by The Editors on September 9, 2009
Hirofumi Matsumoto, an employee of the Hyatt Regency Hotel on the Mariana Island of Saipan is still missing after he and a friend got caught in a strong current that reportedly pulled them outside the reef where they were surfing last Sunday (September 6, 2009). The friend was able to paddle back in, however Matsumoto did not make it, according to a story in the Saipan Tribune.
On Tuesday Boyet Centeno found Matsumoto’s rental surfboard floating near shore.
Centeno told police he was fishing in the area when he saw the surfboard wash up on the beach. After several minutes, when nobody claimed the surfboard, he took it home. . . Centeno later read in the newspapers about the missing surfer so he informed his boss, Taylor, about the surfboard he found.
While search crews are still working it has now become a “search and recovery” mission, according to the story.
[Link: Saipan Tribune]
by The Editors on September 7, 2009
Jeff Clark announced that he would no longer be working with Maverick’s Surf Ventures on his blog on June 26, 2009. Now, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bruce Jenkins reminds everyone that Jeff is still gone.
The Maverick’s big-wave contest is moving forward as a democracy, without Jeff Clark. Everything is in place but the legendary surfer’s blessing, in the wake of a tempestuous summer behind the scenes.
Organizers have announced that this year the ultimate decision and whether to hold the contest or not will be left up to the surfers themselves. Though Clark has been officially invited to be the 25th surfer in this year’s event, he’s still not happy about the way things have turned out.
“I’ve tried to hold my tongue,” he said, quietly. “But it’s just wrong. Surfing is a way of life; it’s a spirit. To have a contest run by people who don’t understand the sport – it’s just not cool. That’s really all I’d like to say right now.”
We hear you, Jeff.
[Link: San Francisco Chronicle]
by The Editors on September 4, 2009
After reading retail and brand specialist Bertrand Pellegrin’s (pictured right) new book Branding the Man: Why Men are the Next Frontier in Frashion Retail, SF Gate men’s fashion writer Aaron Britt went out with the man himeself to find San Francisco best men’s shopping environment. Their favorite: Mollusk Surf Shop at 4500 Irving St.
The large, open space felt immediately authentic, charmingly quirky and instantly right. The breadth of merchandise, sunny, smart and ineffably Californian aesthetic made you want to flop down on one of the couches to peruse a book of photographs or sneak into one of the hidden gallery spaces to check out the preponderance of art displayed. Owner John McCambridge did much of the design himself, and the homespun, design-school-meets-driftwood-collector vibe is altogether enchanting. . . Pellegrin called it one of the best new retail environments he’d seen in the Bay Area in years. “For a fraction of the cost most retailers spend on interior design,” he said, “Mollusk not only communicates its story but offers an environment that somehow doesn’t even feel like a store. It’s a state of mind. . . “I went back and a surfer walked in with his board, barefoot, wet and sandy and no one batted an eye. Now that’s authentic.”
Guess as a retailer you can’t really get a better review that this. Then again, if someone like Bertrand Pellegrin like’s your shop you have to wonder a little, don’t you?
[Link: SF Gate]
by The Editors on September 4, 2009
Blogger and former Surfline Power Ranker Lewis Samuels appears to be throwing in the towel on what he called The Post Surf Project. In a post titled Epilouge he broke it down like this.
I am not Lewis Samuels. . . That ended long ago, amidst the pixels and fuckery, clammy clickthroughs, custard pudding bastards, vitriolic comments, tags, tapioca fuckwits and strewn code. A writer does not write the truth about themselves. They leverage words to obscure things. They write the truth about other people, and leave themselves out of it. . . The surf industry is not surfing. My brief forays into the dark, sickly heart of the matter have reminded me of that. Over the course of the last nine months on PostSurf, I’ve simply tried to remind others of this fact. The PostSurf story has proven my point.
We’re not really sure what any of this means exactly, and were not sure that we’re going to miss it, as great as it sometimes was. We’re guessing there is a little more to this story. If you know it, let us know.
[Link: Post Surf]
by The Editors on September 3, 2009
by The Editors on September 3, 2009
Looks like Santa Cruz and Huntingting Beach will be getting a little “surf city” competition this weekend as Sheboygan, Wisconsin hosts the world’s top freshwater surfing festival, according to the Sheboygan Press.
Hundreds of surfers will be hanging out on the North Beach at Deland Park in Sheboygan this weekend for the 21st annual Corona Dairyland Surf Classic, showing off their skills and surfboards at one of the world’s top freshwater surfing destinations.
Organizers claim they’re not going to let a lack of waves get in the way.
[Link: Dairyland Surf Classic via Sheboygan Press]
by The Editors on September 1, 2009
Two surfers at San Deigo, California’s Black’s Beach discovered the body of a man in the surf at about 7:45 AM yesterday (August 31, 2009) , according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune
The body of a man was pulled out of the surf at Black’s Beach yesterday morning.. . . The man appeared to have been in his 30s and was wearing board shorts and a white T-shirt, Buchanan said. No further details have been released.
Not exactly the best way to kick off a Monday morning surf session.
[Link: San Deigo Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on August 31, 2009
In The Nation writer Brian Calvert checks in the the “stuggle to launch a surf club behind the Israeli blockade.”
Gaza is, among other things, a natural place to surf. Waves that build across 3,000 miles of the Mediterranean break on its beaches with surprising frequency and occasional intensity. But of course, Gaza is also the crowded home of 1.5 million refugees and descendants of refugees, isolated under an Israeli blockade and reeling from bombardment. If it weren’t for that grisly reality, outside surfers might find their way there. As it is, the handful of locals who ply Gaza’s beaches do so on a diminishing supply of ragged surfboards.
Follow the link for the rest of the story.
[Link: The Nation]
by The Editors on August 31, 2009
While everyone up and down the Eastern seaboard was chasing surf created by Hurricane Bill, there were some sad stories to go along with the big waves. One was that of Andrew Nathanson, 51, according to a story in The New York Times. The novice surfer was out with an instructor on August 21, 2009 and apparently wanted to get one more wave when he died.
Elyse Nathanson, Mr. Nathanson’s wife and partner of 30 years, said he died of blunt head trauma at Stony Brook Medical Center, several hours after he was pulled from the water. Aside from his wife, he is survived by three children: Brian, 19, Alison, 17, and Kevin, 14. . . “He was out there doing what he wanted to do, where he wanted to do it,” Mrs. Nathanson said.
Our thoughts are with Nathanson’s family and friends.
[Link: The New York Times]
by The Editors on August 31, 2009
Shayla Belanger, a case manager for juvenile re-entry with the Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence in Providence, Rhode Island decided that it might be a nice idea to take some of the cities gang members surfing after thinking that the sport embodies “grace, humility, patience and teamwork,” according to a story in The Providence Journal.
“I believe everybody in the water is equal,” she said. “As soon as I get them out there and show them something beautiful, they open right up.” . . Gansett Juice, a surf shop in Narragansett donated the surfboards and wetsuits, while Douglas Shehan, and his stepson, Griffin Koskua, 13, both surfers, agreed to meet the city boys on the beach and provide them with some tips.
Everyone in the water is equal? Maybe in Rhode Island.
[Link: The Providence Journal]
