In 1998 after an eight-year absence, Joey Buran returned to the surfing world.  He claimed the World Masters Championship as a 38 year old. Billabong soon hired him to coach its team of WQS hopefuls. In the 1999 Pipe Masters, the California Kid made the semis of the trials and narrowly missing a spot in the main event 15 years after his historic victory.

Joey Buran and youngest son, Luke Buran at lower Trestles 2001.  Joey Buran loves to surf and loves to coach.  Coaching his kids on surf and life is one of the true joys that he gets to experience.  Raising kids is hard work but can be a whole lot of fun.  The bible says to “train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  Spend time training up your kids – it’s an investment that you will never regret.

Joey’s wedding day with wife, Jennifer, and pastor Brian Brodersen, Calvary Chapel Vista March 12, 1988.

Pastor Joey dedicates David Broniste’s baby at the Worship Generation service in 2009.

Pastor Joey at a beach baptism at Little Corona Beach in Newport, 2007.

Joey and the 2008 USA World Junior team in France. This team finished fourth and was lead by Courtney Conlogue’s 3rd place finish in the girls final.

PACSUN USA SURF TEAM COMPETITION ROSTER ANNOUNCED FOR 2008 QUIKSILVER ISA WORLD JUNIOR SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS
by newsroom

12 Competing Members and Alternates to Represent the United States of America in France this May

Surfing America, the national governing body for surfing in the USA, is excited to announce the 12 competing junior athletes and alternates named to the USA Surf Team travel squad following a week-long national training camp in Huntington Beach.
“The USA Surf Team program is the best its ever been,” said Mike Gerard, Surfing America executive director and ISA vice president. “This year’s Team has amassed an incredible amount of intense, high quality training under Head Coach Joey Buran. And they’re more than a Team. They are a tightly knit, extremely focused, assemblance of the finest young surfing athletes in the United States today. Surfing America is truly putting its best foot forward and we anticipate some solid results in France.”

Six months of training and evaluation under the instruction of Coach Buran culminated to a final show down for the spots on the competition roster.

Buran began with a training squad of 34 of the nation’s best junior surfers following the 2007 SIMA Surfing America USA Championships and precisely selected his athletes over the course of four training camps.

“I believe that this is an excellent team to represent the United States in international competition,” said Buran. “All of these team members are outstanding surfers, but more importantly have proven themselves to be hard workers and team players. Not only do they rip, they carry themselves with character, class, and dignity in representing our great country. I’m proud of every one of them and I look forward to leading them in the ISA World Junior Games.”

Upon completion of last week’s final selection process, Coach Buran named Malibu’s Dillon Perillo as the team captain and South Bay’s Dane Zaun as co-captain.
The following athletes, listed by division, and in order of seed, will travel to France to compete in the 2008 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Hossegor, France from May 24 – June 1.

Under 18 Boys

Nat Young
Dillon Perillo
Dane Zaun
Chase Wilson
1st Alternate: Quinn McCrystal

Under 16 Boys
Andrew Doheny
Conner Coffin
Kolohe Andino
Luke Davis
1st Alternate: Nathan Carvalho

Under 18 Girls
Courtney Conlogue
Sage Erickson
Amy Nicholl
Demi Boelsterli
1st Alternate: Kaleigh Gilchrist
Additional alternates include Chase Brady, Taylor Thorne, Sara Taylor, and Keenan Lineback.

Buran will immediately begin honing the skills and improving the heat strategies of the competition team in preparation to take on upwards of 30 countries at the ISA World Juniors.

Joey and assistant coach, Sean Mattison, at the 2009 World Junior Championships in Salinas, Ecuador. They are watching Nat Young on this wave as he competes and went on to finish 6th in the boys under 18.

(Salinas, Ecuador) March 27, 2009 – The world’s best junior surfers completed their arrival today in Ecuador for the start of the 2009 Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship, an event recognized by the International Olympic Committee. The official event press conference was held this afternoon at Hotel Barcelo near the contest site.

“Welcome to Ecuador and to the most beautiful region of our country,” said Ana Trivino, Mayor of Salinas, Ecuador. “It is really special to see us as a country hosting a surfing event such as this. Surfing has been, in this area, a part of our culture and today we have the privilege of welcoming the best of the best to our country.”

“We are so pleased to have this spectacular event in Ecuador,” said Fernando Aguerre, President of the International Surfing Association. “I truly admire the relationship the country has with nature and I commend Ecuadorians for the changes they have made to make that relationship even better. The only thing contest organizers cannot control are waves and we received the great news today that the swell forecast for the next week and a half is looking really good.”

Fernando spent the morning hours surfing with many of the junior surfers in town for the competition. “I felt very fortunate not only to be in the water surfing this morning, but even more so to see all of the contestants together having fun and getting ready up for the contest.”

Starting tomorrow and spanning nine days, the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship will host 264 surfers, the most participants in the history of the event, from 28 nations and six continents as they compete for individual and team gold, silver, bronze and copper medals. The competition will be held at the famous La FAE Beach in Salinas, Ecuador.

