Sully Vision

Raw Kiama Bomy footage.

2012-01-26T21:37:00.000-08:00

Glen Sullivan Kiama Bomy. from Glen Sullivan on Vimeo.

I have surfed the bomy at kiama a few times now. I have no idea why I keep going back. Heres some unedited raw footage from Aria Pourbozorgi, Richard Robson and Nick Hartcher. www.glensullivan.com

Hawaii 2012

2012-01-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

I have booked my ticket and am ready to head over to Hawaii again. This is now my 6th or 7th season in Hawaii and I'm sure I'll still struggle just as much as ever to get waves at Pipe! I love it over there though! Looking forward to it and have entered in the pipe comp again for both Mens and DropKnee just to double my chances of getting a result! I fly out from Sydney on February 8th. Good times ahead :)

New year. New things.

2012-01-08T00:15:00.000-08:00

2012 Has started off pretty well for me. There's been plenty of waves around the east coast over the Christmas/New Year period. The new Surge mag issue #4 is now online featuring me on the cover! Check it out at www.surgebodyboarding.com All surfing photos from Steve Jones.

Also a couple of fun tow out days in the mix too!

Two of my good school friends Jayden and Emma recently got engaged. We went and had some fun to celebrate their engagement. Looking forward to these two finally taking the leap!

Shaved Ice

2011-12-17T22:11:00.000-08:00

In case I have not seen you out and about over the past few weeks I may look a little different next time you see me. Im sporting a freshly shaved head this summer!

Silly Session.

2011-12-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across a clip online put together by south coast grom Louis Parsons Omalley. The clip shows two waves of me in it. The end wave in the clip gave me a solid slapping resulting in me injuring my back and left coughing up blood on my slow walk back up the rocks after the session.

Ghosts from louis parsons omalley on Vimeo.

Shane Ackerman, Ryan Gott, Glen Sullivan.

Heres a couple of photos of the same session featured in the clip.

Weekend waves!

2011-12-11T23:08:00.001-08:00

The weekend had a nice little spike in the swell with clean ENE swell running. Steve Jones got a couple of photos from the ski at the island.

I also received a new spring suit from Dunes. Clean, Fresh, Blue! The new Dunes summer range should be in stores over the next week or so. Just in the nick of time for Christmas!

Cover time!

2011-12-01T16:37:00.000-08:00

A few months back, right in the thick of one of the best winters of swell I can remember I surfed a local spot on my own with Steve Jones taking Photos and Diarmid Heidenreich driving the ski. I was actually hoping to surf a different wave on this particular morning. The swell was expected to be double the size of what it actually was. With no one in sight and 6-8ft waves to be ridden it didn't take much before I was jumping off the ski! The wave breaks super close to the rocks. And not the kind of rocks that you can be washed up and over into the safety of a channel. As in semi cliff face rocks. Like being washed into a barnacle infested wall! As a result of the waves breaking so close it gets pretty incredible backwash. With that combination Steve managed to snap off my first cover! Surge Bodyboarding issue #4!
It was one of the coldest Sydney mornings I can remember. It was so cold on the way out. By the time I hit the water I was shaking uncontrollably! My session only lasted about 90mins or so before the tide had made backwash waves way too dangerous for me to continue toying with.

Plenty more photos from that day. I'll post the rest over the next few weeks. Thanks Steve, Diarmid and Surge.

Burnt to a crisp!

2011-11-06T00:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend has been non stop fun in the sun and surf. With some of the hottest few days in a long time and plenty of swell and offshore winds I am burnt to a crisp! Saturday had plenty of swell around and weekend crowds at all the usual spots, making it an easy call to find a peak to ourselves up the beach and smack down a few tow outs with good friends, Jayden Pendelton, Steve Jones and Jayden Hunt. Between busting out a few tow assisted airs Steve snapped off a couple of cool shots!

After a full day on the water and the sunburn in full swing we stopped by a local bar for a couple of cold drinks and some late lunch!

Sunday was another full day in the sun with plenty of fun waves for our local Conulla Bodyboard comp. Ill sleep well tonight thats for sure!

Nationals and Australian Pro tour wrap!

2011-10-26T02:18:00.000-07:00

I spent Last week in Kiama on the NSW South coast for the Australasian National Titles and final event on the Australian Pro tour. I surfed well throughout the whole event making finals for DropKnee and Open Men's in the Nationals, along with a final show in the Pro DropKnee. The final day of the event was moved to Gerringong's Werri beach as the wave conditions had gone to near flat. As a result I ran out of steam on finals day and walked away with 4th place in all my divisions. A great result after surfing in over 15 or so heats for the whole event!

Above: Dropknee Final- Rob Holmes, Shane Griffiths, Glen Sullivan, Aaron Glossip.

Above: Pro Dropknee Final- Glen Sullivan, Zac Sonner, John Gibson, Shane Griffiths.

Above: Open Mens Final- Lachlan Cramsie, Joey Orme, Josh Garner, Glen Sullivan

Not everything was competition surfing down there. We got a few fun little sessions on the ski playing around doing some tow outs.

NSW Bodyboarding also had their presentation for overall state tittle winners. I took out the DropKnee for 2011.

Couple of blasts from the past!

2011-10-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

2011 Pro Tour Final leg!

2011-09-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Australian Pro tour is coming to an end. I am currently sitting in 18th with one event less than most of the other guys. A good strong result at Kiama in a few weeks should bump me up into the all important "top 16". Click the bellow images for full up to date rankings!

Knights beach Pro

2011-09-30T18:00:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend down in South Australia for the Knights Beach Pro. The waves were super fun 3-4ft left wedges. The wedges knights can produce usually have a fair bit of power in them and can pack a punch! I ended up being nocked in round 3 again but thats a decent result to go towards my overall points score for the end of the year. A strong finish at the last event in Kiama will ensure a good place for my overall result for 2011.

My round 2 match up against Lachie Cramsie, Luke O'Connor and Sam Bennet was pretty tough! I ended up Placing 2nd behind Lachie ahead of Sam Bennet and Luke O'Connor. Lachie put in an amazing performance and ended up finishing 2nd overall behind andrew lester.

I couldnt have asked for a harder round 3 match up. Dave Winchester, Mitch Rawlins and Dallas Singer. Dave winchester has won this event twice, while Dallas has also won this event in the past. Mitch Rawlins speaks for himself and is definitely in form winning the previous event in Victoria. I went into the heat with high hopes knowing that anyone is beatable. Last year I actually beat Mitch in one of my heats at this event. I started the heat strong with my first wave scores matching the others. In the end I didn't make it through that heat but was happy to be beaten by guys I feel to be some of the best in the world!

Once the contest was over we got some fun waves free surfing and looked around the local area even checking out some of the local wineries for some tasting!

On the way to the Knights beach Pro!

2011-09-21T00:28:00.001-07:00

This weekend I am off to South Australia. Every year the knights beach pro is my favourite event stop in regards to the waves and the overall good times to be had! Heres a couple of Hayden Mahoney's photos from a few years back at the 2009 event. Fingers crossed it turns it on like every other year! Old faithful knights beach!

Mornington pumps it out for the Vic Pro!

2011-09-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

I spent the last 4 days down in Victoria for the latest Australian Pro tour event, the Vic Pro. The waves were a little slow at times but it was easily the best event on the tour so far for 2011!

I ended up being nocked from the comp in round 3 allowing me to take full advantage of the sideshow the Mornington Peninsula Bodyboarders had planned for us. Cool BBQ hang outs at Shed Nine, Two big nights out at Bahas on Saturday and Sunday, along with some amazingly relaxing times at the peninsula hot springs!

In the above photo, is one of the local Bodyboarders being carted away in an ambulance with a broken knee cap. The comp was at Rye Ocean Beach with a sick 2-3ft right hand ripbowl which at times caught the unsuspecting victim (as seen above) off guard closing out hard onto sharp rocks. OUCH!

Some of the above photos show how wild the nightlife got. All the locals are super friendly and I cant wait to get back down there!

Its a sad thing but Eddie Solomon Lost his long battle with Cancer a few weeks ago. We held a memorial paddle out at the comp to show our respects. RIP Eddie Solomon.

