Who will be crowned season champ?

Being the last competition of the Second Life Surfing Association's (SLSA's) season, this Saturday's Thor Bishop Shortboard Pro at El Corazon will decide what SLSA surfer will be crowned the season champion.

Only seven competition surfers have a chance of taking home this season's trophy: Pova Rustamova (currently ranked first in the season's standings), Devinna Toll (2nd), VW Sands (3rd), Colleen Brennan (joint 4th), Abel Halderman (joint 4th), Chrisitine Daffodil (6th) and Desirae Beaumont (7th).

Top-ranked SLSA surfer Pova Rustamova

With 2,620 points, Pova currently has a strong 415 point lead of over second placed Devinna in the season's standings and all he needs from El Corazon is a first, second, third or fourth place in order to retain his lead and become the season champion. However, if Pova is unable to take one of the top four places, then the number one position opens up and either Devinna or VW could take the season's championship with a win at El Corazon. A bigger upset could leave the season's top spot open for a maximum of seven SLSA surfers to win enough points at El Corazon to challenge Pova's lead and take the championship.

The top ten surfers ranked in the SLSA season's standings today are as follows:

1. Pova Rustamova (2,620 points)
2. Devinna Toll (2,205 points)
3. VW Sands (2,180 points)
4. Colleen Brennan (2,135 points)
4. Abel Halderman (2,135 points)
6. Chrisitine Daffodil (1,965 points)
7. Desirae Beaumont (1,880 points)
8. Desne Aabye (1,475 points)
9. Bobbi Laval (1,350 points)
10. Ashleigh Dickins (1,290 points)

The SLSA Thor Bishop Shortboard Pro surfing competition takes place on Saturday 14 June 2008 at 1100 hrs Second Life time (SLT) at El Corazon.

Useful links
SurfWatch: El Corazon to challenge SLSA surfers (12 June 08)
URL: SLSA Competition Season Ranking
URL: SLSA competition calendar
URL: Judging Criteria
URL: Competition Day Requirements (for Surfers and Spectators)
SLURL: El Corazon (competitors only)
SLURL: El Corazon (spectators)

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El Corazon to challenge SLSA surfers

With little more than 48 hours until the Thor Bishop Shortboard Pro takes place at El Corazon, SLSA surfers are readying themselves for one of this year's most challenging surfing competitions and the final Second Life Surfing Association (SLSA) event of the five-contest Spring-Summer season. El Corazon will also decide what competition surfer becomes the SLSA season champion.

El Corazon is a small break with a short run into the shore that is sure to bring its own intensity to Saturday's competition. The pipeline wave is just one section wide, making it less than a third of the width of the wave at the last competition at Neart. And whilst we're comparing El Corazon's break to the last competition, the wave run is only about two thirds as long as Neart too. Overall El Corazon is the narrowest wave with the shortest break in the season's calendar. It's shorter than either Neart or Monkeh Barrel (at least, when there was a Monkey Barrel sim!). In addition to the size of the break, the El Corazon surf break also has a few little quirks such as fast moving fluffies (ocean foam waves) and pipeline waves that often fold before they hit the beach.

The SLSA Thor Bishop Shortboard Pro surfing competition takes place on Saturday 14 June 2008 at 1100 hrs Second Life time (SLT) at El Corazon. As usual, 40 surfers are expected to take part in 8 heats and as of time of posting 31 surfers had already registered for the competition.

Useful links
URL: SLSA competition calendar
URL: Judging Criteria
URL: Competition Day Requirements (for Surfers and Spectators)
SLURL: El Corazon (competitors only)
SLURL: El Corazon (spectators)

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Surf's up on Cornish Surf Beach!

Avid Second Life surfers ONeill Auer and Lala Recreant, in pursuit of the illusive lag-free Second Life surfing experience, have created a surf sim called Cornish Surf Beach. The beach has already gone through several changes since it's inception a few weeks ago, with changes to design and other guest options and much tweaking of the sim to optimise surfing wave performance.

"It's not commercialised, so it's very beautiful and we are open to suggestions and feedback so surfers can make it how they want it to be," said Lala. "'We've made it as low lag as possible and as relaxing as possible."

Cornish Surf Beach currently alternates between a three section wide Epic wave or two pipe waves with fluffies. Amongst the hills surrounding the surf break are secluded spots for those not surfing to enjoy the view, or for the more romantic, perhaps the sunsets. The beach is also equipped with sun loungers and a dance floor with picture slide show of regular visitors to Cornish. ONeill and Lala also aim to host surfing competitions at Cornish in the near future.

SLURL: Cornish Surf Beach

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Where the hell is Socks?

The making of... Exclusive to SurfWatch.

Senior Furry Correspondent Socks Clawtooth walks us through the making of his new video documentary on Second Life surfing ''Where the Hell is Socks?' For the record, Socks did all of his own stunts in this video, none of the stunts in the video were faked and, you'll be pleased to hear, no furries were harmed in its filming.

