on the World Tour just got a lot tougher, with the new world ranking the Prime and Star rated events play a much more significant -- and immediate -- role in the larger picture as well.

In fact, the payoffs available in Prime and 6 Star events are now impossible for World Tour surfers to ignore, which is why 33 of the Top 45 showed up at Margaret River for the recent Prime event there. The Nike Pro at Trestles, Hurley U.S. Open in Huntington and Cold Water Classic in Santa Cruz is slated to be stacked as well.

Why are the big guns showing up? Well, the breakdown on the right will help explain it. Note how even a 37th place finish in a Prime event (the second tier in blue) will net him 368 more points than yet another 33rd in a World Tour event (in black). Frankly, this is as it should be, since a 33rd on the World Tour is a last place finish, and a 37th place finish in a Prime event means that surfer made it through a couple tough rounds.

A surfer that actually goes on to win a PRIME event will net as many points as if he finished in 3rd place in a World Tour event, which will play a huge factor in boosting his world ranking, whether he's already on the tour or not.

The greater meaning of all this is the minor leagues aren't so minor any more. That's a good thing for surfing fans.

What's most encouraging about this new rating system is it takes solid results to survive at every tier. Mediocrity is being punished, while winning pays more than before. In fact, this year the point spread between a last place finish (33rd) and World Tour win is 9500 points -- a 73% jump from 2009. The spread between a win and 17th place is 50% larger; 9th place by 26%; 5th by 15%; 3rd by 11%, and 2nd place by 7%.

In other words, the thrill of victory is growing...but so too is the agony of defeat.

Come 2011, those factors will be magnified as the ASP says it will be constantly refreshing it's World Tour events using the up to date world ranking. It has yet to be decided how often they'll be hitting the reset button, but the fact is one no longer has to wait until the year's end to climb to the top (or fall out of it).

A surfers world ranking will be based on the best 8 results of the last 12 months, regardless of where we are in the current season. So while the year-end ranking will matter if you're shooting for a world title, the process of moving up and down the ranks will be much more fluid throughout the year.

With events at every level weighing much heavier in the big picture, things are sure to get a lot more interesting.

Tanner Gudauskas entered the 6-Star Prime O'Neill World Cup ranked 16th on the WQS, one slot removed from the qualification cutoff. In order for the Californian to join his brother Patrick in making the leap onto next year's ASP World Tour, he needed at least quarterfinal berth at Sunset. And during the round of 32 on Thursday, Patrick and Dane were doing a lot more than cheer leading for their brother. They were in the heat that decided Tanner's fate.

The Gudauskas brother trio has been performing well at Sunset through the early rounds. So well, in fact, that all three advanced into the same heat in the Round of 32 along with Hawaii's Mason Ho, who knows a thing or two about surfing families. It was the first time in ASP history three brothers were in the same heat, and it couldn't have happened at a better time with Tanner only needing to finish 3rd place or better in the heat to secure his spot on the ASP World Tour. Naturally, they did what any good brothers would. .

Patrick decided to go left at the famous righthander, and in Thursday's unruly conditions, he was promptly caught inside the Sunset washing machine for the majority of the heat--woops! Dane, meanwhile, put in a little more effort since he needs the points, but it was clear that Tanner was getting first pick of whatever was coming their way.

"We were saying before the heat that we haven't had each other all together in one heat since we were amateurs, like five or six years ago," said Patrick. "And, to have it for Tanner to be the biggest heat of his life, he's just been ripping so hard all day, we were just out there hooting for him because we just wanted him to get through it and
go the distance.

"We didn't have a strategy going into the heat, but we wanted Tanner to get through for sure. It was definitely the priority and you don't have too many opportunities to help out someone in that situation. Surfing with him next year will be a dream come true."