Tow time..

2011-09-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

This week Photographer Matt Tildesley came up for a visit from Tasmania. We went to Wollongong for a day of fun in the sun doing some tow outs with Jason Finlay, James Kates and Ivan Pulic. Check out some of Matts shots below.

Check out some more of Matts work at www.mathewtildesley.com

Dunes Wetsuits.

2011-09-06T03:48:00.000-07:00

I dropped by the Dunes wetsuits factory today to pick up some new rubber. With the cold leg of the Australian Pro tour coming up in Victoria and South Australia it was time to upgrade to a new 4.3mm steamer!

Check out the full Dunes range at http://www.dunesinternationall.com

Late July

2011-09-06T03:07:00.000-07:00

In late July the East coast of Australia got the biggest, dirtiest swell this year so far. I have posted a few photos from one of the sessions already but Mitch Coslovitch was nice enough to send through some neat shots he got from that day.

Check out Mitch's blog at http://mitchsphoto.tumblr.com/

2010 Video clip.

2011-08-18T04:52:00.000-07:00

The bellow clip is some footage of me from 2010. I guess you could say I got my fair share of large barrels..you could also say I got some nice beat downs too!

Waves just keep on coming!

2011-08-18T03:44:00.000-07:00

This year has been so good for waves and this week was no different. I've spent a few days this week learning the ins and outs of tow outs with the jet ski. Definitely clocked up some frequent flyer miles as a result! Regardless of the wave size i've been putting in the hours in the water. Steve Jones got a couple of small wave shots before swapping and giving me a go at taking a few shots.

The shot bellow is one that I managed to get of Steve Jones.

The shot bellow is Aaron Glossip. Azza is one of, if not the best up and coming DropKnee riders in the world. He fricken rips!

Cross training..

2011-08-16T00:53:00.000-07:00

Theres been no shortage of waves for me and in my opinion there is no better way to train for bodyboarding than actually being in the water surfing! A fun way to get some of the movements down in the air is by using an old board on the Trampoline. In between surfing Diarmid Heidenreich and I have been playing around having some fun!

Cant wait to put some of these into practice with some jet ski assisted tow outs!

Sam Powyer sequence.

2011-08-08T01:08:00.000-07:00

Sam Powyer is the good fella that sent me the bellow Photo from one of the sessions I had a few weeks back.

He was nice enough to get the full sequence for me to slap on here! Click the image for a larger view of the sequence.

Check Sam's other work at www.sampowyer.com

Emerald stocking NEW 2012 MANTA's

2011-08-04T21:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Des from Emerald Bodyboard shop in Cronulla went and picked up Manta's new range. If its time for a new board I would definitely recommend checking them out!

The boards I am currently riding are the MANTA - "BLACK". Its got some smooth colour combo's thats for sure

The above board has a nice Blue deck, white pin line, black rails and a new shade of Orange on the slick.

The above board Orange deck white slick combo also came out pretty nice looking, while the black deck red slick one bellow is my current choice for these cooler winter days!

Drop into the new improved Emerald at Cronulla or shop online at www.emeraldsurfcity.com

Check out Manta's full range at www.manta.com.au

Sydney Boat Show 2011

2011-08-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

Last week Dad and I went into the City for the Sydney Boat Show. We saw plenty of amazing boats and Jet skis!

Last weekend..

2011-08-01T02:35:00.000-07:00

Mat Carrick took this cool shot bellow of me paddling over a pretty thick lump of water last week..

Sam Powyer Got the shot of me bellow in the same session..

Manta Black!

2011-08-01T01:41:00.000-07:00

The good crew at Manta gave me the new Manta "BLACK". Cool new concept of having a stiff "PP" core up the middle where you want your board nice and stiff for plenty of speed, while the rails have the softer, flexy "Pe" core for amazing response and control. In effect, the guts of the board remain stiff while your rails are bending where you want them to! All this added with some nice contours and smooth colour combo make for a sick board. Manta Black, one to look at when your due for a newy!

More Shark Island!

2011-07-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

Theres has been so many days at Shark Island this winter. Yesterday was just another day at home! Dad got the boat out so Mitch Oates could shoot video and Brett could shoot still photos. A few friendly Dolphins came by me on the way back to the boat too! Its pretty good when you have waves like Shark island just down the road!

Big Bad Bomy!

2011-07-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Saturday saw one of the biggest and dirtiest swells on offer so far this year. For me, when swells like this come along its hard to go and surf the small and clean protected spots out of the wind instead of surfing places getting the full grunt of the swell. Chris Bryan had been onto me for a while about going to this wave so he could shoot it with the Phantom camera at 1000 frames per second for super clear slow motion footage. I got the call from Chris on friday night "No pressure but I'm going to pick up the camera now.."

After a nice little sleep in I made my way to the wave intending on a lunch time high tide surf. When I arrived at the check point there were three Wollongong guys suiting up to head out. They got out there and got some ridiculous beatings! Pretty amazing effort I thought! After watching them get a few it was my turn to suit up and head out. I managed to scrape into a small one free falling, pulling in, sitting up...get flogged. Paddle back out.

After getting a small one under my belt it was time for a set wave. The kids on the rocks started whistling and I stated paddling.

The wave grew super quick and had a side lump come through it causing it to double up and throw over while I was still at the top of the wave.

It threw me way out into the flats and came in around me super quick. In the shot above Im actually falling from the roof of the barrel behind the lip.

In the final shot if you look close you can see I have lost my board at the bottom and the wave was wrapping in way too fast around the edge of the reef anyway..

I got thrown underwater super fast. Luckily I didn't hit any rocks. It ripped both of my fins off and up around my ankles causing my fins to hold me underwater longer than I should have. That was it for me. I was coughing up blood and had no energy left. Time to pull the pin for that day! The photos in this post are from my brother Brett. www.sullyvision.com.au

Beat down...

2011-07-23T05:08:00.001-07:00

Today I went down the coast to surf one of NSW's silliest waves...if you could call them that! Heres a shot Brett got from on the rocks. Definitely one of the worst beat downs I have had.

If you cant see me you might need to look a little closer.. Full update coming soon...more waves tomorrow! :)

Recent. SullyVision.

2011-07-19T00:30:00.000-07:00

My brother Brett, has recently developed a knack for photography. Heres a couple of his recent shots. More swell on its way!

www.sullyvision.com.au

Getting results.

2011-07-18T23:33:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I competed in the Cronulla Pro and Round 2 of NSW State Tittles. I managed to walk away with some nice results in the Dropknee divisions. I took out 3rd in the Pro Dropknee division and came in 2nd for the State DK division. With the 1st place at soldiers beach earlier in the year, the 2nd place at this event gives me enough points to walk away as the overall winner of the NSW state DK tittle for 2011.

2011 Keeps on giving!

2011-07-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

Over the past two weeks waves have been pretty amazing! Steve Jones has been on the job getting the shots. A couple were sent to the magazines so we will hopefully get some loving there! Heres a couple of throw aways for now! :)

San Diego Flowrider

2011-07-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last July I spent a few weeks in California, USA. I got to sample some flow rider action in San Diego. One of these would be amazing for all those flat days!

Beard testing!

2011-07-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

I currently find myself sitting with no board sponsor. I guess one of the benefits of being unsigned to anyone is that I get to try a couple of new and different boards, shapes and materials! Reon Fisher from Manta/4play was nice enough to flow me a "Manta, Skipp". I must say I was pleasantly surprised with how it went. Although the waves were only small, it felt fast and super responsive. I look forward to giving it a good test over the next few weeks.

See the full range at www.manta.com.au

June times!

2011-06-28T01:08:00.000-07:00

After surfing the latest Australasian Pro Tour event on friday in 1ft waves at Box Beach in Nelson Bay, Jayden Hunt and myself found ourselves being eliminated in round one! Ripping! :(

Neither of us had done any Jetski assisted tow outs before so we saw this as a great opportunity to zip around the corner to a nice long beach with some clean 3ft close outs. I had watched plenty of people do it and had a general idea of how it all works. On only the 3rd I whipped Jayden at a wave only for me to turn around once he let go of the rope and see him flying 2-3meters above the lip of the wave and travelling a good 5 or 6 meters in distance to pull a clean full rotation air reverse! We spent the next 3 hours learning the ins and outs!

