A surfing event held at Margaret River in Western Australia on Saturday April 16, 2016 was won by Sebastian Zietz. He seemed very happy about his win.
“I am stoked,” Zietz said. “The pressure was on and I pulled that last maneuver in the white-water and made it. To win was definitely the goal I’d set for a long time. It is epic to win a CT event being against all the top guys and come out on top. I just want to dedicate this win to my family and everyone at home. Thank you everyone who has pushed me and helped me along the way.”
You’re welcome, Mr. Zietz. For the official word from the producers of the content generating even, please follow the jump.
Here’s the latest from our favorite surfboard manu and shaper. It’s the Lib Tech . . . LostShort Round from Mike Olson and Matt Biolos:
The Short Round bridges the gap between easy riding “cheater” surfboards and the high performance shortboard. The speed comes from a low entry rocker and wide-ish nose, with a forward wide point and generous concave throughout. The performance comes from a moderate, but not flipped up, tail rocker, a double concave through the fins and the same sort of modern bump squash tail you would find on a typical contest style, small wave HP shortboard. All combined, it doesn’t look like anything fancy and there are no gimmicks, but sometimes less is more, and there’s a lot packed into this little surfboard.
Shark Shield is a traction pad that creates an electric field around your surfboard when you’re in the water. According to the company this field is annoying to sharks and “nine times out of ten” it will scare a shark away.
Shark Shield’s innovative tail pad and adhesive decal electrode design is 100 percent user installable on any surfboard, new or old, providing a cost effective and immediate solution for protecting surfers across the globe. When surfers select to install an Ocean & Earth Shark Shield tail pad, they can install the electronics module at any time in the future, turning the board into a shark deterrent. The miniaturized electronic module is completely removable and thus transferable between surfboards.
The shield is currently available for purchase for about $600. Not a bad investment if you enjoy surfing in particularly sharky surf. For the official word from Shark Shield, please follow the jump.
On Wednesday, April 6, the International Surfing Association (ISA) united its 98 Member Nations to celebrate the United Nation’s International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. This unique day encourages wider access to sport and underlines the power of sport as a universal tool for social change, development and peace.
ISA Member Nations contributed on International Day of Sport for Development and Peace by participating in the White Card Campaign, a symbolic movement where athletes post photos with white cards to represent peace and the positive impacts that sport has had in their lives. Surfers from the ISA Member Nations of Chile, Panama, Costa Rica, Haiti, Sierra Leone and India took part in the celebration, underlining how Surfing has uniquely created positive social impact in their countries.
For the rest of the story, please follow the jump.
Smith’s web series Life Beyond Walls continues as surfers Dillon Perillo, Brett Barley, and Mike Gleason followed the footsteps of Charles Darwin, enduring 16 hours of travel to reach the little known surf destination of San Cristóbal in the Galapagos. The island, with a population under 6000, is home to the oldest permanent settlement of the archipelago and where Darwin first went ashore in 1835.
They say that misfortune is the test of true friendship. Through lost surfboards, missed waves, encounters with black lizards, tortoises, and sharks, the crew set out using one of only ten boats allowed into the waters along the northern coast to get an El Niño swell that was due to hit the island. . . This is the story of their pursuit of a new kind of adventure and finding the unique. Bonds were built experiencing the new, charting the uncharted, discovering, exploring and pursuing the thrill.
The Palos Verdes Estates, California men (known as the “Bay Boys“), who have been “protecting” their Lunada Bay surf spot for years by harassing outsiders, vandalizing cars, and threatening violence, are in the process of getting sued. The plaintiffs have even included Palos Verdes Estates Police Chief Jeff Kepley in the lawsuit, according to a post on CurbedLA.
In spite of new Palos Verdes Estates Police Chief Jeff Kepley’s promises to crack down on the Bay Boys, the suit alleges that the harassment of outsiders has continued under Kepley’s watch and names him as a defendant, along with the city of Palos Verdes Estates. “Defendant Kepley has failed to enforce the State’s laws when it comes to crimes committed… against visiting beachgoers,” the suit claims. . . The suit goes on to accuse the city of Palos Verdes Estates of tolerating and even indirectly encouraging the Bay Boys’ exclusive practices. It states that the city “considers non-residents ‘riffraff'” and that through “complicit approval and deliberate indifference” to the behavior of the surfers, the city denies visitors access to publicly owned land.
Will be interesting to see how this one goes in court. As they say, “There’s no law against being an asshole.”
We’re fans of Lib Tech Waterboards, so we’re even more hyped when we see them adding to their quiver of durable, repeatable, ripping shapes, like this Ringer for Huntington Beach’s big and tall Ryan Carlson.
“The Ringer” mixes a pulled in performance nose with a wide acceleration platform blended into a double winged swallow tail that offers control and precision in all conditions. A mild single to double concave bottom with a flat exit offers speed and adds a positive, loose feel. The skate inspired concave deck insures a comfortable paddle and locked in front foot traction. Carlson at six four is a big guy who surfs aggressively, traditionally a chronic board breaker… Lib Tech’s rugged Eco Iso construction has been a game changer for Ryan. “I used to go through a board or two a week. It was a nightmare, shapers hated me. My Libs last forever and Olson loves me. So stoked”. Initially introduced as a 6’2” the Ringer is now available in smaller 5’10” and 6’ sizes opening up this magical performance shape to more average sized surfers.
Owen Wright finally entered the water last week to belly ride a wave in and it brought into focus just how much the traumatic brain injury at Pipeline in December 2015 has affected the former world title hopeful, according to a story on ABC News Australia.
Wright is reportedly working with top specialists who have told the surfer that it may be a “long time” before he feels “normal again.” We hope his recovery continues to go well and look forward to seeing him back in the lineup even if it isn’t in a competition jersey.
Hard to believe it was only four years ago that Travis Ferré, Stuart Cornuelle, Scott Chenoweth, and Kai Neville got together (along with a couple perennial action magazine backers) and launched What Youth. Travis says:
The video above is the first moving thing Kai cut to harness the energy, the life, the vision and the fuck it that was inside of us. And we released it on this day, four years ago. We’ve made 13 issues of What Youth (14 in the works), produced and directed several films, and have a website and social media things that allow us to be ourselves right alongside you every day. Not much else to say besides: Thank you. Thank you a lot.
We’re still asking “What?” each time we flip through the magazine, but it sure is pretty and that paper is so stiff, and the ink smells good, and they’re still doing it up right, and that’s not easy. So congrats, What Youth, you’re almost five!
Sometimes we just post things so we can look them up later. Matt Wilkinson and Tyler Wright winning the Gold Coast Pro on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 is one of those times.
For the official story from the people who create, control, capture, and protect the content from the production held at Snapper Rocks this week, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
