Life changing opportunities that come around in our lifetimes are far and few between.  Maybe you should have been that bellybutton ring MODEL when you were approached by a world famous photographer who wanted to use your stomach when he saw you at Raging Waters.  Or perhaps you did have a niche for singing when your grandmother suggested you should enter the hit show American Idol because she thought you would go far.  These opportunities come and go and I’m willing to bet that these breaks pass us by since we’re too pessimistic to take them on. 

The visionary individuals who dared to take on something different usually reap the benefits.  When squirrel shooting KARL MALONE from the Utah Jazz accepted a pay cut in order to win a championship with Shaq and Kobe came his way, he took it.  Unfortunately they didn’t win but they came close.  And back to American Idol, when WILLIAM HUNG skipped out on engineering classes to become a star, his time and dedication definitely paid off.  He brought new life to a forgotten RICKY MARTIN classic. 

The same can be said about Julian Wilson and his bold and daring move to forego next years WQS.  But this is no shot in the dark.  Julian was given the opportunity to star in a film with non other than the Irons brothers.  We’re not talking about chopped liver here, we’re talking filet minon.  Suring with two living legends while getting paid for something that will forever live in surfing movie history, why not?  Although they will have some tough competition.  I heard that Point Break 2 will be coming out around the same time.   Good luck guys!  Check out the press release at THEDAILY.COM

However, when the first round kicks off a few notable names will be missing and won’t be able to watch Slater’s inevitable march into history.

Defending world champion Mick Fanning is returning to Coolangatta, Australia, to rest after suffering a groin injury in South Africa at the J-Bay contest last July.  The injury is expected to keep him sidelined through the Hang Loose contest in late October.

Also missing the event due to injury are Dean Morrison and Neco Padaratz.

Andy and Bruce Irons will also be skipping the event, though they are chalking it up to “personal reasons.”  Bruce, who won the Rip Curl Pro Search contest in August, is retiring from the ASP World Tour this season and three-time world champ Andy is having an off-year, ranked 13th overall on the tour.  Andy also skipped out on his second-round heat last month at the Quiksilver Pro France.

Find out more about the contest at the official site.

Here are the first round match-ups.

Billabong Pro Mundaka Round 1 Heat Match-Ups:
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS), Heitor Alves (BRA), Aritz Aranburu (EUK)*
Heat 2: Jeremy Flores (FRA), Mick Campbell (AUS), Ricky Basnett (ZAF)
Heat 3: Adrian Buchan (AUS), Pancho Sullivan (HAW), Nic Muscroft (AUS)
Heat 4: C.J. Hobgood (USA), Roy Powers (HAW), Manoa Drollet (PYF)
Heat 5: Bobby Martinez (USA), Ben Dunn (AUS), Gabe Kling (USA)
Heat 6: Adriano de Souza (BRA), Jordy Smith (ZAF), Tim Boal (FRA)
Heat 7: Joel Parkinson (AUS), Tim Reyes (USA), Mark Occhilupo (AUS)
Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA), Taylor Knox (USA), Reubyn Ash (GBR)
Heat 9: Taj Burrow (AUS), Damien Hobgood (USA), Marco San Segundo (EUK)*
Heat 10: Bede Durbidge (AUS), Tom Whitaker (AUS), Hodei Collazo (EUK)*
Heat 11: Luke Stedman (AUS), Jay Thompson (AUS), Daniel Ross (AUS)
Heat 12: Chris Ward (USA), Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA), Jihad Khodr (BRA)
Heat 13: Dayyan Neve (AUS), Mikael Picon (FRA), Leonardo Neves (BRA)
Heat 14: Dane Reynolds (USA), Tiago Pires (PRT), Travis Logie (ZAF)
Heat 15: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW), Daniel Wills (AUS), Ben Bourgeois (USA)
Heat 16: Kieren Perrow (AUS), Royden Bryson (ZAF), Luke Munro (AUS)

Bruce Irons dominated the day at the Rip Curl Pro Search in Indonesia, knocking out current ASP World Champ Mick Fanning, Ben Dunn, Chris Ward then Freddy Patacchia in the finals

Irons scored a near-perfect 9.92 in the Semis, along with a 9.77 in the Quarter Finals to help seal the win, while Patachhia had a huge 19.50 performance in his round four match against Joel Parkinson.

