In 2010, Cory placed an incredible #10 on the Transworld Surf Media Exposure (Exposuremeter) Final 2010 rankings for editorial exposure in the surf mags - finishing ahead former world champ, Mick Fanning.
Cory started off 2011 strong, with an O'Neill trip to Morocco (where they scored incredible surf!) and followed with a solid 9th place finish at the 5 Star Volcom Pipeline Pro in Hawaii. Scroll below for Cory's running commentary from the ASP World Tour, cool pics and videos; along with feature links from O'Neill's trip to Morocco, Cory's Trailer and Final Cut from Taylor Steele's new movie 'Innersection' and ESPN Video Link of Cory with 10X World Champ Kelly Slater in Costa Rica...!
Photo: RUSSO / Rockstar Energy Drink
Taken during the Volcom
Pipe Pro when
Cory placed 9th (Free Surf).
Cory Lopez & Kelly Slater @ Secret Rivermouth Point Break
South of the Border - Centro America...
Posted By Jake Howard
Central America, it's a trip most every gringo surfer is duty-bound to make. Bored with our state park campgrounds and coastal highways, it's our closest exotic. But after a few trips, you'd think the typical A-list pro would have graduated from mid-latitude waters to greater surfing grounds further afield. Costa Rica's for college kids and old guys, right? Na. Kelly Slater and Cory Lopez still have roots. In the case of the two Florida boys that means -- and always will mean -- trading doldrums for a tactical strike down south. How could that ever get old?
Cory Lopez: 10X World Champ, Kelly Slater’s comment about Cory and his “unique” lines on a wave are spot on. This part shows he is still one of the most creative surfers in the world right now and continues to keep pace with the younger guys in the air. Not to mention his big-wave/barrel riding tendencies. It’s been a long time since Cory Lopez (if ever?) has been in a Taylor Steele project. This looks like a good place to start... http://vimeo.com/16978774
For stats, videos & cool pics, check out Cory's Sponsor Profile & Blog Pages via the following Links...
It's Official! Cory will get a start in the second major ASP event of the
2011 World Tour as the #1 alternate at the Rip Curl Pro Bells event
(April 19-30, 2011). Go Cory!
Rip Curl Bells ASP Injured List:
Freddy P. - "Out"
Jeremy Flores - "Out"
Dane Reynolds - "Out"
Cory - "In"
The official Heat Draw will be announced soon with Cory's Heat # in the 1st non-elimination
Round.
Cory - West Oz Competition Update from Margaret River
Even though there is a reasonable chance that Cory will get into the next World Tour Championship event at Bells Beach (Rip Curl Pro) due to Jeremy Flores knee injury; unfortunately, Cory was not able to better his 2010 5th Place finish at Margaret River. Although he lead for most of his Round of 48 Heat; he slipped to 2nd in the dying seconds and lost a tie breaker, on a count back in the last 30 seconds to end-up in a non advancing 3rd place. A true shocker and heart breaker of a heat; even it seems for 10x World Champ and Heat Commentator Kelly Slater who kindly said, "Cory is from the Gulf Coast, that's why he charges so hard"... The waves were big and stormy and Cory gave it a valiant effort, only to come up short in the count back. To break a tie, the ASP uses the surfer's single highest wave score; which unfortunately in this case, favored Cory's opponent.
On to Bells for the Rip Curl Pro...? No "Official" word yet from the ASP. Check back soon for more updates and scroll below for Cory's upcoming contest schedule. Also, stay tuned for an announcement from O'Neill and Rockstar on an upcoming Facebook
promotional contest that will give away some cool prizes for Cory's fans...!
Cory's Travel Log
I got to Margaret River (Western Australia) a few days ago. The waves were small to start with; waist to chest and kinda fun at 'Gas Bay'. Eric G. did a "Kerrupt" (flip) on a tiny wave that had me tripping. WA is almost always a good time. With so many different waves on offer, you're bound to find something good. The only problem here is that sometimes you fall victim to the "maybe it's better up the coast" syndrome; only to end-up right back where you started an hour or two earlier.
