Surfing

Graham Stapelberg Moves Back To ASP

by The Editors on January 23, 2014

GeeWhen we spoke to Graham Stapelberg at the Agenda Show two weeks ago and asked him how things were going at Billabong, he smirked and said, “I’ve been wearing a lot of hats lately.” Now the comment makes a little more sense. Today (January 23, 2014), the Association of Surfing Professionals announced that the former Billabong Global Vice President of Marketing (and former ASP Tour Judge) is taking the roll of chief strategy officer for the organization.

Stapelberg will support ASP CEO Paul Speaker and the executive team across multiple divisions of the organization as professional surfing enters into a new era of its existence as a global sports league. . . “Graham has exhibited excellence in virtually every sector of the sport throughout his celebrated 20 years of involvement,” Speaker said. “His extensive experience across events, sponsorships, athletes, judging, operations, finances, marketing, media and activations both inside and outside the industry will prove invaluable as we grow professional surfing in exciting new ways. We’re very fortunate to have Graham with us and we look forward to accomplishing great things together.”

Guess it’s now okay for any remaining surfers in the Billabong building to pack up and head out. For the ASP, however, this is another great move in a positive direction. Especially if they hope to replace all those surf fashion sponsorships with money from the real world. For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Mavericks Green Lighted For Friday

by The Editors on January 22, 2014

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On Friday, January 24, 2014 the biggest names in big wave surfing will be making their way to famed Northern California big wave spot Mavericks for this year’s running of the Body Glove Mavericks Invitational Presented by GoPro, and yeah, the swell report looks huge.

Mavericks Invitational Contest Director Jeff Clark stated, “This is going to be a powerful and memorable swell, and we are looking at waves upwards of 40 feet.” The first heat takes place at 8 a.m.

The entire event will be streamed live on mavericksinvitational.com and the finals will be air on “national television” on Universal Sports Network. You didn’t want to get any work done on Friday, anyway, did you? Follow the jump for all the official details. [click to continue…]

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Alana Blanchard’s New Surfer Girl Season

by The Editors on January 21, 2014

We didn’t mind last season’s series of Alana Blanchard’s Surfer Girl webisodes, but after watching two from the new season it seems to be falling a little flat. At first we didn’t know why, but now we’ve figured it out: all the other girls are gone. This year, it’s all Alana all the time. And if you like that, you’ll love this.

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Jerome Sayhoun At Tetrapods

by The Editors on January 17, 2014

Crazy, crazy surf at an African spot that no longer exists staring Jerome Sayhoun.

[Link: The Surfers’ Journal]

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At Least Billabong Has Parko Today

by The Editors on January 17, 2014

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In a show of support for what the financial world still calls a “struggling brand” Joel Parkinson has re-signed with Billabong for what the company is called a “long-term” contract good for the “foreseeable future.”

“I’m over the moon to know I will continue to be partnered with Billabong for many years to come,” said Parkinson from his home on the Gold Coast. “I’ve felt like I’ve been a part of a great big surfing family since I was a scrawny 11-year-old from. When I got my first Billabong team sticker on my board it was one of the biggest moments of my life at the time, and I am happy and proud to still be flying that flag all these years later. It’s been a really good partnership for a long, long time, it’s helped me get to places I could never have dreamed, and I am seeing a lot of good things still to come in the future.”

There are those who would argue that Bilalbong has had trouble looking very far into the “foreseeable future,” but in this case it’s good to know they’re interested in keeping Parko as long as they can. For the official word from Billabong, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Switchfoot Kicks Off US Tour Tonight

by The Editors on January 14, 2014

Tonight (January 14, 2014), the world famous La Paloma Theatre in beautiful downtown Encinitas, California will host the kickoff of those surfing musician’s Switchfoot’s Fading West album, film, and 47-city US tour. Good luck getting in on that one. Here’s what they’re saying about the album:

A departure from the fuzzy, blistering guitars and bold rock sound of Vice Verses, Fading West takes the classic Switchfoot style and infuses a vast array of cultural influences collected during their 2012 World Tour that can be heard within the rhythms and sonic tapestry of the new record. With daring synth lines, inventive guitars and anthemic harmonies, this collection of songs is bigger and more powerful than anything the band has released to date. Rooted in the same hopeful message and quick turn of phrase that fans have come to love, Fading West is a renewed expression of change, hope and discovering your place in the world.

