2 John Florence returned home to Hawaii as the 2016 world surfing champion and now, after winning the first jewel of the Hawaiian Triple Crown at Haleiwa he’s proven that he’s not about to kick back and relax.
“It’s been the best year of my life for sure,” said Florence atop the podium. “So happy to be back home and with my family and friends. I couldn’t have done it without my mom, my brothers supporting me my whole life. The Johnson family, Pyzel has been a big help with everything. Thanks to everyone down here today, coming down and supporting us and cheering us on. The security team has been a great help, the Hawaiian Water Patrol, you guys are always doing a great job. Thanks to WSL, and I’m stoked.”
For the official word from the company that sanctions the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, please follow the jump.
Takuji Masuda’s Bunker77, a Super X Media produced documentary on the life and times of 70s surf star Bunker Spreckels is premiering in NYC on Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at the IFC Center.
With a name and biography so outrageous they sound fictional, Bunker Spreckels is the perfect candidate for a documentary portrait. Born the heir to a sugar fortune, Spreckels became Hollywood royalty as a young boy when his mother married Clark Gable. In the 1960s, he defied family expectations by embracing the emerging surf culture, becoming a pioneering, if controversial, star of the sport. But after he came into his inheritance, Spreckels indulged in the excesses of the life of an international playboy.
Seems we never can get enough stories of charismatic, talented, rich kids partying themselves into early death. For all the details, click the link.
It took him six years, but 2 John Florence has finally won his first world surfing title.
His placing into the final at the MEO Rip Curl Pro (and ultimately winning the event) has earned him an excess of points that puts him above the rest of the field of his peers, claiming the world title. This sweet victory sends him into his favorite stop on the World Tour, and into his own backyard, the infamous Pipeline. A win there would surely be the cherry on top of an incredible season.
For the official word from Florence’s wrist-based time keeping device sponsor and more words from the privately owned entertainment company responsible for producing these surfing events, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The world’s best adaptive surfers will unite in La Jolla, California for the second consecutive year to represent their nations and compete for Gold in the 2016 Stance ISA World Adaptive Surfing Championship from December 8-11, 2016. Click the link for all the details.
The photo above is deceiving. According to a review on Surfline, Jim Heimann’sSurfing book, published by Taschen, measures 11.4 x 15.6 inches, weighs 15.6 pounds. That’s enough to make your legs go numb just holding it. But apparently, that’s not a worry.
The shear volume of visual content — along with crisp essays from Matt Warshaw, Steve Barilotti, Chris Dixon, Drew Kampion, Peter Westwick, and Peter Neushul — throughout the book ultimately make a powerful point that some other works of surf history have not: that the sport of surfing has never existed quite so far out on the fringe of American pop culture as the core often likes to think. Instead, surfing, since being hijacked from the Hawaiians, has been a quiet yet steady influencer of American culture for a century now, from its fashion to film, its music to art — even, I would argue, to its sexual revolution and evolution.
We’d like to say we’ll be adding it to our collection straightaway, but at $200 a copy we’ll just have to flip through someone else’s. We only spend that much on Taschen books that are filled with, you know, naked pictures.
The International Surfing Association is proud to announce that it has awarded USD $20,000 of Scholarships to 35 young surfers from 21 countries around the world as part of the 2016 ISA Scholarship Program.
“The ISA is proud to foster the development of young surfers around the globe and provide them with financial support to make their education and Surfing dreams come true,” says ISA President, Fernando Aguerre.” The ISA Scholarship Program has played a key role in expanding the reach of the sport in non-traditional Surfing nations around the globe.
For the official word from the ISA including names of all the recipients please follow the jump.
Teton Gravity Research (the ski film company) has a Andy Irons documentary coming out titled Andy: The Untold Story of Andy Irons. Which they’re currently trying to raise money for on Kickstarter. Here’s how they’re pitching it:
This is the unfiltered life story of three-time world champion surfer Andy Irons. Andy came from humble beginnings on the North Shore of Kauai and rose through the ranks to international surf stardom. He influenced a generation through the public lens as a wild, young phenom, who came to be known as “the people’s champion”. Throughout his life Andy fought an up and down battle with bi-polar disease and drug addiction. Andy passed away suddenly at the age of 32, with his wife 8 months pregnant expecting their first child.
The story is compelling. And we look forward to getting it straight. If you’d like to help finance the completion of the film, click here.
The developers of NLand Surf Park in Austin, Texas aren’t going to let the financial deaths of roller skating rinks, pay-to-skate skateboard parks, nor indoor ski domes slow down their plans to get the hordes on board with the grand opening of what they are calling the “America’s first surf park,” on October 7, 2016.
“This is an historic moment for surfers around the globe as our second Wavegarden facility is launched. Together, we have scaled this project to a level never before seen,” Wavegarden CEO Josema Odriozola said. “The NLand Training Center is a state-of-the-art surf school with a talented staff of surf coaches from around the world who offer accelerated training for surfers of all levels.”
For now they’ve gotten around a series of ordinances regarding water quality and filtering (according to a story in the Houston Chronicle) and all they have to do is get people to come surf. That may be the tough part because like it or not surfing is hard. Luckily, the park was built by Coors brewing heir Doug Coors.
Current rates to surf the “reef” waves are one hour for $90. Pretty cheap when compared to a trip to Tavarua. Mabye Mr. Coors has something here. Wonder what the “birthday party” package costs? It’s gotta be better than a trampline park, right? For the official word from Nland Surf, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
A 29-year-old surfer was hit by a shark while surfing Indian Beach at Ecola State Park on the Oregon coast on Monday, October 10, 2016, according to story on Fox News.
The animal bit 29-year-old Joseph Tanner on his upper and lower thigh, investigators said. Tanner had been surfing along Indian Beach at Ecola State Park at around 4 p.m. when the attack unfolded. . . He told emergency personnel that the shark was “medium-big” and thought it could’ve been a great white shark but said he wasn’t sure, according to KGW-TV. The shark pulled him off of his surfboard and he swam to shore, police said.
Tanner, who works as a trauma nurse, was able to direct his own first aid with the help of others on the scene. He was stabilized and then flown to a Portland hospital with what were described as serious injuries.
Ok, let’s see if we can get all this Pro France surfing event news right. Here goes: Hawaii’s Keanu Asing won his first championship tour event, by defeating Gabriel Medina in the men’s final. Carissa Moore defeated Tyler Wright on the women’s side, however, Wright’s second place finish means she her first world title clinched.
“A lot has gone into this, a lot of hours and a lot of moments,” said Wright. “There are a lot of reasons why I set out the win this World Title this year and a lot of reasons that I did not mention to the public. Last year was such a hectic year — I lost an uncle and this was the last event that he ever saw me compete in. A lot of emotional moments, but pretty much from that moment I promised him that I would win a World Title and I did.
Oh, and 2 John Florence is still in the lead on the men’s world tour. For the rest of the details, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
