Beginning January 21, 2012 Australia’s Burleigh Heads will play host to the to the final event on the 2011 ASP World Junior Tour, the Billabong World Junior Championships.
The Billabong World Junior Championships Gold Coast brings together the world’s top 45 male junior surfers (plus three wildcards) and the top 17 rated junior women’s surfers (plus one wildcard) from countries including Australia, New Zealand, the USA, Brazil, Japan, Tahiti, South Africa, France and Portugal.
On January 17, 2012 Goggle/Youtube’s latest attempt at channeling quality content to high paying advertisers will launch across the web.
In the action space we have The Ride Channel from Tony Hawk Inc. (above), Network A, a joint venture between Wasserman Media Group and a company called Bedrocket, and then there is The Red Bull Channel which will likely feature a collection of all those “wild, crazy, unbelievable” videos your grandparents are constantly forwarding to you from Red Bull Media House.
Each channel was reportedly given $1 million against a share of future advertising earnings. Not exactly bubble money, but not that bad either. Without going to deeply into the logic right now, we’ll just say that we’re not exactly bullish on the whole old-media “network channel” concept. We are, however, looking forward to The Weekend Buzz featuring Rob Brink and Erica Yary. It will be on The Ride Channel and it looks good.
Ross Garrett (right) the former Director of Operations and Development for The Surfer’s Journal has been named Vice President of Surf Products for Surfline.com. Also joining the Surfline.com team in Huntington Beach, California is new Global Forecast Development Manager Mark Willis.
“Ross and Mark are each incredibly talented and well respected within the unique surfing and ocean-based meteorology markets we serve with Surfline and Buoyweather. We are excited to have them both hit the ground running to help continue to drive the growth of our products,” said CEO Jonno Wells.
Garrett and Willis will officially join Surfline on February 1, 2012. For more background on both, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
We’re still trying to process everything we saw, thought and experienced at day one of the Agenda Show at the Convention Center in Long Beach, California. In the meantime here is a photo gallery from both days of the show.
The Surf Industry Manufacturers Association is using all the tricks from late night cable TV commercials to sell spots in their four-times a year Boot Camp sessions. For a “Limited Time” only, they are offering four-packs for only $500 each. That is a savings of $200 per package (assuming you’d be sending someone to all four boot camps).
Book your annual passes now to ensure availability–once the 2012 SIMA Boot Camp annual passes are gone they’re gone. Annual passes will be sold in limited number until February 23, 2012
Get your now, now, now before they’re gone, gone, gone. Okay, we made up that last part. For more info in ALL CAPS no less, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Sedition Surfboards (aka Cheapsurfboards.net.au), a shop on Australia’s Gold Coast owned by Neil Rech, 34, is reportedly selling China produced surfboards for $250 a pop and has understandably caused a bit of a stir in Coolangatta, according to a post on Businessweek.
Rival retailers averse to discounts and upset about local job losses questioned his patriotism, and even threatened violence, he said. . . “It’s quite heavy,” Rech, 34, said of the backlash. After teaching for two years in China before opening a store in Coolangatta, Queensland, “I realized how cheap you can actually get these boards so I thought it’d be a great opportunity to bring them here and sell them to the public cheaper.”
The best part of the whole story is Rech’s response that eventually the China pricing will be better for everyone’s business: “It’s like sticking a fat man on a treadmill,” he said. “First he doesn’t like it, but then he gets into it.” Apparently Rech is a glutton for punishment.
The completely raw, blow-by-blow video clips collected by Simon Saffigna during the huge swell that hit Teahupoo on August 27, 2011 show more than anything else we’ve seen how straight up gnarly that day was and is probably the reason Tehupoo Uncut won a Surfer magazine video award. The DVD is now available of pre-order at Subnoizestore for $14.99 and will be released on February 14, 2012.
Longtime La Jolla, California surfer Ted Kenneth Smith, 52, died of an “apparent heart attack” Saturday afternoon December 31, 2011 while surfing his home break of Windansea, according to a story in the La Jolla Light. Smith’s lifelong friend and surf companion said this:
“The way he went out with a lot of love, doing it right there at WindanSea. … I don’t think you could write a better script. … If you have to go, have it happen real quick like that. Knowing he’s a spirit right now, I think that’s an Aloha gladiator.”
A 28-year-old Australian surfer was hit by a shark while surfing Tuesday evening (January 3, 2012) at NSW’s North Avoca Beach, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Paramedics said the man felt his arm being pulled under his surfboard. . . The man was treated for puncture wounds to his forearm and wrist, and was taken to Gosford Hospital about 9pm yesterday. . . A hospital spokesman said the man was in a satisfactory condition, and doctors would assess his condition today.
According to witnesses, “The shark got on his board and just took a chunk out of his arm. I saw there was blood all over the man’s surfboard. We could see the bone and the arteries so it was really quite deep.” Authorities believe the shark may have been a bronze whaler. Other reports suggest great whites have been patrolling the area as well.
Beginning January 21, 2012 Australia’s Burleigh Heads will play host to the to the final event on the 2011 ASP World Junior Tour, the Billabong World Junior Championships.
