A brief history of Channel Islands Surfboards

Channel Island surfboards are one of the longest standing surfboard manufactures in the world. They were started back in 1969 in by Al Merick who has become a legendary shaper. Al Merick makes handmade boards for the like of 11x world champion Kelly Slater and dynamic free surfer Dane Reynolds. With a lot of the world’s top competition surfers surfing Channel Islands Surfboards this has led to worldwide recognition and sky rocketed Channel Islands Surfboards to the very top of the surfboard world.

European Channel Islands Surfboards.

All the Channel Islands Surfboards you see in Europe are made by a team of shapers at one of Europe’s biggest factories in the Basque of Spain by Olatu (which means wave in Basque). When the ASP World Tour visits Europe every year a lot of professionals like Mick Fanning will get a board made at Olatu pushing the brands presents in Europe even higher. Olatu has a very similar heritage in Europe as Al Merick does in the states. Olatu was started in 70s and have had their own brand Pukas Surfboards become very popular in Europe and in 2000 legendary Hawaiin surfer Sunny Garcia won the ASP world tour on a Pukas Surfboard.

Popular Models

The Neck Beard

The Neck Beard is one of the most popular shapes in the Channel Islands range. The Neck Beard was designed by Aerial king Dane Reynolds. Dane wanted a surfboard he could use in small waves that would give him a lot of speed and stability down the line and something he boost in the sky on one of his crazy airs.

The Neck beard is designed with a very low rocker line and a wide pan shape. It has a wide fat tail to give even more volume to a board that is typically ridden between 5 ft 6 and 5 ft 8.

The Neck Beard by Dane Reynolds from CI Surfboards on Vimeo.

The Biscuit

The Biscuit was designed by Rob Machado in 2007. It is short and stubby and features a tri fin setup. Rob wanted a big board saying “foam is your friend”. Designed to flow easily and relaxed much like Rob. The Biscuit was designed to catch waves that a board a foot longer would catch. It is the ultimate fish shaped board as it has a very low rocker line and remains a lot thicker from rail to rail. Than any other fish, giving you the most buoyancy possible. Round nose and round tail mean this board catches more waves then you wold ever expect!

Check out our range of Channel Island Surfboards..

Cool colours on the Xcel SLX X-Zip 2 this year.

The stealth Black Infiniti wetsuit for 2013

Fit is the Difference..

check them all out here

The ASP Top 34 have done battle at Snapper Rocks, Bells Beach, Barra da Tijuca, Cloudbreak/Restaurants and Teahupo’o thus far this season and the 2012 ASP World Title race remains one of the more hotly-contested in recent years.

Mick Fanning (AUS), 31, two-time ASP World Champion (2007, 2009) and current frontrunner on the ASP WCT rankings, has been on a rampage in 2012. The powerful Australian’s comprehensive approach has seen him collect victories at Bells Beach and Teahupo’o as well as Equal 3rd place finishes in Rio de Janeiro and Fiji, placing him firmly in the frontrunner position in the hunt for the 2012 crown.

“My approach really hasn’t been altered since the start of the season to tell you the truth,” Fanning said. “We are only halfway through the year and there is a lot of surfing to be done. I’m still working as hard as day one of the year and I keep trying to improve myself and my surfing.”

2012 has indeed been a banner year for Fanning, a stark contrast to last season when the Australian struggled with consistency. While 2011 didn’t go to plan for Fanning, one of the highlights was his experimentation with equipment and different shapers which ultimately reignited his passion for surfing and his competitive hunger.

“Last year, Matt (Biolos) really got me excited to surf again with the old Kolohe (Andino) board he gave me,” Fanning said. “I do have a few Mayhems in the pipeline so that’s always exciting, but also DH (Darren Handley) had been on fire this year with my boards being so consistent and always feeling fresh. DH and I have been working on a couple of models for different sorts of waves and we have a few that should go really well at Lowers.”

Winner of the 2009 Hurley Pro at Trestles, Fanning is well familiar with the high-performance capabilities of Lower Trestles and is looking forward to this year’s competition.

“I love this event as it really shows the different approaches everyone has,” Fanning said. “I think you need a good mix of power surfing and air antics at Lower Trestles as anything less just isn’t going to cut it. Obviously everyone in the Top 5 have been surfing great and will push hard. Gabe Medina had a great event at the Nike Prime here in April and he will be one to watch for sure.”

The ASP’s storied history at Lower Trestles stretches back over a decade now with the ASP WCT event being supported by Billabong, then Boost Mobile and now Hurley. The list of event winners is as prestigious as the event itself and include: Andy Irons (HAW), Luke Egan (AUS), Richie Lovett (AUS), Joel Parkisnon (AUS), Bede Durbidge (AUS), Mick Fanning (AUS) and reigning 11-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA).

Slater has proven the most dominant surfer ever at Lower Trestles, amassing an incredible five ASP WCT wins at the venue. The Floridian is currently seated 4th on the ASP WCT rankings and will need a solid result at Trestles to reignite his 2012 campaign.

Joining the ASP Top 34 will be North American standouts Conner Coffin (USA), 19, and Evan Geiselman (USA), 18, as event wildcards.

Surfline, official forecasters for the Hurley Pro at Trestles, are calling for:

Sunday and Monday, the 16th-17th, will start off in small, but very contestable, Southern Hemisphere South and SSW swell that will be down a bit from Fri/Sat. Waist-shoulder high surf will show at Lowers.

Going further out, what will likely be the best swell of the waiting period will show during the middle of next week and is being set up right now by a developing storm roughly 5,000 miles due south of Southern California. If this storm behaves as forecast in the next 3-4 days, new long period south swell forerunners will build in through the afternoon on Tuesday the 18th, with a likely peak in swell on Wednesday the 19th and easing swell on Thursday the 20th. Fun size leftovers would then take over by Friday.

If this storm behaves as forecast in the next few days, solid head high surf will show Tuesday afternoon through Friday morning at Lower Trestles, with larger sets running a foot+ overhead and possibly a bit bigger on Wednesday and Thursday. We’ll also have a secondary, much smaller, SW swell showing at roughly the same time that will help a bit with overall consistency.

For the end of the waiting period, the 22nd-23rd, a small SW swell from a developing storm now near New Zealand is on track to provide contestable waves. If this storm behaves as forecast, shoulder high surf will show at Lowers for the last couple days of the event waiting period. Stay tuned.

We’ll also keep a close eye on the tropics, as we should see Tropical Storm Kristy develop later this week, which could produce small SSE shifting South to SSW swell early next week.

The Hurley Pro at Trestles will be webcast LIVE via http://www.hurley.com/hurleypro/

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

PAST HURLEY PRO AT TRESTLES WINNERS:
2011: Kelly Slater (USA)
2010: Kelly Slater (USA)
2009: Mick Fanning (AUS)
2008: Kelly Slater (USA)
2007: Kelly Slater (USA)
2006: Bede Durbidge (AUS)
2005: Kelly Slater (USA)
2004: Joel Parkinson (AUS)
2003: Richie Lovett (AUS)
2002: Luke Egan (AUS)
2001: Not held
2000: Andy Irons (HAW)

If yes, read the contest rules below:

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

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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