Roy Poblete (left) and Derek Smith (right) saved the life of surfer George Romero last Sunday while all three were surfing SoCal’s Seal Beach according to a column in the OC Register. Now the three have been reunited.
By Smith’s guess, Romero had been under water anywhere between 45 seconds and a minute before he was able to reach Romero’s lifeless body. He pulled his head up from the water to see Romero’s eyes rolled back, foam coming out of his mouth. His body was going into convulsions, and he wasn’t breathing. . . . Smith – even at a hefty 6-foot 4-inches and 235 pounds – had trouble keeping Romero above water. He called out for help, and tried to get Romero on his board. Poblete quickly paddled over to see what was happening. . . Then the sets came in, three in a row. They dived Romero under the first wave, then Smith cut his leash to get his board out of the way, so he could hang on tight to George. Smith would submerge underwater, to push up on Romero’s body to keep his head from going under so he wouldn’t take in more water. . . “I knew if I let you go, you would have gone,” he tells Romero. “I was just thinking ‘hold onto this guy, hold onto this guy’.”
In an effort to cut costs, Quiksilver released info today that it was reducing the salaries of top executives by five percent, according to a story on Reuters.
The current reductions, effective Feb. 1, are in addition to earlier pay cuts implemented in February last year, the company said in a regulatory filing dated Jan. 20. . . .Annual base salaries for the chief financial officer and the chief administrative officer have gone down by 8 percent and 10 percent respectively.
Damn shame. CEO Bob McKnight’s salary is now down 16 percent meaning he’s only going to make $903,000 this year. Hopefully, he can make it through.
Dave Gatto is leaving VF Corporation as part of a reorganization according to a story in the News Record.
VF said its Outdoor Americas unit will include the North Face, JanSport and Eagle Creek brands. It will be overseen by Steve Rendle, 49, currently president of The North Face. . . . The second unit, action sports Americas, will include Vans and Reef brands. It will be led by current Vans president Stephen Murray, 48.
We’re never been big fans of GrindTV, but apparently they are moving from El Sugundo to Aliso Viejo’s TechSpace to be closer to potential sources of action sports revenue, according to a story in the Orange County Business Journal.
“We work with a lot of folks in the action sports industry who are headquartered in Orange County and it made sense for us to bring GrindTV to Orange County,” said Erik Hawkins, the company’s chief executive.
Yeah, the move makes sense. The GrindTV site? It is actually getting much better lately. We’re kind of surprised.
ESPN’s Micah Abrams travels to Tofino, British Columbia with miracle man Timmy Turner to get the inside story on one of surfing’s most dedicated feral filmmakers. And he definitely got the story. Good waves? Well, that’s a different story all together.
Florida-based professional surfer Karina Petroni has a message for teens: make sure you load your personal website with tons and tons of really hot, almost-nude, bikini photos (and video) and you’ll be a success in whatever you do because sex sells.
Oh, wait. That’s not it? Ah . . . oh yeah, the message is that Karina and her family have created the The Never Quit Tour, according to a story in the Ponte Vedra Record.
The Never Quit! program is comprised of several components. The first is a lecture where Karina Petroni will talk about the importance of setting and pursuing both short and long term goals. As someone who found her direction early and has been able to achieve success young she feels she can offer insights for teens and young adults and be a role model within their own age group.
She also talks about how important it is to stay healthy (especially if you’re going to model in your bikini nearly naked) and that family is important. We’d have to agree with pretty much everything Karina has to say. Especially the part about having a lot of really sexy photos taken of yourself and posting them on your website. . . wait, she didn’t say that. We said that. So, erase that last line. Our bad.
It’s the same old story but we fall for it every time (especially when it’s in the New York Times): the world’s most core surfers hit the icy waves of Lake Superior and make anyone who has ever complained about surfing in a wetsuit feel like complete, whinging pussies.
It was a Sunday morning north of Duluth, Minn., and a blizzard had overtaken the region. The surfers — apparitions in black neoprene, floating in mist far offshore — paddled and stood when a wave began to break. . . . “It’s warmer in the water,” said Markus Barsch, 21, a tree trimmer from Ashland, Wis., and one of a dozen surfers who had shown up to shred on a 20-degree day.
Yes, we’re all really inspired here in Sunny SoCal. But we always have one question after reading these stories: if you’re that serious about surfing, why not move to Hawai’i?
The hype swell is hitting Hawaii, but it’s not exactly what forecasters were hoping for. There was no Eddie yesterday and it’s not looking good for at least a couple days. The surf was up over 20 feet, but with strong Kona winds it was a little too ugly out there according to The Mountain And Wave.
Roy Poblete (left) and Derek Smith (right) saved the life of surfer George Romero last Sunday while all three were surfing SoCal’s Seal Beach according to a column in the OC Register. Now the three have been reunited.
