If yes, read the contest rules below:

1st Step – Become a Fan of the Wittering Surf Shop Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/WitteringSurfShop

2nd Step – Become a Fan of the Official Lightning Bolt Europe Facebook Page – http://www.facebook.com/Lightningbolteurope

3rd Step – Save this Voucher Image to your Computer

4th Step – Post the Voucher image on the Official Lightning Bolt Europe Facebook Page

5th Step – Get in touch with all your friends and ask them to put a Like on your post

6th Step – Your post has to get at least 10 likes to be considered in this competition

The post with the most Likes wins!

Contest dates:  From 18th May to the 11th  June

The winner will be announced both on our Facebook page and on the Official Lightning Bolt Europe Facebook Page on the day after.

Aloha!

Snapper Rocks is perched at the head of Rainbow Bay, the jagged volcanic rocks laid down 20 million years ago catch the northward flow of sand, forming a rifling sandbottom righthander.

This event is always a good one to start. It has always been warm and sunny. The surf is never is always good and the surfers are on fire to get the year started. Kelly has been victorious here 3 times out of the 10 years the event has taken place. Kelly is the only non-Australian surfer to win this event. Most recently he won it last year, on his way to his unbelievable 11^th world title.

There are many Australian surfers competing in this event this year. The likes of Joel Parkinson, Taj Burrow, Owen Wright, Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson are among a few of my favourites to win it this year.

Joel Parkinson was the highest finishing Australian on tour last year over taking Owen Wright in the final few events of the year. Joel has won this event twice and always finishes well.

Owen Wright dropped down to 3^rd in the overall rankings last year and will be very keen to do well here this year after finishing 13^th last year.

Don’t forget two time champion Mick Fanning. Mick has won this event twice before and lives very close to the snapper.

Let’s put the aussie’s aside for one moment and think about the one guy whole shocked everyone last year.

Gabriel Medina..

This young Brazilian came on the tour at the cut away which was the tresles event back in early September he surprised everyone with amazing aerial manoeuvres but he finished in 13^th and was over shone by Owen Wright and Kelly Slater’s epic rivalry.

He then won the event in France in emphatic style doing crazy 360 airs and big tail slides. Medina then went onto win the Rip curl Pro Search in San Francisco and then he surfed Pipe for the first time and finished the event in 5^th place. I think he will definitely have his eyes on the trophy at snapper.

Who do you think this year’s winner will be?

The XCEL SLX X-ZIP Winter Wetsuit.

These suits retail in the shops for £169 or £150 for the back zip version.

The SLX has entry level Flatlock stitching which is how it sounds flat stitching so it does not rub on your skin or have an edge to it. It is completely flat with the neoprene. The SLX still features minimal stitching enabling the suit to have more stretch and move with you. The only part of this suit that is 3mm is under the arms to provide you with more flexibility when you are paddling. The X-Zip means it is a front entry suit which means that it has less seams especially across the shoulders which also means more flexibility and therefore more ease in paddling and moving. All the XCEL wetsuits have pre bent knee and elbow areas so they have a more anatomic fit and are more comfortable and never stiff.

The Infiniti Wetsuit

The Infiniti retails at £269 and this is why:

This is my personal favourite from the XCEL range. The XCEL Infiniti wetsuit has pressure bonded taped, double glued and blindstitch seams. Blindstitching is the method of attaching both parts of neoprene together without stitching   being visible. The stitching is  then glued on both sides to make a mould between the stitching and neoprene; this eliminates water coming through. Finally, the stitching is then taped with a pressure bond system on the inside to make sure it remains watertight. All the seams are curved throughout the suit for maximum stretch.

The Infiniti wetsuit is made from ultra-stretch neoprene with minimal stitching to make the suit the most flexible it could possibly be. The Infiniti has a bamboo and recycled plastic bottle lining which is good for the environment and gives you an extra layer of warmth. The Infiniti then has a slick skin chest panel which stops the wind and elements affecting your organs and by doing this keeping them warm so they pump warm blood around your body to keep you warm.

The Infiniti X-Zip2 zipper is a front zip system that is semi watertight. This not only keeps you dry but improves the stretch across the shoulders of your suit!