We then left driving home to Sydney, hoping we could get in some more towing at a nearby beach break with Photographer Steve Jones and "TV star" Diarmid Heidenreich. being a weekend everywhere we checked had guys out making it impossible to safely tow without pissing too many people off. With a fun shorey I beached the ski, while steve shot some fisheye shots in the small shore break. Check the shots bellow.

Above- Jayden Hunt. Rolling in the shorey.

Above- Diarmid Heidenreich

Above- Sully taking some warmth!

Above- Steve Jones getting all arty!

Winter Swells means Winter wetsuits!

2011-06-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Dunes sent me down a nice new 3.2 steamer for winter! After countless hours of surfing and the water cooling down its been a good test! Super comfy. Super warm. What more could you want!

Steve Jones snapped a couple of nice shots of me in the new suit at some playful Shark Island yesterday!

Ski Unit

2011-06-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

The other week I got a nice new jet powered toy! Expect to see BIG results from this thing! Already seeing the benefits after this last few weeks run of swell!

Steve Jones Photo

www.biarmsdigital.com

2011-06-05T17:27:00.000-07:00

When I was younger I would surf the island before and after school every chance I got. After every big surf at the Island I would be sure to log onto www.biarmsdigital.com to see what Darryl Menzies had captured. Myself and many of my friends wasted hours of our "important" school time flicking through galleries to see who had shots from the recent island sessions.

Darryls photos were a big part in me growing up with my bodyboard under my belly! He was nice enough to send me through a couple of recent photos to throw on my blogg!

Log on and see if theres any of yourself on there! Just make sure you ask before poaching them from his site!

www.biarmsdigital.com

Mixing things up!

2011-05-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

Last Monday was a good day. After surfing the Island all day Steve Jones and I made our way to Cape Solander for the afternoon. Turns out it was pumping with a few stand up surfers towing in. Steve was nice enough to let me borrow his camera and housing so I could jump in the water to shoot, while he shot with his other camera from the land. Swellnet ran a "wave of the day" from one of my shots and a nice little gallery from both of our shots! http://www.swellnet.com.au/galleries/2278-wet-and-dry-solander

Shark Island keeps on giving!

2011-05-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks...almost even months, the island has been producing the goods! Hopefully its a sign for good things into winter! Bellow are some old photos of me at the island in all its glory!

Good waves and good times!

2011-04-13T23:11:00.001-07:00

The past few weeks have delivered pumping waves in my world! I saw some of the best shark island I have ever seen or surfed only a few weeks ago. Heres a couple of pics bellow.

Photo- Richard Robson

Photo- Steve Jones

After sampling one of Sydney's best swells in a long time I took the 900km or so drive to Queenslands "Gold Coast" for the QAB Pro. With less than pleasing results there I drove back to the Central Coast for the Soldiers Beach Pro. I managed to get a sneaky win for the NSW State Dropknee division. A nice little confidence boost after some shocking contest results from my part of late.

From there I had always planned to head over to WA to compete in the BOX trials. After doing the maths on costs I decided to pursue other things this year instead of competing in world tour events. More on that to come!

Jayden Hunt checking out new custom Turbo Shapes with Glenn Taylor. Port Macquarie.

Coffs Harbour. Big Banana.

Chill time.

2011-03-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

Since being back home theres been small but fun waves around. I surfed a small reef near home last week with Andrew lester & Steve Jones. We used Steve's fisheye setup to swap around and get some shots of one another. Good forecast for next week. :)

Sully.

Lenster.

Steve Zones.

Hawaii 2011 Photos

2011-03-09T15:43:00.000-08:00

Just some extra photos from around the traps in Hawaii...

Hawaii 2011

2011-03-09T15:11:00.000-08:00

This season was my 5th season in Hawaii. I arrived on Tuesday February 8th at around 6am. I made my way to the north shore and got there around mid morning to see stock standard out of control north shore. Huge wash throughs at pipe....pretty much no where rideable besides wiamea bay. I checked in at the Turbo house with the other Turbo riders. At around 1pm we saw pipe had slowly started to clean up and drop rapidly. I paddled out at pipe with the rest of the north shore circus and waited about an hour and a half to catch two waves. I usually just cruise and relax until I get a little settled into the crowd and the whole vibe in the water out there. If I had of known that was as good as I was going to get it I may have pushed myself a little harder. By the next morning pipe was a measly 3-4ft with 80+ people in the water. Not what I went there for. The next 2 weeks pipe was a sandbar. the swell had filled in from the wrong direction and covered the reef with sand. It made some fun beach park, Rock piles and keiki days but still no pipe.

The contest waiting period comes around and the forecast was average but with a few possible days for backdoor to show its face. I didn't get the seed I was after and had to surf earlier rounds. The first day was held at beach park due to the bad conditions of pipe and backdoor. Beach park is right next to pipe and on the day it was a fast and full right hander that went into a close out. I had spent the few months leading into Hawaii, trying to surf heavy lefts and had been keeping my partying and late nights to a minimum. I was pretty angry at the wave gods when I saw the conditions. I know just as good as anyone that you get what your given on the day and the show must go on. Unfortunately it wasn't my day. I was left with one medium to strong wave in my heat but couldn't get a second one. First round knock out...unlucky!

For the rest of the competition I was working for the IBA as a camera operator. If you were watching the webcast or the TV broadcast and saw the angle looking into pipe...that was my camera :) Three years ago I was a kid sitting on the beach at pipe with my own laptop and camera streaming a webcast from a tent, with no help from anyone. Obviously now we have come a long way. It was crazy to see big scaffoldings, tv production crews, satellite feeds and international big wigs from major sporting sponsors. A huge step in the right direction for the sport.

Luckily for the other days there were still good waves for the comp. The free surfs were fun but not what I was there for. There were plenty of fun things to see and do in between. Keiki Shorey, North Shore Bike path, Australia VS South Africa rugby and cricket, Turbo house hangs, Keiki Night swims, catching sharks at keiki, swimming with turtles, catching old friends, making new friends, trips to town, trips to wall mart, waikele factory outlets, star bucks, foodland, sharks cove grill, www.raycollinsphoto.com, Bad internet, Pop pops, Go pro, American TV,

Hawaii Boards

2011-02-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

Im off to Hawaii this afternoon. I have two shiny new Turbo IV's. One stiff PP core, and one FRC core with some nice flex for those bigger pipe and backdoor days. Forecast looks good with a solid swell running Oahu's north shore right now!

Turbo's full range is available in store at Emerald or online at www.emeraldsurfcity.com

www.glensullivan.com

Christmas break!

2011-02-05T19:16:00.001-08:00

I had a nice break over Christmas spending plenty of time with family and friends! A few pretty fun waves around along with sampling a spot of wake boarding behind our boat!

www.glensullivan.com

Hawaii 2011

2011-01-31T23:44:00.001-08:00

Next Tuesday (Feb 8th) I am off to Hawaii until March 2nd for my 5th season. Plenty of fun in the sun surfing and competing. Ill be staying in the Turbo house on the north shore of Oahu right on Keiki beach!

The Turbo Pipe pro is on again 15-25 of February and I would like to get a strong result in that. As far as I know redbull will be webcasting this event similar to what they did at El Fronton. Ill keep update with links and any inside scoop!

Heres a sequence of me from last season at Honalua Bay on Maui.

El Fronton is set to go off!

2010-12-19T23:06:00.000-08:00

www.redbull.com/tv

Today a few friends and I put together a sweep to try gain some extra $$ and have a little friendly fun while we watch the event. 8 of us all put in some money for two riders each. The winner will walk away with everyones money!

We drew names from a hat and this is who has what riders!

Glen Sullivan- Mike Stewart & Amaury Laverhne

Steve Jones- Dave Winchester & Yeray Martinez

Diarmid Heidenreich- Genesis Reyes & Ben Player

Adrian Emerton- Andre Botha & Jeff Hubbard

Des Govender- Diego Cabrera & Ryan Hardy

Mitch Pearson- Pierre Louis Costes & Alejandro Reyes

Ross Shepherd- Uri Valadao & Damien King

Mickey Lewis- Guilherme Tamega & Jared Houston

Hopefully I can walk away with some extra coin thanks to Mike or Amaury! ;)

Be sure to log onto www.redbull.com/tv at around 8.45pm Sydney time!