Though Irons had some huge waves, his wins were close at times, including taking his round four match against Fanning by .01 pts. (10.84 to 10.83).

Irons’ win makes the total three for his family, since brother Andy has won the Rip Curl Pro Somewhere contest twice.  Irons plans to retire at season’s end and this marks his first-ever win on tour.

Bruce Irons Wins 2008 Rip Curl Pro Search ‘Somewhere’ in Indonesia

SOMEWHERE, Indonesia (Sunday, August 3, 2008) – Bruce Irons (HAW) has defeated fellow finalist Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) to claim the 2008 Rip Curl Pro Search in rifling four-foot (1.5 metre) lefthanders ‘somewhere’ in Indonesia.

Stop No. 6 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour, the Rip Curl Pro Search saw a marathon day of action capped off by a stunning barrel shootout finale between the young Hawaiians.

Irons, who took down reigning ASP World Champion Mick Fanning (AUS) and Dream Tour sophomore Ben Dunn (AUS) en route to his Finals berth, came from behind in the last 10 minutes of the event, grabbing an 8.33 and a 9.33 to scalp his first ASP World Tour victory.

“One of my goals when I joined the Tour was to win an event and I wasn’t sure if it was going to happen since I’ll be stepping away after this season,” Irons said. “But the waves pumped this event! This is what the Dream Tour should be like all the time. I’m definitely stepping away from the ASP Tour at the end of this year, but I’m not retiring. I’m still planning on competing at Pipeline and Teahupoo and at venues that I can get into.”

The progressive natural-footer eased into the Final against Patacchia grabbing small scores before unleashing a fury of backhand tubes and commited re-entries over dry reef to take the win and move into No. 10 on the ASP World Tour ratings.

“I was tripping out in the water when they kept announcing Fred (Patacchia) and I in the Final – you never hear that,” Irons said. “It was all business though. This is only the second time I’ve ever made one on Tour and I wasn’t about to let it go. I was trying my hardest out there.”

Irons maintains the family monopoly on Rip Curl Pro Search events, joining older brother Andy, who has two Rip Curl Pro Search titles (2006, 2007) under his belt already.

“My brother has won this event twice and all I could think about in the Final is how I wanted that trophy,” Irons said. “The thing is sick! It was a great event and we’re going to have a huge party tonight!”

Patacchia was in stunning form all event, netting high scores and eliminating top seeds before coming up short in the Final.

“Bruce (Irons) and I are good friends but we were super competitive in that Final,” Patacchia said. “Both of us wanted to win and we were hassling and trash-talking and everything. I had one wave at the start, but Bruce got two bombs towards the end and I could tell he was really gunning for it.”

After suffering an injury early in the season, Patacchia has since rebounded, finishing equal 9th in Fiji and Jeffreys Bay before his runner-up finish ‘somewhere’ Indonesia. The stylish goofy-footer now sits at No. 14 on the ASP World Tour.

“It feels great to come back after a slow start to the year,” Patacchia said. “The waves were so good for this event and I’m bummed I didn’t win, but to have Bruce (Irons) there and since he’s stepping away, it feels good that we kept the title within Hawaii.”

Chris Ward (USA) was another who was in blazing form all day, eliminating former three-time ASP World Champion and two-time defending Rip Curl Pro winner (2006, 2007) Andy Irons (HAW) and 2007 ASP World Tour runner-up Taj Burrow (AUS) before coming up short against an in-form Irons.

“I’m not even bummed,” Ward said. “If I had come out of that one barrel, then I would have been in the Final, but I’ve had a great day and a 3rd place finish really helps me this year. The next event is in my backyard, Lower Trestles, and I’m pretty confident out there. I’ll be spending a lot of time preparing for that event, but first I am going to enjoy this magical island and all the beautiful waves it has to offer.”

Tiago Pires (PRT), 2008 Dream Tour rookie, put in the best performance of his young career, dispatching of eight-time ASP World Champion and current ratings leader Kelly Slater (USA) in Round 3 before rampaging through to an equal 3rd place finish.

“This is the best result of my career and it takes the pressure off of me to get a 3rd at the halfway point this season,” Pires said. “I don’t know what it will do to the ratings, but it should help me and give me a better seed going into Lower Trestles. I have a pretty busy summer. I am doing all the ASP WQS events in Europe so it is a lot of surfing for me coming up.”