Like the SLX and all the suits in the XCEL range it also has pre bent knees and elbows for an anatomical fit (so basically more comfort and movement).

The Xcel Drylock Winter Wetsuit

The Drylock retails at £339 and is the very top end of the Xcel range.

The Drylock wetsuit has won 3 industry awards for best wetsuit. Many regard this suit as the best that money can buy. I will explain why..

The stitching on the Drylock is the same as on the Infiniti! I’ll write it again in case you skipped it earlier. So, we have ppressure bonded taped, double glued and blindstitch seams. Blindstitching is the method of attaching both parts of neoprene together without stitching   being visible. The stitching is  then glued on both sides to make a mould between the stitching and neoprene; this eliminates water coming through. Finally, the stitching is then taped with a pressure bond system on the inside to make sure it remains watertight. All the seams are curved throughout the suit for maximum stretch.

The Drylock then features the same ultra-stretch neoprene with minimal stitching to make the suit the most flexible it could possibly be but then goes a bit further. The Drylock has an Airo-prene chest panel on the outer skin which not only protects against the elements but traps air with in it which then heats up with your body temperature to maintain even more heat. The inside has a water repellent bamboo and recycled plastic bottle liner which is goes all the way down to the seam for the knee pad (normally seen just in the chest panel). The neoprene on the outer is made with QDF which is Quick Dry Fibre which does exactly that it repels water. When the water hits the neoprene it just runs off it.

Like the Infinti with its X-Zip2 zipper the Drylock also has a front zip but it is better, the Drylock zipper is fully 100% waterproof!

So quick dry fibre, airo-prene outer chest panel, a fully water proof zipper, water repellent liner on the inside all the way to your knee! What more could you ever need from a wetsuit?

I hope this helps you decide on your new wetsuit and I think once you have worn an XCEL Wetsuit you won’t want anything else

So here you go…

Deshy’s guide to Quiver Surfboards shaped by Luke Hart.

To start with a brief introduction into whom the shaper is…

Luke Hart is described by many as young, motivated, inspirational, innovative and highly creative. Luke has made Quiver into the brand name it is today. He has used a lot of his knowledge and has a great team testing the boards to make sure they are perfect for British waves. Some of Luke’s riders include:

• Alan Stokes:  UK Pro Tour Winner
• Tom Butler:  Pro Tour runner up and English Champion
• Mitch Corbett:  Barrel Magnet!
• Cain Killcullen:  Irish Power Man!
• Oli Adams: aerialist and all round progressive surfer.

Here are a few of his models we have in stock and a brief explanation as to what they are..

Tom Buttler loving his Quiver

The Bumble Bart

This is my personal favourite board in the Quiver range. I have surfed this board in small 1 ½ foot clean surf and in overhead messy surf. It absolutely flies in both. It has forward wide point with a stub nose and pulled in round pin tail which will give the rail the feel of a good wave board but with the stability and paddle power of a fish. It surfs just like a shortboard when you’re on your feet but you have to put minimal effort into your paddling.

Deep single to double through the fins with slight vee off the tail gives you concentrated speed through the fins with great hold on deep bottom turns and carves.  Medium rocker throughout with the shortened all round template means it sits in the pocket all day long.

The Bumble Bart

The Hobbit

The Hobbit is a very similar shaped board to the Bumble Bart but with a squash tail and a generally more shortboard shape to it. The Hobbit is more performance driven then the Dirty Truck and the Bumble Bart. It is as easy to catch waves as the Dirty Truck but gives you a much more shortboard like feel to it. This board would be a great in-between board for those days when it is quite fat but a good size and you worry about taking your shortboard out. Alternatively it would make a great first short board if you have been surfing fishes for a while.

The Hobit

The Dirty Truck

The Dirty Truck is the slightly fatter version of the Hobbit. It has a bigger pan shape throughout with a similar rocker line. The wide point in this board is further back and is not as big. The dirty truck would be a great board for anything from 2ft clean to overhead barrels. It has a slightly more relaxed rocker line to a standard hip shortboard but not quite as flat as a traditional fish. The pan shape of the tail is slightly wider than a standard shortboard as well but has more rocker in it then a fish. A great performance fish ideal for anything with a bit of punch.

Dirty Truck

If you want to come and have a look for yourself we are open 7 days a week. Come and browse!

