On Wednesday, February 8, 2012 Hurley will debut Craig Stecyk’s new short film Fin at the H Space Gallery in Costa Mesa, Callifornia.
FIN, the first installment in an evolutionary series of digital film shorts, details Stecyk’s method of working with a wide variety of personages in the southern California region and reflects the social and sonic landscapes in which these creators inhabit. People whose work has been documented so far include Von Dutch, Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, Evel Knievel, Dave Sweet, Julian Ness, Tom Blake, Dale Velzy, Tyler Hatzikian, Scott Anderson, Mitch Abshere, Scotty Stopnick, Mike Ness, and Roland Sands. The featured soundtrack is also a nod to West Coast visionaries, with Social Distortion, Breakdown, Tommy Guerrero and Steve Alba and the Powerflex 5 contributing to the project.
Along with the film will be a series of four T-shirts featuring artwork and still photography created during the making of the film. The H Space Gallery is located at 1945 Placentia Ave, Costa Mesa, California. Follow the jump for the T-shirts and more info. [click to continue…]
Glen “Lenny” Folkard, a 44-year-old surfer was “dragged from his board and mauled” by a seven foot long shark on Wednesday, Janaury 18, 2012 while surfing Australia’s Redhead Beach, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
More than 100 people were in the water when the shark attacked. Witnesses in the surf said Mr Folkard was lying on his board about 20 metros from a large group of surfers when the shark struck about 4.40pm. . . Believed to be a bull shark, it took a large chunk out of Mr Folkard’s thigh as well as his board before dragging him underwater, witnesses said.
After Folkard got free he was able to surface where other surfers reportedly helped him catch a wave in. The man is currently in stable condition with a “deep wound to an upper thigh. For the rest of the story click the link.
A Lake Michigan surfer was “taken into custody” yesterday (Tuesday, January 17, 2012) for surfing, according to a story on ABC 7 News.
Police from the Near North District and Marine Unit responded about 5 p.m. to a report of a man surfing in Lake Michigan off Oak Street Beach in the 1000 block of North Lake Shore Drive, police said. . . Beaches are closed until May 25, according to the Chicago Park District’s website. Lifeguards are not on duty and swimming is “discouraged” at all beaches.
Oh no. Call the cops. A man is surfing. In Lake Michigan for gosh sakes. Oddly, the police didn’t really know what they were going to charge the guy with, but “detectives are investigating.” Don’t they know: Surfing is not a crime.
The search for someone to host a fictional new extreme sporting show called The Gnar Zone has potential to be one of the funniest new webisodes on Youtube. Check it. . .
Ghost Wave author Chris Dixon has written a touching and insightful piece on Surfline.com founder Sean Collins (above with his son A.J. in 1997) for Outside Magazine Online. In the story is titled Surf Prophet Dixon recounts his first encounters with Surfline and his meeting Collins for the first time.
Sometime in early 1995, I visited the spartan office directly across the street from the Huntington Beach Pier—a workplace with one of the best surf views in the Golden State. The place held a jumble of computers, a handful of full-time staffers, and a closet-sized mad-scientists room exploding with a Christmas tree’s worth of wires—a telephone nerve center capable of handling upwards of 200 calls at a time. The single landline phone tied into it held a sticker that said, “Pray for Surf, Or Call Surfline.” . . . Sean told me that he had spent his young life sailing the coastal outbacks from Point Conception to Cabo San Lucas. He lived on pennies for months on end, surfing Baja California and paying for his feral existence by selling photos to Surfing.
Click the link to read the rest of what has to be the best thing written so far about Collins and his mission in life.
Now we know for sure that nothing will keep surfers out of the water. Not even a total and complete apocalypse it would appear. . . Apacalypse Later, Surf Now.
Julius Sterling Guy Fox, the 27-year-old man who allegedly hit Stephanie Gilmore with a “metal pole” will be in court February 21, 2012 for a committal hearing on charges of “wounding and intent to cause grievous bodily harm,” according to a story on News.com.au.
The four-time world champion suffered a fractured wrist, a cut to the back of her head and cuts to her hand.
She was out of the water for about six weeks after the attack at the Tweed Heads unit.
Thankfully, Fox has been in custody since being arrested for the December 2010 crime, and if he is found guilty it would be great if he stay in for the foreseeable future.
Ngidi Msungubana, a 25-year-old surfer from Port St. Johns, South Africa died yesterday (January 15, 2012) after being hit repeatedly by a shark that he battled with for nearly five minutes at Second Beach, according to a story in the Daily Mail.
Provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said: ‘The man was surfing and was in water which was only around a metro and a half deep when the shark struck. . . ‘Witnesses who were near him at the time said he wrestled with the shark for around five minutes as the water turned red. . . ‘A fellow surfer then helped a lifeguard to get the man out of the sea and onto the beach. . . “There happened to be a doctor on the beach who helped to treat the man at the scene, and an ambulance then arrived to take him to hospital. . . ‘However the surfer had been bitten on both of his arms and his stomach and he sadly died on the way to the medical facility.’
We had to laugh when we saw the photo that the Association of Surfing Professionals included with their “Anti-Doping Policy” press release. Two surfers looking off into the sunset with binoculars. What does this image mean? Is the tour as we know it is over? Are we at the end of a too-long industry wide drug problem? Has there been wide-spread juicing in the upper ranks of the ASP? We don’t know.
We do know, however, that beginning with the 2012 ASP tour the top 34 men and top 17 women will be subject to drug testing following the World Anti-Doping Agency Code of substances (click here for the list) just like professional cyclists, swimmers, and FIS snowboarders.
“The men strongly support the implementation of the ASP Anti-Doping policy,” Kieren Perrow, ASP Top 34 competitor and surfers’ representative, said. “It is a positive step which enhances the professionalism of competitive surfing and sends a great message to the kids out there who look up to us as role models.”
We’re guessing that the cannabinoids and narcotics will be some of the least interesting banned substances to turn up in some athlete’s urine. And maybe a few of surfing’s top talents will be forced to spend the rest of this season on the beach with a pair of binoculars watching the sun go down from their home beach every night. Could happen. . . Follow the jump for the official word. [click to continue…]
In the latest episode of Vans Surf LA video program surf coach Sean Johnson reminds us that there still are stoked surfers who drive for hours every day just to ride waves. Nice to be reminded how good we have it every once in a while, dude bro. Stoked.