I just did the O'Neill Cold Water comp in New Zealand last week. My heat had really bad waves. In fact after my heat, they canceled the comp and moved it to another beach (with much better surf). I only needed a four to make my heat but the ocean didn't cooperate with me and down I went. That one hurt - I was pissed. Thankfully a few hours later someone told me that there was a left point going off on a island just down the road. Once to the wave we realized it was a "mission" to get to. I chose to paddle out to the island while Nat and Eric walked the rocks, which at low tide almost connects the island to the mainland. The waves were fun. Overhead on the sets, three to four turns a wave. Just the fix I needed after a bad loss. Aside from all of us losing fairly early in the comp we still had a blast in New Zealand. One day we jumped off a crazy water fall and rode Boogie Boards down a natural water slide; it was sick (one of the rare times you will see me on a sponge). We also found some fun waves on the east coast of NZ.
Unfortunately the best wave we found in NZ, we were not able to surf. It was a sick right hander breaking right off a cobblestone river mouth. It kinda looked like "Snapper" on a good day. So we pull up to the wave and with no one out, we were freaking. Now we have all heard the old saying when something's too good to be true it probably is; well this was one of those times. Now I'll be darned if not a minute later, a three hundred pound local with his entire face tattooed, pulled up behind us to very politely fill us in on the fact that there is no surfing at this beach, as there was a massive drowning in the 1900s. We were in shock we couldn't surf it but had to understand the circumstances surrounding that beach and that their culture was different than ours. We talked with the man for a few minutes took a few photos of the wave and continued our search for waves. We found plenty of fun waves that day, surfed twice, drove six hours and wound up at a sushi restaurant in Auckland for our last dinner in New Zealand before heading to Western Australia.
Some NZ Pics from Cory of "Perfect" Point Breaks
The waterfall we jumped off and played in. This is the water slide. It was sick.
Cory's upcoming ASP event schedule will involve some pretty serious
globe trotting
(March thru May)...
1) O'Neill CWC New Zealand; March 23-29
2) Drug Aware Pro Margaret River, West Oz; April 4-10
3) O'Neill CWC Thurso, Scotland; April 13-19 (If Cory does not get Alt. Entry into Bells event)*
4) Rip Curl Pro Bells Australia; April 19-30 (Possible Alternate)*
5) Nike 6.0 Lowers, California; May 3-7
Snapper Rocks Wrap-up...
Jordy got me (in my Round 3 Heat)... What can I say...? That guy shreds. Snapper was small and the pocket was so tight at low tide, that it was hard on the back hand to fit my board in there. Also, I passed up the wave Jordy got his nine on. Thought it was too small of a wave; guess I was wrong.
I'm back in good ole Fla (for now). Now my favorite place to be (until it goes flat for more than a week). Home is good and it's nice to be with the fam again. The waves have been up since I got here. I have surfed with (my brothers) Shea a few times and Matty once. Unfortunately, Matty rolled an ankle so he might be out for a few. The swell looks like it should hang around for a few more days. Time to surf. New Zealand and Margaret River coming up soon (for the 6 Star O'Neill Cold Water Classic in NZ and the Drug Aware Pro Prime event at Margaret River, Western Australia). Still awaiting word on the Rip Curl Pro at Bells. Stay tuned!
-Cory
Cory - enjoying some time at home w/ the fam before hitting the Spring contest grind.
Photos By TUPAT
I think the bikers had some fun this week.
Bike Week/Spring Break in Daytona Beach, FL
Round 3- Heat 7 Video Jordy Smith vs Cory Lopez
(Click Image For Video)
Cory - Snapper Rocks, Australia (Contest Updates)...
Well not much has been happening around here as far as waves go. The boys tell me the party seen has been good but I'm here for the event. No partying for me, just trying to stay sharp and surf every day.
