Hurley and Billabong have joined forces with Events NSW on behalf of the New South Wales Government today to announce a brand new global event for Sydney, the Australian Open of Surfing, sanctioned by the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP). The event, set to take place at Sydney’s iconic Manly Beach 11 – 19 February 2012 is a global, multifaceted youth and sporting event that will showcase the best in surfing, skate, music, fashion and art with an expected spectator audience of 125,000.

The Australian Open of Surfing is an extension of the world’s largest action sports festival, the US Open of Surfing. The annual event held at Huntington Beach, California, celebrates inclusion and creativity while inspiring the next generation of athletes and artists.

Bob Hurley, Chairman and Founder of Hurley International, and Derek O’Neill, CEO of Billabong International, spoke about their collaborative vision for the event. They were joined by surfing greats including two time World Surfing Champion Mick Fanning and surf icons and former world champions, Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, Barton Lynch and Mark Occhilupo who all welcomed the event enthusiastically to Manly.

Widely known as the birthplace of Australian surfing, Manly was the location for the first World Surfing Championships held in 1964. Member for Manly, Mike Baird said the Australian Open of Surfing will reaffirm Manly’s position on the global surfing circuit.

“This event will also go beyond the surf and embrace other youth culture and lifestyle elements. By working closely with Manly Council we will make this event a global success,” he said.

Events NSW estimate the Open will drive more than $6 million in new money into NSW and showcase both Manly and Sydney to a global audience.

Chairman and Founder of Hurley, Bob Hurley says:

“The idea for the Australian Open of Surfing was conceived in our home town of Huntington Beach, California, three years ago. In the midst of challenging economic times, our team had the courage to bring world class artists, athletes and musicians to ‘Surf City USA’.
“After the incredible success of the US Open of Surfing, our next thought was that it would be amazing to do an event at the ground zero of modern surfing, Manly Beach in Sydney.

“We desire to work with ‘Best in Class’ partners and brands when we do things, hence the alliance with Billabong. Collaboration for the benefit of consumers is what we enjoy.  We seek to be inclusive and innovative. The opportunity to work on the Australian Open of Surfing is not only a personal pleasure, but will clearly be a career highlight." 

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TRAVELSIM Team Australia has received some extra motivation by past World Champion’s Barton Lynch (Narrabeen, NSW) and Peter Townend (Huntington Beach, California) en route to the prestigious Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship.

As the first key preparation initiative for the country’s athletes, the Australian junior team were presented with their team uniforms as well as treated to a motivational talk from Lynch (1988 World Champion) to help prepare for the high-stakes tournament.

“It has been a pleasure to be able to engage with the Australian team and present them with their respective team uniforms before they head off to represent Australia,” said Lynch.
“Following on from the ISA World Surfing Games in Peru in October, 2010, I was able to offer the junior team insight into the geography of the event location as well as motivate the team to bring home the gold medal to Australia.” 

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The Oakley Saquarema Prime was taken out overnight by Aussie madman Kai Otton, though unless you follow any number of pro surfers in Twitterland, you’d struggle to know. If you could make it past the awful commentary, which lagged some five minutes behind the stop-go animation that masqueraded as the live feed, you’d have seen what appeared to be the perfect storm going down: ten foot closeouts, unmanned jetskis washing around in the impact zone, and if you squinted at just the right time the occasional rash vest in survival stance gunning for a (non-existent) shoulder.

 

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