El Fronton. Live Monday night!

2010-12-18T00:50:00.000-08:00

El Fronton is set to go off with reports of a good looking forecast coming from the Canary Islands!

Im all set to go for a 9pm (Sydney time) kick off on www.redbull.com/tv where the event will be streamed live on Monday!

I have hooked my laptop to our TV and stereo so, Ill be sure to sit up all night sipping on a few cans of RedBull to show my support!

The heats are as follows-

Heat 1

Red- Damien King (AUS)

White- Uri Valado (BRZ)

Yellow- Pierre Louis Costes (FRN)

Blue- Alejandro Reyes (CNR)

Heat 2

Red- Jeff Hubbard (HAW)

White- Mike Stewart (HAW)

Yellow- Jared Houston (SAF)

Blue- Diego Cabrera (CNR)

Heat 3

Red- Guilherme Tamega (BRZ)

White- Amaury Laverhne (REU)

Yellow- Ryan Hardy (AUS)

Blue- Genesis Reyes (CNR)

Heat 4

Red- Ben Player (AUS)

White- Andre Botha (SAF)

Yellow- Dave Winchester (AUS)

Blue- Yeray Martinez (CNR)

My pick for Round one heats-

Heat 1- Alejandro Reyes using local knowledge to take first with Damien King in second.

Heat 2- Jared Houston seems to pull Magic tricks out of the bag in waves like fronton with the Local Diego Cabrera coming in 2nd.

Heat 3- Temega has proved himself in these types of waves over and over. Ryan Hardy in second, as his wave selection is always second to none.

Heat 4- Yeray is the local who I have seen the most of. Maybe he knows the wave enough to walk over the rest of the field? Although if its Massive I have my money on Andre Botha to take out the event!

Thats just my pick!

Hope the waves are massive!

Bodyboarding is heading the right direction.

2010-12-09T20:01:00.001-08:00

In my opinion bodyboarding is heading the right way. The riptide has a really interesting article. The article go's into detail about next years amazing world tour structure and and reveals locations and plans for the next 5 years! Get ahold of the latest riptide for the full story. For now be sure to get behind the biggest event so far in bodyboarding at "Fronton" in the Canary Islands. Read bellow for info.

TIME TO STEP UP FOR THE SPORT OF BODYBOARDING

El Fronton Invitational Set To Go - Live streaming systems all in place -

Thursday Decemeber 9 2010, Immediate Release:

With only one week to go to the most anticipated event in Bodyboarding worldwide, The El Fronton Invitational,

here is your opportunity to play a part in the progress of professional Bodyboarding.

Red Bull TV (www.redbull.com/tv) will be streaming the event live via satellite to determine the global reach of Bodyboarding.

You hold the power to play a part in the progress of professional Bodyboarding,

by making sure you and everyone you know tune into this amazing event and

prove the level of interest in performance Bodyboarding.

This will ensure that future events are shown on Red Bull TV.

Red Bull TV can be viewed via the following platforms:

www.redbull.com/tv

iPhone Version

http://win.gs/rbtviphone

Windows Phone 7:

http://win.gs/rbtvwp7

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/redbull

The IBA has set up a dedicated facebook page -

http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Bodyboard-Association-IBA-El-Fronton-Invitational/107133989354869

where you will be updated on a daily basis on the lead up to the event with surf forecasts,

rider interviews and footage as the world best prepare for the most anticipated event in Bodyboarding worldwide.

You will be alerted when the event is scheduled to be held to ensure you don’t miss any of the action.

Cook Islands. December 2010

2010-12-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

I spent the past couple of weeks chasing waves in the Cook Islands with Jayden Hunt. Rarotonga is such a small island and you can drive a complete loop around the outside of the island within about 45mins. The result of this means that somewhere is always offshore. I took some new go pro set ups with me from www.sportscamera.com.au and will have a short video clip online soon! For now here are a couple of photos from around the island.

Jayden getting ready to surf.

About to paddle to the outer reefs

Jay setting up the new gopro board mount.

My little hut.

Jay doing a local surf check.

Island transport :)

Abandoned Hilton resort. Spooky

QLD Fun in the Sun!

2010-11-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

I spent the last few weeks up on the GoldCoast for the Australasian Nationals and last Australian Pro Tour event. With some mixed results in the contests, I had a really good time up there. Sometimes I find it good to relax and do some other things other than chase waves 100% of the time. Back to chasing waves now though!

Dane Woods and I visiting Dreamworld.

Wiggles World!

Dane about to get taken down by a crock!

Dane and his new friend!

Dane and I on one of DreamWorlds many roller coasters!

"The Claw"

Dane VS "The Claw"

Amy and I at Sea World

Made friends with the Dolphins :)

The Shark pit at Sea World

Amy and I at Movie World.

Batman's Gotham City

Superman ride at Movie World.

Movie World rides

Getting loopy!

Running rings!

Upside down smiles :)

Video clip from these rides coming soon!

HPC Camp. Part 2

2010-11-22T18:07:00.000-08:00

Glen Sullivan 2010

2010-11-21T20:56:00.000-08:00

Glen Sullivan 2010 from Aria Pourbozorgi on Vimeo.

Emerald/Cronulla Bodyboard Club Presentation night!

2010-11-06T03:32:00.000-07:00

Last night saw a hoard of both young and old bodyboarders and their families converge on Cronulla's Little Italy restaurant for the annual presentation night for the Cronulla Bodyboard Club. This year saw bigger numbers than the last few years which meant it was a tight squeeze to fit in at Little Italy, but they managed to fit us all in and feed the hungry masses. Everyone who attended walked out with a few prizes! I managed to come away with the highest overall point score for 2010 and now have my name on the Cronulla Bodyboard Club shield along with some of Cronulla's best bodyboarders from past and present Andrew Lester, Shaun Cooper, John Showell, Doug Showell, Jay Mathews, Brenden Ryan and Sam Strachan. The guys who came in the top 4 in each division all won a board as did the Most Improved and Encouragement Award.

The final results were as follows:

AAA Grade
1st - Glen Sullivan
2nd - Lloyd Taylor
3rd - Mickey Lewis
4th - Blake Tabone

AA Grade
1st - Dane Woods
2nd - Billy Danzey
3rd - Will Pinkerton
4th - Jack Baker

A Grade
1st - Luke Hartcher
2nd - Alexander Torday-Smith
3rd - Elliot Gooding
4th - Liam Baker

Most Improved - Andrew Cole

Encouragement Award - Josh Seage

We would like to say a big thanks to the following companies for providing the masses of prizes for the night:
BZ, Turbo, No.6, Nomad, Science, NMD, Funkshen, Manta, Hot Buttered, Pride, Empire, World Bodyboards, Dunes, Zion, Reeflex, Attica, Limited Edition, Stealth, Pod, Carve, Dragon, Grand Flavour, Unite, Custom X, Chout Films, Riptide, Le Boogie, Phil Gallagher, Summerset, Flipmode, Ocean & Earth & Propel.

Congratulations to all the guys who competed this year, and we hope to see you all again next year, hopefully with an even bigger number of people!

A big show of thanks to Des for running the comps was shown by most of the guys and girls putting in together to give Des a gift of a travel voucher worth over $500, so he can go on a long awaited holiday!! Des puts a lot of time and effort into running the club each year, which he does almost single-handedly, so it was great to see that the members recognised his efforts in such a big way!

Thanks to my personal Sponsors- Turbo, Dunes, Emerald, Dragon, ABC & Limited Edition.

2010 Has been a great year and im sure 2011 will be just as big!

HPC Bodyboard Camp. November 2nd - 5th 2010

2010-11-06T01:31:00.000-07:00

On Monday, November 2nd , I flew to the Gold Coast to spend 4 days at Surfing Australia's High Performance Centre in Kingscliff. Over the 4 days I was there I participated in a number of drills and activities including surf and video analysis, Fitness drills, Judges seminars, Gymnastics and foam pit, Breath enhancement training, Yoga and a psychology session from a sports psychologist. Along with more surfing than I have done since I was like 16!

