World's Best Female Surfers Light Up Manly Beach At The Australian Open Of Surfing

Girls who started at Manly Surf School still going strong! Check out the article taken from Coastalwatch talking to Laura Enevner and Lakey Peterson. Both are through to the Quater Finals in the Australian Open of Surfing.

Today the Australian Open Of Surfing at Manly Beach presented by Hurley and Billabong saw the world's best female surfers hit the water and put on an impressive show for the revellers on the beach and online. With critical points and prize money on offer the competition was fierce for the opening round of the women's ASP 6-Star division.

Laura Enever (AUS), the Sydney Northern Beaches local showed that a six-month break from competition hasn't slowed her down, posting a massive 17.60 (out of a possible 20) in her opening heat of 2012.

Enever finished 10th in the world in her rookie year competing on the ASP Women's World Title last year, and has been working hard in the off-season to improve on that for 2012.

"These are the best waves I've ever had at Manly," Enever said. "It's been a long time since my last heat last year, so I started to prepare early this year because I remember how fast it all goes.

“I guess that preparation has paid off because I felt good, I had a clear mind and felt like I was surfing well, so I'm stoked to start the year off that way. It's also great to have the hometown support with friends and family here on the beach."

Lakey Peterson (USA) went from 4th place to first in the last 5 minutes of her opening round heat at the ASP Women's 6-Star Australian Open Of Surfing, thanks to two impressive rides. This was Peterson's first heat since her runner-up finish at the US Open in August last year.

"This is actually where I leant to surf when I was 5-years-old at Manly Surf school," Peterson said. "I love coming back here because it's where I stood up on my first wave and it brings back great memories.

“That heat was scary, I was never in the right spot, but I'm stoked to get the score. I'm just hoping I've had my bad start, and that it's all up from here."

Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), runner-up in the 2011 ASP Women's World Title was on point for her first heat of 2012. Surfing with an injured left wrist didn't hamper her performance, as she posted the highest heat total of the day - 17.83 (out of a possible 20).

"It's great to be here in Sydney for the Australian Open," Fitzgibbons said. "It's been awhile since I've been in the water because of my wrist, so it's great to be getting back into it. This is a great warm-up for the first ASP Women's World Title event on the Gold Coast.

“The wrist is feeling good, I've got a little guard on it to help stand-up and duck dive. It's mending slowly and I'm expecting that it should be alright by the Roxy Pro."

Coco Ho (HAW) used her powerful and stylish approach to claim an easy win in her opening heat. Ho is excited to be back in Australian for the start of the 2012 ASP World Tour leg.

"It feels amazing to be here and have our first event of the year be one of this magnitude, it's huge," Ho said. "I'm so excited for this first event, my adrenaline is going and I'm psyched for the whole year.

“I'm lucky that during the downtime a lot of the action was at home in Hawaii, I also took some time off to go snowboarding. But since then I've been training and working hard to get ready for 2012."

Bianca Buitendag (ZAF) caused the upset of the day eliminating Tyler Wright (AUS), 2011 ASP Women's Rookie Of The Year. Buitendag scoured the line-up and found the best waves of the heat and surfed smoothly.

"The conditions were quite tricky in that heat," Buitendag said. "The tide is really high right now, the waves looked great earlier, but they're a bit of a gamble at the moment. This is my first year competing after finishing school and I'm looking forward to just surfing my brains out and trying to get some good results."

Bethany Hamilton (Kauai, Hawaii) was eliminated in a tight heat this morning. Hamilton surfed well, but was out of sync with the ocean and was unable to find the waves that offered the most scoring potential.

Tomorrow the Australian Open Of Surfing will see the start of the Men's ASP 6-Star rated event and will also feature skating competitions and demos, music concerts, athlete signing sessions and much more. The event is free for the public to view in person and live via australianopenofsurfing.com

Read more: Coastalwatch.com

Check out the students from the north west of New South Wales learning to surf at south Narrabeen beach as part of the bush to beach program. For most of these kids it's the first time they have seen the ocean. You can find more images on the Sydney Morning Herald website here.

A Big Thanks to Manly Surf Snaps for the great photos!

Thanks for the support Nicole!

"Hi Guys, Just wanted to say a huge thank you for looking after our kids this week whilst they were taking on the waves at Manly. They all had an absolutely fabulous time and if they had any say in it, would be back there every day! Brendan and Ollie were fantastic, it is obvious they love what they do and were just great with the kids, and provided lots of encouragement and guidance. All the guys that I had contact with in regards to organising the lessons etc couldn't have been more helpful...if only I could capture some of your energy! Would definitely recommend Manly Surf School (and already have) to anyone contemplating surfing lessons for themselves of their children. Thanks again for showing our kids an awesome time. Will see you again soon. Nicole M"

Nadia Barlow wrote into us recently:

Morning from Texas!

