wasn't sure where to post. Safe travels to all kneelo's to New Zealand. Have a great time. Go USA. Do your best.
Ler
Team USA 2009 World Titles
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Mike Fernandez
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Gracias muchacho's, I'll be paddlin my arse off 
Wearing a beanie, shirts, and a hoodie 
Wearing a beanie, shirts, and a hoodie I am a traveller of both time and space, a weaver in and out of dreams, I see worlds seldom seen.
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www.michaelfernandezphoto.com
Rocky Point/Black Rock
http://www.youtube.com/user/kneelocoveproduction
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Scott
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I guess I'd better post the updates of Team USA on this thread than the general World Contest thread.
It's Easter Sunday evening here. What a last few days!
Mostly we’ve spent the last few days getting acclimated to this beautiful rural area and chasing down local waves. The weather has been in the low 60’s with occasional rain, occasional sun, and much overcast. It’s their fall. All the 100 contestants have been arriving in the last days, too, many here in advance with rented vehicles surfing all over the island, particularly at the legendary Ragland. Our group had by far its best surf the very first day at nearby Stent Road, which we caught big and perfect, and only two other relaxed guys out. But since then the waves have been small and windblown.
We also took in a local club rugby game on Friday where Murray Wier's son, Kelvin (also entered in the World Contest) was a player. Intense! A couple guys had to be helped off the field, one disappeared in an ambulance. Kelvin's team won about 85 to 0. He's become a pretty massive physical speciman and doesn't look like the guy you want to call a "cripple" in the water...
Yesterday we had the parade of the contestants down the short main street of Opunake. Team USA, all 15 of us, lined up behind the New Zealand team and in front of the Aussies—someone has to keep these two apart as there’s a lot of intense, good natured competition from them in every way! Our motel manager offered to fly our large American flag we brought with us on his flagpole out front of the hotel (along with his NZ flag, of course) just to irritate the Aussies also staying in ajoining units!
In the following opening ceremonies under a tent just off of main street, there were a number of speeches in Maori, plus greetings by Murray, the mayor of Opunake and surfing officials. Then the contestants were asked to offer any cultural contribution to the whole group, representative of their unique country. Tahiti offered a short greeting in their dialect. The New Zealanders had an elaborate series of songs, prayers, and a Haka by a group of well-rehearsed children on the stage. But then Brad Colwell spoke up for the U.S. and invited Rob Salfin to the stage for his offering. Rob gave a tribute the Native American Indians with a short cultural story, then launched into a show stopping solo harmonica piece he composed based on the story line. Amazing performance and response.
I made a short video of the parade, and tagged on the end the performance by Rob (though for time I skipped his rather lengthy introduction of his piece).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgQB5GmiPno
As for today, the opening day of the competition, we were greeted with small waves, overcast and the wind blowing hard onshore at the main town beach break. As the day progressed, the weather turned sunny and the waves improved a bit, but stayed in the 1-3' windswell range. They still held some of the cadet and junior heats, with Chris Linn winning a heat, taking a second in another, and advancing on solid surfing until finally being eliminated with a third place in the semifinals.
There were also women's heats and the team competition. Lots of girls were going against each other in multiple heats, which was really gratifying to see, and the quality of surfing will no doubt grow over the next few years.
Then came the team competition. There were so many teams (two from Australia, two from the US, and two from New Zealand, plus Tahiti and two teams of various international contestants, they decided to stage two semi finals of four teams each. USA Team #1 was the headliners of Barry Baker, Tom Baker, Rob Selfin, Tom Linn, and Brad Colwell. USA Team #2 was Scott Wessling, Bob Gove, Wayne Kopit, Ed Dimmick and John Mel. It's in a tag team format, if you've ever seen this event, with about 1 hour to get all five of your team in the water, one at a time, and get at least two good scoring waves for each. Then it's a fast paddle in and an exhausting sprint 100 yards across the beach to tag your next teammate.
USA Team #2 went up first against Aussie Team #1 (including 3 current or former world champions), NZ Team #1, and Tahiti. We surfed fine, but took a narrow third behind NZ who, along with Aussie Team #1, will advance to the finals. Next up was USA Team #1, going against NZ Team #2, Aussie Team #2 and a strong international team. Team USA #1 dominated their heat, winning easily with some fin busting turns. They will move on the finals and tackle, among others, Aussie Team #1. The whole team event produced a lot of great laughter, comraderie and taunting between all the teams.