Judging Course run by IBA Judge Danny Bycroft.

Some Dropknee air action into the Foam pit!

Crazy workout on the bikes!

Breaky time!

Pretty much pumping beach breaks!

Breath Enhancement Training

Dylan Beach getting a run down on his surfing from Andrew Lester.

Yoga class.

Sports psychologist Jon Hart gives us some pointers.

From Left to Right- Terry McKenna, Lachlan Cramsie, Boaden, James Purvis, Calvin Best, Tim Bond, Sam Strachan, Marshal Watson, Jessie Robinson, Dylan Beach, Jane Keel, Glen Sullivan (Me) and Andrew Lester.

Thanks to Turbo for supporting me to get to the camp!

Emerald/Cronulla Bodyboard Club Presentation night!

2010-10-26T21:10:00.000-07:00

For those in Cronulla Bodyboard Club and the Sydney area, we have organised to have our end of year presentation night at Little Italy, Cronulla on Friday November 5th. We look to kick off the night at about 7.45pm with entry being $10 per person, plus any drinks you might want.

As most of you are aware last years presentation was a good night with plenty of prize give aways. This year is set to be no different. We have received great support in donations of prizes from the following companies: Turbo, Empire, BZ, NMD, Stealth, World Bodyboards, Unite, HB, Pride, Summerset, Dragon, Carve, Dunes, Nomad, Number 6, Limited Edition, Funkshen, Reeflex, Grand Flavour, Riptide, Le Boogie, POD, Science, Zion, Chout Films & Flipmode.

Venue- Little Italy Cronulla

Date- November 5th 2010

Time- 7.45pm

Cost- $10

Please let us know if you are coming (email or phone).

Hope you all can make it!

Please call Emerald if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Sully

Emerald

ph: 02 9527 4149

Email: emeraldsurfcity@optusnet.com.au

Plenty of waves!

2010-09-24T04:50:00.000-07:00

Finally the east coast has had some really good waves. At home has been super fun at Shark Island on the early morning high tides. Down south Blackrock has been pretty good if you can manage to scrape around wash throughs and crowds. I had a good surf on Wednesday at blackrock with Josh Kahie and Andrew Lester coming along for the day. Lester continues to blow me away with his powerful surfing! Aria came along again to collect some more video footage for an upcoming podcast! Hope the waves just keep coming!

Kiama Bommy

2010-09-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

The past week for me has been a pretty memorable one. I have had some incredible waves and a really good time in between. Last Friday was expected to be one of the biggest swells in a long time on the east coast of Australia. I had originally planned to go to Western Australia for the EBB Pro (even booked flights that i threw away). I saw the swell and for me, the chances of getting some big waves were too good to walk away from. I have gone away to surf small waves in comps a few times and always regretted not staying. No room for regrets this time and staying home paid off.

I don't think the swell actually got as big as it was predicted but it was easily one of the biggest, clean, groomed swells I have ever seen. The Friday started off pretty slow with a mid morning surf at a local reef that I regularly surf. Got some fun medium sized waves there before a certain gang of Sydney surfers came to spoil the morning. That surf ended up with us running to get away from them cowardly throwing rocks at us from on top of the cliffs.

At around lunch time I received a call from photographer Ray Collins claiming that a south coast bomy could be pretty amazing with really good light for photos that afternoon. (Check his website at www.raycollinsphoto.com) I jumped at the chance to shoot with a guy as experienced as Ray and got straight in the car with Central Coast Video man Aria Pourbozorgi.

Upon arrival I knew it was big. 8ft+ monster slabs. Nobody out. Nobody wanting to go out. I find that if i stand there watching it for too long I'll neg myself out and get too scared to surf it to my full potential. I suited up right away. Sitting in the water with no one but a friendly seal cruising the lineup next to me. It was pretty daunting as I watched huge swell lines approach me and unleash onto only a few inches of water. Easily some of the heaviest waves I have seen size for size.

I managed to scrap into a couple avoiding some decent beat downs. Finally the set I had been waiting for came. It stood up super steep and held my legs over my head causing me to airdrop the full face of a monster. When I landed I smashed my face on my board and one of my fins was blasted off. It was no match for the grip I had on my board as both my hands came off the board. I managed to regain it and sit up for a second before the foam ball blasted me. When I surfaced I was right under the lip of the next few waves. It help me in the impact zone smashing me for a good 4-5 waves right on my head. As one of my fins was now hanging off in the water I had no chance of kicking to get out so i was forced to site there holding onto my board trying to let it wash me into the bay.

I got to shore no worries and ran back up to meet the boys on the rocks again. I contemplated getting back out there for a while before seeing Rays photos. I summed up my options. I hadnt been hurt or broken anything, Ray had the photos he was after and Aria had the footage we wanted! I think Rays photos are some of the best I have ever seen of myself surfing. Maybe we will see them in print in the near future. :)

South Australia. Knights Beach Pro

2010-09-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I made the trek down to Knights Beach in South Australia. In my opinion this stop on the Australian Pro tour is by far the best event hands down. For the past 5 years the waves have been pumping and the level of riding is always mind blowing. This year was no different.
In 2008 Dave Winchester took the win, while 2009 was the year for Dallas Singer. Just like the last few years knights was dishing out some solid heavy 3-6ft left wedges. I actually found some of the situations kind of scary! The fact that you had to try and throw yourself off one of the heaviest sections into the air, out into the flats and ride out of the whitewater without hitting any rocks is pretty daunting. Then if you didn't make the wave, odds are that you would be caught inside getting beaten by the waves after yours!
The organisers decided to try a different format for this event allowing all competitors to at least surf twice. So if you were eliminated in round one you would actually proceed to a man vs man heat in round two. The 3rd place for round one Progressed into round 3 to wait for one person to come into their heat from round 2. The Person that won the first round went straight onto round 4 to take on the winners of round 3. I feel this concept worked really well.
My round 1 heat was one of the toughest heats I have come across in an Australian Tour event. My heat consisted of Matt Young from Culburra, James Neymyer from Newcastle and Mitch Rawlins. Going into my heat I was pretty worried about the possible outcome. I know Matt has been in form from what I have seen on recent trips to Victoria and the South Coast. James is from Newcastle and i know he has spent a lot of time surfing a similar left wedge. I don't think much needs to be said about Mitch Rawlins...he is some one I'm sure most Bodyboarders look up to and admire. Not a person you want in your round one heat. I ended up winning that first heat and going straight through to round 4.

After sitting to watch round 2 and 3 it was sealed and my next heat had South African, Mark Watts. I managed to come out on top again and progress through to round 5. Daniel Worsley also progressed through his round 4 heat to meet me in round 5. After both Dan and I had at least one good wave under our belts I was sitting on top with Dan only needing a small score to overtake me. 30seconds left in the heat as i am forced to sit and watch Dan push into an average wave and get the score he needed. I was out of the competition placing =5th overall.

Dan ended up making the man on man final along with 2008 winner Dave Winchester. It was always going to be a tough final and in the end Dave was too good taking his second win at knights beach.

Wa-Chout!

2010-09-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

CHOUT! on DVD, by Richard Lornie is finally finished and at the printers! It features all the top names in bodyboarding, along with a bunch of guys you may not have heard of. With footage from Hawaii, Cronulla, South Australia, Tahiti, Tasmania and more it is set to be a cracker.

If you haven't heard or seen anything about this vid yet, check out the teaser at http://emeraldsurfshop.blogspot.com/2010/08/official-chout-teaser.html

The Cronulla Premier will be at 2230 Bar next door to Emerald on the 23rd of September 6:30 - 8pm. Tickets on sale in Emerald from this Friday. $10 for entry, or $20 for entry plus a copy of the DVD! THIS IS AN ALL AGES PREMIER!!!!!!!!

The Wollongong Premier will be held at the CBD Bar, in the Rydges Hotel Wollongong, on the 1st of October 6:30pm onwards. (there may be 2 showings depending on demand on the night!) This showing will be all ages, however anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult.

