Westbound Boarder

Back in late July, one of the largest surfing events of the year flooded the beaches of Huntington Beach – The Hurley US Open of Surfing.  In case you weren’t around to check out the event live in SoCal, FUEL TV’s bringing it to your living room this week, with a highlight reel of the best moments of the week.  It will air this Thursday (yes geniuses, that’s tonight) at 8:00pm and 11:00pm ET (5:00pm and 8:00pm PT) on FUEL TV.

And in case you’re not quite sure what the Hurley US Open of Surfing even is, well, it was a nine-day event where some of the best surfers in the world came together to compete for the $100,000 first place prize purse… and it was awesome.  The comp. included big names such as Kelly Slater (ever heard of him?), Andy Irons, Mick Fanning, and CJ Hobgood, and up-in-comers Brett Simpson, Adriano de Souza, and Michel Bourez, to name a few.  Music and a fashion show also played a key role in event turnout, which will also be highlighted on the show.

If you can’t catch the event tonight (and don’t have DVR or TiVo), here’s a full schedule of when it will air on FUEL:

“Best Of The Hurley US Open of Surfing 2009” Air Dates:

• Thursday, 11/12/2009                                    8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT in SurfSpot
• Thursday, 11/12/2009                                    11:00 PM ET/8:00 PM PT
• Saturday, 11/14/2009                                     10:00 AM ET/7:00 AM PT
• Sunday, 11/15/2009                                       11:30 AM ET/8:30 AM PT
• Sunday, 11/29/2009                                       10:00 AM ET/7:00 AM PT
• Monday, 11/30/2009                                     8:00 AM ET/5:00 AM PT

In case you weren’t able to catch the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing this past weekend, either in person or via live stream, we’ve got a quick recap of the highlights right here:

Nine days.  Hundreds of competitors.  Thousands of spectators.  If you got the opportunity to visit Hunington Beach this past week/weekend, you’d know what I’m talking about.  The Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing attracted more than 40,000 spectators, and thousands more dropped in to watch online.  I was one of the many who (unfortunalely) was not able to make the trek to Surf City, but you bet I was there in spirit (and online).  The comp. was unbelievable, and so much talent was at stake.  But yesterday evening, after several rounds, the winners were finally announced.

In the men’s category, Hunnington Beach native Brett Simpson took the crown (but, more luringly, the prize purse o’ cash), defeating Mick Fanning in the final round.  (You might wonder what happened to Kelly Slater?  He did make it to the quarter finals, but sadly, his journey stopped there.  Surprising?  Perhaps.)  Read More.

In the women’s heat, Pac Sun rider Courtney Conlogue (a 16-year-old High School Senior-to-be!!) stole the comp.  Oh, and $10,000, of course.  Read More.

For some killer photos and additional details, check out the event coverage on Transworld Surf.

Though it’s Skate Week here at Westbound Boarder (Danielle has done an awesome job of giving you all the 123 of skating; so good that I won’t even attempt to pretend like I’m a pro skater ) it’s Surf Week in the Real World as the best surfers from around the globe are congregating in Huntington Beach this week for the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing.  The event kicked off last Saturday, and brought big named surfers such as Kelly Slater (returning to the comp. after a five-year hiatus), Stephanie Gilmore, and Rob Machado to SoCal to compete for the biggest prize purse offered in any one surf competition – $100,000.

The first few days of the competition remained relatively calm, but the real fun starts today.  Of course, the surfing competition will continue, but there will also be numerous activities for spectators, including concerts (Tim Curren and Mat Kearney are a couple of the headliners), BMX biking, a Fashion Show, and numerous booths, so there are more ways than one to join the fun.  You can find a full schedule of events here.

In case you can’t make it to SoCal this weekend but still want to check out the event, thanks to modern Internet technology, you can!  The event will be streaming live on Ustream all weekend long, so either check out the stream below, or head on over to Hurley’s Ustream page to check out 24 hour live footage and tweets from the event.

*Photo Credit: Transworld Surf