If you know someone, and you live in Southern California maybe you can get in, otherwise, follow the jump for the official word from Switchfoot. [click to continue…]

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ASP Waves Goodbye To One World Rankings

by The Editors on January 13, 2014

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Way back in 2010 the Association of Surfing Professionals (and the surfers) thought it would be a good idea to have all of the professional surfers ranked under the same point system (like tennis or golf). The ASP hoped that that would allow surfers to work their way onto the WCT from the WQS during the season and give everyone a better understanding of where they stood, but apparently things never really worked out that well. Not, the first things new “full-fledged ASP Commissioner Kieren Perrow” is doing this year is to fashion a “complete separation of the rankings” for the ASP World Championship Tour (WCT) and the ASP Qualification Series (QS).

“The tweaks and alterations that have been made to the technical aspects of the sport over the past several years have been done so with one guiding principle – create a fair and balanced platform for the world’s best surfing to be rewarded,” Perrow said. “The combined ranking served a purpose throughout its time on tour, but the Commissioner’s Office believes that a separated ranking is the best path forward.”

It was a good try, right? For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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Stephanie Gilmore Surfing For Vogue

by The Editors on January 13, 2014

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Stephanie Gilmore was doing a shoot for Vogue at Australia’s Bondi Beach “recently” when she nearly had a wardrobe malfunction (follow the jump for those photos).

What we hope everyone learned from the above photo, however, is that it’s very difficult to look good surfing next to Stephie. . . even if you’re Laura Enever. More after the jump via The Courier Mail. [click to continue…]

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Vince Collier Rescues Woman In Santa Cruz

by The Editors on January 13, 2014

CollierSanta Cruz, California surfer Vince “The Godfather” Collier was about to go fishing the evening of January 3, 2014 when he heard the cry of what he thought was a baby sea otter. Turns out it was a woman who had fallen 30 feet down the cliff along West Cliff Dr., according to a story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

The woman, who wore denim from top to bottom, was hard to spot on the rocks, he said. . . “I put my pole down because it sounds like someone is screaming for help,” Collier, 53, said on Sunday as he described his role in helping the Los Gatos woman. “She was in and out of consciousness.” . . . Collier said he climbed back up to West Cliff Drive to direct folks gathered in a parking lot near Merced Street to call 911 while he returned to help stabilize the woman until rescuers from the Santa Cruz Fire Department arrived.

The tide was rising fast and Collier says she would have been swept out to sea if he hadn’t heard her. Thanks to Collier’s work the woman survived with numerous injuries including broken teeth and ribs. If you’re going to be rescued from something in Santa Cruz, there’s probably no one better to be rescued by the Vince Collier.

[Link: Santa Cruz Sentinel]

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Want A Good Book For Christmas?

by The Editors on December 20, 2013

Xmas Books

This is about as far as we’re going to go with the whole Christmas Gift Guide idea. Four books: two for people who like to read and two for people who like to look at pictures. Word books first.

Welcome To Paradise Now Go To Hell
by Chas Smith

In his debut book Welcome To Paradise, Now Go To Hell writer, editor, filmmaker, and handsome father Chas Smith weaves many of his best surf story lines into a tale of surfing (and violence) on the North Shore of Oahu. Its centerpiece is the story of Smith being verbally assaulted by world champion Mick Fanning and the shit-storm that his reporting of that incident caused. But there’s also more about surfing in general, the North Shore, Hawaiian history, and just how much Chas Smith the writer admires Chas Smith the man. We couldn’t stop turning the pages once we started and ended up reading it straight through. We guessing you will, too. It’s good.

TC
By Nick Carroll

This tell-all surf memoir is the “autobiography” of the two-time ASP world surfing champion Tom Carroll written by respected surf journalist and editor (and Tom’s brother) Nick Carroll. It’s a family book. It’s a surf book. Here’s the official pitch:

On the surface he was Tom Carroll, dreamer, cheeky grommet, brilliant surfer, Australian sporting hero, fitness fanatic, businessman, family man, big wave charger. Inside turned the terrible wheel of drug addiction, part family curse, part legacy of the footloose surf culture he’d done so much to legitimize. Tom’s family and friends struggled with him, kept his secrets, and looked on in anger and fear as the wheel began to grind him down. Then a window opened, but getting through it made charging Pipeline look like a piece of cake. This is the story of an unlikely moral education: of humility, family, damage, brotherhood, youth, stupidity, glory, single-mindedness, and surrender, and about the feeling of water moving under a surfboard, how it can bind past to present and make sense of lives.

For the picture books, follow the jump. [click to continue…]

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