October 6, 2009 - This past weekend surfers in Cape Town South Africa claim to have had 103 surfers on a single wave. If this claim is confirmed they will have set a new world record. The record is currently held by Brazil where 100 surfers have shared a "party wave."

September 23, 2009 - Last Sunday surfing champion Kelly Slater was on National Public Radio playing the spoof game show, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." He was smart and funny. Here's the audio clip.

August 16, 2009 - Last Monday New York skateboarding pioneer Andy Kessler died from a wasp sting he received while surfing in Montauk. He was 48 years old. As skateboard technology advanced through the introduction of rubber wheels and trucks, Kessler joined other New York kids in developing new forms and styles of skating, including the use of ramps, often consisting of plywood leaned against a park wall or building. He was a leading figure among NYC boarders and helped found a skateboard group which became known as Zoo York.

Kessler headed up efforts to create a skatepark in Riverside Park, which opened in 1996. Built with the help of teenagers from Harlem and the Upper West Side, Riverside Skate Park became the city's first municipal park facility constructed solely for skateboarders and rollerbladers. The skate park transformed an obsolete and disused playground, and provided thousands of city kids a place of their own to skate. Kessler also headed up the design and construction of skateparks in New York's outer boroughs, Long Island, California and other states, and the Caribbean Islands. He recently designed and hand built, with the help of two friends, a skatepark for the Youth Center on Rock City Road in Woodstock, New York.

Skateboarder/writer Bret Anthony Johnston remembers Kessler here.

July 27, 2009 - In yesterday's final 24 year old Brett Simpson of Huntington Beach beat out Australia's Mick Fanning to claim the top $100,000 prize in the US Open of Surfing... at Huntington Beach. Earlier in the day Adriano de Souza upset nine-time ASP world champion Kelly Slater in the quarterfinals. Slater who was favored to win the contest told the LA Times, "It's sudden death here, so if you don't go out and perform for that 25 minutes, you're done."

On Saturday, in a huge upset, 16 year old Courtney Conlogue, whose home break is Huntington Beach, beat out reigning champion, 15 year old Malia Manuel of Kauai. Manuel scored her own upset win at last year's event.


Read the full stories and see some photos of last weekend's magnificent west coast swell at Surfline.com