After waiting out lightning and high winds the Volcom Fiji Pro finally got to finish off the last two heats of Round 2 with Bede Durbidge edging Adam Melling and Kai Otton rolling past Raoni Monteiro in 10 – 12 foot Cloudbreak surf.
“Those were the biggest most perfect waves I’ve ever surfed,” Durbidge said. “It was pretty nerve-wracking being first up. We were on and then off and then on again. You have to be prepared to go. I think everyone on tour is more than capable of handling Cloudbreak as big as it gets, we just have to pick our window with the wind. Mello (Adam Melling) was charging out there too so tough luck to him but I’m pumped to get some bombs and get through to Round 3.”
Round 3 could begin today with Taj Burrow and Durbidge kicking things off. Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
The CEO position at Nike’s surf brand Hurley has been in seemingly constant rotation since the the footwear giant bought the Costa Mesa, California based company in February of 2002.
For those keeping track, Hurley has now had four CEOs in the past 16 months. Here’s how it has all gone down: Bob Hurley was CEO until October 2007 when he was replaced by Nike insider Roger Wyett. Wyett then handed the position off to former Dockers President Jim Calhoun in April of 2011 only to move the man over to Converse a month later. Wyett served as interim CEO until September 2011 when former VF Corp. veteran Michael Egeck was hired for the CEO position. Egeck lasted approximately eight months before exiting. Now, Hurley is back to where it started with CEOs.
Three things come to mind. One, from our perspective there is no one better equipped to guide the direction of Hurley than Bob. Two, it must be hell trying to be CEO of the Hurley brand in Bob’s shadow, especially for the kind of business jocks who love being the boss. And finally three, how long will Nike continue to juggle CEO’s before they just drop the whole thing? Guess we’ll all know soon enough.
Ryan Stutt and the die-hard print magazine enthusiasts behind the Canadian skate and snow magazines King Shit and King Snow are diving into the travel magazine world with a new titled called Later. Here’s their elevator pitch:
LATER. speaks to an audience of people who travel regularly to do what they love—be it surfing, skating, snowboarding or just getting weird in a foreign land. It features content from all over the globe and from a hugely diverse group of contributors —from pro surfers, skateboarders and snowboarders, to random people who just had a funny story from the road. . . “When all is said and done, you’ll never remember that week you worked overtime and went to sleep early, but passing out on a Mexican beach, getting robbed and scoring the best waves of your life are memories that will last forever,” said Editor Andrew Sayer.
From the looks of King Shit and King Snow, Later will be a lush, quality papered, fifth-color-and-varnish magazine that will go great on the coffee table, and with Keith Malloy man-handling a squid on the first cover Later promises to be “authentically hip.” Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
This is part one of a four-part Dragon’s new webisode series called Frame Of Mind: The B-Sides of Life. In this one show pony Mick Fanning pines on about how great it is to go free surfing away from the ASP tour circus. Fancy that. . . a guy who just wants a little time off from his job surfing the best waves on the planet. [click to continue…]
Quiksilver certainly is attempting to downplay some of their previous over-the-top luxury helis-and-yachts surf films with No Agenda. Here’s what they’re saying about the film:
No Agenda is not about selling boardshorts. It’s not about the latest marketing advertisements and campaigns. It’s not about champagne, leather couches and expensive boat trips. It’s all about beach traffic, bottom turns, sun burns, cold beer, ding repair, dirty wax, flat spells, f#!king kooks, getting burned, local legends, lost luggage, magic boards, nut rash, lofty punts, onshore wind, perfect barrels, sandy hair and sharing waves. It’s good, it’s bad, it’s surfing. This movie has No Agenda.
Well, except for that whole “promoting the brand” thing, of course. But then again, it looks good. Click the link for film tour dates beginning June 15, 2012 in Miami.
Round 1 of the Volcom Pro Fiji is going kick off with a bang as Jordy Smith, Brett Simpson, and Freddy P face off in Heat 1. And things are reportedly looking good for a swell.
“We’ve got a ton of swell lining up for the first week of the Volcom Fiji Pro,” Kevin Wallis, Surfline forecaster, said. “The event will get off to a quick start on Sunday the 3rd with a solid southwest swell at Cloudbreak along with favorable easterly wind. Wind will remain favorable for the first half of the following week as the swell tapers down. Long range charts point to a larger southwest swell for the 8th – 10th, if forecast models prove to be correct.”
This should be good. For those of us on the west coast the live broadcast will begin around 1 PM PT on Saturday, June 2, 2012 (don’t let the dateline fool you). Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP including the complete Round 1 Draw. [click to continue…]
The Nixon Euro surf team now include French ripper Marc Lacomare. How’s that for good news?
The multiple French Junior Champion and former ASP Billabong World Junior Champion is no stranger to the Nixon family having previously been on the Nixon flow program. Following Marc’s impressive showing in the Canary Islands, the team made a unanimous decision to promote the Hossegor-based surfer to the European surf team.
Who wouldn’t be excited to have 11-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater on their team, but did GoPro really need give Mr. Slater a new middle name? Apparently they did. And it is “Fucking.” And it’s about fucking time fucking Kelly fucking Slater got some fucking recognition for being Kelly Fucking Slater. Fuck.
[Editors’ Note: Yes, this is the second time we’ve used this over fucking use of the fucking fuck word for comedic effect. But that’s just because we’re a sustainable business. We recycle cuss words because they’re so hard on the environment.]
There’s nothing more re:refreshing that a big blast of the past served up as re:fresh and no one does re:retro better than Brixton and Troy Elmore as evidenced by this clip. We’re feeling blurry just watching it.
The Volcom Fiji Pro waiting period starts Friday, June 1, 2012 and it would seem that this event will be the one that breaks out the field and sets the tone for the rest of the 2012 season. Joel Parkinson is looking forward to it.
“The big difference this year is that there are a whole bunch of guys who’ve put their hands up in the ratings and there are some new guys in there like Kerrzy (Josh Kerr) and John John (Florence) who really add a new flavor to it,” Parkinson said. “You could throw a blanket over the Top 10 at the moment it’s that close, so leading the ratings right now doesn’t mean too much.”
