For years the rivalry between Surfer and Surfing magazines has fueled progression in all aspects of action sports media and advertising. Even after the two magazines were brought together under the same ownership in 2001 when Primedia bought Emap’s U.S. magazine business they continued to wage war between their offices in San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente.
A month and a half ago, however, the two magazines lost the benefit of distance when all of Source Interlink’sAction Sports Group titles moved together into a section of the same building in a San Clemente office park. Now er and ing are separated by a few steps and both staffs can see who is coming and going from the other mag’s cubes.
We wonder what the close proximity will do to the battle. Maybe the idea that they compete against each other at all is a complete fabrication and they’re perfectly happy cranking out similar product under different brand names.
If we ever read the print surf magazines, we’d be much better judges of how being new office mates works out. If you notice anything, please let us know.
Gabe Kling, 29, got through the first two rounds of the Nike 6.0 Lower Pro with second place advances, yet when it came time to perform he was able to step things up. He got past Jordy Smith in the quarters 16.10 to 15.77, Andy Irons in the Semis 12.86 to 12.64, and the Chris Davidson 16.50 to 11.77 in the final this afternoon (May 8, 2010) at Trestles. Not a bad week.
“It’s been a dream for me. I can’t really explain it,” Kling said on the podium. “I’m at a loss for words. It’s been a great week. I had a great time watching every heat. It was the best contest I’ve ever seen. I enjoyed watching everyone blow up out there. A couple of the guys I got to beat. They had a bad heat and I had a good one. It was as simple as that.”
Davidson seemed okay about his finals loss. “It’s a great place to come to. The wave is amazing,” he said. “It was amazing week. Everyone was surfing amazing. All complements to Gabe. He played a smart final. I made a few errors and he took advantage of them and smashed me, really. Thanks everyone for coming out and supporting us all.”
Andrew Doheny won the Oakley Pro Junior. For all the details from the day follow the jump for the official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
May 8, 2010 will see winners crowned in the 2010 Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro and the Oakley Pro Juniors live from Trestles, California. Finals are on. Press the play button and watch it live here.
ESPN’s Jake Howard reported some sad news last night. NorCal big-wave charger and videographer Noel Robinson died yesterday, May 7, 2010 while surfing in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
. . . this afternoon I received the tragic news that “Nor Cal” Noel lost his life today while out surfing Puerto Escondido in Mexico. Reportedly he pulled into a six-footer — a relatively benign wave by Puerto standards — and for whatever reason never resurfaced. His body was found an hour later by lifeguards and friends.
One of the most difficult tasks a writer ever tackles is a story about the death of a friend, but Jake Howard’s heartfelt piece eloquently communicates both Noel’s place in surfing and the feelings of loss felt by everyone who knew him. Noel will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with Noel’s family and friends.
Jordy Smith was getting all over the nearly perfect performance waves at the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro at Trestles today. In the round of 48 he and Josh Kerr rolled over Brazil’s Wiggoly Dantas and Damien Hobgood and then he marched right through Gabe Kling and Aritz Aranburu and will meet Josh Kerr in Heat 8 of the Round of 16 tomorrow morning. It doesn’t look like much will stop him.
The resulting visual history of Santa Cruz surfing is beautiful — and unlike anything before compiled. It ranges from the skateboarding-spawned origins of aerial surfing with an innovator named Kevin Reed to the divergent personalities of Westside icons Richard Schmidt (now a popular surf instructor at Cowell’s) and Vince Collier (the self-appointed Godfather of the so-called Westsiders surf gang).
From there Conley says it “buries the nose and tumbles.” But we still want to see it.
“I’m going to get in the ocean,” she told us. “I promised myself I’d learn how to surf this year. I surf a little bit and so I’ve got my pink surf board and I’m ready to get in the ocean. . . “I’m always learning new things. I think it’s really important as we get older to not think that you’re not too old to learn something new. It makes you live better.”
It’s difficult to believe there’s anything she hasn’t exposed herself to.
Thanks to the new ASP scoring system the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro is going to be as close as we get to an elite World Tour event until the Hurley Pro in September 12-21, 2010.
Top seeds in this year’s ASP PRIME 6.0 Lowers Pro include former three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons (Hanalei, HI), 31, California wunderkind Dane Reynolds (Ventura, CA), 24, defending 6.0 Lowers Pro Champion Fred Patacchia (North Shore, HI), 28, and rookie talent Owen Wright (AUS), 20, amongst others.
It all goes down (along with the Oakley Junior Pro) May 4-8, 2010. Guess we have to go.
Never really paid that much attention to Josh Kerr, but this trailer from his new self-produced bio-pic Kerrazy Kronicles is fixin’ to change all that. As Stab Mag says:
From the death drop to double-barrel at 50 seconds and the flurry of Lien grab oops, turns and tweaked punts, there’s enough here to suggest Julian and JOB have a dark horse to rival them for the year’s best profile film.
