Surfing Australia’s first Surfer Elite Program (SEP) Camp was conducted on (May 9th – 16th) at Surfing Australia’s High Performance Centre (HPC) at Casuarina Beach, northern NSW. The SEP featured Current ISA World Junior Champions James Wood (Lennox Head NSW) and Stephanie Gilmore (Kingscliff). The pair largely contributed to the Australian Junior team’s clean sweeping of the World Junior Championships, held late last year, winning all five divisions. The camp also included the top male and female Pro Junior surfers from 2004 including Blake Thornton (Little Bay NSW), Mitch Coleborn (Maroochydore QLD), Adam Melling (Lennox Head NSW), Nicola Atherton (Bronte NSW) and Jessie Miley – Dyer (Coogee NSW), Julian Wilson (Coolum QLD) Surfing Australia’s Head Coach of Surfing Australia’s High Performance Unit, Sasha Stocker observed. “These guys have huge potential as already witnessed by Stephanie taking out the Roxy Pro on the Gold Coast earlier this year.” “One of the really exciting things about the program and the HPC is that we are leading the world in our approach to coaching surfers to compete at an elite level. No other country in the surfing world has these sort of facilities or such a holistic approach to surf coaching”.

Surfing and Skateboard bodies join forces to create big beach day out. Representatives from Surfing Australia and Skate Australia were on site at Cronulla beach today (Tuesday 10 May 2005) to check out the facilities for Australia’s inaugural surf/skate aerial event. The event will feature the top national and international aerial surfers and vert (ramp) skateboarders in a full day of aerial competition vying for around $40,000 in prizemoney. The event is earmarked for the weekend of November 12 &13 this year and will feature some of the hottest national and international aerial wizards competing at the one venue. The event will see the surfers take to the waves during daylight hours and the skateboarders taking to the skies in the evening under lights. In another first, selected surfers and skaters will feature in a unique specialty cross-over event to see who is the master of both sports. Skate Australia and Surfing Australia are thrilled to be working together on this unique event which will also feature live music and entertainment which will prove to be a huge day of crowd pleasing entertainment.

ASP teams with Nine Systems to give 24/7 contest access The (ASP) World Tour web site (www.aspworldtour.com). has teamed with Nine Systems (www.ninesystems.com) to stream surf events live in real time over the Internet using the company's Network of Networks content delivery solution.   The ASP, which hosts a record number of internationally licensed events at the world's premiere surf breaks, is using Nine Systems' content delivery network and Stream OS suite of rich media management applications to stream footage directly from beaches. By streaming the surf events over the Internet, the sport's coverage is no longer limited to television network schedules or time zone constraints, guaranteeing surf enthusiasts around the world uninterrupted access to reliable, high-quality delivery of competitions no matter the location or time of day.

Brodie Carr, CEO of ASP International said, "It's pretty amazing to see how far the sport has come since the 60's when surfers organized the first structured competitions at local beaches. Now surfing is an international draw with high-stakes competitions held around the world. Times, dates and locations are arranged to ensure ultimate wave conditions, not convenient viewing times. Streaming content live directly from the events delivers the immediacy and excitement as it happens for surf fans worldwide."

"Evolving from our grandstand beach competitions into a series of international, opportunistic events has given us the chance to show the true skill and excitement of surfing," said Carr. "First television coverage brought the sport into people's homes, and now streaming over the Internet moves us miles ahead, capturing the surf and the surfers at their peak and in the moment -- no matter the location or time of day. Real-time, up-close and personal -- streaming over the Internet is the perfect fit for our sport and Nine Systems is a terrific partner."

The partnership is also particularly gratifying for Nine Systems President and CEO and San Diego-based surfer, Troy Snyder. "It's rare that you get the chance to meld your professional and personal passions like this. People have generally been limited to watching the sport on TV at set times and in limited areas. Nine Systems can deliver live competition footage from remote parts of the world at any hour of the day. We're playing a direct role in helping the ASP build the sport's international audience."

In addition to the ASP World Tour, Nine Systems serves more than 200 of today's most successful businesses including Universal Music Group, the NBA, CinemaNow, CBS SportsLine, and EMI Music.