High tides, rip currents, onshore wind, and lull-y swell have forced contest director Miky Picon to call off competition today after running only 5 heats of round 2.

This is the second day in a row where ideal swell and conditions have failed to produce the proper grinding tubes we've come to expect. The sand bank at La Graviere is stellar by all accounts, with a defined peak offering long rights and lefts, but the tide always seems too high, and the backwash has made tuberiding difficult.

Even with the jet ski assist, competitors are doing an awful lot of duck-diving. Joel Parkinson snapped a board in his round 1 heat and with 8 minutes to go, was unable to make it back out through the rip to get one more score.

Obviously I'm not in France, but this is one of the best beachbreaks on earth, with ideal conditions, and yet we are seeing a lot of single digit heat totals. Is there perhaps a better bank for these tides down the beach? I think we'd all like to see a repeat of last year's meat-grinder barrels.

The weekend is shaping up to be an incredible one in terms of waves, so say tuned for the contest to be back on shortly.



QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 4: Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.10 def. Josh Kerr (AUS) 11.76
Heat 5: Alejo Muniz (BRA) 12.00 def. John John Florence (HAW) 11.86
Heat 6: Kai Otton (AUS) 12.60 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 12.13
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 12.43 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 7.60
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.57 def. Daniel Ross (AUS) 11.50

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 9: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 10: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 12: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)

Day one of the Dane and Jordy comeback campaign party, aka the Quik Pro France, got the green light this morning amidst a rising swell and annoyingly full tide.

A pair of rib-injuries have sidelined the two surfers from the last 2 events, and knee surgery just before the start of the season has kept Dane drunk and dry for the events before that.

Jordy was hot in the title hunt at the time of his rib-ing and being forced to sit in his mansion with his supermodel girlfriend while Owen and Kelly started trading victories was a real rough one for the saffa. "it's been the toughest thing in my life" he said after his heat today, which he narrowly won over wildcard Marc Lacomare and Kieren Perrow.

Jordy also said he's at about 75%, his ribs are still hurting, especially while paddling, which must be a nightmare in the shifting French Beachbreaks.

Dane's first world tour heat since the Pipe Masters last December went just about how most of Dane's competitive surfing goes. An overall lackadaisical approach punctuated by moments of sheer brilliance.

Taking on world number two Owen Wright and Chris Davo, Dane flopped around the lineup for literally the whole heat, falling on everything, before finally nabbing a running righthander with a minute left. He bobbled the first turn, stood there for a second, then raced off down the lines launching a massive full rotation slob air reverse and sticks it. The judges didn't like the bobble and he falls less than a point short, even with a 3.93 as his backup score.

Dane's second world tour heat since the Pipe Masters last December went just about the same way. Until the very end. This time he faces Brazilian Adriano De Souza. Quite the contrasting approaches, to say the least. Passive vs Passion, Power vs Speed, Style vs Stink-bug-stance.

Dane sits on his hands for almost the entire heat before waking up with about 5 minutes left. Catching a rare left, Dane crushes two massive hooks in the lip for a high 8, quickly backed up with a 5 that he surfed with uncharacteristic caution, almost as if he wanted to win the heat or something.

So after two shaky starts, it seems mr. Reynolds has found his footing, even displaying a hint of competitive strategy. Dane's comeback tour continues into round 3...

In other notable news, Parko suffered a shock elimination to Moroccan wildcard Ramzi Boukhiam in a low scoring round 2 heat. Parko is probably cussing with Luke Egan about this as we speak.

Look for action to resume at 8 am local time, which is about 11 pm on the best coast. i mean west coast.

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 1 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 11.06, Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 10.77, Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.57
Heat 2: Jadson Andre (BRA) 11.17, John John Florence (HAW) 9.13, Joel Parkinson (AUS) 8.00
Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.20, Brett Simpson (USA) 15.33, Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.33
Heat 4: Owen Wright (AUS) 12.60, Dane Reynolds (USA) 12.26, Chris Davidson (AUS) 2.50
Heat 5: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 10.10, Marc Lacomare (FRA) 9.83, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 2.93
Heat 6: Kelly Slater (USA) 10.00, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 9.00, Ramzi Boukhiam (MOR) 2.00
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) 11.53, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 10.83, Kai Otton (AUS) 6.83
Heat 8: Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.43, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 6.80, Dusty Payne (HAW) 3.16
Heat 9: Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.03, Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.26, Gabriel Medina (BRA) 7.60
Heat 10: Adrian Buchan (AUS) 11.26, Daniel Ross (AUS) 9.39, Heitor Alves (BRA) N/S
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.00, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 11.53, Miguel Pupo (BRA) 7.83
Heat 12: Damien Hobgood (USA) 11.90, Patrick Gudauskas (USA) 5.93, Josh Kerr (AUS) 4.33

