by The Editors on March 2, 2008
2008 ASP World Champion Mick Fanning’s fiancee Karissa Dalton is one of the top 15 hotties in Banana Boat’s Search for Summer 2008, an Australian modeling contest. If her power moves on the catwalk are anything like her man’s on the water, then she should have no problem.
The girl who takes out the contest will win a bounty including $3000 cash and an all-expenses paid trip to Miami Beach Fashion Week in Florida. . . . She will also be given the opportunity to star in a new print and television advertising campaign for sun-protection brand Banana Boat, which is sponsoring the event.
“For summer, this is a really high-profile competition,” said Ms Dalton. “It is judged on your catwalk abilities and on your stage presence (and also) … your personality and interviewing skills.”
We can tell from the photo that she’s got a great personality and a hypnotic stage presence. No doubt.
[Link: Goldcoast.com.au]
by The Editors on March 1, 2008
Jordy Smith knows what happens to surfers who are sponsored by mainstream brands (Mr. Price for example). So while we were a little surprised back when he signed with O’Niell we had no idea how much he turned down from Nike, or what the Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that he turned down.
Jordy Smith took a phone call from Tiger Woods. He received an email from Michael Jordan. He was sent the shoe that Ronaldo used to kick a goal in a World Cup final. Nike offered him $5.3 million a year … but he knocked them all back. . . . But then he signed with Californian company O’Neill, basically because it was a traditional surfing brand. It was still a seven-figure deal, making him one of the top five highest earners on the tour before he had even entered it. But he had to be content with about $3 million less a year. He’ll survive.
Impressive.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on February 28, 2008
The site has been stagnant for almost two weeks, however, today a new site showed up at TransWorld Business. After a quick cruise through the site we’d have to say it looks . . . well, just like a WordPress blog. Wonder what theme they’re using.
The old content looks to be gone-daddy-gone. Hopefully, they’ll hook it up later. It would be a shame if 16 years of action sports business content simply vanished from the web. Not to mention throwing an industry leading site down into a content race with anyone who wants to download WordPress and choose a theme.
Transworld Business appears to be a work in progress. Which is great. The site has needed some sprucing for years. We’ll keep you posted when we get a chance to check out the site in more detail (and after Transworld tech people get a chance to tune it up a little, because yeah, there are many problems with the site currently).
[Link: Transworld Business]
by The Editors on February 27, 2008
Tomorrow, February 28, 2008 is SIMA Boot Camp Day at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach, California.
The goal of the Business Boot Camps is to allow SIMA members to benefit from intimate seminars on an ongoing basis that aim to provide valuable tips and tools to help their company improve a variety of daily business operations.
The all day session will feature three different tracks: Track A: Sales and Marketing, Track B: Operations, and Track C: Sourcing and Production. SIMA members pay $75 each and non-SIMA members pay $250 if they are invited. How’s that SIMA will invite you to their function, but then charge you $250. Sounds like a deal. Then again, we didn’t even get invited.
[Link: SIMA]
by The Editors on February 27, 2008
David Burroughs, the writer of a weekly surf column for the Ventura County Star has been picking up stories all over the place and running them as his own according to a story in Editor & Publisher.
In an unbylined story, the Star said evidence of the plagiarism emerged when the paper was contacted by the news director of Southern California Public Radio, who pointed out that a Jan. 22 column about a proposed highway that would go through a surfing spot included seven paragraphs apparently taken directly from an online version of its story on the highway expansion.
When editors at The Star looked into it they found even more.
Further investigation by The Star uncovered a Feb. 5 column by Burroughs regarding the theft of a web camera trained on a popular East Coast surfing spot. . . . Much of six paragraphs in that column came from a Jan. 27 story in the New York Times by Corey Kilgannon.
Burroughs apparently admitted that he had used the information but said that since he was using “mostly quotations from other sources that it was not plagiarism.” The paper said Burroughs had no journalism experience when he was hired. Guess that’s how newspapers do it these days.
