19.70 out of 20!!!

What can I say? Taylor absolutely BLEW UP in his Round 1 heat at the Billabong Pro J-Bay and erupted for a total of 19.70 out of a possible 20 points. That's the highest recorded heat score at Jeffrey's Bay - EVER.

How impressive was this? Here's a few facts:

Taylor's two scoring waves were a 9.90 and a 9.80.

Taylor's throw-away wave from the heat was a 9.0.

Joel Parkinson, who finished 2nd in the heat, scored a perfect 10 and still lost.

So as of right now, Taylor is sitting in the pole position for the Nixon 'WTA' award for the event. Winner gets a custom $10,000 watch from Nixon for the highest heat score of the event. And unless someone puts together a perfect 20 score, things could be looking good.

Here's some of the highlights from Taylor's Round 1 heat:

SURFLINE's Round 1 coverage including video of Taylor's waves and a great sequence of his power hack.

SURFER's Day 1 photo gallery including a few great shots of Taylor tearing the lip to pieces.

SURFER'S Day 1 video highlights.

Surfline Hits The Jackpot

Surfline kicked off some pretty damn good coverage from their annual summer surf trips this week with an awesome trip with Taylor, Sebastian Zietz, Carissa Moore and a few kids from Huntington Beach.

But the best part is that there are some pretty sick sequences of Taylor tearing his way through some of the same waves he surfed during the 2006 Rip Curl Search WCT in Mexico.

Check out all the coverage from Surfline HERE.

Fiji may be a bit too relaxing...

Taylor played second fiddle in his Round 1 heat yesterday, but that may have actually had more to do with him being in Kelly Slater's heat than it did with his own performance. Kelly racked up a 19.8-something heat - which basically left Taylor needing two perfect 10 rides in order to win the heat.

Ouch.

But we can always count our lucky stars that he faces Rodrigo Dornelles in Round 2. I won't look past the Brazilian into Round 3 yet, but hopefully Taylor can demolish him and move on to get his revenge on his good buddy, Kelly later in the event.

The boys over at SURFING did a pretty good job of following Taylor and Kelly through the airports, water ferrys, and event at breakfast while traveling to Tavarua. Uber-photographer Steve Sherman even put together a cool photo gallery of Taylor and the boys.

Check it out HERE

Awwww. Thanks Lewis Samuels! (whoever you are)

Surfline's geeky little guy who writes the Surfline Power Rankings, gave a little shout out my way for this humble little site. Add this to the mention I got IN PRINT in Surfer, and we might be drawing a little attention towards our cause.

Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor!!!!!!!!

Well, that sucked.

Taylor racked up his second consecutive Round 3 loss at the Billabong Pro Tahiti last week. I can safely say that we weren't really expecting him to win the whole thing, but it sure would have been nice to see him at least make the quarterfinals!

But that's ok, Taylor - we know you've got another run in ya, and Fiji is the perfect place to do it. Put down that cold Bintang and leave the tennis courts for the rookies - stay focused and you'll be the 5th American to take home the trophy from Tavarua and we'll have a parade down PCH in Carlsbad just for you.

And let me tell you, after my increased push-up ante, my guns are starting to become chiseled and strong. Nothing like Taylor's obviously, but hey, we can all have goals, right?

Taylor & The Rip Curl Crew on SurferMag.com

The boys over at Surfer have put up a new photo gallery all about the Rip Curl Search movie, and Taylor is featured in Chile. There are also a bunch of cold water shots of the Rip Curl crew, and in the Mentawais as well.

Check out all the photos HERE

Next Chance: Tahiti

Well, Bells didn't exactly go as well as many of us would have liked it to for Taylor, but the good news is that Tahiti is the next stop on the World Championship Tour. After a great Tahiti result in 2006, (3rd place) Taylor got a bit of a wake-up call last year when he lost to Cory Lopez in Round 3.

This year, it's been widely documented that Taylor has been working super-hard at his backhand surfing, so again there are high hopes for him to do well at this event.

And thanks to a little prompting from a recent SURFER Magazine column, (more on that later), I'll be upping the ante from here on out.

How you ask?

By committing to 500 push-ups for each HEAT Taylor wins at the remaining events on tour this year. And as a kicker - I'll still donate 1000 push-ups on top of that total if he wins an event. So potentially, that's 4,000 push-ups if Taylor wins every one of his heats at an event.

Anybody else willing to step up?

Surfing Does it again!

In case you missed it, the May 2008 issue of SURFING Magazine has a feature article entitled "7 Days With Taylor Knox". It's pretty insightful since it was written by one of Taylor's good friends - Tim Fox.

