The waiting period for the Billabong Pro in Tahiti started yesterday. There hasn't been enough swell at Teahupoo to run any heats, but the World Tour guys have been out there for some practice surfs. Pascal Moisan from O'Neill Canada sent us a few shots the O'Neill riders in small conditions at one of the world's heaviest reefs. For more from the Billabong Pro, click here.

Not exactly all-time Chopes, but Bobby Martinez found a few that barreled onto the reef.

Jordy Smith, currently the top-rated surfer in the world.

Roy Powers digging in with all three fins.

It's hard not to smile when your job involves going surfing in a South Pacific paradise.

I spent a few days at the end of last week at Know?Show, a three-day event in Vancouver that advertises itself as "Canada's Premier Lifestyle Tradeshow." In essence, it's a gathering that gives a wide range of surf, skateboard and snowboard brands an opportunity to show their new lines to buyers from shops across the country. It's also—as a few too many gin-and-tonics proved—an excuse for some great parties. I didn't have a camera with me all the time, but here are a couple of shots that I snapped on the show floor. There were also a number of products that we saw but were asked to keep under wraps—suffice it to say that there's going to be some pretty neat stuff in Canadian surf shops next year.

Slater and some of Westbeach's YVR tribute T's.

There was tons of great art on display. That's a photo by Tofino's Douglas Ludwig on the left.

Getting a sneak preview of some new footage from Rip Curl. This is Mick Fanning in a wave pool in Malaysia.

Shiny new Supers.

Samples from Xcel's 2011 wetsuit line.

Damian Fulton's work in progress. How cute was that cosmic longboard girl?

Keep Canada Clean: good words from Ocean Minded.

A canvas for Sitka by Salt Spring Island's Danica Lundy.

For more about Know?Show, click here.

What madness. But a fun kind of madness. By 8 a.m. there were already thousands of people on the beach, the pier and the stands. They take their surfing seriously down here, especially with Brett Simpson still in the running. The conditions were great as the final day of the Open got underway—there were smooth shoulder-high lefts breaking towards the pier, and with the grey light and and only two guys in the water you could almost imagine that the lineup was one of those perfect and uncrowded Sunday mornings at home. But Huntington Beach itself was basically a football stadium today—news trucks, helicopters, standing-room-only scaffolding, giant screens for replays, you name it.

As for the surfing, today was a reminder that the thing that makes surf contests so fun to watch can be the same thing that makes them so frustrating to watch. There's two minutes left to go in a tight heat, both surfers are scrambling back out to the lineup and the crowd can see a set showing on the outside. Someone needs a 6.7, or a 5.5, or a 9.2, and they get to the peak and spin on a wave and take it to the beach. From there it's all about the waiting—it's like the lottery, in that it's all about the numbers and thousands of people are on edge waiting for them to drop. But at the same time, how can you really quantify surfing? As Jordy Smith said in an interview today, it sucks to see people lose—and besides, who's to say that a few backside turns, super solid but a bit safe, are more worthwhile than one super-critical air reverse? There were some of tough calls today, and a few heats that could've gone either way. As the time ticks down in a heat the fun and tension is all in the waiting, but sometimes you wish that everyone could share the money and just go out and surf.

The first two heats of the day were fantastic, with plenty of waves and some fierce stuff thrown by Smith, Miguel Pupo, Mick Fanning and Jadson Andre, but after that the swell backed off and the rest of the heats were marked by lots of sitting and waiting through long lulls. Simpson, the Huntington Beach local and defending champion, had a huge contingent of support on the beach, and he made it a memorable Sunday for The Real OC by beating Nathaniel Curran, Kelly Slater and Jordy Smith to win his second US Open of Surfing in a row. It's a really difficult and impressive feat, and he's probably going to be buying a lot of drinks tonight with that $100,000 cheque in his pocket.

All in all, the US Open was a blast to be at, and the level of surfing from the men, women and juniors was incredible. It's a fun time to be surf fan, that's for sure. And at the end of the day, it should all come down to the fun—like Slater, for example, after losing his semifinal heat, surfing a wave into the shorebreak, stretching forward into a cheater five on his shortboard and going left into a little barrel all styled out like longboarder circa '66. Not for money, not for photos, but just for fun. Even on its most biggest and most lucrative stage, it's neat to see that surfing still has fun at its core.

See all the event highlights at www.usopenofsurfing.com. Thanks to Hurley for making the trip possible.

Wise words from MR.

Win it! Some of the beach kids built a sand pail message for Huntington's own Brett Simpson.

It would've been a pretty fun dawn patrol out there.

The north side in the morning, with every sort of surf craft imaginable being ridden.

Simpson banking it off the top in his quarterfinal heat.

Tofino in 50 years?

It's never boring down here, that's for sure. It's something, but it's never boring. And so while some of the tired scenesters sit around on a Saturday afternoon and talk about how slow the heats are and how soft and burgery the waves look, I'm not having it. Life isn't always exactly what you want it to be—you can either sit and wait expectantly for bright flashes of stimulation and excitement, or you can your spend the time appreciating the small complexities and subtle curiousities that surround you. You can notice the bottom contours of Herbie Fletcher's longboard, or the way Carissa Moore releases the fins after a wraparound cutback, or how the orange neon paint is running down some girl's back from a temporary tattoo that says I HEART OC. You can study the lines Brett Simpson takes when he's pumping for speed before a backside air, or look out over the crowd and imagine the riot of '86, or stand on the beach to watch a group of surfers from the Life Rolls On Foundation taking people with spinal cord injuries out into the water on surfboards, making it possible for people with difficult lives to experience, if only for a brief moment, the fun and freedom of riding a wave. There's a lot to take in, wherever you are, and the US Open of Surfing is no different. It's all in how you see it.

For all the day's action, check out www.usopenofsurfing.com.

Wicker bike with attached sun canopy. Good style.

The weather pattern has been the same every day—marine layer with good surf in the morning, then the conditions deteriorating as the tide comes up, the fog burns off and the sea breeze starts. This is Nathaniel Curran taking off on a solid one in his Round 5 heat.

Joel Tudor gliding along in the Pacifico Nose Riding Invitational, which kicked off just after noon.

With the log riders hitting the water, there were some very elegant pieces of foam left lying around.

It was pretty small today, but there was the occasional pulse showing up from the southwest.

Dane's board of choice for the Expression Session.

Camera guy.

One of Carissa Moore's boards, on display in the Red Bull tent. Moore won the Women's division today—going home with $50,000, the largest prize in women's surfing history.

More bike envy. This thing would go really, really well on the Stanley Park Seawall.

California has more people than Canada, and it today it seemed like almost all of them were at Huntington Pier. The waves were smaller, but the crowd? The crowd certainly wasn't. For myself, the day started with an early surf a few miles down the road—perfect waist-high peaks, flocks of pelicans skimming the water, the world silent under the fog of the South Bay. After those few peaceful hours, the crowds of the contest scene were a lot to take. So I hunkered down on a plastic chair, kept to myself and watched Slater, Dane, Jordy, Brett Simpson and Jadson Andre move a little close to that enticing $100,000 USD. By the early afternoon the sun was out and the surf was weak and onshore, so I walked up Main Street for a visit to the International Surfing Museum, a small pocket of soul where they have a Simmons balsa-foam board, an original Hobie skateboard and lots of photos of Huntington Beach back in the day. If you're ever in the area, take an hour to stop in and check it out. The evening that followed was a mellow one—a New Belgium on a patio and a few rolls at Sushi Sho.

For all the day's action, see www.usopenofsurfing.com.