by The Editors on June 2, 2008
Bethany Hamilton, the pro surfer whose arm was bitten off by a shark, has done nothing but work since her accident. She’s a motivational speaker, author, surfer, and all of this has kept her family extremely busy according to a story in the Honolulu Advertiser.
Her father, Tom Hamilton, who still works as a waiter at a Princeville resort restaurant, and Noah share management duties such as booking flights to surf tournaments. Her other brother Tim, a videographer who specializes in bodyboarding footage, shoots surfing video of his sister, while Noah takes her still photos.
Bethany is no doubt an inspiration to all of us.
[Link: Honolulu Advertiser]
by The Editors on June 2, 2008
Apparently they named it twinzer because it is exactly like every other action sports community.
Twinzer was created by two action sports enthusiasts. . . While the “X-games” sports participants will make up our largest segment of users we extend our community to Kiteboarders, Wakekiters, Wakeskaters, Snowmobilers and others who are not yet mainstream action sports. We see these as sports that will eventually capture the imagination of many and therefore have created a home for them.
Wakekiting, too? Cowagunga!
[Link: Twinzer via Mashable]
by The Editors on May 30, 2008
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer gives the Paskowitz surf documentary Surfwise a thumbs up.
In another time and place, Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz might have been acclaimed a great Jewish mystic. Twentieth-century America dismissed him as an irresponsible parent. Doug Pray’s funny and thought-provoking documentary reassesses the life of this nomadic surfer, who packed his wife and nine kids into a 24-foot camper for a lifetime odyssey that made them the most well-known family in surfing history.
We still haven’t seen this.
[Link: SeattlePI.com]
by The Editors on May 30, 2008
After some “accounting irregularities” were discovered Darren Spurling, the managing director of Blacks Leisure‘s Sandcity division (sole distributor of O’Neill clothing in the UK) was fired.
Spurling had been suspended since March, when Blacks announced that Sandcity’s profits had been overstated by £1m in the last financial year and a further £1m since then. He leaves without a payoff. It is understood that the police are not involved. “There’s no suggestion of fraud and no cash left the business,” said a spokesman.
[Link: The Guardian]
by The Editors on May 28, 2008
ASA Entertainment has come a long way since since the inline days, and this summer they are producing the Supergirls event in Huntington Beach:
S3 Supergirl Jam is a second-year, all-female action sports competition that is bringing in more than 100 of the world’s top pro surfers, skateboarders, inline skaters and snowboarders to Huntington Beach, Calif., on July 25-27. More than 100,000 spectators are expected for the free event, produced by ASA Entertainment.
Lyn-Z, Gretchen, and Kassia are going to be there. That’s probably all the reason you need.
[Link: USA Today]
by The Editors on May 21, 2008
Kelly Slater will be featured in a new 3D IMAX film from The Stephen Low Corporation and Quiksilver. Titled, The Ultimate Wave” features a tried and true format for certain:
Ultimate Wave is directed by award-winning giant-screen filmmaker Stephen Low and features eight-time world champion Kelly Slater at the helm of a surf expedition, exploring the globe to find and ride the ultimate wave. An accomplished athlete, surf explorer and devout student of the natural world Slater’s fascination and engagement with the ocean will provide audiences with a remarkable portal into the world of the wave.
Looks like this may make hunting down an IMAX theater worthwhile. The film is set to launch in the fall of 2009.
by The Editors on May 16, 2008
Da Hui in the Fashion & Style section of the New York Times. Read the story of Fast Eddy and da boys, one more time. This time from a fashion industry angle.
With annual sales of roughly $2 million, the privately held Da Hui is a flyspeck in comparison with mass-market behemoths like Billabong or Quiksilver. But the appeal of the label — now sold at surf shops in 19 states and 12 countries — is that its black boardshorts and no-frills logos both bypass the sport’s floral sartorial clichés and also, for those in the know, summon up a hard-core, roots surfer image of riders like those Da Hui underwrites.
For the rest of the story, click the link.
[Link: New York Times]
by The Editors on May 8, 2008
The Seshn.com site has been up for awhile, but the press release has just now gone out. And guess who is involved? Former Joyride Snowboards founder Ken Greengard. How is this new action sports portal different from other sites like 5ones.com? Seshn founder Brandon Winnie explains.
Seshn aims to provide people with a unique site that isn’t your typical trendy action sports site attempting to create another YouTube or Myspace for action sports. “The people involved in this lifestyle are leaders and trendsetters, so we feel that we have created a site that meets that label. We have developed a unique concept and strategy that let’s people be the individualists and trendsetters that they are,” Brandon goes on to say. “I started this thing because I saw an opening that wasn’t being filled. I saw so many people trying to copy Myspace, Facebook and YouTube. Those sites will always be around, so why try to compete with them? My idea was let’s create an information network and let’s work with them.”
The WordPress-powered site looks nice (but then don’t they all). It will be interesting to see how the content grows as the site develops in what is becoming a horrendously crowded market place.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on May 7, 2008
According to c|net the hottest new action sports trend in Silicon Valley is kitesurfing (which is really no surprise).
For the uneducated (that’s the rest of us), kiteboarding (or kite surfing) is the trendiest adrenaline-junkie sport among Valley venture capitalists and high-tech entrepreneurs. In fact, mention you’re an amateur at a technology social function, and it could provide an entree to a conversation with the kite-savvy Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Second Life‘s Philip Rosedale, or venture capitalists Bill Tai and Ken Howery.
“I always joke that to kite-surf, you either need to be a venture capitalist or unemployed,” said Chris Sacca, a former Google executive who’s now a technology investor, referring to the flexible schedule that people need to surf between 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., which are peak wind times. The cars at the kite beach parking lot on 3rd Avenue near San Mateo, Calif., (a spot about 20 miles south of San Francisco that accesses San Francisco Bay) typically reflect that theory.
Seems like those valley types are always into sports with extremely low fun/equipment cost ratios.
[Link: c|net]
by The Editors on May 7, 2008
Surf legend Gerry Lopez spoke last night at UC Santa Barbara to promote his new book Surf Is Where You Find It.
During his hour-long sermon of surfing lore, Lopez talked about what surfing and the ocean have given to him, as well as how he allowed surfing to shape his life. Lopez was warmly accepted by the crowd of surfing colleagues and fans, eager to hear about his life and his reasons for writing the book. “[My] motivation was to get the stories down on paper before I forgot them,” Lopez said.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and cool-guy Dan Malloy were also in the audience. Both think Gerry is amazing. “I got chills six times,” Dan told the Daily Nexus reporter. We know the feeling.
[Link: The Daily Nexus]
Bethany Hamilton, the pro surfer whose arm was bitten off by a shark, has done nothing but work since her accident. She’s a motivational speaker, author, surfer, and all of this has kept her family extremely busy according to a story in the Honolulu Advertiser.
