by The Editors on June 9, 2009
A 30-year-old man was arrested after US Board Patrol agents caught him attempting to paddle 24 pounds of marijuana into the United States on his surfboard near Imperial Beach, California, according to a story on KTLA.com.
Agents spotted the man, identified as a Mexican national, on a surfboard approximately 200 yards off-shore paddling north of the international border in Imperial Beach early Sunday. The surfer was holding a blue duffel bag which he released into the water while he continued to paddle north, according to Border Patrol officials.
After arresting the man the bag eventually floated ashore and officers found nearly $74,700 worth of weed in the bag.
[Link: KTLA.com]
by The Editors on June 9, 2009
The market isn’t exactly responding joyously to Quiksilver’s recent Q3 forecast and financial restructuring plans. The stock was trading down 21 percent this morning to $2.83 a share after the company’s recent plans emerged, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.
. . . it [Quiksilver] secured financing from private equity firm Rhone in the form of a five-year, $150 million loan to help stabilize its liquidity position. Quiksilver, which has been exploring strategic and financing alternatives, relies on short-term and uncommitted funding. . . Under the deal, Quiksilver will name two board members designated by Rhone. . . In addition, Quiksilver entered a written commitment with Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and General Electric Co.’s (GE) GE Capital, as joint lead arrangers to refinance its existing Americas facility with a new three-year, $200 million asset-based credit facility. The company is also in discussions with its French banking partners to consolidate its European debts into a multi-year facility.
According to Calpers.ca.com Rhone is a “private equity firm specializing in leveraged buy-outs of trans-Atlantic and pan-European businesses.” Guess this means Quik will cover its $55 million Euro note that comes due on June 30, 2009, but what does it mean for the future when two board members are friends of Rhone?
For his part, Kelly Slater appears to have faith in the company. Much of the compensation for this new 5-year Quik sponsorship deal comes in the form of stock, according to a story on Surfingmagazine.com.
[Link: Wall Street Journal and Surfing Magazine]
by The Editors on June 7, 2009
Time Magazine checks in on Stand-up Paddling and discovers that even though it is stupidly expensive, the sport is growing.
“It’s completely blown up in the past five years and every spring it just blows up even more,” says Jim Brewer, 45, a painting contractor who, in October 2008 and in spite of everyone calling him nuts, opened Blueline Stand-Up Paddle Surf in Santa Barbara, Calif., the first fully dedicated SUP shop in the country. “We thought it was phasing out, but then we realized that it’s just beginning. It’s going mainstream.” . . . Three weeks ago, for instance, while regular surf shops around the country were struggling to stay afloat, Brewer’s store sold 16 boards — which start at about $1,500 — in one day. “If I had opened a surf shop eight months ago, we would have been out of business right now, no doubt,” he says.
Seems it’s always good to be in a market where the customer has more money than. . . well, let just say, more money than they need. And leave it at that.
[Link: Time Magazine]
by The Editors on June 6, 2009
Nothing is more important these days that protection from the sun. And what says sun protection more than ShredorDie.com co- owner Will Ferrell. Cancer For College a scholarship fund that provides money for cancer survivors going to college has announced an entirely new line of Will Ferrell’s Sunscreen Products.
Are you Sexy? Are You Hot? Then who wouldn’t want a sexy, hot tan? This sunscreen is made with our very own streaking strength formula plus one. . . All of our sunscreen products come in 6 oz bottles and are 30 SPF and provide UVA/UVB broad spectrum protection. 100% of the proceeds from sales go to the Cancer for College Scholarship Fund.
The bottles are $11.99 and come in three styles: Sexy Hot Tan, Forbidden Fruit, and Sun Stroke and can be purchased here.
[Link: Cancer For College via Acquire via CLDFX.com]
by The Editors on June 5, 2009
Rip Curl announced today that they have bumped former European CEO Olivier Cantet up to the position of group CEO beginning July 1, 2009, according to a press release on Global Surf News.
Olivier has been with Rip Curl since 2003 in his current regional role of European CEO and he will continue to manage that business alongside his new group responsibilities. Olivier takes over as Group CEO from Francois Payot, who has held the group position since 2006. . . Francois will resume his former role as Founder Director on the Rip Curl Board alongside Brian Singer and Doug Warbrick.
[Link: Global Surf News]
by The Editors on June 4, 2009
At the 56th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine May 27-30, 2009 in Seattle, Washington Dr. James MacDonald, M.D. presented the findings of a recent surf injury study, but it wouldn’t take a degree in medicine to come to their conclusion about the two biggest dangers facing surfers.
Surfing under the influence of drugs or alcohol are two of the prime dangers facing surfing enthusiasts. . . The most common surfing injuries involve lacerations, contusions and soft-tissue damage, said James MacDonald, M.D., a physician and lead author of the surfing study.
Nice work, Dr. MacDonald.
[Link: Medical News Today via TCPalm]
by The Editors on June 3, 2009
Rob Vassallo, the owner of Australia’s Jett Performance Products, says his designs for a battery powered heated vest that he showed to Rip Curl in 2005 are now being used by the company in their H-Bomb wetsuit and he is not getting paid, according to a story on News.com.au.
“They loved the technology and, after I provided mock-up samples, they sent prototypes to the US for feedback and finally, in 2006, they ordered 500 units,” he said. . . . Rip Curl unveiled the wetsuit last year as the H-bomb using a surfing video shot in Iceland. . . Mr Vassallo said that a week later Rip Curl told him it had lost faith in Jett’s ability to make the wetsuit.
Rip Curl says they have only sold 200 of the suits and that they “absolutely refute the idea that we have stolen anything from Rob Vassallo or Jett,” according to spokesman Gary Dunne. Vassallo, of course doesn’t not agree.
[Link: News.com.au]
by The Editors on June 2, 2009
Brazilian big wave charger Maya Gabeira is featured in an extensive profile (and video interview) in The Independent.
Underneath the veneer is a young woman driven to pursue a rush that few of us will ever know, punishing her body and testing her resolve as she breaks into a macho and fiercely-territorial boy’s club – all for a few big waves. . . “I thought it would be so cool to have a girl who could do it, just like the boys,” she says. “I thought it was an impressive sport, and so radical and intense, and it took so much dedication. And I thought if I ever saw a girl doing it, I’d be impressed? Right now, I can’t even visualise that that girl is me.”
Not that we’re arriving late to the Maya party, but this girl is rad.
[Link: The Independent]
by The Editors on June 1, 2009
Palmerston North resident Tony Robert Costa, 33, died after “being struck on the head by another surfer’s board” with another surfer at Wellington, New Zealzand’s Lyall Bay, according to a story in the New Zealand Herald.
Fellow surfers, who had to contend with a rip, struggled to get Costa to shore following the collision and were not able to resuscitate him once they got him out of the water. . . President of Lyall Bay Surf Club Martin Robinson said he had never heard of anything similar happening in more than 20 years at the club. . . At that end of the beach there was a lot of competition for waves and boards would collide relatively often, but hadn’t heard of anyone being killed in a collision, he told Radio New Zealand. . . The water was not crowded because it was windy and the surf was choppy, he said.
[Link: New Zealand Herald and TVNZ.co.nz]
by The Editors on June 1, 2009
A 30-year-old man was arrested after US Board Patrol agents caught him attempting to paddle 24 pounds of marijuana into the United States on his surfboard near Imperial Beach, California, according to a story on KTLA.com.