Tuesday 18^th October 2011 saw the final day of action at the Rip Curl Pro Portugal. Stop no. 9 of 11 on the ASP Dream Tour. The waves for the final day were 3 -4 foot ad clean.

The action really all happened on day 3 of the contest where we saw clean overhead barrels and the rest of round one all the way through to heat 9 of round 4.

John John getting pitted

Round two didn’t show too many upsets but it did show some very good scores. The young and experienced Hawaiian tube rider John John Florence was the stand out of the whole day with a heat score of 19.53 to knock out the inform Aussie Ace Buchan.

Taj Burrow was also on fine form knocking out Portuguese under 18 champ Francisco Alves by more then 10 points.

ASP tour regular and dubbed the King of Portugal Saca aka Tiago Pires was also knocked out in round two. The Portuguese tiger struggled to find form for the third year and lost to Brazilian high flyer Heitor Alves.

Mr Consistent Bede Durbridge scraped past fellow Aussie Kieren Perrow in the dying minutes of there heat.

Young Brazilian Jadson Andre also went out in this round to a very inform Dusty Payne.

On to round three where the barrels really started to kick in.

Taj started the heat with a routine win against American Brett Simpson.

Julian Wilson showed ever one yet again that he is not some rich kid. He beat very experienced surfer Kia Otton in a very impressive heat. Julian got a heat total of 19.13 to 18.40. There were barrels galore, and the boys were throwing away 7’s and getting deep pits and averaging high 8’s.

Quiksiler Pro France winner Gabriel Medina had a shocking heat against Aussie Chris Davidson. Medina only managed a 5.10 heat total with Damo showing him some experienced surfing and getting a combo of 14.10.

Slater beat Dan Ross by a few points but showed some amazing surfing showing everyone why he is going to get his 11^th world title.

Jordy Smith lost out to Freddy P on the last wave of there heat to lose 15.06 to 14.90 in a tightly fought heat that show cased a great deal of experienced surfing and long tubes.

Mick Fanning and Bede Durbridge surfed out the day under the sunset. Aussie Vs Aussie. This was a very god heat for those who could see on the web cam. The sun was glaring of the water and making it very difficult to see what was going on.

Bede won it with a 10 with about 10 minutes to go. There was then a flat spell and Mick just couldn’t find that the magic wave.

The end of round 3 saw John John Florence knock out would no.2 Owen Wright in impressive form with a 17.33 to Owen’s 16.96.

Kelly Slater was the stand out of round 4 with a heat score of 19.30 to put Heitor Alves and Chris Davidson into round 5. Taj wasn’t far behind with a total score of 17.13, fellow Aussie Joel Parkinson also went through with a combo of 18.

So.. Straight into round 5…

The worst heat and lowest scoring heat of the event saw Julian Wilson keep himself busy and scrape past Chris Davidson with a 6.83 to Damo’s 3.50.

The last two heats of round 5 were amazing. The Spartan Michel Bourez beat Freddy P in a powerful, barrel filled heat. Winning with an 18.93 two wave total.

Bede Durbridge took out everyone’s favourite John John Florence on his 19^th birthday with a 17.44 to John John’s 17.06.

The quarters saw Taj Burrow keeps his dream of winning an event this year very much a life by defeating young fellow Australian Julian Wilson with a 17.94 to Julian’s 17.50.

Adriano De Souza kept up his impressive event form with by narrowly defeating Michel Bourez.

Kelly also progressed with a win other Brazilian Heitor Alvez. The last heat of quarters saw Bede Durbridge defeat close friend Joel Parkinson to put himself into his first semi of the year.

The Semis then…

Taj was pumped for this heat hoping for some revenge after there heat at New York. Unfortunately for Taj, Kelly pulled out a perfect 10 with a sick deep barrel. Kelly even started playing around and did a switch barrel but the judges weren’t so keen on this. Kelly progressed to his 4^th final in a row with a combo of 19.50.

Taj said this after his heat “What do you say after that?” Burrow said. “It was another one of those situations where we were both getting good waves. I broke my board and was paddling out when he dropped in on that left – first left of the heat – and I knew it was a 10 straight away. I’m still a bit blown away. It’s been an amazing event though. Some of the best waves I’ve ever surfed.”