The constant conversation all over the beach was when will conditions improve surf-wise. Depending whose forecast you believe, there are real groundswell waves on the way by Tuesday into Wednesday & Thursday, maybe in the 6-8' range on the faces, but possibly with more wind, too. More swell is crucial, so the forecasts are good news.
All in all we're having, as is popularly said in New Zealand, "more fun than having a possum crawl up your trousers!"
It's Easter Sunday evening here. What a last few days!
Mostly we’ve spent the last few days getting acclimated to this beautiful rural area and chasing down local waves. The weather has been in the low 60’s with occasional rain, occasional sun, and much overcast. It’s their fall. All the 100 contestants have been arriving in the last days, too, many here in advance with rented vehicles surfing all over the island, particularly at the legendary Ragland. Our group had by far its best surf the very first day at nearby Stent Road, which we caught big and perfect, and only two other relaxed guys out. But since then the waves have been small and windblown.
We also took in a local club rugby game on Friday where Murray Wier's son, Kelvin (also entered in the World Contest) was a player. Intense! A couple guys had to be helped off the field, one disappeared in an ambulance. Kelvin's team won about 85 to 0. He's become a pretty massive physical speciman and doesn't look like the guy you want to call a "cripple" in the water...
Yesterday we had the parade of the contestants down the short main street of Opunake. Team USA, all 15 of us, lined up behind the New Zealand team and in front of the Aussies—someone has to keep these two apart as there’s a lot of intense, good natured competition from them in every way! Our motel manager offered to fly our large American flag we brought with us on his flagpole out front of the hotel (along with his NZ flag, of course) just to irritate the Aussies also staying in ajoining units!
In the following opening ceremonies under a tent just off of main street, there were a number of speeches in Maori, plus greetings by Murray, the mayor of Opunake and surfing officials. Then the contestants were asked to offer any cultural contribution to the whole group, representative of their unique country. Tahiti offered a short greeting in their dialect. The New Zealanders had an elaborate series of songs, prayers, and a Haka by a group of well-rehearsed children on the stage. But then Brad Colwell spoke up for the U.S. and invited Rob Salfin to the stage for his offering. Rob gave a tribute the Native American Indians with a short cultural story, then launched into a show stopping solo harmonica piece he composed based on the story line. Amazing performance and response.
I made a short video of the parade, and tagged on the end the performance by Rob (though for time I skipped his rather lengthy introduction of his piece).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgQB5GmiPno
As for today, the opening day of the competition, we were greeted with small waves, overcast and the wind blowing hard onshore at the main town beach break. As the day progressed, the weather turned sunny and the waves improved a bit, but stayed in the 1-3' windswell range. They still held some of the cadet and junior heats, with Chris Linn winning a heat, taking a second in another, and advancing on solid surfing until finally being eliminated with a third place in the semifinals.
There were also women's heats and the team competition. Lots of girls were going against each other in multiple heats, which was really gratifying to see, and the quality of surfing will no doubt grow over the next few years.
Then came the team competition. There were so many teams (two from Australia, two from the US, and two from New Zealand, plus Tahiti and two teams of various international contestants, they decided to stage two semi finals of four teams each. USA Team #1 was the headliners of Barry Baker, Tom Baker, Rob Selfin, Tom Linn, and Brad Colwell. USA Team #2 was Scott Wessling, Bob Gove, Wayne Kopit, Ed Dimmick and John Mel. It's in a tag team format, if you've ever seen this event, with about 1 hour to get all five of your team in the water, one at a time, and get at least two good scoring waves for each. Then it's a fast paddle in and an exhausting sprint 100 yards across the beach to tag your next teammate.
USA Team #2 went up first against Aussie Team #1 (including 3 current or former world champions), NZ Team #1, and Tahiti. We surfed fine, but took a narrow third behind NZ who, along with Aussie Team #1, will advance to the finals. Next up was USA Team #1, going against NZ Team #2, Aussie Team #2 and a strong international team. Team USA #1 dominated their heat, winning easily with some fin busting turns. They will move on the finals and tackle, among others, Aussie Team #1. The whole team event produced a lot of great laughter, comraderie and taunting between all the teams.