This is a super late thank you (I've been meaning to e-mail you guys for awhile) and you've probably had loads of kids come through. We visited Manly Surf School in late May of this year with the EF College Breaks group (Gaz was our tour guide, but wasn't with us). Nick and Matt were with us and I just wanted to let them know I really appreciate them taking us out; taking us to a different beach and still doing the lesson even if the weather was intimidating and the last thing I wanted to do was learn to surf in some cold water. You guys were awesome and of the many things I did while in Australia, learning to surf during shitty weather (and getting the board knocked in my face) was definitely a highlight lol. And I'm still wearing my shirt as you can see!

Have a great day guys & thanks again for still taking us loud Americans out in your freezing Australian water. :)
Ciao!

Surf Lesson testimonial:

Dear Manly Surf School

A few weeks ago I took my class on an excursion to Manly to do a surf lesson with your school. I wanted to say a big thank you – the class (and myself!) absolutely loved the lesson and the day – it was so much fun and the instructors were friendly, professional and most importantly, the students didn’t have too much difficulty understanding them!

As such, we have decided to include surfing lessons as a regular Friday activity over the summer months (we don’t have classes on Fridays and the students have the option to go on an excursion instead). We will probably try to include a surf lesson once every 8 weeks as part of our social program.

6th of November 2011

I leave my home at Long Reef beach, drive out to Five Dock leisure centre for the Events Brazilian Ju Jitsu(BJJ) NSW masters titles and no Gi open titles. I have entered the 70-76kg blue belt division.
I am nervous, anxious and excited all at the same time. The feeling is like I'm about to paddle out 15 foot German Banks.
The feeling of not knowing what will happen is great.
I have been training in the sport for 4 years. BJJ is a great sport! You can win by points or submissions (choking the opponent out or putting them in an arm lock).
I have been training for 4 weeks leading up to the fight with my coach Peter King a BJJ black belt. Anthony Lange has also been training me as well.
I have stopped drinking beer for 14 days, eating friut salad and lean meats to drop 3 kilos for the fight. I sneak in there bang on 76kgs.

I make the final against Peter Barbanera. Peter has just beaten Tim Rudd in the semi final. A tough match by both guys.
Peter and I are wrestling from standing trying to throw each other to the ground. We both have the same body types. Stocky. We can't take each other down. We both try to throw each other down, we hit the deck. Pete has me in half guard, I pass to side control. 3 points to me. Pete tries to bust out. I go to knee ride and get another 2 points. I am winning 5 points to nil. The boys scream out that I have 1 minute to go... I hold Peter in side control.
I finish the match as a winner! I am stoked. I got the Title!!

Thanks to all the boys for all the wrestling and training. Pete King thanks for all the rare coaching. Keeping me fit for the next big swell.
Time for a beer I reckon.

School holiday testimonial:

Hi Guys
I want to thank you all so much for four fabulous days of surfing lessons. My 2 boys Austin & Tommy have come along leaps and bounds.  I want to say that every instructor present was switched on, caring and motivated.  I have to pay particular mention to both Scotty and Leon who constantly went the extra yard with all the kids, my two included.  The boys are itching to come again next hols and Im going to join them this time!

You guys run an awesome outfit, keep up the good work.
Jacquie

Yeeew!!
The swell is a little bigger this morning and more from the NE.  It is still around 2 foot and bigger at Curl Curl and Narrabeen. There is residual bump from yesterdays NNE wind so if you can find a protected northern corner that takes a NE swell you will have some good little waves.  Places like Manly, Mid Curl Curl and Northy will be the places to go.  Long Reef was smaller but it was fun for the Clements and Grainger family to muck around in.  This is how it all starts... get your kids out early before school and have a great start to the day.   Enjoy before the rain late today and into tomorrow.  Swell expected for the weekend.
L.  8.45am  H.  3.30pm.


Father and son surfing Long Reef.


Long Reef.   1 foot... great for groms.


Tasman gets great early start to the day.


Speak to the hand... Matt Grainger rips in any conditions.


A great family outing.  Beats a picnic...

Hey guys!

Just did a family trip from Broome to Albany 5,500 kms. Surfing, fishing, snorkelling and hiking. Great times. Amazing sites. We arrive back from Western Australia.
A 10-12 foot swell is about to hit Indonesia. My wife Kristy says go for it. I ring a few mates. Anthony Van Burren AKA donut, is the only taker. We fly to Bali, then at 6am meet at Kuta beach for a 2 hour boat ride to the famous left of the 80's/90's, G land.
At the beach ready to board the boat is surfing big wave royalty. It seems everyone has the same idea. Big waves chargers: Mark Matthews, Marty Paridisi, Dean Morrison, Koa Rothman, Makua Rothman, Mikala Jones, Twiggy Baker, Tom Lowe, Daniel Vardy are all ready for the swell.
Jarrod, kimbo and Predator are all ready there.
Photographers Jason Childs and Gene Kreyd are there ready to shoot.
The boys putting on a show, ripping the place to bits. Making some great drops and threading some deep tubes.

Donut and myself manage to grab a few on the big day as well. The one thing I learnt from all the pro's, is that it doesn't matter who you are . It is about sharing the line up, getting stoked and enjoying a cold Bintang at the end of the day. Thanks for a great week fellas. Thanks to Puma and Jackie from Bobby's G land camp.

- Matt G