Lots of Taylor photos in the article and also lots of Taylor Knox ads throughout this issue as well. (it's almost like they KNEW there was going to be an article on Taylor this month)

The web guys seem to have used one of the beautiful shots from the feature as a wallpaper. You can download it HERE.

Shake It Off Taylor, It's only One Event

For those of you who weren't watching, Taylor lost in Round 3 of the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach last week. It took me a while to report on it because I was still upset about it. Tahiti is next on the schedule, and Taylor has done well there before - 3rd place in 2006. Hopefully he can get on a roll and not face some of the goofys in the early rounds.

It's going to be about 6 weeks until the event, so it's time for him to relax a little, have a beer or two and put this one behind him.

I know the events he's likely to do well at are still a few events away, but it would be cool to see him charge right through the draw at Teahupoo and win the event.

So get your push-up pledges in now!

Rip Curl Pro @ Bells Beach Update

So far, Taylor has had a pretty good run at Bells. If you can call 1 heat win a good "run" that is. So far, he's won his Round 1 heat and now faces Brazilian Neco Padaratz in Round 3. Taylor has a pretty good record against Padaratz in his career, but if the surf drops below 3 feet, Neco could be in his element. Luckily, there is a pretty good swell forecast for the rest of the event.

Looking ahead after Round 3, there is the possibility that Taylor could come up against Joel Parkinson again in Round 4. If you remember - Joel Beat Taylor at event #1 at Snapper Rocks.

But beyond Round 4, Taylor would definitely have his work cut out for him. He could potentially face Joel Parkinson in Round 4, Bede Durbidge in the Quarterfinals, and Mick Fanning in the Semifinals before taking on whatever superstar makes it through from the other half of the draw.

It's going to be a tough road, but you know Taylor's down for the job.

Mentawai's With Taylor on SurferMag.com

Looks like the boys over at Surfer finally got on the ball. Today they posted up a gallery of the Rip Curl team and a recent trip to the Mentawai Islands that they took. Lots of photos of Taylor ripping in some of the most fun rights you'll ever see.

Click Here for the gallery

Now You Can Be More Surf-Fit As Well

According to the Fantasy Surfer interview with Taylor the other day, he has partnered up with his trainer to release a new website and fitness video to help other surfers get in better shape. You can check it out at www.SurfExercises.com

Fantasy Surfer Interview With Taylor Knox

Looks like Fantasy Surfer is getting on the Taylor Knox bandwagon. They recently posted an interview with Taylor as he prepares for the next event at Bells Beach. Some insightful stuff about his workouts and how he has prepared for 2008. Good stuff.

www.fantasysurfer.com

Is Power Surfing Dead?

Is power surfing dead? That's the question that Pat O'Connell poses to Taylor in the latest edition of Surfline TV's "Going Off w/ Pat O'Connell".

Check out Taylor's answer and more at http://www.surfline.com/video/video_player/video_player.cfm?id=14117

Taylor Loses In Round 4 of The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast

One event in the can, and Taylor just missed out on making the Quarterfinals at the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast of Australia. So for any of you who ponied up a push-up commitment, you're safe. For now.

Now it's on to the Rip Curl Pro @ Bells Beach. Taylor has to be considered a strong favorite to do well there considering he's such a powerful surfer in rights like Bells.

So I'm starting off with a promise of 1000 push-ups if Taylor wins at Bells.

How many will YOU pony up?

Taylor Wins His Round 3 Heat At The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast

So now it's on to Round 4 where Taylor will now take on local boy Joel Parkinson to see who moves on to the quarterfinals. It's going to be a tough road for whoever wins this event as both sides of the draw are incredibly stacked with talent.

Good luck Taylor!

Taylor Comments On The Current ASP Scoring System

Recently, Taylor sat down with good friend Pat O'Connell during pats little segment / video show he does with Surfline and they spoke about the current ASP scoring system and how well it's working. Check out the interview:

http://www.surfline.com/video/video_player/video_player.cfm?id=13867

Trick Tips With Taylor on Surfline

This past week, Surfline wised up and finally put together a "How To" section with Taylor Knox and his amazing cutbacks. Taylor walks you through his technique for both frontside and backside cutbacks and goes over some details about foot placement as well.

Great job Surfline crew!!! Keep it up!

Check out the video here:

http://www.surfline.com/video/video_player/video_player.cfm?id=13845

And He's Good For The Environment Too...

I stumbled out of bed this morning for my early-morning surf check, and figured I would check out the surf websites before I headed out the door. And what was the top / #1 story on Surfing Magazine's website this morning?

Why none other than TAYLOR KNOX and a story about how he converted his truck to run on veggie oil. AND, it seems that Surfing will be featuring Taylor in their "7 Days With" series, where they follow him around for a few days and see what his life is like.

Thank you Evan Slater and the Surfing staff!!!