[Link: Ventura County Star via Editor & Publisher]
by The Editors on February 27, 2008
We told you about A. Garrett Lisi months ago. He’s the surfer/ snowboarder who claims to have created a unification theory called, “Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything.” But world physicists didn’t buy it and, in fact, still haven’t. Wired Magazine interviewed Lisi recently. Here’s what he had to say:
It is extraordinarily difficult, even in academia, to find a job that will let you do whatever you want with your time. If you are determined to spend your time following your own interests, you pretty much have to do it on your own. After my Ph.D., there just weren’t any positions open to support the research I wanted to do. And, of course, the surfing and windsurfing in Maui is amazingly good. I did the best I could to make my daydreams happen — and that didn’t put me in an office.
For the rest of the interview (which is mostly about string theory and physics) click the link.
[Link: Wired.com]
by The Editors on February 26, 2008
From the Honolulu Advertiser:
World-class surfers Andy and Bruce Irons are among dozens of investors owed millions by now-bankrupt Kaua’i mortgage lender James W. Lull.
Lull, Kaua’i branch manager of mortgage lender U.S. Financial Mortgage Corp. from 1994 to 2006, filed personal bankruptcy papers in December 2006, listing more than $31 million in debts and $6.7 million in assets.
The total amount owed by Lull is now believed to be $50 million, according to Stephen Jones, attorney for the trustee overseeing Lull’s bankruptcy case.
The trustee, Ronald Kotoshirodo, alleged in court papers that Lull operated a massive “Ponzi scheme” that duped investors with false promises of high interest rate returns on low risk investments.
Andy and Bruce’s Dad Bill Irons says his boys are lucky. “They’re young, they’re successful, but some of the people here, they’ve lost their life savings,” he said.
[Link: Honolulu Advertiser]
by The Editors on February 22, 2008
From the Daily Pilot:
Jack’s Surfboards in Huntington Beach added $9,000 to the $1,000 reward offered by nonprofit organization Crime Stoppers for any information leading to an arrest in the case of the death of a Hurley International intern.
Dane Williams, who lived in Huntington Beach, was last seen Jan. 26 in San Diego’s Gaslamp District.
His body was found three days later, miles away in the City Heights neighborhood.
“Dane was part of the surfing community,” said Jim Johnson, the head of Crime Stoppers San Diego. “Jack’s just reached out and offered the money and it’s a great thing.”
[Link: Daily Pilot]
by The Editors on February 20, 2008
Apparently, the surf was so big on Wednesday February 20, 2008 at Froggy’s near Snapper Rocks that three-time World Champion Andy Irons got “bashed on the rocks.”
The three-time world champion had been attempting to paddle out at Froggys, near Snapper Rocks, when a large wave washed him back on to the rocks. . . .This was quickly followed by a second wave, pushing him further into the jagged rocks. . . .Both his arms were cut and his board was in tatters.
An onlooker who reportedly spoke to Andy said that he mentioned that he hadn’t “been smashed in about five years and was left fairly rattled.” Then again, this was reported in the Australian press.
[Link: Goldcoast.com.au]
by The Editors on February 18, 2008
At the recent Billabong-Pro Open women’s event in Whagamata, New Zealand, Mishca Davis, the winner of the event, was supposed to take home a $750 prize. But she wasn’t so happy about that when she found out that the top prize at the Von Zipper Bikini Contest held later that night was $1,000.
“I was expecting to win about a grand,” Davis said. “The heat sheet said $750. During the contest they started announcing the bikini contest that was going to be on and then they said the first place winner was going to get a grand and it was like what?”
”At first it was a bit funny, and then I was a little bit angry, because a thousand dollars is a lot of money,” Thomas said. “Theres a big difference between 1st place in a women’s surfing competition and a bikini contest. It just doesn’t seem to add up.”
When New Zealand’s TV3 tried to contact Billabong corporate communications office in Australia, Billabong would not respond, instead they provided the station with information about the amount of money Billabong contributes to surfing sponsorship.
Nice, spin, Billabong. Be sure to watch the video. Amazingly funny, stuff.
[Link: TV3]
2008 ASP World Champion Mick Fanning’s fiancee Karissa Dalton is one of the top 15 hotties in Banana Boat’s Search for Summer 2008, an Australian modeling contest. If her power moves on the catwalk are anything like her man’s on the water, then she should have no problem.
