Question: why do the people who appear in electric skateboard videos always look like they’re stepping onto a skateboard for the first time? Answer: because they are.

[Link: InventorSpot]

Not that we didn’t see this coming, but apparently Kelly Slater will surf in his sponsors Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks Feburary 28-March 11, 2009.

This the strongest indication yet he plans to chase an incredible 10th world crown. While 36-year-old Slater has refused to be drawn on his surfing future, organisers of the iconic Snapper Rocks event have revealed the unstoppable American is already locked in for March 2009. . . . “The Quiksilver Pro, presented by LG, and the Gold Coast are two things very special to Kelly,” said event spokesman Johnathan Jenkins.

Nice that his main sponsor can still get him to come to work.

[Link: Goldcoast.com.au]

Rico de Souza, 55, of Brazil fired a shot for all fat, old, longboard surfers when he recently rode the world’s longest surfboard at a beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Afterwards he said that the ride had been a thrilling experience. “It was an exceptional wave, the wave was shaky, the board was jumping, but I managed to stand firm,” he said. . . Asked about his future plans, he said that he only wanted to enjoy life and do good deeds. . . “Life is a joke and we have to take advantage of our passage through earth in the best way possible,” he said.

Apparently, breaking silly world records is on Rico’s “best” list.

[Link: Telegraph.co.uk]

Thanks to allegedly punching an off-duty police officer outside the Epic bar in Honolulu’s Chinatown in March 2008, Bra Boy Koby Abberton will be spending some time in the clink.

Today, he pleaded no contest to assault in the 3rd degree in a Kaneohe court. Prosecutors asked for 10 days in jail, and 1 year of probation. A judge sentenced him to 3 days, and a 6-month deferral. If he stays out of trouble, his record will be wiped clean.

That’s much better than the year he was initially up against. Congrats to Koby’s lawyers.

[Link: KGMB 9]

A new management plan for Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has expanded the reach of the park and changed some of the rules regarding chumming for great white sharks and the use of personal watercrafts, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.

The new rules expand the definition of motorized personal watercraft to ban the larger vehicles everywhere but outside the mouth of four harbors within the sanctuary and at Mavericks. There, they can be used for tow-in surfing only during the few days in December, January and February when the National Weather Service issues high surf advisories.

The new rules go into effect in March 2009 meaning this is the last winter for tow-ins at Ghost Trees.

[Link: Los Angeles Times]

We all know how well it worked in the skate market so now snowboarders Brandon Bybee, Rob Foy, Jason Murphy, and Benson Miller are bringing blanks to snowboarding with a new anti-brand called Blank Snowboards.

We are on a mission to take snowboarding back from corporate America by making snowboarding affordable without compromising the quality. We were there before snowboarding became what it is today: mainstream, unaffordable, and all about the hype. We want to give back to the sport that has given us so many memories, friendships, and great “sick” days by providing the best product at the correct price. We have found that by cutting out all the unnecessary costs (ie: retailers, graphics, and high-paid riders) we can provide the best decks in the industry for ½ the price of any comparable board. We are about the sport not the hype. We are the traditionalists not the trend.

Never quite seen retailers called out as “unnecessary costs” before, but it makes sense. And getting a snowboard for less than 200 bucks does make paying $500 to ride a logo emblazoned billboard seem kind of foolish. Wonder if the major snowboard labels will band together and pressure Transworld Business into creating a special advertorial supplement next fall to help educate the market about how blank snowboards are killing the entire industry?

[Link: Blank Snowboards via The Spectrum]

By winning the Reef Pro at Haleiwa Carissa Moore, 16, has become the youngest surfer ever to win a Vans Triple Crow of Surfing event. But we’re more interested in her recent sponsor news: Nike 6.0, Red Bull, and “a soon-to-be-named department store chain?” We’re intrigued by those who work outside the surf industry “studio system.”

[Links: Surfing Magazine and ASP World Tour]

Some people like to give Zumiez grief for being “mall” stores, but when you compare their conference calls with those of some of their competitors what comes through is a surprisingly core attitude about the stores, the brands, and the customers. After the prepared statements Zumiez CEO Rick Brooks and CFO Trevor Lang answered questions and here are some of the highlights

• October had the worst monthly comps in the company’s history.
• Footwear was the strongest segment, apparel was the worst, and skate hard goods are seeing “tough comps.”
• Third quarter gross margins were down 200 basis points driven almost entirely by apparel since the June when everything got promotional.
• New stores (07-08) have been performing at about 65 percent as compared to established stores.
• Company is targeting opening 58 new stores, only 20 percent of them are in the “housing states” and no new stores in Nevada or Florida.
• Snow goods are off to a slow start. Rick Brooks said “We are concerned about the market for snow hardgoods. We’re working very closely with our suppliers. We’re also going to be more aggressive from the price perspective and trying to move the product out the door.
• The company has lowered its costs across the board and stock and performance based incentives are a large part of that.
• Customers continue to drive the brand selection and the business. “Again, our approach is to do what our customers tell us to do,” Brooks said. “The customers are who drive that for us. If the custermers demand more then we will buy more.”
• Zumiez remains dedicated to its small vendors. “In most cases we are our small vendors biggest customers,” Brooks said. “If we have cash then we are a big driver of their liquidity.”
• Zumiez is brand diverse so any problems at some of the larger action sports apparel companies won’t have much affect on them. “Our largest single brand only represents 7 percent of our sales,” Lang said “But we are not so confined to a certain vendor that if one were to go away it would not hurt us.”
• One of Zumiez goals is to get clean on inventory by the end of the year and they feel they have been conservative enough this year to do that.
• The company is still investing in their IT organization and in their ecommerce business because that is an area in which Zumiez continues to see growth.
• There are plans to get very promotional in Q4 however they are not going to simply put everything on sale. “Our promotions are based on a very fine category brand analysis and very focused on how we attach promotions.

The most impressive thing about all of this is the way that Brooks and Lang appear to be all over the current market conditions and appear to have done everything they could to prepare for what everyone knows is going to be a bad quarter. The thing that keeps us optimistic on Zumiez is the fact that they’re still running with absolutely no debt.

We just added a new blog to the list. It’s called Boil The Ocean. We don’t know anything about it other than it features something we find rare in skateboard blogging: consistently intelligent opinion regarding skateboarding. We’re just embarrassed that we hadn’t read it until now. Check it, and let us know if you know who’s kicking down all this knowledge.

[Link: Boil The Ocean]

Action sports mall retailer Zumiez announced their Q3 results today and they weren’t as bad as they could have been.

Total net sales for the third quarter (13 weeks) ended November 1, 2008 increased by 7.9% to $112.2 million from $104.0 million reported in the third quarter ended November 3, 2007 (13 weeks). The company posted net income for the quarter of $6.8 million or $0.23 per diluted share versus $8.1 million or $0.28 per diluted share in the third quarter of the prior fiscal year. Comparable store sales decreased 5.8% for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 compared to a 13.2% increase in the third quarter of fiscal 2007.

According to CEO Rick Brooks, however, “October was the worst montly comp in the company’s history.” The economically hard hit “housing states” are where Zumiez have half their stores and while skate hardgood sales were strong in the first six month, they fell off in the third quarter and the clothing part of the business was hit extremely hard.

Zumiez has seen a slow start on the snow product front. But they say they are committed to finish off the year “clean” on inventory by getting all promotional in Q4 a.k.a. putting things on sale.

[Link: MarketWatch]