Now maybe we can get a cover shot to go along with that issue and all will be right with the world.

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.surfingthemag.com/news/surfing-pulse/taylor-knox-grease-not-gas-vegetable-oil-022508/

Taylor Wins His Round 1 Heat At The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast

Taylor won his Round 1 heat against Ben Dunn and Jay Thompson. This puts him a mere 5 heats wins away from a victory at the Quiksilver Pro. With his win, he gets to take at least 1 day off as he now gets to bypass the "loser's round" - aka Round 2.

Good luck Taylor! We're pulling for ya!

Pony Up For The Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast

Okay, there is less than 48 hours until the start of the Quiksilver Pro - Event #1 for 2008.

So how many push-ups will you commit to if Taylor wins this event?

Be sure to show your support and draft Taylor for your Fantasy Surfer teams as well!!!

Taylor Knox Wallpaper from TransworldSurf.com

More Taylor Knox Wallpaper

Vote For Taylor For Best Turn in Surfing Magazine's Poll

Taylor is up for a nomination in the "Best Turn" category. Get your votes in before March 1st - That's when the voting ends.

VOTE HERE

So What Happened Last Year (2007)?

Last Year, things looked pretty good for the tour's power broker, and then close friend Mick Fanning turned on the after burners and put the tour away. Taylor had some flashes of brilliance - such as his perfect 10 point ride in the Quarterfinals at the Boost Mobile Pro @ Trestles, but other than that, it was a year mixed with 3rd & 4th Round losses throughout the year.

Here are a few highlights from last year:


Cover Boy: Taylor scored the cover of Surfing Magazine's January 2007 issue with this shot from Baja, Mexico:





New Sponsorship: Between the first and second events of the 2007 season, Taylor picked up Rip Curl as his primary sponsor after his deal with OP expired. While he didn't do that well in his first event as a Rip Curl team rider, he did manage to get tons of exposure for them on their Search trips and with consistent results the rest of the year.



In September, Taylor and he rest of the tour headed to Lower Trestles for the Boost Mobile Pro. Taylor was eliminated in the Quarterfinals by good friend Kelly Slater, but not before he scored a perfect 10 and came close to another high score on his second wave before falling.




When the tour finally headed off to Hawaii, it was officially "Movember". This is the month of the year that many of the tour surfers grow out their moustaches for prostate cancer carities. Taylor sported one of the best ones on the entire North Shore, and was one of the best surfers in the water (as usual).

If Only Every Wave On Tour Was A Right

Mexico, the site of Taylor's last finals appearance, is a perfect righthander that suits his style perfectly. I just hope the Rip Curl Search event heads back there so Taylor can have a re-match with Andy Irons in the final and take him out

Article on Surfing Magazine's Website Featuring Taylor Knox

Looks like SURFING and Evan Slater finally got it right. Their latest feature on the web is an article on the Bonzer design, and it features a few shots of Taylor Knox throughout it.

Check out the article HERE

http://www.surfingthemag.com/news/surfing-pulse/malcolm-campbell-interview-bonzer-020608/

Push-Up Count As of Today: Feb 14th, 2008

500 Push-Ups

Push-Ups For Taylor: Here's the concept

Okay, many of you will come to this site and laugh a little bit. Others will think I'm weird. And some of you might be right there with me. Well, here's what it's all about:

Taylor Knox is an American surfer on the Foster's ASP World Championship Tour. He's currently getting ready to start his 15th year on tour, and he only has 1 career win at that level. This site is an attempt to help him achieve success and win another event before he retires.

Now, I know that;
A) He's a very talented surfer and doesn't really need my help,
B) There are MANY of you out there who would love to see him win an event, and
C) Like many other people who are fans of Taylor Knox, it has become very frustrating to watch him year after year and not taste victory

So here is what I propose - PUSH-UPS FOR TAYLOR

All of you who are familiar with who he is know that he is extremely fit and athletic. Strongest surfer on tour. Best cutback in the business. Strong and powerful style.

So this goes right along with that theme - for each event, commit to a number of push-ups that you will do if Taylor Knox wins that event. For example, the opening event of 2008 is the Quiksilver Pro on the Gold Coast of Australia. If Taylor Knox wins that event, I personally will commit to performing 500 push-ups. You can commit to doing any number of push-ups that you want, but the goal is to do as many as you can should Taylor win an event. The count starts over again after Taylor is eliminated from an event, so you will need to re-commit before all 11 events.

It is my hope that this will help Taylor and the American contingent on the tour know that we have their backs and support them.

I will update with all the Taylor Knox updates I can and give a status update for the total push-up count. This is also a Taylor Knox fan site, so feel free to send in photos of you and Taylor and we'll post them up.

And away we go!