After a long weekended of surf and great waves at the 2008 Alas Tour Stop at Punta Roca in San Salvador, both Jairo and Jason took the podium in both Juniors and Open category.

Jairo Perez made the Juniors final and was able to get second place, Jason made both finals and was able to take third in Juniors and second in Open. His second placing awarded him a whopping $2,000.00 USD cash prize!!!!

Congratulations Jason & Jairo!

etnies team rider Kahana Kalama ripping...

We got up at 4am that morning to launch the ski 1 hour south of Lahinch to surf a left handed slab. We got the ski in the water while it was still dark and got the call that the place was actually unsurfable because of the size of the swell. It was one of the biggest swells I've seen in a long time. On the way home we saw 30 foot plus faces on waves on all the points approaching the cliffs of Moher. Checked the waves from the top of the cliff only to see it perfectly lined up and barreling. A few prayers later we launched in Doolin the surf was just huge there. Over the next four hours an epic session went down. On my second wave I tried to dive over a close out wave on the inside and got sucked over the falls and washed onto the rocks. A few jetski's also got washed into the rocks but we managed to resurrect them all. Everyone survived it was a memorable day surfing, in the middle of summer.

The info behind this wave..
After I got that wipeout early on, it took the fear away a bit, so I started to get a bit more adventurous and started surfing, setting up a bit more critical and looking for barrels on the inside. I think this is the biggest unbroken wave I've done a carve on, it feels a lot like snowboarding but if you hang around for too long the mountain starts to chase..”

Hossegor, France May 29, 2008 – The surfers Jairo Pérez and Nataly Bernold, both of Jaco, advanced yesterday in the Junior male and female categories at the 2008 Quiksilver International Surfing Association (ISA) World Junior Surfing Championship (WJSC) in Hossegor, France. They are now two of three Hispanics remaining in the WJSC primary rounds.

Yesterday, Pérez in particular demonstrated extreme force in each of his waves. The conditions of the ocean perfectly resembled his home break of Jaco, with waves of 2-3 feet breaking hard on the beach, which allowed the Central American Junior champion to connect best with roundhouses, cutbacks and an aerial in the final sections of waves. His score was 11.77 in the 2nd round during heat 12. Jairo classified 2nd behind Nat Young of the United States, who pulled 14.73. This morning, he is surfing with the local Frenchman Marc Locamare, New Zealander Paco Divers and Brazilian.

At only 15 years of age, and already participating in the Junior Women’s division, Nataly Bernold of Jaco, passed her heat yet again. Her family recently moved from Tamarindo to Jaco, where she, too, has become familiar with the wave that is similar to Hossegor, bringing that to her advantage in France, even with the cold water barrier and the use of her wetsuit, and great names as opponents. The Limonese-raised surfer seems very relaxed in all the minutes of her heats. Yesterday, she advanced behind the Frenchwomen Marie Dejean in heat 5 with a score of 8.00, and today is opposing the New Zealander Airini Mason, the Hawaiian Leila Hurst and South African Bianca Buitendag.

The four Costa Ricans on the National Junior Team that are Less than 16 years of age—Carlos Muñz, Anthony Fillingim, Mykol Torres and Jose Calderón—were all competing in repercharge yesterday and proudly represented their country during their first round by all advancing to the next one. This morning, they will be in round 2 of the do-or-die repercharge heats 1, 2, 11 and 12.

Also today, Debbie Zec, Lupe Galluccio and Anatassia Patterson are set today in repecharge round 2, since Galluccion and Patterson dropped from the primary rounds. The surfer of Dominical Beach, Debbie Zec, advanced yesterday in her first heat of repercharge round 1.

Today, Costa Rica opens with all their surfers still in competition.

Banjo is a photographer residing in Sydney, Australia and is a young chap more than capable of mixing talents, whether it be sliding waves on his 8ft McTavish single-fin longboard or late drops on an early 80’s thruster, to schralping a mountain via jibbing, sliding and launching over anything in his path...

After completing a diploma in photography at the KVB college in Sydney, Banjo has been working freelance as well as building up a strong personal body of work.

Much of what Banjo captures involves the experiences and adventures of his everyday life and etnies is a proud sponsor of his upcoming exhibit in Manly, Australia. Info above. And below.

Banjo's Official Site

Dan "Mole" Joel is currently ranked among the top UK big wave and tow-in surfers and has clocked more time than most surfing the mystical Irish big wave gem known as Aileens. Tucked away at the bottom of mountain sized inaccessible cliffs on Ireland's west coast, this monster wave is unpredictable, fickle and life threatening should you get it wrong. Get it right, take a few deep breaths and you get the picture. If we told you where it was we would have to kill you.