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE ROUND 2 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Ramzi Boukhiam (MOR) 9.20 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 8.84
Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 12.67 def. Marc Lacomare (FRA) 7.50
Heat 3: Dane Reynolds (USA) 14.06 def. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 10.60

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE REMAINING ROUND 2 MATCH-UPS:
Heat 4: Josh Kerr (AUS) vs. Tiago Pires (PRT)
Heat 5: Alejo Muniz (BRA) vs. John John Florence (HAW)
Heat 6: Heitor Alves (BRA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Heat 7: Gabriel Medina (BRA) vs. Dusty Payne (HAW)
Heat 8: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 9: Raoni Monteiro (BRA) vs. Miguel Pupo (BRA)
Heat 10: Matt Wilkinson (AUS) vs. Patrick Gudauskas (USA)
Heat 11: Brett Simpson (USA) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)
Heat 12: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)

The Quiksilver City Of Newport Beach Championships
Presented By Jack's Surfboards Goes Down at 56 Street

San Clemente, Calif. (September 27, 2010) -- For 23 years, the cadence of heat horns has trumpeted the arrival of the Quiksilver City of Newport Beach Championships presented by Jack's Surfboards. For more than two decades, this iconic event has signaled the final days of summer and is always met with open arms and toothy grins by Orange County surfers and fans alike.



Paying homage to the Hottest 100 Yards in Surfing, the Quiksilver City of Newport Beach Championships sheds light on the monumental impact Newport Beach has had on the sport and the industry as a whole. One of surfing's most colorful and historical haunts, it's only fitting that the event has grown such strong roots in the area.

This year, despite the surf offering up small-but-contestable conditions, the contest once again proved to be a major success. Held over the course of two days, the comp kicked off at Newport's famed 56th Street where the 133 competitors representing seven different division were able to relish in the empty lineup.

According to Quiksilver's Blake Choate, this year's contest went off without a hitch with stoke and good times filling the Orange County air.

"Each of the seven divisions of surfers were stoked to get the hottest 100 yards of Newport Beach's 56 Street to themselves this past weekend," said Choate. "All in all the event was a huge success for the competitors and the community of Newport Beach. I want to give a special thanks to the City of Newport Beach for letting us take over the beach for the weekend."

For more information and to check out photos from the event, click here.

Results:



Open Mens:
1st Bobby Okvist
2nd Blake Davis
3rd Joe Alani
4th Victor Done

Womens:
1st Mackie Albertson
2nd Keisha Maghanoy
3rd Mackenzie Rice
4th Summer Shorey
5th Izzy Morris

Elementary:
1st Tyler Gunter
2nd Sebastian Williams
3rd Luke Davenport
4th Billy McCoy

Middle School:
1st Tyler Gunter
2nd Hunter Barrett
3rd Alex Schwarzenbach
4th Kingston McCarthy



High School:
1st Blake Davis
2nd Charlie Hawthorne
3rd Chandler Norton
4th Matt Porteous

Masters:
1st Bryan Doonan
2nd Nicoli Glazer
3rd Chad Chamberlian
4th Duane Toole

Legends:
1st Nicolai Glazer
2nd Jason Shook
3rd Todd Miller
4th Mike Estrada

For more information and to check out photos from the event, click here.

The boys over at Quik have just released this 20 minute highlight reel of the New York contest that is so well done I'd have to say it transcends the "highlight" category and lands somewhere in the documentary/short film genre. The event itself exceeded everyone's expectations, both in terms of waves and performances, despite having to deal with hurricane damage from Irene that cancelled much of the event festivities.

Nylon Mag did a cool lil' interview with artist Serena Mitnik Miller and her artistic collab. collection with Quiksilver.

A little background on Serena is that she calls Kauai her home stomping grounds where she grew up surfing and now resides in the city of San Fran, CA.

Her use of watercolor, geometric shapes and inky stripes is fresh and fun and has a little more of a city vibe than surf. Check out her website for more of her beautiful paintings and prints.

Check out some of my favorite pieces she did with Quiksilver and read the entire interview below:



How did the collaboration with Quiksilver come about?
My friend John Moore approached me and said that the brand was inspired by my work, and what I was doing, so we just kind of went from there.

How exactly are you involved?
I designed the windows at shops in NYC (at Tia's Place in Grand Central Station) and L.A. (at American Rag) and some pieces in the new collection. There's a bunch of different prints and patterns that were influenced by my watercolors. These are my own designs.

Do you have a favorite piece?
It might be simple, but I really like the striped tank top because I feel like it's a nice take on the basic pattern. It's kind of hard to stand out in a room when everyone is wearing stripes.

What would you say is the biggest difference between East and West Coast styles?
I love here because people actually dress for the summer! In San Francisco, it's not usually that hot, so it's a refreshing change to see everyone in shorts and tank tops.
interview by-LIZA DARWIN courtesy via Nylon mag