cold water classic : 33 videos

Thurso East worked its magic to produce some of the best conditions ever seen in the history of this competition on the first day of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Scotland 2011. But nevertheless this is the North coast of Scotland… Whilst the waves were drawing cheers from the crowds gathered on the shore, the weather was not. Cold temperatures both in an out of the water, coupled with rain and hail ensured this was classic Cold Water Classic conditions. But nothing was going to take away fr...

26-year old Australian Adam Melling wins the first and most southern tour stop of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Series 2011 in Gisborne, New Zealand! The Cold Water Classic Series is the most challenging and toughest series in professional surfing! It was a nail-biting quarter final between three Australian friends, three Brazilians and two Europeans. But the Australians and Brazilians proved to be stronger and progressed through to the semi finals, kicking Joan Duru (FRA) and Gony Zubizarre...

Day six has been called a lay day at the O’Neill Cold Water Classic in New Zealand. After putting the event on hold twice this morning, Contest Director Matt Wilson opted to call it quits at midday. But when hardcore surfers can’t surf in the ocean, they’ll make sure they find another way to surf! And all they needed were some bodyboards and the Rere Rockslide – a natural rock slide which is a part of the Wharekopae River… Only eight surfers - Adam Melling (AUS), Gony Zubizarreta (ESP), Joan...

A delayed start was forced on the competitors due to small conditions. But then spectators were treated to the most innovative surfing in New Zealand as the world’s elite surfers attacked the Gisborne waves on the 5th day of competition. Honours were split between Australia and Brazil who each had three surfers progress through to the quarterfinals along with a surfer each from Spain and France. The Australian’s applied the pressure early with calculated approaches, both Tom Whitaker and Adam...

Top seeds dominated proceedings on day two of The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Series 2011 with Australian Nic Mushcroft, American Nat Young and Spanish surfer Gony Zubizarreta dominating proceedings as the event moved into the early stages of the Round of 96. Conditions remained unruly on day two of the event with a persistent onshore wind that continued to hamper the quality of the solid 2.0m south swell that is hitting the Gisborne Region. Nic Mushcroft (AUS) was explosive in his performanc...

The O’Neill Cold Water Classis Series 2011 opened on Tuesday (22nd March) with a passion filled powhiri at the Maori Battalion Marae located at Manutuke, just south of Gisborne. The Kaumatua (elders) of the local Iwi (tribe) Rongowhakata welcomed Manuhiri (guests) to their land and ocean blessing the event and wishing all the entrants well with their efforts. The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Series 2011 was greeted head-on with the first big southerly storm of the year to hit Gisborne. Despite...

The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Series 2011 continues with its promise to push boundaries to find new remote waves around the world in which to host a world-class surfing competition series. For 2011, the O’Neill CWC Series brings a 6 Star ASP World Tour event to Gisborne, on the North Island of New Zealand for the first time ever! Gisborne is one place in the world that is all too familiar with “firsts”. It is the first city in the world to greet the sun every morning. And it was the first ar...

The O’Neill Cold Water Classic Series 2011 continues with its promise to push boundaries to find new remote waves around the world in which to host a world-class surfing competition series. Four exceptional surf events held in the most isolated places of three continents… Four challenging waves that have to be ridden under the most extreme and cold conditions… Four events of the ASP Tour, all surrounded by unique landscapes – that’s the Cold Water Classic Series 2011. Following the resoundin...

22-year old Matt Wilkinson (AUS) wins the O'Neill Cold Water Classic California ahead of Tonino Benson (HAW) in an action packed day. This is Matt's first ever victory at a QS event! Matt had earlier disappointed local crowds who were braving the afternoon rain to support their local hero, Nat Young, by defeating him in the semi finals. Nat Young has three titles in a row here at this event: once CWC winner, and twice junior winner. But this year it was not to be. In an emotional morning, Sh...

The 5th day of the O'Neill Cold Water Classic California was full of drama, drama, drama! It started in heat 2 in the round of 48. With Jordy Smith (ZAF), Shaun Cansdell (AUS), Raoni Monteiro (BRA) and Roy Powers (HAW) together in one heat, it was definitely one to watch! Jordy Smith however had rolled his ankle at a charity event last night and as a precautionary measure ahead of Puerto Rico, pulled out of the heat. Raoni and Roy finished ahead of current CWC Series leader Shaun Cansdell and...

