Admit it. This Strip Mall Surfer Phantom Flyer kit is the raddest, funnest skateboard you’ve seen in years. Wide board, squared off, narrow tucks, Clay Pigeon wheels, round wheel wells. . . what more could you ask for when surfin’ the ditches? And it’s all new from Blockhead Skateboards. Click the link for all the details.
Legendary skateboarder and businessman Jamie Thomas has teamed up with OTIS Eyewear on a new frame named The Outsider.
The Outsider draws inspiration from vintage frames, while adding bow tie temple pins as a nod to the classic fashion of the 60s. An unpolished finish on the nose bridge then brings out the personality of Jamie’s skate culture – raw and unrefined. The frame comes in two different sizes, offering a tailored fit in the hero dual tone colour or matte tortoise shell, plus a larger version in classic black and tortoise too. Every piece is made with optically correct, scratch-resistant mineral glass lenses, offering the clarity and focus Jamie demands of himself.
Look pretty nice, don’t they? For a look at the official line click here.
We’ve had a love/hate relationship with the Apple Watch surf tracking app Dawn Patrol. It is, by far, the most elegant solution to putting a tide chart on the Apple watch, but when it comes to actual live tide data it falls way short.
Dawn Patrol gives the high and low tides along with the local time of each event, but for current tide measurements, and/or what the tide will be tomorrow or the day after, Dawn Patrol offers nothing at all. Some of this will reportedly change soon.
In our next release you’ll get a short term forecast on the Apple Watch! Stay tuned for the update, it will come alongside the release of watchOS 10.
In the meantime, we’ve found that by adding the free Ocean Watch app to our Apple watch we now have the live tide (lower right complication) and forecasting that we need. Ocean watch also has a tide chart complication, but it’s clunky. Dawn Patrol for pretty graphics and moderately close water temps, and Ocean Watch for real tide data.
Rad sock makers Merge4 announce a new partnership with skateboarder Minna Stess.
The MERGE4 x Minna Stess collaboration will showcase art by Kayla Caballero, skateboard legend Steve Caballero’s daughter, designed exclusively for her. The design will feature bats and donuts on MERGE4’s performance socks. “I have always loved my MERGE4 fam, and they have always been so supportive of me since I was a little SF Bay Area skater. Having my own sock means a lot to me and I’m super stoked on it!“ Said Minna Stess.
For a better look at the new socks, plus all the others, please click the link. Or follow the jump for the official word.
If you’re depending on a Black Diamond Recon LT avalanche transceiver to save your life when you get buried on your next backcountry trip, you might want to update the firmware immediately. Apparently, they can, on occasion, NOT WORK AT ALL.
The recalled transceivers can unexpectedly enter search mode due to interference from other beacons. If this occurs, the device could fail to transmit the position of survivors of an avalanche, resulting in delayed search and rescue operations, which could result in severe bodily harm or death if the skier is buried under snow.
So, don’t use it. Update the firmware, and then pray that the new firmware works better than the last. Side note: this doesn’t appear to be anything new for Black Diamond. They appear to have avalanche beacon recalls every year.
We have a love hate with Dawn Patrol for the Apple Watch. When it works, it’s fun to see how many waves we got, how fast slowly we surfed and save it to analyze later. When it doesn’t work, however, it can be just enough of a tech annoyance to ruin an otherwise good session. That’s why we’re hoping that the newest update (version 5.0) of their surf tracking app will tip the balance in the right direction.
We have made some sleek design changes, increased overall performance, and added more intuitive user interfaces. . . We have enhanced the interface of the surf map. Your surf metrics are laid out in a clean and efficient way to read. . . Get to know how efficient your paddle is, allowing you to measure your strength and ultimately catch more waves. . . Our renewed tidal chart shows the current water level height and spot name. . . Get to know your spot better and learn at which tides you are catching your best waves.
One thing is for sure–Dawn Patrol is the best way to put a tide chart on the face of your Apple Watch. And it’s all worth it just for that. For all the details, please click the link.
Helmets made and marketed by Sakar International under the Tony Hawk Multi-purpose Helmets name have been recalled because they reportedly “do not comply with the positional stability and retention system requirements of the U.S. CPSC federal safety standard for bicycle helmets.” This the second time this year for Tony Hawk helmets. And years back Tony Hawk flammable pajamas were recalled from Kohls.
Tony Hawk multi-purpose helmets were sold in various colors and have black straps and a black buckle. The white warning label on the inside of the helmet contains one of the following item numbers on the top right corner: AGE251TH-GCRM, AGE251TH-NCRM, AGE251TH-BKMT, AGE251TH-BLU-T30-12, AGE251TH-RBW, AGE22SLDTH-BLK, or ACTGEAR242TH-GRN.
If you, or someone you know, made the mistake of buying one of these helmets, please immediately stop using it and contact Sakar for instructions. Another example of why getting paid to let people slap your name on junk might not be the best idea in the long term.
Tech Deck has been bringing us authentic mini skateboards featuring real graphics from the world’s biggest skate brands for 25 years. So when you’re not dropping in on a halfpipe you can carve, flip and grind your way to fingerboarding greatness. Or shred the gift-giving game with these must-have replicas.
From nose to tail, Tech Deck’s fingerboards are designed to replicate the feel of a real skateboard–down to the smallest detail. Collect them all, including decks from Blind, Baker, Primitive, Finesse, Element, Santa Cruz, Plan B, and Toy Machine, plus replicas of boards used by top pros like Mariah Duran, Nyjah Huston, Torey Pudwill and Daewon Song. Follow the jump for all the details!
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.
Who would have thought that Walmart would be selling helmets that need to be recalled? Apparently, the Tony Hawk signature helmets “do not comply with the positional stability and retention system requirements of the U.S. CPSC federal safety standard for bicycle helmets.”
Luckily, no one who reads this site would have purchased a helmet like this, but if you know someone, tell them to contact Sakar at 800-592-9541 anytime, email at support@sakar.com, or online at https://www.vivitar.com/pages/recalls or www.vivitar.com and click on “Recalls” at the bottom of the page. And yeah, another reminder that you can’t always trust a Tony Hawk endorsement.