The constant conversation all over the beach was when will conditions improve surf-wise. Depending whose forecast you believe, there are real groundswell waves on the way by Tuesday into Wednesday & Thursday, maybe in the 6-8' range on the faces, but possibly with more wind, too. More swell is crucial, so the forecasts are good news.
All in all we're having, as is popularly said in New Zealand, "more fun than having a possum crawl up your trousers!"
I'm not influenced by the past; I change it!
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MWROBERTSON
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updates
Scott, keep up the reports and video if possible. It makes me feel like I'm there. Loved Rob's performance. The kid has talent! 
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METALCOASTIE
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go usa
So jealous of you guys and the experience you are having. Looks and sounds like a blast Have fun boys
Go Team U.S.A.
Go Team U.S.A.
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jim richardson
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Scott
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April 13 Update, Team USA. See the Albums section under the World Contest for some accompanying pics
We just finished day two of the competition, the first full day of the prestigious Open Division. The event was moved from the lowly Opunake town beach break to Arawhata reef, about 5 miles north of town. A farmer let the whole brigade of about 50 vehicles onto his property on a bluff overlooking this popular surf spot, and the judges were also set up on the same bluff. Lovely place—you just had to dodge the ubiquitous cow paddies.
Arawhata Reef is not a typical wave. It is predominantly a right reef break that rolls on for about 200 yards at today’s height: 4-6’, bigger on some of the sets. The rocks exposed on low tide are like a 75 yard long mine field--it takes quite a lot of careful walking to reach the lineup, then paddling out amongst all sorts of exposed and/or slightly submerged boulders. Then much of it gets covered in the extreme high tides, then uncovered again rapidly at low tide. The winds today moved around to a variety of directions, but was mostly onshore. Think big, somewhat sloppy Huntington Cliffs, minus the current, or think 4 Mile on an onshore day. Most of the competitors would traverse the quicker walls, or swinging back and forth on the slower walls, then trying to get a good lip hit on the typical closeout ending. But the standouts of the day were Karl Ward, Simon and Gavin. They put on a clinic, exploding up through the lips off their delayed bottom turns all over the wave like no others, busting their tails out big time. Simon’s best wave was his first of the contest, a 9.67. Gavin surfed the last heat of the day and scored the only perfect 10. So this was a wave that could indeed be ripped apart. Tom Backer, Tom Linn and Barry Baker will surf tomorrow for the first time and will no doubt add some serious hacks of their own. BTW, the scoring is quite professional: the announcer gives judges updates throughout the heat letting the contestants know who is in first, second, third, etc., how many points they have, and how much they need on their next wave to move up in the heat standings.
The main event was the 54 man qualifying trials in a sudden death format to make Round 1 of the quarterfinals—no repercharge; you had to take a first or second in the four man heat to move on our you’re out of the Open. Jamie McHugh, Mark Mcleod, Michael Novakov were among the highly skilled surfers who had to surf out of the qualifying trials. The first half of Round 1 was also run. At the end of the day, 12 of the 15 USA surfers were still alive in the Open Division, which is fantastic! They are: Brad Colwell, Barry Baker, Tom Backer, Mike Fernandez, Bob Gove, Wayne Kopit, Tom Linn, John Mel, Mike Neal, Greg Shewman, Rob Salfin, and Scott Wessling.
The Team USA cadre of surfers and friends bunch together on the cliff and definitely make the most noise of any of the countries represented, and the main announcer has happily pointed this out repeatedly. When you surf a good heat they really let you know it!
Lots of other great things are happening besides the competition itself. While the event was going on today, simultaneously a commercial helicopter would land in the farmer’s field and take up those who wanted to see the area from the air. Mike Neal and Ed Dimmick took the ride and loved it, taking cool overhead video of the contest site. Brad and Scott took in a really sweet Opunake church service on Easter Sunday evening—the pastor is a local surfer. This evening, the Opunake Swim Club hosted a “Stillwater Classic” event, with swimming competitions for the kneeboarders and great food for all. The main event was the freestyle relay (four swimmers, 50 meters each). Of the five teams from various countries, Team USA came in second to NZ (and we smoked the Aussies!). Congrats to Tom Linn, Paul Devoy, Brad Colwell, Scott Wessling and, especially, Bob Gove (who had to swim twice in the event) for representing well.