All Rip Curl Pro Search videos, photos and news are available via http://live.ripcurl.com/

With the early elimination of the majority of top seeds on the Dream Tour, current ratings leader Kelly Slater (USA) maintains a healthy lead on this year’s ASP World Title race.

The next stop on the 2008 ASP World Tour will be the Boost Mobile Pro pres. by Hurley at Lower Trestles, California from September 7 – 13, 2008.

For more information, log onto www.aspworldtour.com

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH FINAL RESULTS
1 – Bruce Irons (HAW) 17.66
2 – Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 11.16

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH SEMIFINAL RESULTS
SF 1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 10.16 def. Tiago Pires (PRT) 8.50
SF 2: Bruce Irons (HAW) 13.70 def. Chris Ward (USA) 13.50

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
QF 1: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 16.50 def. Kai Otton (AUS) 14.17
QF 2: Tiago Pires (PRT) 12.00 def. Kieren Perrow (AUS) 11.34
QF 3: Bruce Irons (HAW) 19.40 def. Ben Dunn (AUS) 9.67
QF 4: Chris Ward (USA) 16.34 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 13.90

RIP CURL PRO SEARCH ROUND 4 RESULTS
Heat 1: Kai Otton (AUS) 11.67 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 10.67
Heat 2: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 19.50 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 18.40
Heat 3: Kieren Perrow (AUS) 10.00 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 6.30
Heat 4: Tiago Pires (PRT) 13.77 def. Dayyan Neve (AUS) 5.06
Heat 5: Bruce Irons (HAW) 10.84 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.83
Heat 6: Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.97 def. Mikael Picon (FRA) 12.37
Heat 7: Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.43 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.83
Heat 8: Chris Ward (USA) 18.17 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 11.33

CURRENT ASP WORLD TOUR TOP 10 AFTER STOP NO. 6
1 – Kelly Slater (USA) 5620 points
2 – Joel Parkinson (AUS) 4548 points
3 – Bede Durbidge (AUS) 4382 points
4 – Taj Burrow (AUS) 4370 points
5 – Mick Fanning (AUS) 4353 points
6 – Adriano de Souza (BRA) 3950 points
7 – Andy Irons (HAW) 3938 points
8 – C.J. Hobgood (USA) 3870 points
9 – Bobby Martinez (USA) 3628 points
10 – Bruce Irons (HAW) 3392 points

The Rip Curl Pro Search kicked off today in Indonesia and it didn’t take long for the usual suspects to dominate the first round.  Kelly Slater scored two huge waves in his heat, including a perfect 10, while Bruce and Andy Irons were close behind with top waves of a 9.77 and 9.73.

The great 6-foot+ waves allowed for some tough competiton to move ahead to round three.  In one head, Joel Parkinson edged wildcard Bruno Santos, 18.40 to 18.03.  Santos’ score was otherwise a top-five score for the day.

The 11th heat featured Chris Ward, Ben Bourgeios and Adrian Buchan facing off and barely a point seperated the three.  Ward got the pass through to Round three with a 17.03, while Bourgeios and Buchan will move to Round Two and fight for survival.

There are a number of familiar faces in the second round, including Taj Burrow (who will face off against local wildcard Komang Goga Suijaya), Bede Durbidge and Bobby Martinez, who may have the toughest job of all as he has to face off against Santos, who won the Billabong Pro Teahupoo in May.

To get more info about the day’s action check out the official site.

After more than four years on the ASP World Tour, Bruce Irons says he’s leaving at the end of the season to return to freesurfing.

“I’m going back to being a freesurfer,” he says in an interview with Surfing magazine. “It’s what I was meant to do.”

Irons, unlike older brother Andy, has never quite found his footing in the WCT. His best year was arguably 2004, his rookie season. He was only ranked 23rd on the tour, but was named Rookie of the Year and won the Quiksilver Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational.

Volcom, one of Irons’ sponsors, released the following statement.

Although this was a difficult decision, Bruce is confident that his choice to leave competition behind is the right one. “I prefer to go back to how I started my whole surfing trip, which is to go on surf trips and make videos.” Volcom is 100% supportive in Bruce’s decision and we’re looking forward to the next step in his career.