11 March 2009, La Jolla, CA -- The International Surfing Association is proud to announce the appointment of its long time Vice President, Alan Atkins, as the Technical Director for the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship to be held in Salinas, Ecuador from March 28 until April 5.

The Technical Director position has been created to meet the ever growing technical and administrative demands within this ISA flagbearer event. Atkins will be overseeing technical issues in the most important and biggest surfing event for Juniors in the world. The Technical Director will now lead the contest management team of Contest Director and Head Judges. Introduction of this new position is consistent with the ISA's policy of working to provide a structure to support the professional independence of Judges when adjudicating at ISA events and delivering the best event to our sponsors and member national governing surfing bodies.

Now the hierarchy of operations in an ISA event will be the following: President, Technical Director, Contest Director, Head Judges and Team Managers/Coaches.

Australian Alan Atkins, 60, has an impressive outstanding background in the management of Surfing Organizations and Surfing Events. Atkins surfing credits include CEO of Surfing Australia from 1983 to 2004; National Team Manager for Surfing Australia from 1986 to 2004; Contest Director of the longest running pro surfing event, The Bells Beach Easter Classic (now Rip Curl Pro) from 1980 to 1984; and currently serves as Contest Director for the Noosa Festival of Surfing since 2007.

He became part of the ISA as Secretary General in 1990and an Executive Board Member in 1994. He maintains his position as Vice President today, elected and re-elected for five terms by the National Governing Bodies of the ISA.

Organized by the Olympic Council of Asia, Alan was appointed the Technical ISA Delegate for the inaugural Bali Asian Beach Games in November 2008. This marked the first time surfing was part of such an Olympic competition.

For the 2009 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, Alan is working hard for everything to be in its place. Alan's key management staff working to deliver this event will include Contest Director Marcos Bukao (BRA), Head Judges, Glen Elliot (AUS), Cyril Nell (ZAF) and Jord o Bailo (BRA) plus 14 judges selected by the ISA from applications and nominations around the world.

Once again, the ISA will continue the innovative format of a panel of 8 judges during the final stages of the event.

The best junior surfing in the world will take place in the waves of the Playa de La FAE, in Salinas, Ecuador from March 28 until April 5th. Be sure to check the live action on www.isaworldjuniors.com.

Julian Wilson is auctioning off the pink board he beat Kelly Slater on, aka "The Slater Slayer." The proceeds will go to breast cancer awareness, Wilson's favorite cause. Slater and other top 45 surfers, along with Wilson, signed the board as well. Click here to make a bid.

The film that takes a look inside the intense rivalry between Kelly Slater and Andy Irons, as well as follows them on surf trip, is set to make its Newport Beach premier tonight. This whole project is about so-called enemies that come together: Andy/Kelly, Quiksilver/Billabong (both sponsored the video), Transworld SURF/ESPN (both sponsored it too).

I'll be there to check it out, and will report back with how it was, and what went down. I think it would be cool if Quiksilver showed up on one side, then Billabong on the other, and it was like Westside Story or something climaxing with a big brawl. You know, we're in a recession, it's not time to be friends.

In some unfortunate news, my friend, Nate Fletcher, broke his femur at Pipe yesterday morning.-- The weird part is he did it doing a cutback.-- The waves were 4 to 6 ft. and Uncle Eddie decided not to run the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout, so everyone was out free surfing.-- Apparently, Nate got a fun one, pulled in, got spit out, and threw down a ridiculously high speed cutback, and when he banked of the whitewater. Snap!-- It was the crack heard around the world. --See, quads go fast!

Dave Wassel said he heard the bone break from the beach, and Ryan Hackman said he heard it from the Quiksilver house.-- Fuck, that's gnarly.-- Dave and Myles Padaca pulled Nate out of the water and onto the beach where the lifeguards were waiting.-- He was taken to Wahiawa Hospital, and had surgery today at Queens Memorial Hospital in Honolulu. --Turns out, he has two fractures of the femur, and metal rods were inserted into his leg during surgery. --

Nate has always been the future of surfing.-- The guy was riding quads years before the fad, and I've always looked to him to see what's next.-- Let's hope what's next is some more ripping from Nate.-- Make a speedy recovery buddy!-- The photo above I took, the photo below is from Surfline taken by Sean Davey.

Kauai's Danny Fuller has parted ways with Quiksilver and has joined the program at RVCA. So get ready to start seeing him shredding with Archy, Ford, Punker Pat and the boys. --Fuller's rad because he's from Hawaii, lives in Venice with his model girlfriend, and jets around the world to charge waves like Pipe and Chopes. Just livin' the life.