I will be at both Cronulla and Woollongong Premieres. Hope to see you there!

SIC is run and won!

2010-08-17T01:18:00.000-07:00

On Saturday August 14th the Fuidzone Shark Island Challenge was run and won by Mr Ryan Hardy.

The waves ended up being super fun and clean. I had heat 4 of round one with Ben Player, Dallas Singer and Trials winner Daniel Worsley. Thanks so much to Emerald & Dunes for putting me in the comp. Sorry I couldnt come away with a win this year.

Friday the 13th

2010-08-16T23:40:00.001-07:00

Friday the 13th...

With an early night on Thursday keeping sure to be ready for the next few big days I had ahead. I awoke early Friday morning to be greeted with some of the biggest waves I have ever seen in Sydney.

Myself, Ross Shepherd and Des Govender (Emerald Bodyboard Shop owner) paddled out as soon as it was light. I managed to lock into some pretty decent sized barrels.

When the waves get big, for me its all about getting that one really big wave. I actually don't care if I make it or not. All I want is the self accomplishment of knowing I got the biggest one I could get myself into. When I saw this wave coming my way I knew it was big and I would have to paddle in onto the reef. It stood up too quick for me to paddle and I ended up free falling from under the lip. I landed the drop in the barrel but couldn't gain any speed to come out.

After not making that wave, I had the next wave in the set go super heavy while I was caught on the inside. It kept me under so long taking all my energy from me. I then got another 3 or so waves before I finally made it to the safety of the channel. While I was trying to regain some energy to have another crack at getting some more waves, local stand up surfer Caleb McClean and bodyboarder Alex Leon made their way into the lineup on Calebs Jetski. I sat and watched while Alex towed Caleb into some of the heavyest beat downs i have seen. After a a few sick ones it was my turn for a tow. I have never towed into waves before but it is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Alex and I sat out the back waiting for a set to approach. Finally Alex makes the call "Yeah Sully, you got a big one coming! Your going!" I pretty much had no time to spin around and look at what he was towing me into. As the wind had come up it was a little choppy and I couldn't see anything until I had let go of the rope.

I got a few sweet ones thanks to Alex and Caleb. Cant wait to get the chance again! Thanks to Steve Jones and Richard Robson for the photos!

Ben Matson sends another update..

2010-08-10T02:41:00.000-07:00

I just received another email from swell forecaster Ben Matson regarding the forecast at shark island for the next few days.

Hi everyone

OK, we're getting close to crunch time. The computer models are firming up the specs on our impending Tasman low, so we can start to have a little more confidence on just what kind of waves we'll see at the Island.

Thursday won't see much activity until late in the day, Friday on the other hand is looking to be quite large and windy. Set waves at exposed south facing beaches (not the Island) could reach 8ft or more, we'll probably see 4-6ft surf at the Island but it'll be very south in direction - ie pushing wide across the reef. Local winds are expected to be fresh to strong SW for much of the day, possibly S/SW at times.

Saturday looks excellent for local winds, weather and the tidal range. The only concern is how quickly the swell will drop overnight on Friday, and whether it'll bank to the S/SE or not (unfortunately, I don't think we'll see any more east in it than this). Fortunately, the tides mean that we'd be starting relatively early, but I am concerned that wave heights could drop by more than half overnight. 3-4ft sets at dawn at the Island on Saturday could very well be 2ft+ for the finals in the early afternoon.

We still have another day up our sleeves for the models to update their predictions before we make a final call. However, right now I think we're probably going to have to choose between sizeable but fat and windy waves on Friday, or small, cleaneand sunny waves on Saturday.

I'll update these thoughts on Wednesday with the availability of more weather data.

Cheers, Ben

Shark Island Challenge inside scoop!

2010-08-09T01:08:00.000-07:00

I am slowly starting to come to a realisation that we may not get a swell for the Shark Island Challenge. We have had plenty of days with small 2-3ft south swells and offshore winds running. I believe contest director Alex Leon has made the right decisions so far to run it in good waves or not at all. We still do have one more week left but in my opinion I don't think we are going to get waves. Heres what swell forecaster Ben Matson had to say about the remaining 7 days left in the waiting period...

"The expected SE swell for Tuesday is now starting to fill into the Sydney coast (Alex reported 4ft sets at the Island a short time ago). However as per yesterday's notes, strengthening NE winds are likely to create some major problems tomorrow. As such I recommend that we do not consider Tuesday as a potential event day for the FSIC.

The good news is that there's still some very interesting developments on track for the end of the week, with a deep surface low expected to form east of Bass Strait later Wednesday. This will drive a gale force southerly airstream up along the southern NSW coast on Thursday, which will in turn generate a large southerly swell in Sydney for the afternoon and probably most of Friday.

Local winds look pretty average during this time, and the swell direction will probably be straight southerly at the height of the swell (ie fat waves at the Island). So, at the moment I'm not especially excited about either Thursday or Friday's prospects for the FSIC.

However, the low is expected to track northeast to a position off NSW's South Coast by Friday, by which time it'll be weakening. Although this is expected to bring about a rapid decrease in wave heights into Saturday, the swell direction should swing more to the southeast, which will counteract the dropping swell trend at the Island. And, local winds are likely to swing light westerly as a ridge of high pressure builds across the eastern states. Saturday's tides are excellent (1.63m at 11:30am), which is another bonus.

All of this points towards a potential event day at the Island on Saturday. I'll update tomorrow with the availability of more weather data."

Not long after I received a reply regarding Ben's email from Alex Leon-

"As that report states there will be no contest tomorrow guys as that wind will well and truly be up from the north by mid morning.

Stand by guys for further info on Saturday."

We have until August 16th to run the event. If we do not get waves before then, sponsors will receive %50 of their money and no event will run for 2010. Lets hope this doesn't happen, pray for waves!

Emerald Bodyboard Shop.

2010-08-02T01:21:00.000-07:00

Emerald bodyboard shop at Cronulla help me to achieve all of my dreams. When I was younger, one of my dreams was to compete in the Shark Island Challenge. In 2009 I received a wildcard into the Nomad Shark Island Challenge thanks to Emerald. With the dream just to compete in the island comp achieved I now want to win it. 2010 along with DUNES, Emerald has given me another shot at it. Hopefully if waves permit Ill get the chance to have a proper dig at it later this week!

I put together a video advert for last years Shark Island comp DVD. Check it out with the link bellow.

Emerald Bodyboard Shop. CRONULLA from Glen Sullivan on Vimeo.

Along with EMERALD my other sponsors are Turbo Bodyboards, Dunes Wetsuits, ABC, Dragon & Limited Edition. Thanks for the support!

Fingers Crossed for this week!

2010-08-02T00:47:00.000-07:00

This weeks swell forecast is a little more promising than anything in the last six weeks or so! A decent sized south swell looks to develop into tomorrow before swinging slightly more east and backing off on Wednesday. Weather or not the island comp runs we should see some decent sized waves on the east coast in the next few days! Fingers crossed!

SIC Extended...AGAIN!

2010-07-26T00:55:00.000-07:00

After the cancellation of the contest on Friday last week this is what contest director Alex Leon sent to all the riders and officials.

Well it was a very hard decision I had to make on Friday morning at 6:30am but I believe it was the right decision.

The swell was 4ft SE direction with cross-shore winds. If it had been west winds I may have given the green light.

We ran the webcast live of the free-surfing and included commentary and casted some interviews on the riders.

The level of surfing was incredible on Friday with most of the guys surfing like they were in their heats.

We had a few thousand viewers across the web from all over the world, with most viewers logging on for a minimum

of 4 minutes. Phil from fluidzone managed to announce all sponsors branding every 5 minutes. The webcast ran for 2 hours.

www.fluidzone.com/sharkisland

I would like to thank all the riders for pursuing to surf on friday as it has received incredible feedback from across the board.

In my eyes I believe that we need bigger waves to run this event. We have till the 3rd of August for the window.

Fingers crossed for next weekend as a low pressure moves across this way from WA so we will prey for swell and hope god delivers us the goods.

So back to waiting we go. Today i received another email with a further update and we now have until the 16th of August at the absolute most. Playing the waiting game sucks!