This year marks the first time the competition has been held in a Hispanic American country. Started in 2003 and held in Durban, South Africa, the Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championship has set foot on the shores of nearly every continent. This year’s competing countries include Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Great Britain, Guatemala, Hawaii, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Peru, Portugal, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Tahiti, USA, Venezuela and Ecuador.

Participants in today’s press conference included ISA President, Fernando Aguerre, Director of Ecuadorian Tourism Ricardo Camacho, Mayor of Salinas Ana Trivino, President of Ecuadorian Surfing Federation (FES) Manolo Lozano, ASP World Champion Martin Potter, 2007 Boys Under 16 Gold medalist Garrett Parkes, 2008 Girls Under 18 Gold medalist Laura Enever and Ecuadorian surf team member Jonathan Chila.

Quiksilver Young Gun Garrett Parkes from Australia will be looking to set a new ISA record in Ecuador. Having won gold in 2007 in the Under 16 division, Parkes could be the first-ever to win gold medals in two divisions if he clinches the top spot in the Under 18 division. Australian teammate and Roxy’s Laura Enever has her eyes set on back-to-back gold medals – a feat only one other surfer in the history of the ISA has accomplished current ASP World Champion Stephanie Gilmore.

Parkes and Enever and the Australian team will be joined by all of the visiting countries tomorrow for the official Opening Ceremonies and Parade of Nations. The Parade begins at 5:00pm as the world’s best junior surfers canvas the streets of Salinas. The competition will begin Sunday, March 29 at 8:00am.

Joey and Courtney Conlogue at USA vs. Australia challenge Huntington Beach 2007. She would win the US Open two years later at the same spot.

Transworld
PacSun USA Surf Team defeats Team Australia as two power nations collide in a show of international unity in Huntington Beach, CA

Surfing America, the national governing body for surfing in the USA, is pleased to announce the results of a friendly scrimmage between the PacSun USA Surf Team and Team Australia, the reigning International Surfing Association (ISA) World Junior Surfing Champions.

“We call it the USA versus Australia Alliance Cup,” said Mike Gerard, Surfing America Executive Director. “It is not so much the USA versus Australia, but two of surfing’s power nations getting together for the betterment of competitive surfing. We are all trying to improve our programs and through a sharing of ideas and a positive relationship, we can elevate the level even further.”

With a freshly selected PacSun USA Surf Team roster, Coach Joey Buran broke his squad into three competing teams (West #1, West #2, and East #1). They matched up in an ISA style event against the lone Aussie team during this friendly contest in Huntington Beach, CA Tuesday. The Australia National Team paid a visit to America as a sign of good faith between two prominent countries. Its members also gained valuable travel experience and Surfing Australia organizers hoped this was a sign of advancing the sport as a whole.

“The challenges that Surfing America was going through really resonated strongly with us. We thought this would really benefit Surfing America and believed the Aussie kids could really gain something out of the experience as well,” said Mark Lane, Surfing Australia CEO. “The American guys really rose to the challenge today and that should help them going into France in 2008.”

The scrimmage went down in chest-to-head high peaks on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. With flags waving and rugby balls tossed around, the three American teams were able to muscle the majority of the final berths away from the World Champion Aussie squad. USA West #1 came away with first place over the Australians, while USA West #2 took third and USA East claimed fourth.

“We surfed really well today,” said USA Head Coach Joey Buran. “Our goal as the PacSun USA Surf Team is a Team Gold in France. The team is the star, not the individuals and we learned that today.”

The deeper meaning behind this friendly exchange was to have two leading surf nations come together to raise the over all bar for what is standard in the junior surfing world. The American kids got international competitive experience just miles from their schools. For the Aussies, a trip to the epicenter of the surf industry is always fun and they were able to strengthen friendships and line up a few travel relationships which could come into play later in their surfing careers.

“The level of surfing was amazing but this is all about developing surfers and developing relationships,” said Australia Head Coach Sasha Stocker. “I think it has been a win-win for everyone and hopefully it will continue into the future.”

Results of the USA vs. Australia Alliance Cup:

Boys Under 18:
1) Chris Salisbury (Aus)
2) Sam Lendrom (Aus)
3) Connor Coffin (USA)
4) Ellis Erickson (Aus)

Boys Under 16:
1) Taylor Thorne (USA)
2) Kolohe Andino (USA)
3) Andrew Doheny (USA)
4) Luke Davis (USA)

Girls Under 18:
1) Demi Boelsterli (USA)
2) Sara Taylor (USA)
3) Courtney Conlogue (USA)
4) Angela Kieghran (AUS)

Imperial Beach Surfing

Joey surfing in Imperial Beach 2006.

Imperial Beach has 3.5 miles of pristine coastline that stretches from its northern most boundary to the U.S.-Mexico border. Surfers (inclucing Joey Buran) come to enjoy the famous big-wave break, the Tijuana Sloughs.  Here, surf culture runs deeply and passionately through several generations of surfers, shapers and designers. As early as 1937, pioneers of the sport came here to surf the Sloughs. Just as they did back then, surfers from all over Southern California still make the journey to Imperial Beach to surf the waters.