Great Lakes surfers are an inspiration. When we’re sitting on our asses because our wetsuits (which have been out on the fence all night in 65 degree weather) are “too cold” to put on, or we’re feeling too lazy to walk the whole two and a half blocks to the beach, we think of Great Lakes surfers and are reminded of the whiney bitches we are.
Reading this story about long-time Great Lakes surfer Greg Isaacson from the Minneapolis City Pages just drove that this point home even further.
When surfers emerge from the lake, icicles dangle from their suits. And out on the water they have to pump their shoulders every so often to break apart sheets of ice that form on their backs. If it’s too cold, ice chunks the size of Mini Coopers roll through the waves, making it impossible to surf. (Isaacson admits that some guys will paddle out if the waves are pretty and the ice chunks are only the size of bowling balls.) But the break also needs just enough ice on the lake to groom the water. “Ice smoothes the top of the water out just like kelp does in the ocean,” says Vince Deur, director of Unsalted, a documentary film about the Great Lakes surf culture. “Without it, the surface would be choppy.”
Then again. If we lived that far inland, we’d probably be surfing the Great Lakes, too. What else is there to do there, anyway?
Hard to believe a wetsuit could be green. Rubber is made out of petroleum right? But Matuse, Inc. of San Diego, California makes wetsuits that are made out of Yamamoto rubber that is “derived from 99.7 percent pure limestone.” And now, UNIV has added a few touches of their own to these mini back-zip suits so we all can roll UNIV style right into the water.
It is warmer (98% water impermeable) and lasts longer (titanium coated) than standard neoprene. It is also kinder to mother nature since it’s made from limestone and does not come from petroleum. Yamamoto’s Geoprene technology means thinner rubber is warmer rubber. It not only weighs less, it is also more flexible for better performance. The UNIV + Matuse “Frogman” wetsuits will be available at the UNIV Concept Shop In Encinitas Calif.
Not getting enough of action sports super-agent Steve Astephen darting here and there in front of the TV cameras with a cellphone to his ear? Well then, Entrepreneur.com has just want you’re looking for in the Entrepreneur Insider: Marketing That Takes Flight.
Steve Astephen’s legacy is everywhere. It’s in the oceans. It’s in the mountains. It’s on the street. But more than anywhere, it’s in the air, where his clients’ exploits inspire the next generation of action sports stars. Ten years ago, Astephen revolutionized the action sports industry when he recognized the marketability of its larger-than-life athletes and created an agency focused on turning them into brands. He has since partnered with Wasserman Media Group and become one of the biggest names in the game, but he still remembers when his biggest asset was the sort of infectious energy that comes only from someone eager to break the mold.
Not sure “revolutionized” is the right word, but he certainly brought a circus-tent load of commercialism. We just hope Steve’s “legacy” doesn’t run us over the next time we go outside; ’cause that thing is apparently everywhere.
This video and song by Joe Klein is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary, but it could have been shot yesterday. . . Zinka rules. (Download the free MP3 here).
Shares in Billabong have plummeted more than 21% since chief executive, Derek O’Neill, cut his profit outlook yesterday and said the worldwide retail gloom was the worst he had ever seen. . . .Stocks fell 18% to $8.20 yesterday, the largest decline since it listed eight years ago. Billabong’s share price was down more than 3% to $7.94 at 12.50pm today.
These kinds of stories really aren’t news any longer, but we’re going to keep posting them for historical purposes.
A goofy footer finally wins Sunset after 11 years of regular foot domination. Props to Surfing Magazine’s Evan Slater for actually writing an original story for this event and not simply posting an ASP press release.
And in the dying minutes, we watched in awe as CJ Hobgood, the lone goofyfoot of the final, positioned himself perfectly for the wave of the day, dropped beyond vertical a la Munga Barry in 1994, then bottom turned for a massive arc, an 8.5, a standing O from the crowd, and the win. “You never know what you need or where you are in the heat out there,” said CJ, who became the first goofyfoot to win at Sunset since Mike Rommelse in 1997. “It was, like, ‘Bro, you ripped out there. No, bro you ripped out there.’ We all thought the other guys killed it.”
In the on-going South African legal feud between “wealthy Knysna socialite” Lesley Young and her former surfer boyfriend Ian Macdonald it appears that the surfer has ridden one wave to the beach. Macdonald, who co-founded the world famous Durban 500 surf contest in 1969, has won a defamation case again Young who “falsely accused him of poisoning her.”
After a seven-year romantic stint with her surfing beau, Lesley Young, a breeder of Arabian horses and widow of an apartheid-era homeland minister, must now pay Ian McDonald R160000 [$16,000], and legal and other costs.
But that’s not the half of it. Macdonald, whom Young dumped in May for 2006, is still suing Young for half of her R30 million [$3 million] estate and in another case has made a R280000 [$28,000] claim that Young has “wrongfully and maliciously … launching a false and unfounded application for a protection order … against him.” Which reminds us: money and power causes brain damage.
Great Lakes surfers are an inspiration. When we’re sitting on our asses because our wetsuits (which have been out on the fence all night in 65 degree weather) are “too cold” to put on, or we’re feeling too lazy to walk the whole two and a half blocks to the beach, we think of Great Lakes surfers and are reminded of the whiney bitches we are. 
