Hawaiian Bonga Perkins took out the second and final event on the World Longboard Tour, and in doing so became World Champion for the second time ...

A headline worthy of the trashiest newspapers, and certainly not one that we ever thought would appear on this web site, but, it appears one of our heroes from the 1960-70s has been keeping a secret we just never suspected.

The new Contest Director for the Crescent Heads Classic, Warwick Latta, rang to tell us the dates for the 2009 Crescent Classic. It will run from Wednesday to Saturday, May 27 - 30. This will allow surfers to enjoy the big 20th Anniversary Party planned for the Saturday night, and then head home on the Sunday.

The 2008 Old Mal Nationals were scheduled for Sept 6-7, but unfortunately the swell was too large, and the contest was cancelled. They did run a few heats on the Sunday at Racecourse, but it wasn’t the real deal.

The 2009 Old Mal Nationals will now we held on a Friday and Saturday, Sept 4, 5, and there will also be an Over 45s this time.

Day Seven: Saturday Aug 23, 2008-08-23

A crazy wild day for the finals. Almost no waves at daybreak, almost maxed out North Haven by the last final. And throughout that time a relentless sou’west wind that had to be blowing at 50 knots. At times it was impossible to paddle down the face, and surfers who succeeded then had large up-face chops to deal with.

Mick Mock's famous "Surf Auction of Vintage Surfboards and Memorabilia" was held at the Harbord Diggers Club in Sydney, Oct 18-19.

Surfing Queensland headed north to Agnes Waters in the middle of winter to spread the love to the longboarders living in those regions way north of Noosa.

Australian longboarding’s female dynamo, Chelsea Williams, went one better on her result last year to take second place in the 2008 Roxy Surf Jam, which counts as the ASP Women’s Longboarding World Title.

In small waves at France’s Biarritz, the winner was Hawaiian Joy Magelssen, who ALB readers may remember from two great photos we ran of her at Noosa back in Issue #40. The other semi-finalists were last year’s winner, Jenny Smith, and another USA surfer, Leah Dawson.

Lisa Nicholson has a full report and comments from Chelsea in Girl Talk, in ALB#59, on sale Aug 20.