Mole is part of an elite and fearless crew of UK surfers in search of the biggest swells to hit the UK and Ireland. His commitment and dedication mean that an overnight ferry and all night drive across Ireland to ride 50ft waves, get a few photos and return back to work two days later is not uncommon.

Congrats on the coverage, Mole!

That's right, we visited Hawaii's hot spots and got some glamorous team rider shots. While we were rippin' the surf we made the team riders product test our new sandal line by trekking through the wilds of Hawaii.

Try them for yourself by going HERE or go to our Hawaii Surf Gallery to see all the photos!

Press Release from - Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica

PLAYA JACO, COSTA RICA November 27, 2007 – It may have been the Brazilian Ernest Nunes who earned the 2007 Asociacion Latinamerica de Surf (ALAS) Latin & Caribbean Open title by the end of the day on Saturday, but it Jairo Pérez from the home turf who came away the big winner of the Reef Classic Latin Pro Costa Rica in Playa Jaco the next day, Sunday, November 25. The 17-year-old won the 9th—and final—ALAS Tour event with steady, controlled maneuvering, in a man-to-man final heat against his own countryman, Jaco’s Luis Vindas. As a matter of fact, with the exception of Venezuelan Ronald Reyes winning the Longboard category, all of the major divisions were taken by the Ticos: Jaco’s Nataly Bernold won Women’s and Jaco’s Jason Torres scored a trophy for Pro Juniors.

“With the exception of a national contest a while ago, this is my first Open win,” said the diminutive, muscled youngster after receiving a $4,000 winner’s check and his own, giant trophy for the 6-star ALAS triumph. “When the contest started on Friday, I realized there were a lot of good surfers; I didn’t think I was good enough, but as the contest went on and especially, when it came to competing with our national champion Diego (Naranjo, Jaco), and then Diego Cadena (Mexico), I got nervous. Thank God he gave me the waves and the money because he knows how much I needed both of those things today.”

Against Vindas in the finals, Pérez received accolades for an impressive five off-the-tops on a critical part of a left wave, followed by a snap, an aerial, and a final bottom turn, scoring the highest in the Championship with 8.73 points. Of course, the other big surprise of the event, was when Jairo defeated the International Surfing Associations’ (ISA) ranked #13 Cadena in that semifinal heat. Not to mention that the youngster surfed in two finals—Open and Junior categories.

Meanwhile, Vindas defeated the Puerto Rican Gabriel Escudero with his trademark aerials—including once performing two on one wave. With this, he rated the second best average score of the weekend with 16.10 points in the semifinals, and though tough, were a warm-up for the last heat which became “a great final between Ticos to represent the country and Jaco. We live here and we both know the wave.”

The Open tally resulted in Pérez at 1st, Vindas 2nd, Escudero 3rd and Cadena 4th.

Peru’s Valeria Solé, also secured her 2007 ALAS Latin & Caribbean Women’s title in Jaco, since her closest competitor, the Peruvian Analí Gómez, didn’t make it to Costa Rica. Yet, once again, the big news was a Tica—14-year-old wunderkind Nataly Bernold, who recently moved with her family from Guanacaste’s Tamarindo to Jaco, also making the contest ground her home base.

Bernold began and ended the weekend with great performances—and the last day of the contest she demonstrated why José Urena, President of the Costa Rica Federacion de Surf (FSC) calls her a “contest machine” She offered excellent rollers and snaps in the critical part of the wave, just what the judges needed to award her 1st place in the Women’s Reef Classic Latin Pro Costa Rica, beating her mentor, 5-time Costa Rican National Women’s Champion and 2-time Central American Women’s Champion Lisbeth Vindas in the 4-women final heat. Vindas took 2nd, Solé was 3rd.

Torres, who holds the only Pan American Surfing Games gold medal for his Junior triumph in 2005, earned the best championship average with a 16.17 on the second day of competition with his Open category score, but bust out of the pack this weekend to win the Pro Juniors at the Reef Classic Latin Pro Costa Rica. He and friend Pérez were in the final 4-man heat. Pérez won 2nd, the Venezulean Francisco Bellorian placed 3rd, with Chilean Manuel Selman 4th. Selman became the 3-time ALAS Pro Junior Champion.

The 2007 ALAS Latin & Caribbean Longboard Champion is Martín Pérez. The awards ceremony will be in January, in the ALAS TOUR 2008 first stop.

For more information on Costa Rican surfers or the Federacion de Surf de Costa Rica, please go to www.surfingcr.net.

Photos Courtesy of ALAS