Fluidzone Wave of the day!

2010-07-22T04:48:00.000-07:00

When I logged onto Fluidzone.com this morning I saw that Matt Tildesley had sent them some shots from Shipsterns the other week. On the main homepage was a shot of me for "wave of the day".

http://www.fluidzone.com/galleries/1310-tasman-treats/images

]Thanks to Matt Tildesley for the shots!

Shark Island Challenge 2010 TOMORROW

2010-07-22T04:10:00.001-07:00

Contest organisers have made the call to bank on a new ESE swell with west winds to dish out the goods for tomorrow.

Here is the inside info that the riders and officials are getting right from contest director Alex Leon.

After studying all 250 different weather charts that we had on offer we have decided to go for it tomorrow.
We will be set-up and ready to go with the 2010 fluidzone shark island challenge.
We will be making the call at first light being 6:30am for a cancellation.
First heat will be kicking off at 6:45am with WINGNUT, HARDY, LESTER AND SHOWELL in that heat.
The heats will be run at 30 mins.
We will be running first round up until 9:00am.
With weather conditions staying contestable through the low tide into the afternoon we will run the semi's and final starting at 3:00pm
and deem our winner by 4:40pm.
To view webcast please log on to fluidzone.com

This afternoon had some small 2-3ft onshore waves at the island. Hopefully tomorrow morning will show the new swell.

Fingers crossed the island can pull a rabbit out of the hat and show us some decent waves!

SIC Update- 21/7/10

2010-07-20T17:22:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last week or so up at Port Macquarie for latest leg on the Australian Pro tour. Ill have a post with all the info, photos and videos from that asap. For now my focus is on the Shark Island comp. Here is what Fluidzone had to say about the next 72 hours.

"A Tasman Low is expected to produce a new SE swell that should arrive late on Thursday afternoon and hold into Friday morning. The Tasman Low isn't perfectly aligned within our swell window, with the NSW coast seeing a smaller spread of energy of the side off the low, probably peaking at 4-5ft on Friday morning.

Due to the current tidal cycle we can only run the competition late on Thursday and Friday morning, as there probably won't be enough swell left by Friday afternoon. Conditions on Thursday afternoon will be less than ideal with a moderate to fresh southerly wind, but Friday morning should see clean conditions with a moderate south-westerly (possibly even west-southwest for a period during the early morning), before southerly winds redevelop during the day.

All competitors will be on call in Cronulla to observe conditions on Thursday morning for a potential start in the early afternoon."

http://www.fluidzone.com/news/1306-shark-island-forecast-22nd-23rd

I don't think it will be worthy of holding the comp but I guess we will just have to wait and see...

Shark Island Challenge waiting period extended!

2010-07-08T22:15:00.000-07:00

With the past month in Cronulla at the island not getting above 3ft, organisers of the Shark Island Challenge have been forced to extend the waiting period. The original dates were June 14th to July 14th, but has now been extended to August 5th. Check out what Fluidzone had to say about it-

The official word on the Fluidzone Shark Island Challenge is that we are extending the waiting period to the 5th of August. With a less than average few weeks its been a hard couple of weeks for all the contest directors and support team. Contest director Alex Leon has made the official call to extend to the 5th of August and hope for mother nature to the rest.

Within the next block of dates we have a period of bad tides which leaves the 21st of July until the 26th of July unable to run the event.

We are currently tracking down all the riders and getting another update form them to keep your posted on what its like to put your life on hold for the Shark Island Challenge.

http://www.fluidzone.com/news/1287-waiting-period-extended

Shipsterns Bluff. Tasmania.

2010-07-08T04:12:00.000-07:00

On Monday July 5th, I had arranged a final Physio appointment to be sure both of my legs were back to full strength after hitting the reef badly in Victoria a week or so ago. With a green light from the Physio I booked a flight Sydney to Hobart for that evening. Travelling with me was fellow Turbo team Rider Andrew Lester.

One of the Tazzie locals, Simon Treweek picked us up from the airport and Gave us a place to stay the night! Simon is one of Tazzies best surf filmers. He is making a stand up film called "Lucid" to be released in the very near future! From his footage that I have seen it will be a cracker! Check out his blog www.lucidthemovie.blogspot.com

After a good night sleep we woke early to meet fellow Cronulla Bodyboarder Alex Leon and stand up surfer, Caleb Mclean at the car park. It was still super early and the temperature was around 1 or 2 degrees Celsius. We ventured into the deep south Tasmanian Bush walking only under moonlight for most of the way! After a solid two hour walk we had finally arrived on the rocks at the base of Shipsterns Bluff!

After a quick look at the waves I had in my head that it was not really as big as I had expected. I saw waves that I thought were around the 8ft range. I quickly suited up with a thick 4.3 Dunes fully sealed wetsuit and hood. I ran around the rocks to the jump spot on my own as everyone else wanted to get a feel for what the waves were doing. I just wanted to get a few waves under my belt before the boats and skis arrived! I looked up when putting my fins on and suddenly realised it was definitely solid and HEAVY! A set of 3 waves, easy 15ft rolled through stepping all the way along the point in true shipsterns style.

With that set and me almost getting cleaned up along the cliffs putting the fear back into me I decided to wait for Caleb who I knew was suiting up not far behind me.

The water was so cold. Easily one of the coldest surfs I have had! Slowly the lineup filled with two skis towing in local stand up surfers along with Marti Paradisis who spent the morning paddling in with us. Alex and lester also made their way into the lineup not too long after. By lunch time local bodyboarders, Cam Green, Charles & Harley Ward also made a solid appearance. Charles locked into one of the best waves of the day!

I ended up surfing for a Solid 5 hours or more and came out of all but two of my waves!

After the long walk in and all the hours surfing it was time to begin the long hike back to the car. I definitely felt the burn in my thighs trying to get up and down the big hills. Eventually we got back to the car and made our way back to Hobart.

We stayed the night at Charles and Harley Wards house. The Boys cooked up a big dinner!

The morning after a Shipsterns mission is always going to be a slow one! Every ones muscles are aching and extremely stiff. I noticed lester walking with a funny stiff limp, and dishing out claims "never again".

Andrew Lester is the new sales rep for Turbo. It was easy for us to bring down the 2010 sample boards to show the local shops in Hobart. The new range of boards look amazing so the feedback was always going to be good! We then had a quick walk around Hobart before moving on to get a quick surf in before our flight home.

The afternoon was to be a 20 minute power surf at Rebounds, a right hand wedge. We only had a short time so Andrew and I opted to stay on the beach rather than wetting all our gear and having to repack before getting the flight home. Charles and photographer Matt Tildesley had a fun surf. Both of them boosting a series of backflips, air reverses and inverts.

I am now back in Sydney waiting for the Shark Island Challenge or the next swell to pop up wherever it may be! :)

Sunday July 4th 2010

2010-07-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been pretty small average waves. I have spent plenty of time hanging out with the boys down at Emerald and swimming around the island. With no swell suitable to run the Shark island Challenge during the remaining time of the waiting period, Alex Leon (Contest Director) is looking to extend the period. I am looking to chase waves this week. Stay tuned for where I'm heading!

Emerald Comp 5 Newsletter

2010-07-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

CRONULLA BODYBOARD CLUB

Newsletter #3 Comp #5 June 27, 2010

With a big turnout across all divisions, comp number 5 for the year gave us a super fun right hand rip bowl with an outside left for the earlier rounds. Again we had a few “celebrities” in AAA division. Local hero Andrew Lester, Hawaiian Hellman Jacob Romero and the wannabe Australian from South Africa, Jared Houston. As well as Underbelly star Richard “DOGMAN” Lornie, Gregg Taylor from Turbo Bodyboards and QLD rock star Ben Clegg! The Baker brothers from Bundeena were all surfing well making it to their respective finals in their divisions.

A

A division had 4 guys surfing well all day qualifying through 3 rounds into the final. Luke Hartcher, Alex Torday-Smith, Liam Baker and Sam Venn who was killing it with good combination surfing all day. Liam and Luke could not be split for 3rd and 4th so they both came in =3rd behind Winner Alex Torday-Smith and the inform Sam Venn.