Adriano De Souza went through to his second final of the season with a win in a closely fought heat. De Souza won with a 13.83.

The Final Kelly Vs Adriano. US against Brazil.

Kelly struggled to find his form in the final. Adriano had a sick wave which he came out of claiming it was a 10, looking straight at the judges with his hands above his head but was only scored a high 9.

Adriano kept his cool to defeat reigning champion Kelly with a 15.67 to 14.73.

“Kelly (Slater) has been my hero since I ever heard about surfing,” De Souza said. “He is a living legend and to be competing against him at this level is more than a dream come true. He has pushed me more than any other surfer and I owe him a lot. The waves have been incredible for this event. Thanks to Rip Curl for bringing us here and thanks to all the Portuguese who have supported me throughout the event.”

Today’s win vaults De Souza from 6th to 3rd on the ASP World Title rankings and into contention heading into the last two events of the year.

“I haven’t been as consistent as I would like to be this season but I have had two of the biggest results of my career here and in Brazil,” De Souza said. “It’s very special to win in these kinds of conditions. I just want to finish the year with some good results – I’m not thinking about the World Title.”

The next stop on the 2011 ASP World Title season will be the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco from November 1 – 12, 2011.

For additional information log on to www.aspworldtour.com

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.67
2 – Kelly Slater (USA) 14.73

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.50 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.87
SF 2: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 13.83 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 12.03

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.94 def. Julian Wilson (AUS) 17.50
QF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.70 def. Heitor Alves (BRA) 7.67
QF 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 17.60 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 17.53
QF 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.10 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 16.60

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING HEAT 5 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Julian Wilson (AUS) 6.83 def. Chris Davidson (AUS) 3.50
Heat 2: Heitor Alves (BRA) 15.40 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 13.74
Heat 3: Michel Bourez (PYF) 18.93 def. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 17.96
Heat 4: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 17.44 def. John John Florence (HAW) 17.06

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 4 RESULTS:
Heat 1: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.13, Julian Wilson (AUS) 15.70, Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.10
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 19.30, Heitor Alves (BRA) 17.20, Chris Davidson (AUS) 13.40
Heat 3: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 15.30, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 14.64, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.67
Heat 4: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.00, John John Florence (HAW) 17.84, Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.10

RIP CURL PRO PORTUGAL REMAINING ROUND 3 RESULTS:
Heat 9: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 11.60 def. Travis Logie (ZAF) 8.10
Heat 10: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.56 def. Dusty Payne (HAW) 12.30
Heat 11: Michel Bourez (PYF) 16.27 def. Matt Wilkinson (AUS) 14.54
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 17.33 def. Owen Wright (AUS) 16.96

ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (after Rip Curl Pro Portugal)
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 58,150 pts
2. Owen Wright (AUS) 45,650 pts
3. Adriano de Souza (BRA) 42,450 pts
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 41,100 pts
5. Taj Burrow (AUS) 40,950 pts

The Asp Quiksilver Pro France is stop number 8 of 10 on the world tour and the first in the European leg of the tour. It did not disappoint at all.

In round 3 we lost some of the best surfers. 3x event winner Mich Fanning went out to Captain America Taylor Knox . Mr Constancy Bede Durbridge went out to the high flying ex king of the groms Gabriel Medina.  Dane Reynolds lost out to Jordy Smith but once by a few points.  Poor old Jeremy Flores was ripping and boosted one too many against Kia Otton and hurt is ankle ruling him out for the rest of the event.

Round 4 we return to the 3 man heats where we saw Kelly get over scored with an 8. 23 for a floater and two turns. I say this because Medina took the same wave and went left and did two airs and a turn and got a similar score.  Luckily for Gabriel he had a walk through to the quarter finals because of Jeremy’s injury.  Taj was on fire in this round scoring the biggest score of the round with a combo of  17.43 and boosting the only 9 of the round.

Round 5 saw the veteran Taylor Knox once again progress through to the semi finals after a closely fought heat with Ace Buchan. Jordy Smith showed the young Australian Owen Wright why he finished second last year. He showed off his power turns and popped a few cheeky airs as well.