27 sims, less than 5 minutes. Well, 28 if you count the sim hop I did at Rasta (the white line you see me cross is a border). Having watched surf movies like 'Step into Liquid'' and Endless Summer', not to mention being a fanatical Warren Miller fan, I took things to a logical extension when I filmed this. Also add 'Where the Hell is Matt?' Matt is a guy who's traveled the globe, stood in front of the sights, and danced. Matt's YouTube video is incredible to see where he's been. So, being a Second Life citizen, I did it my way. The opening music is what he used in his video, if you've never seen it.

Filming 'machinma' like this is pretty easy: if you have the right equipment. If you've got a decent computer, FRAPPS is a good option. Unfortunately, my computer is behind held together with spit, bailing wire and faith, so I used what I had. S-video output to a camcorder, and you've got Second Life on a tiny screen!

Next was the camera. Second Life camera follow modes, well, are bad for film making. If you're doing an 'I've been there' video, it's fine. But if you're moving, the camera wants to snap to the back of your head, or thereabouts. So enter my buddy. He's the fox you see at Neart drinking the beer. We set up that account as a camera account, and run two computers on the same router on Second Life. Wireless. Yeah, it amazed us too.

I took the slow one to surf on, he took the fast one to film on, and started sim-hopping. For a week before hand I put together the travel plan, how the video could be done the most efficiently. We did a test shoot on Manjini Island and it worked out well. So we went full tour-de-force. It took a couple of nights, a couple dozen crashes, and wading through awful lag to get 'the shot', but in the end, I'm happy with the result.

The other thing about the documentary is that it's also a time capsule. Sunset Strip is gone now, the sim owner kicked 'em out from what I understand. The JSA beach may go back to Epics sooner or later. And who knows when beaches will change the layouts, the speed, or even the existence of the waves? My 'privateer' rides may not exist next month, let alone tomorrow! Second Life is always in motion, always changing. So this is a snapshot of 28 Second Life beaches from May 2008.

However, one of the main reasons I wanted to do this video was to encourage people to sim hop. See what the scene is like all over the grid. I've already heard from a few people who said "Wow, I didn't know there was that many places to go!" In all reality, we left a lot out, and some of the bigger sims too. Plus in the last few weeks, a lot of new beaches have opened up. So yes, part two is being planned.

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SURF REPORT -- Costa Rica: in harmony with nature

The Epic wave on Playa Del Rey

Costa Rica is an estate of more than 20 tropical sims showcasing a variety of Costa Rican natural environments from miles of golden sandy beaches to dense tropical rain forest. In fact, one of the objectives of the estate is to highlight the importance of living in harmony with nature. The estate is home to the three most famous beaches of the Manuel Antonio National Park in real life Costa Rica: Playa Espadilla Sur, Playa Manuel Antonio and Playa Escondido.

Costa Rica has several interesting surf breaks and there are plans to further develop the Costa Rica estate as a surfing destination. The main surf breaks today are Playa Del Rey on Pacifico Central 1, Playa Escondido on Pacifico Central 4 and Playa Santa Teresa on Pacifico Norte 1.

Playa Del Rey is the home of the Costa Rica estate's only Epic wave. This is a short 100 yard Epic break starting in the middle of the sim and breaking into the beach. Pacifico Central 1 is also home to the Playa del Rey Surf Shack, which sells a variety of surfboards including Analog Surf, Jac Mornington's Realistic, Namiko, Poid Mahovlich's glow at night surfboards and also Heather Goodliffe windsurfers. You can just about see the pod of humpback whales in the neighbouring Pacifico Central sim to the north, although they tend to stay away from the waves.

Playa Escondida's pipeline wave breaks into a secluded bay

Three sims south of Playa Del Rey is Playa Escondida, where a three section wide pipeline wave breaks into an otherwise calm bay fringed with tropical vegetation. Whilst, the newest addition to the Costa Rica surf scene is a long four-wave pipeline break at Playa Santa Teresa, with phosphorescent waves that run in for just about 255 yards onto an island just in front of the Peninsula Nicoya Sur mainland. Playa Santa Teresa also has a vendor for Poid's luminous surfboards. There are two or three sets of fluffies that break along the shores of Golfo de Nicoya and Isla Venado, which are both north of Pacifico Central, but these all run for just a few yards each and so of limited interest to surfers.

Playa Santa Teresa's phosphorescent pipeline wave break

There are many other activities for visitors in Costa Rica include boating, canoeing, fishing, hang gliding, scuba diving, whale watching and white water rafting. Costa Rica has clearly developed the estate aiming to provide visitors and residents with the best experience and the attention to detail really shows.

Most of Costa Rica is residential with privately owned land, but the convenant for the land ensures free passage to allow non-residents to explore the estate, although the homes themselves are out-of-bounds. There's a lot to explore. The estate provides a hovercraft tour for new arrivals in Costa Rica, accessible via hovercraft stations on different sims throughout the estate.

URL: Costa Rica Sims
SLURL: Playa Del Rey
SLURL: Playa Escondida
SLURL: Playa Santa Teresa

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