1st Alex Torday-Smith

2nd Sam Venn

=3rd Liam Baker

=3rd Luke Hartcher

AA

AA division saw Max & Jack Baker both surfing well all day. Dane Woods always seems to be in great form as well as Boon Dowling. In the semis Steve Jones came down hard off a nice invert landing on the backwash and smashing his head hard on his board. He was actually in and out of consciousness in the water for a few seconds before AAA guys Richard Lornie, Jared Houston, Glen Sullivan and Andrew Lester pulled him from the water. Thanks for helping to prevent what could have been a bad outcome. Because of such a quick response Steve was fine! Full results from the AA final are as follows.

1st Dane Woods

2nd Boon Dowling

3rd Max Baker

4th Jack Baker

AAA

With the added pressure of the Celebrities in the AAA division saw some great surfing. Blake Tabone was surfing well while free surfing outside of the comp area but unfortunately couldn’t keep it up to qualify through his heats. Dean Castle came up with one of the hardest semi finals for some time up against World number 4 Jared Houston, Current USBA tour leader Jacob Romero and Andrew Lester who placed 2nd on the world tour in 2002 and has won numerous Australian Pro tour titles. Dean put up a good fight but was unable to stick some of his bigger moves. All day Jared, Jacob and Andrew were showing why they are some of the worlds best bodyboarders back flipping out of most waves putting on a great show for all the guys on the beach! As Jacob and Jared are not club members and they both made the final the points for 3rd will equally go to Dean Castle and Mickey Lewis, while Lloyd Taylor took points for 1st and Glen Sullivan took points for 2nd. Results of the final are as follows-

1st Jacob Romero

2nd Jared Houston

3rd Lloyd Taylor

4th Glen Sullivan

Thanks to all who showed up and helped out. Would be great to see more guys getting into some judging and staying behind after being knocked out of their heats! Some guys continue to surf in the comp area. You would not like it for your heat so don’t do it to others. Please see below for remaining comp dates.

Sully

Emerald

02 9527 4149

NEXT COMP JULY 25TH, MEET AT GREENHILLS CARPARK 6.30AM

Remaining comp dates.

Comp 6- July 25th

Comp 7- August 22nd

Comp 8- September 26th

SIC updated news and forecast from fluidzone.com

2010-06-30T17:44:00.000-07:00

Fluidzone.com had this to say about the SIC being midway through-

2 weeks into the waiting period and with poor conditions on offer at Shark Island. here is the outlook from our top forecasting team for the next few days.

"It's been a quiet couple of weeks in the Tasman Sea and unfortunately the outlook for coming week isn't overly promising", says Swellnet forecaster Craig Brokensha.

"A couple of small pulses of southerly swell are expected late in the week, but they won't be enough to get the Island up to standard. There is a chance that we will see a low off the coast on Sunday which may lead to a contestable swell on Monday, but this is still a long time away. We'll update later in the week as more data comes to hand."

Full Post can be seen online http://www.fluidzone.com/news/1266-sic-updated-news-and-forecast

Playing the waiting Game!

2010-06-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

There have been a couple of small fun surfs around over the past few days. I managed to snag a few super fun ones at the island today at around lunch time. Small and perfect barrelling all the way across the reef. Hopefully tomorrow is similar. The next 7 days forecast is not looking too good for the Shark Island Challenge to go off but there may be a few more small fun days in the mix! Fingers crossed for the last few days of the waiting period to pump! See bellow for the next 7 day buoyweather forecast!

My friend Ben Jasinski (Humma) from Perth is over staying in Cronulla. His uncle was nice enough to let him use his unit and car while he is away working. Only catch with the car is that the battery was flat. Here we are playing car mechanic to get the thing working!

Back to waiting for now!

Luna Park Frame. Andrew Hoff.

2010-06-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

Andrew Hoff is a young video guy from Sydney. He was one of the lucky few who were down at Luna's cleaning up behind the lens last week. Luna's is just as crazy to shoot water as it is to surf. Luna's has a channel that gets regular wash through's twice the size of the actual waves being ridden. There often is no channel. Andrew sat with a few others risking being cleaned up in the channel by ten foot of white water. It seems as though he got some sick footage for a movie he will be producing in the near future. Thanks for the frame!

Fluidzone.com also just posted this shot from lunas last week in an the update for the SIC.

SIC update can be seen at http://www.fluidzone.com/news/1266-sic-updated-news-and-forecast

Emerald (Cronulla) bodyboard club comp.

2010-06-27T01:41:00.000-07:00

Today we held our local club comp. We had some special guest appearances in the comp from local hero Andrew Lester, Hawaiian Jacob Romero and South African Jared Houston. With the added pressure of these guys I still managed to get my way to the final. Results of AAA Division were:

1st- Jacob Romero
2nd- Jared Houston
3rd- Lloyd Taylor
4th- Glen Sullivan

Here are a couple of snaps i took using Steve Jones's camera and housing.

In the AA semi final Steve Jones did a nice invert but on landing hit his head on his board. I was trying to take photos of him and saw he was hurt. He was actually in and out of consciousness for a few seconds. I held his head above water while Lester, Jacob, Jerry and Richard Lornie ran/swam out to help him. He ended up being fine but it just go's to show what could be a disaster had he been surfing on his own! Never surf alone!

USA Video Clip

2010-06-26T02:54:00.000-07:00

This Blog is just a temporary thing until i get my website www.sullyvision.com.au up and running over the next few days.

For now, here is a clip from my trip to the USA!

Welcome to the USA. from Glen Sullivan on Vimeo.

Shark Island Challenge flat spell.

2010-06-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

As per usual when the Shark Island Challenge waiting period swings around Cronulla turns into a lake. With a decent sized swell heading for Victoria's "Luna Park" Turbo bodyboards sent me down along with fellow turbo team riders Jacob Romero and Jared Houston. Also in the area to sample some solid waves were Damien King, Jones Russel, Chris James, Chris Wilson and a few other guys. I ended up getting the wrong wave and it put me on the reef super hard. Definitely one of the worst beat downs I have ever had. My leash broke and I lost my board for good! With that said it was enough to send me home early to recover! Back to waiting at home for the next swell to arrive! Shark island waiting period still has until July 14th. Pray for waves!

FluidZone Shark Island Challenge 2010 from Glen Sullivan on Vimeo.

USA

2010-06-18T01:38:00.000-07:00

I spent the first week or so of June in America. I spent most of my time in California for the US Open at Huntington Beach. My good friend Jacob Romero from Hawaii came up with his first big win! I also ventured out to Las Vegas and went down to San Diego for a day at the WaveHouse on the flowrider.

Shark Island Challenge 2010.

2010-06-18T01:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Emerald Surf City and Dunes Wetsuits I have a spot in this years Fluidzone Shark Island Challenge. I will be in Round 1, heat 4 up against Ben Player, Tom Robinson and Dan Worsley. I will be around home for the next few weeks waiting for the biggest and best swell to hit the island between now and July 14th.
Heres what fluidzone.com had to say about me-

"Local young gun Glen Sullivan is a firmilar face in the lineup of Shark Island when ever it breaks. He has only competed in one event prior to this year and is determained to leave his mark on this years challenge. At 21 years of age Glen looked up to local guys like fellow competitor Andrew Lester for inspiration when tackling the waves.
Being a local rider Glen has the added pressure of having to perform at his best for the town to see. His pre comp training is pure and simple. "Surf the Island every day it breaks, it is the only way to learn what the waves break like and with it being at my front door its my only advantage in such a tough field".

"The new one day event leaves no room for error or holding back and playing it safe, all we need is swell and this event will go off" Says Glen. If he was to look at one image to sum up his idea of the Island Challenge it would be the horrific Alistair Taylor wipeout from the crazy 2001 event.

Sullivan knows his spot on the reef and is going to be looking for a wider inside slab which misses the pack and just triples up over the shallow inside ledge. "The wave washes over the main peak and slingshots me in just behind surge! Just prefect. Says Sullivan.

Glen is presented by Emerald surf city and Dunes"

Check my profile on fluidzone at http://www.fluidzone.com/news/1223-glen-sullivan-know-your-competitors