Julian Wilson started to get ampped up in this round after taking out Damien Hobgood he was into the quarter’s and could almost touch the final. Wilson has such a competitive nature in him you can see it in his surfing he just wants the win at any cost.

The Quarter Finals.. This is when you could clearly see how much the young guys on tour wanted this win. It was time to prove to everyone they are not groms anymore.

Gabriel Medina rocked Kelly Slater with an impressive 9.33 and 7.33 to secure the victory and move through to the finals.

Another unexpected victory came from Taylor Knox who beat the Spartan Michel Bourez  in impressive style to get into his first semi final for quite some time. He showed everyone he may well be the oldest man on tour at 40 but he has still got it!

Julian Wilson showed Taj Burrow how aerials and power hacks are done. Julian tore Taj apart with wave after wave and a cheeky fist pump every time he nailed a nice wave. At this point I think everyone thought after missing out in the semis at Trestles it was Wilson’s time to shine.

The only man standing in Julian’s way was the young South African Jordy Smith. Jordy has shown great form in this event. He continued that with a fairly routine win over the young Brazilian Alejo  Muniz.

So to the semis.

For me these two heats will change the future of surfing forever. The judges must have aged about 10 years in these two exciting heats. The surfing that Medina and Wilson were doing was like watching a free surf video. Huge airs and massive turns.

Gabriel Medina had the first heat against Taylor Knox where he was unstoppable I mean the young Brazilian did a massive air reverse with a lay back landing! Have you ever seen one of them before, I know I most definitely have not!  Medina scored the highest heat total of the whole event with a perfect 10 and a 9.57.

Medina Airlines

Next up was Julian Wilson Vs Jordy Smith. This was a very very good heat as well. More airs and spray then you can imagine. Julian showed the world how much he has improved over the year with an impressive 18.50 against arguably one of the most power full surfers on tour.

The Final was amazing. 23 year old Australian Julian Wilson took on 17 year old Brazilian Gabriel Medina. Up until about half way through the heat it looked like Wilson had it in the bag. By the 26^th minute Wilson had his 16.10 with a 7.6 and a 8.5. Medina was only on 11.76 so he needed a good score in the last 5 minutes. There looked like there may have been a interference in the last 5 minutes but none was given. 2 minutes later Medina took a beautiful left to score a 9.2. But the score was not known until about 5 minutes after the heat finished with both surfer’s waiting it out in the water to find out who the winner was. Then it was announced that Medina had one and the crowd went nuts.

After his maiden victory in only his second event he said : “This is the best feeling ever,” Medina said. “I beat some great guys on the way to Final and I’m very stoked now. I want to thank all my friends and family and god for their support. It has been an amazing week for me. Just two years ago, I was here competing in the King of the Groms and I won that event and now I’m here in the main event and I’ve won it. It doesn’t seem real.”  He then continued “The start of the heat was slow and it was going high tide so it was a challenge,” Medina said. “It was a fun heat. It was a hard hat as well. Julian (Wilson) is an incredible surfer and I know he wanted to win very badly. I knew I needed a big score on that final wave and I had to throw everything I had to get it. I’m very happy right now.”

Highlights from the Quiksilver Pro France will be available via http://www.quiksilverlive.com

The next stop on the 2011 ASP World Title season will be the Rip Curl Pro Portugal from October 15 – 24, 2011.

For additional information log on to www.aspworldtour.com

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE FINAL RESULTS:
1 – Gabriel Medina (BRA) 17.00
2 – Julian Wilson (AUS) 16.10

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
SF 1: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 19.57 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 7.00
SF 2: Julian Wilson (AUS) 18.50 def. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 12.55

QUIKSILVER PRO FRANCE QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
QF 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 15.17 def. Michel Bourez (PYF) 9.50
QF 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 16.66 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 8.60
QF 3: Jordy Smith (ZAF) 15.26 def. Alejo Muniz (BRA) 13.77
QF 4: Julian Wilson (AUS) 13.00 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 3.54

ASP WORLD TITLE TOP 5 (After Completion of Quiksilver Pro France):
1. Kelly Slater (USA) 50,150 pts
2. Owen Wright (AUS) 43,900 pts
3. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 35,900 pts
4. Taj Burrow (AUS) 34,450 pts
5. Jordy Smith (ZAF) 34,000 pts