Kanoa Igarashi is Southern California’s favorite local surfer with a Japanese passport so we shouldn’t be surprised to find him moonlighting as the face of Delta Airlines advertising in Nippon. But they’re not using ripping hot surf action of Mr. Igarashi. Nope. They’ve got a photo of him sitting on a plane and grimacing in pain just like every other poor sap suffering through a 12 hour flight from Detroit to Chubu.
As Japan eased travel restrictions in October and leisure travel demand from the Chubu region is expected to increase, Delta kicked off the campaign at the Chubu International Airport, with the support of the airport authority, hanging large-sized banners from the ceiling of the lobby. Delta launched additional OOHs at Kanayama Station and at Meitetsu Nagoya Station.
There he is. Just sitting. Will anyone who doesn’t surf even know who he is?
According to a recently published scholarly article by Brian Glenney and Paul O’Conner skateboarding continues to be “discordant.” In other words, skateboarding continues to be disagreeable and incongruous to the mainstream regardless of how you may feel about its diluted post pop cultural blowout. At least that’s what the authors have decided based on studying skaters in New Zealand. Here’s a little slice from the abstract.
We expand upon skateboarding’s relationship with time using the Marxist theorist Henri Lefebvre’s temporal science of Rhythmanalysis. With the disruption of urban social production of capital by the Covid-19 pandemic, we find skateboarding renewed in urban disjuncture from Capitalism and argue that this separation is central to its performance and culture. We propose that skateboarding is arrhythmic: discordant, out of step, and disruptive of the more predictable rhythms of everyday production of capital.
Good to know. If you find yourself engaged with this kind of super discussion of skateboarding philosophy the please, by all means, click the link to read the entire article.
If we’re going to get advice regarding charging out into the backcountry and riding the big walls, we’d probably put Jeremy Jones at the top of our ask list. And now, thanks to his new book The Art of Shralpinism, we won’t need to waste any of Mr. Jones’ time with our dumb questions, because he’s put it all down on paper.
Here’s how the book is described:
Shralpinism is a compendium of lessons hard won: quick tips, sound advice, and impactful stories. Learn which aspects of avalanche training are most crucial to absorb, ways to anticipate slope behavior or recognize clean lines, how to cut a cornice or develop safety protocols, how to build a fitness routine, the art of the turn, and keys to developing terrain and skills progression. Jones discusses the importance of mentors, the necessity and intensity of practice, the nature of risk, and the shape of failure.
Looks like a pretty good overview of some of the things we all need to know. The 288-page book is currently available on Amazon.com for $29. For all the official details, please follow the jump.
After decades of spending money on their action sporting franchise, ESPN has finally found an exit to the X Games by selling “a majority interest” in the brand to a private equity firm called MSP Sports Capital (owners of McLaren Racing and more.)
“We are bringing our deep-rooted sports expertise to continue the progression and excitement around athletes, competition, fans, and X Games partners,” said Jahm Najafi, Founder and Chairman, MSP Sports Capital, and Founder and CEO, The Najafi Companies.
MSP founder Jahm Najafi, a billionaire who (aside from owning a large piece of the Phoenix Suns basketball team and entertainment company STX Entertainment,) also has investment dealings through Najafi Companies with Shaun Neff. Remember his first brand Neff Headwear?
We’ve never understood the calculus behind PE/VCs interest in action sports. Rarely have the numbers worked for anyone (Jamie Salter is an obvious exception), yet the “sexiness” of boardsports seems to keep the money managers flocking like vultures. They’ve enlisted Tony Hawk as “a brand steward,” and that’s not a bad first move. But the only real synergy the X Games brand ever had was ESPN’s somewhat aging TV/Internet distribution system, so it will be interesting to see what MSP does with the brand outside of that. Najafi is obviously a business genius, so this should be good.
For the official word from MSP, please follow the jump.
Selema Masekela talks fashion with W Magazine and more specifically about his Alekesam brand.
As a young person, I aspired to get into the surf, snowboard, and skateboard industry. Being a pro athlete in this space would have been the ultimate, but I started too late and didn’t have the skill set, so I thought, How do I stay close to this? I was always curious about what a brand would look like in the surfing space that was specifically African.
Apparently, Alekesam will show us all exactly what that looks like. For the rest of the interview, click the link.
Nothing makes us feel older than a 30 year retrospective of pretty much anything. In this case it’s Ride Snowboards. For their new docco Rough Around The Edges they put a who’s who list of OG shreds from the 90s into a Corbusier and let them run. Every single somebody from the era is represented. Can’t wait to see the entire thing.
Lenders have been given the legal go-ahead to sue Quiksilver and Billabong’s parent company Boardriders after the lenders accused the company of “unfairly” benefitting from a rescue financing deal back in 2020, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.
A New York judge said Tuesday (October 18, 2022) that loan funds managed by Intermediate Capital Group PLC and other investment firms can move ahead with claims against Boardriders Inc. and another group of lenders over a 2020 debt transaction that provided $110 million in capital to the company.
The lenders seem to be bothered because they believe Boardriders got a better piece of the $110 million than they should have. Apparently, they posit that more of said money should have gone to paying them back. We’d read the rest of the story, but we don’t have access to WSJ Pro. If you do, let us know what it all means.
Gregory “Scott” Starr, the Santa Barbara, California based skate, surf, snow photographer and boardsports historian died October 9, 2022 one day following his 61st birthday, according to a story in the Santa Barbara Independent. Most will remember him from his years shooting for Thrasher Magazine during the 1980s and 90s.
Scott loved photography, surfing, skateboarding, frisbee, snowboarding, his beach home, researching the history of all he loved, and weaving stories of it all. He was a respected film historian and archivist of surf/skate/frisbee/snowboarding sports and cultures, but above all that, he was an extraordinary person who always made others feel at ease. His family and many friends meant the world to him. Most important was his faith in Jesus.
The community will hold a paddle out to remember Starr’s life at a “local beach” on the afternoon of Friday, October 21, 2022.
Don’t you love athletic complex mock-ups? They are optimistic, and forward thinking, and gleaming with earnest thoughts about a beautiful tomorrow. Perfect people lounging in chairs, drinks in hand surrounded by blue skies and palm trees. Yet, sadly, these plans almost always fail to become reality. The newest high-minded hopefulness is coming from Houston, Texas. HTX Surf is a Wavegarden technology powered wave in a 4,200 acre multi-use development called Generation Park.
“We’re thrilled to welcome this innovative, world-class surfing destination to Generation Park. Such a unique amenity is a great asset for Houston and will attract a wide range of personalities–from professional surfers, amateur boarders, families, and corporate groups among others,” said owner/developer of Generation Park Ryan McCord.
Construction is set to begin in “early 2023” with an opening in 2024. Please don’t take our negativity as hoping this project fails. We hope beyond hope that Texas gets another fake wave, we’re just not betting on it.
We’ve said it for years, but here’s a little reminder about author/skater Walker Ryan from Old Friends. And, if you want to read a great skate book, click here for Top of Mason.
According to a recently published 
If we’re going to get advice regarding charging out into the backcountry and riding the big walls, we’d probably put Jeremy Jones at the top of our ask list. And now, thanks to his new book 
After decades of spending money on their action sporting franchise, ESPN has finally found an exit to the 
Selema Masekela talks fashion with 
Lenders have been given the legal go-ahead to sue Quiksilver and Billabong’s parent company 
