We’d like to give a huge shout-out of congratulations to one of our own, John John Florence.

If you haven’t heard by now, John John just snagged his first WCT contest win at the Billabong Rio Pro in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil with an impressive 16.37 tally over Joel Parkinson’s score of 11.44. To get to the victor’s podium, John John also went through a series of heats against Josh Kerr (in the semi-finals) and another one of Astrodeck’s favorites, Julian Wilson (in the quarter-finals).

This puts John John as #6 in the current ASP rankings while Parko is on top as Numero Uno.

The guys will be heading to Fiji next. And we can’t wait to see some more of the John John Florence Show. World Title this year? There’s a good chance. Future World Champ? That’s a definite.

Here are some frame grabs from the Billabong Rio Pro. Congrats again, John John!

Check out this vid clip of Greyson on Thrasher Mag’s home page. Greyson qualified yesterday and will be in the Pro-Tec Pool Party contest this weekend at the Vans Skatepark. The kid’s got style for miles.

Go out and support him!

http://www.thrashermagazine.com/component/option,com_hwdvideoshare/Itemid,90/lang,en/task,viewvideo/video_id,1607/

Well, by now you’ve all heard that Nathan killed it during the Billabong XXL Awards. The event took place at the Grove in Anaheim this past May 4th, and all eyes were on shy, unassuming Nathan.

Nathan was nominated for three categories: “Ride of the Year”,  ”Men’s Performance” and “Monster Tube Champion”, and true to Nathan’s fashion, when Dave Grohl and his fellow bandmates (of Chevy Metal fame) announced the “Monster Tube Champion” as none other than Nathan Fletcher, homeboy was nowhere to be found.

Heads were turning, eyes straining, the attending spectators both hooting and whispering in hushed tones; everyone wondering where the (unofficial) Surfer of the Year was. For a second there, we at Astrodeck even thought that maybe Nathan ducked out of the whole scene and just decided to go back home to hang with his dogs Mr. Buzz and Boopers. Sometimes it seems like surfing death-defying beastly waves comes easier for Nate rather than being publically acknowledged by his friends, peers and fans.

As Chevy Metal heckled Nathan for missing out on receiving the award - funny and awkward - and Herbie got up on stage as a last-ditch effort to buy some time (”Where are you, Nathan?”), the audience erupted into cheers as Nathan finally made his way through the congratulatory crowd and all their pats on the back.

Up on deck, in front of the masses, as he hugged his proud pops, Nathan was at a loss for words, but still in his typical humble mode as he rattled off his genuine gratefulness to those who mattered.

And thus kicked-off the Billabong XXL Awards…

A big round of applause to everyone who was nominated and to everyone who won. And, of course, we’re especially proud of Nathan. Way to go, Nate!!!

SONY XPERIA “RIDE OF THE YEAR”

WINNER: NATHAN FLETCHER/$50,000 (San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA) at Teahupoo, Tahiti on August 27, 2011. Video by Simon Saffigna/$5,000)

SECOND PLACE: RYAN HIPWOOD/$5,000 (Gold Coast, Australia) at Cloudbreak, Fiji on July 12, 2011.

THIRD PLACE: GREG LONG/$1,500 (San Clemente, CA, USA) at Puerto Escondido, Mexico on May 19, 2011.

FOURTH PLACE: JEFF ROWLEY/$1,500 (Torquay, Victoria, Australia) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on January 30, 2012.

FIFTH PLACE: GARRETT MCNAMARA/$1,500 (Haleiwa, Hawaii, USA) at Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal on November 1, 2011.

Billabong XXL 2012: The start of the night.

Sunny Garcia

Makua Rothman and Mickey Nielsen

Nathan on the big screen.

Chevy Metal (or Foo Fighters. Kinda.)

Greg "Da Bull" Noll and a couple of Playboy Playmates.

The always charming Greg Long.

Not sure who the lady is. But that's Tony Hawk... as if you didn't know.

Bruce Irons, Keala Kennelly, and Christian Fletcher

And the winner is...

All these guys had a spectacular year!

Father and son: A proud moment.

Timing is everything, and If you happen to be in the Encinitas area of San Diego, you just might come across this new Nixon billboard featuring our very own Nathan Fletcher.

Nathan Fletcher for Nixon Watches (Photo Courtesy of Nixon_Now Instagram)

Nathan Fletcher keeps going and going and...

Doesn’t look like the Nathan spotlight is going to fade any time soon. From international to national to local coverage, and even buzz around the water cooler, Nathan’s been the talk out of everyone’s mouth.

So why should Men’s Health be excluded?

The following is a link to a recent interview Nathan did with the mag. Read and enjoy.

http://news.menshealth.com/reach-new-heights/2012/01/04/?cm_mmc=Twitter-_-MensHealth-_-Content-MHNews-_-BiggestWaveEver

Nathan will now be riding for Arnette Sunglasses. And, personally, we’d like to think, “Who WOULDN’T want Nathan riding for them?”

http://www.arnette.com/blog/Arnette-Welcomes-Nathan-Flether-To-The-Surf-Team/

Hello all you Happy People.

Check out this interview that Nathan recently did with “Men’s Journal”.

http://www.mensjournal.com/nathan-fletcher

You know, with all this recent coverage and adulation that Nathan’s been getting (and deservedly so), it’s just gonna be a matter of time when Nathan’s in the hot seat with Larry King.

We'll let you know when this happens!

Nathan among the elite - men who ride mountains. Check out the invite-only list and Nathan’s profile for this year’s Quiksilver Eddie contest. (Speaking of Nathan’s profile, what’s up Quiksilver peeps? Nathan was born in June, not October. Don’t mess with the Gemini!)

If you can’t click the link, copy and paste. 

 http://quiksilverlive.com/eddieaikau/2012/profiles,224,Invitees.en.html

The Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau: Nathan Fletcher on the invite list.

So by now everyone’s seen all the grotesquely epic waves that Teahupo’o produced this last weekend of August. I mean, for the average person such as yourself and I, even going out there on a boat would be some kind of kamikaze suicide mission… Never mind getting towed-in and trying to surf that unflinching rogue.

But when has Nathan ever been considered average? Nathan is (g)narly by nature. As a Fletcher should be.

We’re stoked to see that Nathan, once again, pretty much stole the show. There have been massive amounts of attention and coverage going his way, with some even claiming that Nathan’s wave at Teahupo’o might very well be the biggest ever ridden out there. ESPN is calling it the “wave of the year”.

And who are we to argue with such a declaration?

http://espn.go.com/action/surfing/story/_/id/6903518/teahupoo-pumps-epic-tow-day

Nathan trying to tame the beast. 08-27-11/Teahupo'o. Photo: Joli

Nathan stopped by for quick little interview with the people over at SME Live.

Click (or cut/paste) the link to see what it’s about:

http://smelive.com/News/Article/Nathan-Fletcher