The July issue of Playboy Magazine (which mistakenly introduces the world to Mrs. Crystal Hefner) reportedly features something much more interesting: a short profile on surfer Anastasia Ashley. No, she’s not naked, but she is striking a familiar pose in this Daniel Russo photo. The blurb is exactly what you’d expect from Playboy.
With her bronze, taut exterior and her compulsive need for adrenalin, the surf Betty is the modern sea goddess. (The Greeks can have their sirens.) Lately, however, cynics have complained that todays’ female surfers are better known for their looks than their athletic abilities–they’re more Anna Kournakova than Annika Sorenstam. But Anastasia Ashley, the 2010 Women’s Pipeline Pro champion couldn’t care less; at competitions she unapologetically prefers bikinis to the traditional wet suit. “By its nature surfing is sexy,” she says, “because you do it in your swimsuit. I love the sport because it’s both physically demanding and physically appearling. Plus, spending most of my day in a bikini isn’t a bad thing.”
It’s not often that we get to hang out with Alana Blanchard while photographer Chris Straley shoots her. In fact, we never have. But in some kind of sad way this sort of makes up for it.
Everyone has known for weeks that surfing’s $23 million man Dane Reynolds was on the Vans surf program, but today Vans finally admits it to the rest of the world.
We are extremely excited to announce the addition of Dane Reynolds to the Vans Surf Team. Dane is one of the most exciting and unique surfers to date and brings a quiet sort of revolution with him. His approach is completely different to what’s been done and his reach touches every facet of surfing. For decades Vans has been home for people choosing their own path and it’s a pleasure to be able to uphold that principle to this day and have Dane become a part of it.
Must be nice for him to not to have to wear DC Shoes any longer, right? Now let’s just hope he keeps surfing. . . Follow the jump for all the details. [click to continue…]
The Chasing Monsters crew gets some late May/early June charging in some of the biggest Puerto Escondido ever caught on camera.
We couldn’t resist going back down for a rebate session since Puerto was firing bigger than our previous trip. This time we added a few heavies to the mix in the form of Big Wave World Tour Champion Jamie Sterling, Rusty Long, Anthony Tashnick, Shawn Dollar , Maya Gabiera and more. Everyone charged super hard and some historic waves were paddled into.
The Interscholastics were blessed with a building southwest swell which pumped in excellent 4-5 foot surf at Salt Creek. 17 college teams, 12 high schools and 9 middle schools combined for nearly 370 competitors in the Interscholastic Championships. Team spirit was at an all-time high as hungry surfers competed passionately for the gold for their nationally ranked schools.
Writer Chasen Marshall, the former editor of Longboard Magazine, dropped by the Astrodeck headquarters in San Clemente, California to check in on the “First Family of Surfing” for the OC Weekly and here’s a little of what he had to say about their time with the Fletchers.
Nearly 20 years after its anointment as such in an Esquire cover feature, the First Family of Surfing remains original. It has grown and diversified, but at its core, the Fletchers are still a surfing family: Grandpa Walter was a big-wave pioneer; Herbie, now 58, is a surf legend and still surfs Lowers; and his sons are surfing innovators. They’ll talk about the past—tell you where they’ve been, about the drugs they’ve taken, describe the mistakes they’ve made, all without a hint of reverence or regret.
If you’ve been wondering what Herbie, Dibi, Christian, Nathan, and Greyson have been up to lately, click the link for the rest of the story.
Without going into any cranky rantings about how bullshit anything over a 4.0 grade point average is (because we all know honors classes are easier for all kinds of reasons), we do think it’s cool that surfers who get good grades are recognized by the National Scholastic Surfing Association.
So, for 2011 here are the best GPA in the line-up:
Congrats to all three. It’s great to see surfers being congratulated for doing something with their minds for a change. For all the rest of the NSSA surfers who completed the last school year at or above a 3.5 GPA follow the jump. [click to continue…]
While being trapped on a rocky outcropping listening to Eddie Vedder solo on a ukelele may be as close to hell as we could get on this earth, you may feel differently about the earnest, sincere, serious, surfing musician.
If you, like NPR’s Ann Powers, believe that Vedder’s new album Ukulele Songs is “a statement of truth.” And that by choosing the “ukulele’s intimacy, Vedder sounds like someone getting out of his own way and discovering what really matters within his art,” then holy shit, have we got a contest for you.
French high fashion mall clothierVolcom is giving away tickets to Eddie Vedder’s sold out Ukulele Songs tour. Simply enter all your critical personal data on this page (volcom.com/eddy) and in return Volcom may give you a ticket to see Eddie Vedder live. Get crackin’ the tour beings June 21, 2011 in New York City.
O’Neill regrets to announce the cancellation of the O’Neill CWC Canada for 2011. Extensive consultation and discussion with key event stakeholders, along with a short period to properly prepare for the event, has led to this decision. During preliminary planning it became clear a shorter than usual planning window jeopardized the success of a 2011 CWC in Nova Scotia.
For now it appears there will be no Cold Water Classic Canada. For more of the backstory click here and here.
It was difficult to know if Quiksilver’s new NFL collab is completely sincere or not. At first we sensed some sort of irony, but then we saw the gridiron overlaid on Pipeline and realized that we are just confused. Jocks, of course, won’t know the difference.
The July issue of Playboy Magazine (which mistakenly introduces the world to Mrs. Crystal Hefner) reportedly features something much more interesting: a short profile on surfer Anastasia Ashley. No, she’s not naked, but she is striking a familiar pose in this Daniel Russo photo. The blurb is exactly what you’d expect from Playboy.