The swell rolled into Steamer Lane, Santa Cruz today for the O'Neill Cold Water Classic California. The top names in surfing got into the water and put on a spectacular show for the gathering crowds. Jordy Smith (ZAF) and Nat Young (USA) - both previous winners at this competition - were battling it out at first light. In the first heat of the day local boy Nat took the victory. Jordy Smith, current ASP World Number Two, finished second. The standout of the day was Australian Dayyan Neve scor...

The 2nd day of competition was cancelled due to heavy fog and small swell. The contest took advantage of an unexpected small push in swell this morning to finish off the Round of 128 in clean 2-to-3 foot conditions at Steamer Lane. And it was once again the local brigade that stole the show. Big wave surfer and Santa Cruz local, Peter Mel, posted the highest heat score of the competition so far with a 14.80. With the Round of 128 completed, the contest went on hold until midday when it was de...

j.k. livin artist Mishka performs live in Santa Cruz during the Cold Water Classic California. j.k. livin is the label of actor Matthew McConaughey. Mishka recently joined the O'Neill team as the ECO'Neill collection ambassador, and will be holding two concerts at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Series this year in both Tofino and Santa Cruz for the final event of the 2010 series. Mishka's biography has an almost cinematic sweep. He spent most of his early life on a boat in the Caribbean, sail...

After a second year of exploring the globe for remote world-class waves, following four events on four different continents, the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Series 2010 comes down to this iconic event. In the birthplace of O'Neill and still the home of Jack O'Neill and his family, the Santa Cruz final is the perfect place to crown the Overall Series Winner 2010. With the swell decreasing from today’s 2-3 foot conditions, before picking up again towards the end of the week, contest organizers...

During the Cold Water Classic Canada 2010 – the coldest surf competition in the world in Tofino, Vancouver Island a wild bear found its way into town as well! He probably wanted to see the surfing action which went down there with his own eyes... During the week he was terrorising the people of Tofino and scared the shit out of all the surfers there!

26-year old Australian Josh Kerr wins the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Canada 2010 - the coldest surf competition in the world!! The final heat was between Josh Kerr (AUS) and Eric Geiselman (USA), with Josh claiming the victory and winning the legendary paddle! Unfortunately last year's surprise winner and local hero Peter Devries couldn’t repeat his victory and was defeated in the Round of 16 by eventual winner Josh Kerr. After the most southern, the most northern, the wildest and the coldes...

The final 16 surfers at the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Canada were decided today. There were perfect conditions with sunshine, offshore winds and pulsing swell. Local Peter Devries made it to the final 16, but fellow local Sepp Bruhwiler couldn't pass Shaun Cansdell (AUS) and Nathaniel Curran (USA) and is out. The battle for the $50.000 prize money awarded to the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Series winner continues. Stuart Kennedy (AUS) – currently leading the rankings – was on the beach watchi...

The two local boys put on an impressive show today. Sepp Bruhwiler made it into the round of the round of 24 as well as Peter Devries, his form today being reminiscent of his victory last year. But former World Tour competitor Kekoa Bacalso (HAW) as well as CWC Tasmania winner and current frontrunner in the CWC Series rankings, Stuart Kennedy (AUS) are already out of the competition! Joining them was another former World Tour surfer, Tim Reyes (USA), as well as Yadin Nicol (AUS), Dion Atkinso...

Neither surging tides nor torrential rain could stop the third day of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Canada. Storming through 16 heats in the Round of 96, it was Glenn Hall (AUS) who was the standout of the day, as the mobile competition returned once again to North Chestermans beach in Tofino. Despite the relentless rain, the locals flocked to the beach on this Canadian Thanksgiving day to watch one of the local heroes Noah Cohen take to the water and narrowly miss out on advancing to the n...

The first competition day of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Canada 2010 had to be cancelled due to wild storms. But due to the high tide which covered the entire beach, they just got through to heat 4 today. Australian former World Tour surfer, Jarrad Howse got things going in the first heat, posting the highest wave score, 8.17, and highest heat total of the day. Last year’s CWC Canada winner and Tofino local, Peter gave the crowds on the beach a little bit of a fright as he looked set to b...

Jack O’Neill single-handedly revolutionised surfing in the 1950s. Without him surfing in cold water would simply not be possible for any length of time, if it wasn’t for his invention of the wetsuit in early 50’s. This ingenious garment single-handedly broke down the barriers allowing dedicated surfers to enjoy waves in the planets coldest conditions. Jack O’Neill was in San Francisco at that time, where it gets quite cold and drops down below 50 degrees Fahrenheit. He wanted to work on somet...