Since that first swell ended it has been waist to occasional chest (high) for the last seven days. I have surfed a few fun sessions, but for the most part the surf has been pretty boring. Maybe the worst I remember in all my years of coming here. Now don't get me wrong I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I am from the "Gulf" and this last week would have been an amazing week of waves at home. I know Skip and the boys would be sunburned and surfed out. But come-on now, this is "Surfer's Paradise" - where is the swell...? Not to worry it's on the way. At least that's what everyone keeps telling me. Come on Snapper, fire I want to get barreled in my heat! More to come - stay tuned...! The event should resume with Round 2 today (Sat or Sun)! Check out the Live Link www.quiksilverpro.com/live.en.html
Cory's brother, Shea (Lopez) and the Gudauskas brothers checking out the new video edit for the3tree.com
"Freddy P" psyching for a surf. It looked fun this day but my dad (Pete) would have had more fun on his longboard.
Yes we have seen a few days of rain. Weather here is similar to Florida in the summer.
Check-out Cory's recent coverage in the Beach Bee Newspaper & ESM...
Cory Lopez Ranked #13 on Elite ASP World Tour Rankings
after Quiksilver Pro
Snapper Rocks, Australia...
After surfing the first elite ASP World Tour event of the year, the 2011 Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks Australia, Feb 26 - March 6, 2011; Cory Lopez is ranked #13 on the elite 2011 ASP World Tour Rankings. Cory was surfing near the top of his game with precise barrel riding and solid backhand gouges at the tricky right hand point break, but succumbed to fellow O'Neill team rider and 2010 World #2, Jordy Smith who was able to secure the better wave selections in a hard fought Round 3 battle. An in form Jordy Smith was quoted during his post heat interview that he "was nervous" going up against Lopez, noting what he (Cory) was "capable of if given the opportunity". Even though the South African phenom (Smith) got the better of their Round 3 exchange, Lopez secured 1,750 Points and $8,500 for his efforts.
Cory Lopez hovered in or around the Top 10 for many years, ranking as high as #1 and finishing in the #3 spot in 2001 (after winning at Teahupoo Tahiti that same year). Stoked to be back competing at the elite level with the best surfers on the planet, the iconic Florida surfer will contest the next Prime event at Margaret River, Australia, the 'Drug Aware Pro', April 4-10; in his bid to make the mid year qualification cut. Lopez placed 5th at this event in 2010. Depending on the progress of both Dane Reynolds and recently injured Jeremy Flores, Lopez will be awaiting word on whether he will get a start as the first Alternate in the 2nd elite World Tour event of the year, the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Australia; April 19-30.
For stats, videos & cool pics, check out Cory's Sponsor Profile & Blog Pages via the following Links...
Cory arrives in Australia - Down Under for the Quiky Pro @ Snapper Rocks...
Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast Pro Snapper Rocks; Day-1 (Round-1)
ASP World Tour --- Quiksilver Pro, Snapper Rocks (Australia) - I'm back. Its been three years since I was last here. The wave is the same; the town hasn't changed much other than four or five more high rises.
My first surf back at Snapper feels weird after being away from the main World Tour for so long - its strange to be back. Seeing all the boys again is cool. Surfing Snapper again is definitely cool, but crowded as hell. On a few of my waves I never even did a turn as there were too many people in the way. I surf Snapper three times before the comp starts.
My boards got lost on the way home from Brazil. Lucky for me, my brother Shea, brings me four new Placebo Matt Biolas shaped boards. Two of which look good and two are too thick. The one I end up liking was made for (fellow O'Neill team rider) Bobby Martinez. Who ironically is in my heat.
