Bruce Irons did a test run at Teahupoo wearing a blindfold. Why? We’re not sure. Now, for his next trick we’d like to see him do it blindfolded with one arm tied behind his back.
[Link: Stab Mag]
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Surfing
The Sydney Morning Herald is quoting “sources close” to Billabong as saying that CEO Derek O’Neill will be “removed as CEO” soon thanks to “declining sales and rising debt,” but officially the company is denying that.
Billabong last night moved to quash rumors that embattled chief executive Derek O’Neill would soon be dumped by the board, amid growing concern among major investors about the surf wear company’s performance. . . Billabong chairman Ted Kunkel said last night: ”I categorically deny the suggestion.”
We’re going out on a limb to say that we think the board will do whatever they think is best for the stock.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
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It was down to the wire at the 2012 Volcom Pipeline Pro with Pipeline veteran Jamie O’Brien in the lead for most of the final over Kai Barger, Nate Yeomans, and John Florence. With O’Brien in the lead, Florence had already conceded defeat, when a wave bumped up on the horizon. Florence paddled for it, slipped in, got shacked and added a 9.33 to his 10 for a winning 19.93.
“I wrote myself off half way through,” said Florence. “Kai and Jamie both had nines and eights. Jamie had two nines. I can’t believe it. Here at Pipe anything can happen. I surfed my first heat, then had my hand (injury) and tweaked my neck really bad and that was killing me. So I was seriously considering not continuing on. I got some work done on my neck, taped my hand up and it all worked out.”
JOB was equally bummed after coming so close.
“It hurts,” said Jamie, holding onto the runner-up $10,000 check. “You think you’re going to get first and you don’t. It’s OK. I got some really good scores and I put on a great performance, I felt. To me that means everything. I had a great time. I finally got in a good rhythm my last couple of heats. I enjoyed myself and it was a good day.”
Follow the jump for the rest or click here for complete results. [click to continue…]
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Organizers of the Volcom Pipeline Pro didn’t let 12 foot waves get in the way of competition on Day 3 of the event on January 31, 2012.
Defending Volcom Pipe Pro champion, John Florence (Hawaii), scraped through today in a heat that could have been a final. Up against former Pipe champion Bruce Irons, Australian Anthony Walsh, and North Shore local Sean Moody, Florence had his work cut out. Florence made a last minute barrel to steal second place away from Walsh and advance. . . “I was pretty nervous, I almost wasn’t going to do my heat,” said Florence. “I have a really bad kink in my neck, and my hand hurt… I kind of sat there the whole heat and luckily got a wave in the end. Anthony Walsh is so gnarly. That was definitely a scary heat to have… Moody and Bruce too… There are a lot of wash-through sets. It’s fun but there’s these crazy double ups that come in.”
Round of 32 heats could begin today. Follow the jump for full details. [click to continue…]
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Mervin Manufacturing co-founder Mike Olson has been weird sciencing the snowboard world for nearly three decades. Some would argue (us included) that Olson (along with partner Peter Saari and Steven Cobb) responsible for more design advancements in snowboard and ski technology than any other living person. Beginning with the carving snowboard, parabolic sidecut, and cap construction, and continuing on with reverse camber, and augmented snowboard edge shapes, Olson has been going against conventional wisdom for his entire career. For the past two years Olson has been working exclusively on a new project involving what he calls “waterboards” or what the rest of us call surfboards.
Jeff Henderson, Mike Olson, Pete Saari and the new Lib Tech waterboards.
We’ve been hearing about these new surfboards for a while but we’d never seen any, most likely because he’s purposefully been keeping them out of the line-ups of Southern California breaks. Then during the Agenda Show in Long Beach we got into a late-night elevator at the Hyatt and ran into a crew from Mervin Manufacturing. They had four of the new surfboards and were taking them up to their room. We were so blown away by the boards and so interested in feeling, squeezing, and holding them that we forgot to even take a picture. We didn’t know it at the time, but in typical Mervin Manufacturing strategy Mike decided to present the surfboards to the world at the Snowsports Industries of America Show in Denver, Colorado last week where very few of the attendees would even know enough about surfing to be impressed.
