by The Editors on April 7, 2009
With the new all-elimination format on there really are no boring heats at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. The big news in yesterday’s round one was 19-year-old Owen Wright taking Dane Reynolds out at the knees.
“Dane (Reynolds) is an excellent surfer,” Wright said. “I let him have what I thought was average wave and he got a 6.8. He is definitely a solid competitor and I am just stoked to get through the heat. I had been watching a lot of heats and I thought that those guys that get the bigger score early are the one going through. I really focused on getting that first wave and ended up getting it.”
Next on Wright’s competition schedule: Kelly Slater. For the rest of the official release follow the jump.
[Link: Rip Curl Pro]
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 5, 2009
It seems that executives who leave the privately held Australian surf giant Rip Curl can pretty much forget about keeping any of the shares they got as part of their employment. Most recently Rip Curl has bought back 150,000 shares from former board chairman James Strong for $1 a piece, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
It appears that the company has only paid $1 a share for Mr Strong’s stake, as part of an arrangement to buy them back at the price they were issued seven years ago. . . . But Rip Curl’s C-class stock is set at $62 a share, valuing Mr Strong’s 148,412’s shares at a nominal $9.2 million, according to documents filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. . . The final amount paid to the former chairman was part of a “confidential settlement agreement” relating to his departure, the company said in ASIC filings on Friday.
You don’t stay “closely held” by letting voting shares get to far from the nest, apparently.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on April 4, 2009
After a long hold-down at Grajagan Australian industrial design student Grant Humphreys. 26. decided he needed a safer way to surf large waves. In his final year at University of New South Wales he designed a “rescue jacked,” according to a story in the Brisbane Times.
Mr Humphreys’s safety rescue jacket, dubbed the mAIRine, is for a situation where a surfer is held under water for a long period of time. There is a small air canister on the back and a mouthpiece that is designed for self-rescue. In the event of a surfer becoming unconscious, a manual spring-loaded timer triggers an inflation bladder, so they rise to the surface.
The project is a finalist in the James Dyson Award design competition, however, we still have two questions: does it work? And who is using it? Sadly, this story answers neither of those questions.
[Link: Brisebane Times]
by The Editors on April 3, 2009
When Oprah Winfrey launches her own cable network OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network early 2010 it’s going to be with a little help from a show with the surfing Paskowitz family, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune. The show?
“Surfer’s Healing” is touted as a “docu-soap” tracking former competitive surfer Izzy Paskowitz and his family.
The channel will launch the surfers program into 70 million homes, making it their biggest audience yet.
[Link: Chicago Tribune]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
As baffled as we are by the timing of this announcement (no, it’s not an April Fools joke), it would appear from a story posted on the Transworld Business website that Transworld Media reduced its staff today by eight people.
Here’s what Transworld Business Publisher Rob Campbell said:
We’ve had to report on a lot of layoffs over the past six months. Unfortunately, those stories usually involved friends and great people we’ve had close working relationships with for years. Today, the news hits especially close to home. . . TransWorld has eliminated eight positions within the company. Departments affected are TransWorld Business, Transworld Surf, TransWorld Skateboarding sales, marketing, and finance. More specifically, TransWorld Business lost two editors.
These “eight positions eliminated” do not appear to include a change made yesterday in the sales group at TransWorld’s Tustin office.
[Link: TransWorld Business]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
Kelly Slater has apparently committed to surfing in the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, according to the Geelong Advertiser.
In February, Quiksilver spokesman Johnathan Jenkins said if Slater performed well at the Snapper Rocks Quicksilver Pro, he would be more likely to surf Bells. . . The 37-year-old was eliminated in round three, but decided to try his luck down south.
We have some questions: what boards will he ride? Does this mean Bells is the do or die event for number 10? As for how Kelly will done at Bells in the past we luckily have the break down from CJ Hobgood. But CJ’s numbers aren’t all that reassuring.
[Link: Geelong Advertiser]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
Australian surfing pioneer Kim Bradley, who died on March 26, 2009, was found by his family two days later in “his favourite room in the house he built overlooking Kuta beach,” according to an AFP news story. He was 54 years old.
In a 2007 interview with “Surfer’s Path” magazine, Bradley recalled the excitement of exploring Bali’s huge offshore breaks with a small group of other surfers. . . “We had to work it out for ourselves… there’s like 26 breaks or something on the Bukit Peninsula now, but when I came we knew of two,” he was quoted as saying. . . “Paddling out at 12 foot (four metres) Nusa Dua by yourself… even at eight foot it’s pretty scary. . . “You’re looking out there and it’s 10-12 foot but it’s too good to resist so I’d say a quiet word to myself and my master: ‘Well if it’s today, it’s a good day to die.’
Our thoughts are with his family and friends.
[Link: AFP]
by The Editors on April 1, 2009
[April Fools Day Story 2009] Looks like the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach Dream Tour event will be missing the Hobgoods, according to a story on ESPN.com/Action.
Citing a change of heart and that they “just want to get back to their Florida roots,” the twin brothers have returned to Florida to pursue a career in NASCAR. Apparently over the last couple weeks the two have been repeatedly overheard babbling about “shaking and baking.” While it’s not clear exactly what this means, it has been confirmed that they “just wanna drive fast.”
Wish we could say we were going to miss those two. Truth is they’ve always been better drivers than surfers anyway.
[Link: ESPN.com/Action]
by The Editors on March 31, 2009
The organizers of the Mavericks Surf Contest have rolled down the event window until April 8, 2009 according to a story in the Mercury News.
“Everyone’s getting excited about another computer model that’s going to happen next Monday, if it happens at all,” said contest founder Jeff Clark, who calls the 24 big-wave contestants to Half Moon Bay on just 24 hours’ notice if he decides the waves are right. “I’ve got to keep an eye on it. If it happens it would be cool to hold the contest. If not, it would not be a big surprise.”
Official meteorologist Mark Sponsler isn’t making any calls, but says he’ll know more on Friday. It would be a shame to leave all the sponsorship money on the table, would it?
[Link: Mercury News]
by The Editors on March 31, 2009
[April Fools Day Story 2009] Surfermag.com is reporting that Rusty Long and Grant “Twiggy” Baker have busted through the “100-foot barrier” on a wave off the coast of Chile’s Isla Alejandra Selkirk. And photographer Todd Glaser apparently got the shot (click here to see it bigger).
SURFER received the breaking news via satellite phone from Staff Photographer Todd Glaser, who accompanied the big-wave duo deep into the Pacific in hopes of scoring waves on what Glaser called “Chile’s Cortes Bank.”
They say video is on the way. So the big question: Is this real? Funny, that it would show up on April Fools Eve, no?
[Link: Surfermag.com]
With the new all-elimination format on there really are no boring heats at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. The big news in yesterday’s round one was 19-year-old Owen Wright taking Dane Reynolds out at the knees.