Throughout this series every winner’s trophy has been symbolic of the area and when producing the trophies for the O’Neill Cold Water Classic California and Overall Series Winner it seemed appropriate that the tall redwood trees synonymous with Northern California be the main material in the construction of the trophy. The wood is beautiful and comes in all different colors: black, yellow, white. If it stays on the river, it will also turn purple. All the venues of the event have been pretty...

The ocean has done a lot for the O’Neill family and they wanted to give something back. So Jack O’Neill set up the Sea Odyssey Program. This program connects kids to the ocean, a lot of them have never been on a boat or on the ocean before. It teaches them how essential and important the ocean is. If they don’t understand it, they won’t be motivated to protect it. For example, one of their units is marine science, so the kids gather plankton and learn about the bottom of the food chain. And h...

Jarrad Howse (Australia) was so close to winning last year’s Cold Water Classic Series! He only needed to qualify to the next round to beat fellow Australian Blake Thornton to the prize! This win would have been the pinnacle of Jarrad Howse’s career! But all his dreams were smashed by Puerto Rican surfer Dylan Graves. His score beat Jarrad’s by only two- hundredths of a point! But that was enough to smash the Australian’s dream of becoming the Overall Champion. Who is going to take home the t...

After the most southern surf event in Tasmania, the most northern in Scotland, the wildest in South Africa and the coldest in Canada – the O’Neill Cold Water Classic Series 2010 reaches its big final with the last tour stop and the most classical event of its contest series. After four spectacular and wild surf events spanning four different continents in 7 months, Santa Cruz will host the big final stop of the Cold Water Classic Series 2010. Santa Cruz is the perfect venue for the big show d...

What makes the O'Neill Cold Water Classic Series even more special than it already is, are the different trophies of every tour stop. Every trophy is connected to its event location and has a deeper and powerful meaning than just being a trophy. This is the reason why all five trophies of the series are considered the most prestigious surfing trophies. Tofino artist Carl Martin creates the trophy for the Cold Water Classic Canada – the paddle. He has been carving since the 1960’s, and along w...

The forth and penultimate stop of the O’Neill Cold Water Classic 2010 brings the series to the remote town of Tofino, Canada. The little fishing village is located on the stunning West Coast of Vancouver Island and is considered one of the best surfing spots in Canada. Tofino is a gem secluded in the province of British Columbia, Canada. At its doorstep is the Clayoquot Sound region, a world UNESCO biosphere reserve. They are right on the open Pacific Ocean, so when the surf comes in, it’s c...

You can also call Tofino “the rainiest places on earth”. In Tofino the average rainfall is 135 inches per year, more than ten feet! Dallas, Texas gets 36 inches/yr, Paris, France 23.9 inches, Hamburg enjoys 29.7 inches of rain. But Tofino wouldn’t be Tofino without all the rain! The expression "I'm bailing out of here" may have originated in Tofino, as many residents develop a desperate need for dry, sunny weather by late February. The Vancouver Island Mountain Range acts as a rainmaking dev...

Even though Tofino can get up to 127 inches of rainfall every year and suffer grueling winters - one local surfer manages to retain a year-round sunny disposition... his name is Noah Cohen. Who would better be suited than him as the event ambassador for this year’s Cold Water Classic Canada event. 21-year old Noah Cohen is a Tofino local, professional surfer and team rider for O’Neill. No snowstorm, of which there are many in Tofino along the West Coast of Canada, will keep Noah from punting...

The west coast of Vancouver Island defines the phrase ‘an area of outstanding beauty’. From the majestic ice capped mountains to the untouched cedar-lined coasts - eco-systems thrive almost undisturbed This is one of the last places on the Northwest coast, where there is coastal temperate rain forest – the old growth forest. A lot of the natural habitat hasn’t been destroyed and is still intact, there is so much biodiversity. The Clayoquot Sound Biosphere Reserve is a 350.000 hectare chunk of...

On the West Coast of Vancouver Island the First Nation Group is the Nuu-chah-nulth tribe. There is evidence that some villages are 10.000 years old. Before contact there were more than 10.000 people of one tribe living just one that peninsula, but due to the epidemic they were reduced to just 129 people by 1929! Nuu-chah-nulth literally means people of the mountain and the sea. The two are very interconnected within their culture and beliefs. For them everything is connected, everything is on...

From its inception in 2009, the Cold Water Classic Series was never going to be a conventional surf contest. With its fourth stage and after events in Tasmania, Scotland and South Africa, the 2010 edition of the series will again guest at Tofino, Vancouver Island where it was the first professional surf contest to hit the Canadian shores last year. Freezing water and air temperatures, bears on the ground, whales in the water and even the chance of snow awaits 144 professional surfers from aro...