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Alfie Carter : photo Jamiescottimages.com Big Wave News Oakley/ASL Big Wave Awards Are Off to a Cracking Start Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 2 August, 2006 : - - Gold Coast, Queensland, -- The Oakley/ASL Big Wave Awards provide Australia with a premier heavy-water surf event of epic proportions. Dozens of ultra-qualified surfers on the open ocean coasts of Australia and New Zealand spend seven months in pursuit of the best and biggest waves they can find. The goals? Ultimate respect from their peers, the thrill of the chase, and $30,000 in total prizemoney. This year’s event kicked off on June...

Something horrifying is happening in the waters off Brazil. Sharks are attacking surfers near the city of Recife at an unprecedented rate, scaring the locals and forcing the government to ban the sport at one of it’s most popular beaches. Over the past decade, 45 people have been attacked by bull sharks in the region, 16 were deadly. And while these attacks are not unheard of, the fact the port city had recorded only one in the 75 years prior, is perplexing. Are the sharks rebelling? Have they had enough of people overcrowding their home? Or is there something less...

For some, the Internet it has become an addiction, adversely affecting their lives and their family's lives. While not yet defined as a true addiction, many people are suffering the consequences of obsession with the online world, warns Dr. Diane M. Wieland, who treats patients with computer addiction in her practice in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. For some people, the Internet may promote addictive behaviors and pseudo-intimate interpersonal relationships, reports Wieland in the journal, Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. "Such cyberspace contacts may result in cyber disorders such as virtual relationships that evolve into online marital infidelity (cybersex) or online sexually compulsive behaviors,"...

CARLSBAD – A surfer was pronounced dead after he was pulled from the water by three fellow surfers who found him floating unconscious just after noon today, state lifeguards said. State lifeguards were called for help by three males surfing near Tamarack Avenue and Carlsbad Boulevard. The group was riding 6-to-8-foot waves in heavy fog and limited visibility, said Karl Tallman, a state lifeguard supervisor. They pulled the unconscious surfer, who was face down and still leashed to his surfboard, onto their boards in attempts to pull him into safety. But they kept getting slammed by breaking waves and needed...

Sound from last December's huge tsunami-causing earthquake was picked up by underwater microphones designed to listen for nuclear explosions. Scientists this week released an audio file of the frighteningly long-lasting cracks and splits along the Sumatra-Andaman Fault in the Indian Ocean. The spine-tingling hiss and rumble is an eerie reminder of the devastation and death that is still being tallied in the largest natural disaster in modern times. At least 200,000 people are thought to have died as a result of the magnitude 9.3 earthquake, the tsunami, and the lack of food, drinkable water and medical supplies that followed. The...

A Florida surfer said he acted as ''bait'' to try to distract the shark while he wrestled the 14-year-old girl onto his surfboard: ''I've never been so scared in my life.'' The teen later died. Off Miramar Beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida's Panhandle, longtime surfer Tim Dicus has seen the dark, lithe shadows dart beneath the water -- the glistening gray fins split the waves. He was once even bumped by a shark, he said. But Saturday was different. Dicus tussled in the water with what experts say was most likely an 8-foot-long hungry bull shark hellbent on...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - More than 40 surfers cruised into the record books Saturday when they successfully rode a giant surfboard off an Australian beach, breaking the previous world record set by an English team of 14 people in 2003.

Just an observation. I pulled out my surf CDs since the mercury cracked 40, the sun came out, and the snow and ice is melting like crazy. Holy Cow! I have a lawn!

ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, Bush-Cheney '04 announced the release of the campaign's newest television advertisement, "Windsurfing."  The ad highlights John Kerry's tendency to go whichever way the wind blows on the most important issues facing our nation, including the War on Terror, education reform and health care.  The ad will rotate in on national cable and in select local markets.Script For "Windsurfing" President Bush: I'm George W. Bush and I approve this message.Voice Over: In which direction would John Kerry lead? Kerry voted for the Iraq war, opposed it, supported it, and now opposes it again. He bragged about...

Whoopi Goldberg is a spokesperson for Slimfast- which, along with Birdseye, Lipton, Iglo, Hellman’s, Bertolli, Healthy Heart, Knorr, Family Brand, Findus is owned by Unilever. Let Unilever know how you feel about Ms. Goldbeg's actions. Click here to contact Unilever Remember- be polite!

Are there any other wave riders out there in FReeperland? I live in southern RI and surf year-round. Most people don't associate surfing with the Northeast, but we get some very good waves as long as you don't mind the cold weather.

MARGATE, N.J. - He's a diehard surfer, an eccentric millionaire, a sun-seeking recluse. Given all that, Ron DiMenna's choice of retirement home makes perfect sense.Who else would spend $500,000 to buy an RV, equip it with a slew of high-tech electronic features, paint it to look like a 21st-century woodie and then hit the road, destinations unknown?But DiMenna, the 66-year-old founder of Cocoa Beach, Fla.-based Ron Jon Surf Shops, is not the retiring type. He has three shops in Florida - Cocoa Beach, Orlando and Sunrise.More than 40 years after he started selling boards on nearby Long Beach Island, the...

<p>LIHUE, Hawaii — The water was clear and there was no indication of danger when a 13-year-old surfing star went out on the waves with her best friend and her friend's father. But while Bethany Hamilton was lying on her board off Kauai's North Shore , a shark bit once and then disappeared, taking off her left arm just below the shoulder.</p>

GALVESTON BAY -- James Fulbright rides waves with no beach in sight. For Fulbright and a small pod of friends, surf's up when the hull of an approaching tanker appears on the horizon of Galveston Bay like an apparition, trailed by a thin line of white water that signals a breaking wave. "Dude, what do you think of that? That's a pretty big ship," said Fulbright, 45, a local surf shop owner and surfboard manufacturer who chased the wakes of tanker ships Friday morning aboard a 17-foot Boston Whaler named Surf Bored. The group of local surfers, which includes a...

<p>A virus fouls your computer and you haplessly pass it on. Advertising software loads stealthily on your machine. Your password gets stolen because of your negligence. The music industry sues you because of something your kids or grandkids did on your computer.</p>