More: ANATOMY of a SWELL: TEAHUPOO, TAHITI, MAY 2013

Surf forecasting has come a long way. This is a clear and well-written analysis of the storm that created the recent run of XXL surf in Tahiti.

Only 300 points now separate the #1 surfer in the world (Adriano de Souza) and the #3 surfer in the world (Mick Fanning). And this guy, Jordy Smith, is right there between them. And between tubes at Kirra, turns at Bells and airs in Rio, he didn’t get there by surfing safe.

More: JORDY SMITH WINS BILLABONG RIO PRO

Jordy Smith. Photo: Smorgio/ASP

“Teahupoo went above and beyond expectations on Monday,” Alex Gray explained. “The morning was pristine six- to 10-foot paddle conditions. Just as Surfline predicted, around 1 o’clock the waves went to a whole other level. Tow only, below-sea-level tube monsters. Straight up scary stuff.”

More: TEAHUPOO RETURNS: PART ONE

Here’s Alain Riou, charging. Photo: Tim McKenna

Rather than just capturing frozen moments from this beautiful landscape, I have found a whole new hidden world to investigate-that of the micro, or mini, wave. I endeavor to capture those moments the naked eye misses, trying to provide an alternative look to the average wave shots of today. 1,800 images are housed in my collection with each wave being from 5 centimeters to 30 centimeters. I do not use waterhousing thus allowing me to achieve the results I desire.

More: 20 Absolutely Perfect, Tiny Waves

There are some absolutely amazing photos in this gallery. Truly inspired work.

Photo: Deb Morris

Memories from a special Irish winter paddling in.
Huge thankyou to Ben Howard for the soundtrack and the boys for the footage and edit.
Enjoy.

Ireland has some of the heaviest waves on the planet and this video is proof.

More: ADRIANO DE SOUZA WINS RIP CURL PRO BELLS

Kelly Slater maintains his current world #1 ranking after getting taken down in the third round and finishing an equal 13th. In my opinion, he was underscored a bit, but the judging was a bit controversial in this contest. More coverage here.

The word ‘challenge’ doesn’t quite cover what it is to surf Mavericks. Out there in the cold juice of Half Moon Bay in Northern California, taking on a crushing black mountain that wants to put you down deep. Jamie Sterling gets his thrills from places like that. He recently competed in the Mavericks Invitational, held in a swell that was questionable as far as contestability goes. Regardless, the butterflies came swooping and the boat ride out always means a quickened pulse, no matter what. “Peaking” puts you right next to the former Big Wave World Champion as he experiences Mavericks and the range of emotion that comes with competing at a big wave event.

“Peaking - A Big Wave Surfer’s Perspective” is a new, six-part original series from RedBull.com/Surfing that will feature six different athletes at six different waves and document the intense 72-hour window around major swell events.

More: Peaking: Jamie Sterling - Video

Red Bull is doing some nice video profiles of surfing these days. This series focuses on big wave surfing and the preparation required to place oneself in the midst of the raw power of huge surf and come out smiling. I can assure you that this is not an easy task.

Red Bull doesn’t offer a way to embed their videos, but you can go directly to the video by clicking here.

Jamie Sterling

Shot by onepalmMEDIA.com on Thursday 14th & 15th March using our Red Epic shot 2K @ 240fps with custom Dave Kelly housing ( seaviewphoto@bigpond.com ) using 5.7mm Kinoptik and 40mm Zeiss Distagon Mk2 lenses.

The day after the 2013 Quiksilver Pro finished, Kirra turned on in a way that it hadn’t done so for the last 10 - 15 years. Clear skies, clear water and a nice groundswell courtesy of Tropical Cyclone Sandra pulsing endless lines into the once fabled Gold Coast point break of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

I spent a good part of my 20s and early 30s surfing along the East coast of Florida and around Galveston, Texas. While most of my surfer friends shared dreams about surfing Fiji, Indonesia, and Australia, I always fantasized about surfing odd, non-traditional surfing locales like Ireland, Morocco, and even the Great Lakes. Today I stumbled across this story at MLive.com about local surfers riding the frigid waves on Lake Michigan at Pere Marquette Park in Muskegon.

Complete Photo Gallery

The last day of meteorological winter on March 19 brought strong winds to the Muskegon area, creating great waves for surfing.

Tuesday was the first time in months Lake Michigan was surfable due of an ideal mix of little ice and large waves. But it was still cold, with a high temperature of only 30 degrees.

Mike Sabatino and Scott Sportel drove up from Grand Haven to surf at Pere Marquette because, according to Sabatino, it was the only place in the area where the wind was hitting the water in the right direction to create ideal surfing waves.

About half an hour into the set, Sabatino broke the fin on his board. He paddled in, rested for a few minutes, grabbed his other board and hit the waves again.

Kelly Slater rarely comes clean about how he’s feeling or what he’s planning. He analyzes and talks and breaks things down—especially the past—but rarely does he give true insight into how he’s feeling in the present. The inner-workings of his mind usually remain there, under his control, and his actions and their results often leave the rest of us scratching our heads. The final day of the Quik Pro was different. Heck, the entire Quik Pro was different. You could see it on every wave Kelly rode. His body English spoke volumes. He was there to win.

More: Kelly Slater Wins Quiksilver Pro 2013

Joel was none too happy about the fact that he was shut down on the best wave he caught during the final, but Slater had priority and wasn’t about to let Parko get a 10 and win the event. That’s the way it goes in competition sometimes. I’m quite sure that if the situation was reversed, Joel would have stuffed Kelly as well. No serious competitor is going to give away a great barrel when they have priority and lose the heat.

Slater using priority to slam the door on the current world champ. He wasn’t happy about it. Photo: ASP

More coverage at Surfline.