The forecast is for some increase to the swell for tomorrow, and maybe some lessening of the relentless winds (that has been promised every day!). But even if conditions stay the same we’ve got a high quality event going on in good surf—all we could ask for. Except to maybe have all of you on the Arawhata cliffs or in the water with us...
We just finished day two of the competition, the first full day of the prestigious Open Division. The event was moved from the lowly Opunake town beach break to Arawhata reef, about 5 miles north of town. A farmer let the whole brigade of about 50 vehicles onto his property on a bluff overlooking this popular surf spot, and the judges were also set up on the same bluff. Lovely place—you just had to dodge the ubiquitous cow paddies.
Arawhata Reef is not a typical wave. It is predominantly a right reef break that rolls on for about 200 yards at today’s height: 4-6’, bigger on some of the sets. The rocks exposed on low tide are like a 75 yard long mine field--it takes quite a lot of careful walking to reach the lineup, then paddling out amongst all sorts of exposed and/or slightly submerged boulders. Then much of it gets covered in the extreme high tides, then uncovered again rapidly at low tide. The winds today moved around to a variety of directions, but was mostly onshore. Think big, somewhat sloppy Huntington Cliffs, minus the current, or think 4 Mile on an onshore day. Most of the competitors would traverse the quicker walls, or swinging back and forth on the slower walls, then trying to get a good lip hit on the typical closeout ending. But the standouts of the day were Karl Ward, Simon and Gavin. They put on a clinic, exploding up through the lips off their delayed bottom turns all over the wave like no others, busting their tails out big time. Simon’s best wave was his first of the contest, a 9.67. Gavin surfed the last heat of the day and scored the only perfect 10. So this was a wave that could indeed be ripped apart. Tom Backer, Tom Linn and Barry Baker will surf tomorrow for the first time and will no doubt add some serious hacks of their own. BTW, the scoring is quite professional: the announcer gives judges updates throughout the heat letting the contestants know who is in first, second, third, etc., how many points they have, and how much they need on their next wave to move up in the heat standings.
The main event was the 54 man qualifying trials in a sudden death format to make Round 1 of the quarterfinals—no repercharge; you had to take a first or second in the four man heat to move on our you’re out of the Open. Jamie McHugh, Mark Mcleod, Michael Novakov were among the highly skilled surfers who had to surf out of the qualifying trials. The first half of Round 1 was also run. At the end of the day, 12 of the 15 USA surfers were still alive in the Open Division, which is fantastic! They are: Brad Colwell, Barry Baker, Tom Backer, Mike Fernandez, Bob Gove, Wayne Kopit, Tom Linn, John Mel, Mike Neal, Greg Shewman, Rob Salfin, and Scott Wessling.
The Team USA cadre of surfers and friends bunch together on the cliff and definitely make the most noise of any of the countries represented, and the main announcer has happily pointed this out repeatedly. When you surf a good heat they really let you know it!
Lots of other great things are happening besides the competition itself. While the event was going on today, simultaneously a commercial helicopter would land in the farmer’s field and take up those who wanted to see the area from the air. Mike Neal and Ed Dimmick took the ride and loved it, taking cool overhead video of the contest site. Brad and Scott took in a really sweet Opunake church service on Easter Sunday evening—the pastor is a local surfer. This evening, the Opunake Swim Club hosted a “Stillwater Classic” event, with swimming competitions for the kneeboarders and great food for all. The main event was the freestyle relay (four swimmers, 50 meters each). Of the five teams from various countries, Team USA came in second to NZ (and we smoked the Aussies!). Congrats to Tom Linn, Paul Devoy, Brad Colwell, Scott Wessling and, especially, Bob Gove (who had to swim twice in the event) for representing well.
The forecast is for some increase to the swell for tomorrow, and maybe some lessening of the relentless winds (that has been promised every day!). But even if conditions stay the same we’ve got a high quality event going on in good surf—all we could ask for. Except to maybe have all of you on the Arawhata cliffs or in the water with us...
I'm not influenced by the past; I change it!