Contest day one... Well not the start I would have liked to have in my first heat back. Mick (Fanning) opened the heat up with a low nine and followed it almost immediately with a mid five. With the ocean feeling dead after that point I went into free surf mode. Just riding waves, feeling out my board. Which maybe wasn't the smartest thing to do but heck, I just wanted to ride some waves. Instead of sitting there for the next twenty five minutes, waiting for a miracle wave that never came anyway. So I lost to Mick and Bobby in round one. Whenever the comp gets going again I have Davo (Chris Davidson) in round two. With the forecast not so good, it could be a few days till we surf again. -Cory
Pacific sunrise four hours to go
Yes about to land in Brisbane. Rihanna was on our flight.
Snapper doing it's thing. Not a bad view.
Cruising With Cory
Competition stress was out of the question during the O’Neill Close Encounter event in Morocco. The main message from the local heroes (from seven European countries) and global team riders Cory Lopez, Mark Mathews and Shaun Cansdell was: "Surf your brains out and have fun together!" All the ingredients of the perfect surf trip were there: sunny skies, waves all day every day on empty spots, a beautiful place to stay and the best crew to hang out with. This unique film and photo project produced some amazing footage. Let the images speak, check out these epic clips!
I head down next to the rock for one last try. It's a hail Mary on the biggest wave of the heat. I crash and burn again as the wave was way to gnarly. Yea, so we both (Nat Young & I) lose in round two. Not exactly how we envisioned the comp going. Losing is always hard, it sucks. We collect our measly prize money and I head off to the local watering hole to drown my sorrows with a few friends. We surf a few more times the next couple rain filled days. And home we head where I look forward to my 36 hours at home with my wife and kids before heading to Aus for the Snapper event. Can't wait it's been a while since my last WT event.
BRAZIL DAY FIVE
Day five, comp day three. I'm writing this from the plane on my way home to Daytona. This is the day Nat and I have our heat together. We are heat three of the second round. When we arrive at the beach the tide is low but on the way up so I am expecting the comp to start in one hour. Nat and I head straight out for a warm up. The waves are fun, kind-a closed out from the low tide but the ones you could make were sick. Real heavy drops straight into the tube. It turned out to be the best session of my trip. OK - now to our heat. Horn blows, heat starts. Nat scores a nice tube getting a 5 point something; which is hard to do with all the closeouts. Next, Cameron the shrimp gets a five. Then Kai gets a six. This whole time I have nothing. Just a few wipeouts/closeouts. Now Kai grabs another nice wave as does Cameron. Nat and I are in trouble. Then I find a nice wave that I miss-read and do not make the tube (my chance to make-up some ground). A minute later I find a really heavy wave that I can't make the drop and break my board on. It's my high score - "a three". Now I need a 7.9 and Nat needs a 5. He could not buy a wave after his first one and down he goes, as do I.
-Cory
BRAZIL DAY FOUR
Contest 'day-two' With the swell down a few feet, but still solid, the comp got off to a swift start at 12:30. The waves were really fun in the free surf before the comp. Thick tubes and decent waves to do turns on, it was setting up to be a nice day of competition. Eric would be the only one of us to surf a heat today, as the late start would only allow them to run to heat 20 of the 24 first round heats. Nat came to the beach only able to watch, because with only one board left he really had no choice but to save it for his next heat. I on the other hand came with six boards and at this point still have five remaining. With no heat for me today I surfed the contest site before it started with Eric and then elected to paddle down the beach to shoot some water photos with Frienden. Eric had heat 10, the second heat of the day. I was surfing down the beach during his heat and missed the action, but this is what Nat and Eric told me of the heat. He started his by sitting for the first ten minutes, then when he finally did catch a wave it had no scoring potential and he got around a two point ride. From what I gathered the rest of the heat went more or less the same way. With Eric not finding a single good wave. He was disappointed to find the horn blow with him in fourth place only needing a four point ride to advance. I was still free surfing when Eric paddled down to get some frustration out. As soon as I saw him I could tell he was pissed. We surfed a little longer before heading in for a late lunch. With some nice waves still on hand we decided to surf again once the comp finished. In this surf Eric was on fire landing a nice rodeo and getting blown out of a meaty tube.