We couldn’t believe what we were seeing, it’s game-changing. As much as we can say from only holding them, the boards live up to the hype. They are light, well-shaped, and (after seeing four knocked to the floor) unbelievable durable. We had some questions, and luckily Mike Olson was there to answer them in excruciating detail.
Halfway through our interview PR maven Lora Bodmer cut in to make sure Olson wasn’t giving away any trade secrets, but other than that we got 28 minutes of the straight scoop.
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After five “lei days” the Volcom Pipeline Pro finally got off to a macking start this morning (January 28, 2012) in eight to twelve foot surf, but after three hours of competition (seven heats) the waves had jumped into the 15-20 foot range forcing event organizers to call off the contest for the day because it was getting too dangerous.
Kauai’s Stephen Koehne, the top-scorer of the day, ended up with a gruesome gash to the knee that could well see him out of the water for weeks. Regular Pipeline chargers Mark Healey and Tom Dosland took the wipeout beatings of the day, and lifeguard/Pipe specialist Dave Wassel (above) was the overall standout. . . “I pulled into the barrel and next thing I knew I just got shot in the knee by my board,” said Koehne. . . Resident Doctor Leiland Dao said it was a serious injury that required 20 stitches or more to three layers: muscle, fascia and skin.
Organizers say the contest will likely resume tomorrow. Follow the jump for official word. [click to continue…]
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After five “lei days” the Volcom Pipeline Pro finally got off to a macking start this morning (January 28, 2012) in eight to twelve foot surf, but after three hours of competition (seven heats) the waves had jumped into the 15-20 foot range forcing event organizers to call off the contest for the day because it was getting too dangerous.
Kauai’s Stephen Koehne, the top-scorer of the day, ended up with a gruesome gash to the knee that could well see him out of the water for weeks. Regular Pipeline chargers Mark Healey and Tom Dosland took the wipeout beatings of the day, and lifeguard/Pipe specialist Dave Wassel (above) was the overall standout. . . “I pulled into the barrel and next thing I knew I just got shot in the knee by my board,” said Koehne. . . Resident Doctor Leiland Dao said it was a serious injury that required 20 stitches or more to three layers: muscle, fascia and skin.
Organizers say the contest will likely resume tomorrow. Follow the jump for official word. [click to continue…]
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We’ve barely begun processing Kelly Slater’s new Quiksilver travel clothing/gear/store concept VSTR and already it appears that the brand’s marketing VP Jesse Faen is on his way out and off to the wilds of South America.
The former Insight marketing guy, who had only been at Quiksilver since August 2011, recently updated his Facebook page with the following: “worked at VSTR (VP of Marketing) from Aug 2011 to Jan 2012.” His wall was updated today saying he has “tickets booked, so stoked. We leave LA the 11th of Feb, off to Chile and a whole new chapter of life about to begin.”
Obviously, we have no idea what we (or Faen) are talking about, so anyone with a little more info is encouraged to chime in. Or not.
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Today (January 23, 2012) is the opening day of the Volcom Pipeline Pro waiting period, however, the waves are not cooperating and today has been called a “lei day.” In the meantime, check out this collection of Funtitled edits.
[Link: Volcom Pipeline Pro]
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Everyone’s favorite WQS five-star event could fire up on Monday, January 23, 2012 as the Volcom Pipeline Pro waiting period starts. This year 112 surfers will charge Pipeline and Backdoor for a shot at $130,000 in prize money.
The surf at Pipeline has been on fire for the better part of January, and Surfline.com – the official forecaster of the 2012 Volcom Pipe Pro, is happy to report that there is plenty more surf to come. . . You can tune into www.volcompipepro.com to watch the live HD webcast of the event, see video warrior stats, up to the minute results, daily videos and more. iPhone users can also download the VolcoMobile iPhone App and stay up-to-date on the live webcast wherever you are, as well as purchase Volcom Pipe Pro Merch and access all features of the full website.
Follow the jump for the official word from Volcom. [click to continue…]
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