Cory
DAY THREE
Contest 'day-one'
Another early start and off to the beach we go. The eight o'clock call got called till ten as the tide was too low for how big the waves were. After four or five calls later the comp finally gets rolling at roughly two o'clock. The waves were solid and challenging. Mental ones were coming in but they were hard to find especially in a 25 minute heat. Nat had heat six and was surfing first out of our group. He started his heat off with a flurry of wipeouts breaking another board on a massive air drop take down. Eric quickly gets him his last board and sacrifices a dry pair of shorts to get Nat his board as quick a possible. With no scores yet and eleven minutes to go Nat is in a tough spot. No worries though, as soon as he gets back out he grabs a nice little tube. It scores a 4.67 and that gets him back in the heat. A few minutes later he grabs a nice 8.0 barrel ride to seal the heat win. I was next to surf. Heat
eight, the final heat of the day. Well my heat did not get off to good start. My game plan was to open up riding a lot of waves trying to get some scores early. Yeah, I got the wave count up, but the scores were all low. The biggest was a three something. A nice wave that I pulled in the tube too high and had to air drop down and through the lip. Not what the judges like to see. At this point I am in third needing only a small score. With eight minuets to go I caught a nice wave with a quick tube and a few little turns. It's a 5.1 and that puts me into second. No one finds a wave in the final minutes and the heat finishes with Timmy Reyes getting the win and I snuck in with a second to advance to the next round. As it turns out nat's awesome first and my super sick second lands us in the same heat. Eric meantime will be surfing tomorrow in heat 10. With the swell supposed to be dropping a little, I'm hopping to see the waves improve.
Cory
FERNANDO DE NORONHA, BRAZIL
Well, I haven't even been here two full days and I can clearly tell you this with confidence-- this is the most expensive place I have ever been in all my many travels.
Day one
Nat young, Eric geiselman, and I get off the plane to to be met by world renowned Ponce Inlet photographer Pete Freiden. We threw our boards on our dune buggy and off to the hotel we went. A quick board unpack, a change into board shorts and we were off. But wait, the buggy had a flat tire, no problem put on the spare...no spare. So we Called a taxi to get us in the water asap. Everything was much better then as we were all in the taxi going surfing -- life is good again. But wait... now the taxi has a flat tire. After eventually flagging down yet another taxi, we were finally transported to the beach. Almost as soon as I set my eyes on the surf I witnessed Marco Polo ecstatically claiming a proper tube all the way to the beach. As you can imagine we were all out there in a flash. And yea it was as fun as it looked with all of us snagging a few nice tubes before dark came all too fast. All on all it was a good start to the trip and the best way I know
to cure an airplane hangover.
Day two
Well as soon as I woke up I noticed the wind was blowing but as to what direction that was a question I had no answer for. A quick breakfast and off we went to suss out the conditions. At first look, my suspicion was confirmed-- the ocean was a mess. The wind had turned side onshore overnight with rain squalls all around us. We looked around at the few spots on the island before paddling out at a nice little left. After about an hour I broke my board and was now set to shoot some surfing myself with Eric's go pro cam. I nailed one nice clip of eric smashing the lip, then I filmed Nat breaking his first of two boards for the day-- leaving him with only two boards for the next six days of suring thumping beach breaks. Pretty heavy for Nat. With another fun, but board costly day in the books it was off to grind some food and pass out. For tomorrow the contest is set to begin.
Cory
Introducing the World Surfing Adventures of Cory Lopez; a new travel Blog hosted by Gulfster.com and presented by Nekton Surf Shop, O'Neill, Rockstar Energy Drink and www.LopezBrothers.com. Cory's fans will find all kinds of cool content; photos, links and commentary from Cory as he navigates the globe in search of new discoveries and ASP World Tour points. The Blog includes interactive Links to sponsor websites and other cool stuff... Check it out!
