by The Editors on April 20, 2008
While we may not so sure about “The Triathlon of a New Generation” a.k.a. the Ultimate Boarder 2008, a contest in which athletes compete in snowboarding, surfing, and skateboarding with combined scoring, we are absolutely sure that the right guy won.
Carlsbadistan’s Aaron Astorga edged out pro snowboarder and ESPN commentator Todd Richards and rolled away with a check for $30,000.
“It was an amazing event and everyone had a great time,” said Ultimate Boarder™ champion, Aaron Astorga. “The contest organizers did an unbelievable job of bringing all of the surfers, skaters and snowboarders together and I know a lot of us are already looking forward to next year’s contest.”
Follow the jump for all the details.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 19, 2008
According to KTLA.com a teenage skateboarder was shot and killed at Madison Middle school in North Hollywood last night around 7:30 PM.
The shooting was reported around 7:30 p.m. on Hart Street and Ethel Avenue, Sgt. G. Patton of the Los Angeles Police Department said. . . The victim, who was not yet identified, was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. . . .Police had no information on a motive, but video crews on the scene said the shooting involved at least two juveniles.
Video crews on the scene? Anyone know who was rolling video in North Hollywood last night?
[Link: KTLA.com]
by The Editors on April 19, 2008
In an email sent out to Transworld Media employees on the morning of April 18, 2008 Group Publisher Jeff Griffing announced that after six months on the job he would be leaving Transworld Media and moving east (the second time in the last year that he has quit and moved).
My wife and I have decided to leave southern California to raise my son Jake back east. . . .There will be rumors that I left because I’m frustrated with Bonnier, Winter Park, whatever…..none of which are true.
His replacement: former VP of Sales and long-time Transworld adman Liam Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson will have the distinction of being Transworld Media’s seventh Group Publisher in the last five years.
by The Editors on April 17, 2008
Writer Jeff Hemmel has a great story on the Lib Tech Skate Banana on First Tracks Online.
There’s some crazy stuff going on up in Washington State. First comes the notion that a snowboard’s edge should resemble a crinkle-cut French fry, rather than a traditional curve. The dust on crust had barely settled from that outburst when next came the idea that camber was old news, and that rocker — yes, wakeboard-like rocker — was the wave of the future.
While we all know Mike Olson is a design genius, it’s nice to see others appreciating his banana. . . tech.
[Link: First Tracks]
by The Editors on April 17, 2008
For the past seven years Quiksilver has been in court fighting over the name “Roxy” with Kymsta Corp. makers of Roxywear. Quik has now announced thatis has “again prevailed” in Federal court. Bob McKnight is happy:
We are pleased with the decision of the court. As a matter of principle and financial responsibility, we are deeply committed to protecting and defending our trademarks and brands. We were always confident in our rights with regard to our longstanding usage and the fame of the ‘Roxy’ trademark. This victory protects our valuable mark, upholds our investment in the ‘Roxy’ brand, and protects consumers from confusion in the marketplace.”
For all the messy details of this on-going lawsuit, follow the jump.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 17, 2008
We are so lucky to live on the West Coast. And stories like this are nice reminders of how bad surfers in Florida have it most of the year:
From the minute you step foot on area beaches, the blast of sand whipping around hits your face well before you notice red flag warnings. “It’s amazing, that’s why we stopped and pulled off the road, it’s like we wanted to see what the beach was doing,” says Cindy Collins.
Yeah, that wave looks pretty amazing.
[Link: WPTV.com]
by The Editors on April 16, 2008
The annual SIA/Leisure Trends Group retail audit overview press release was emailed out today. Sadly, they didn’t do much to breakout snowboarding from the rest of the stuff they track, and we couldn’t care less about how many pairs of twin-tip skis were sold or what the Vice President of Descente has to say about anything. So, here are some of the data points that, jumped out at us like a pride of starved snow leopards.
- The “Internet” is now responsible for 16.47 percent of all snow sports sales
- Snowboard sales in specialty shops have fallen by 1% vs 05-06
- Snowboard sales in chain stores fell by 13% in units and 6% in dollars since the 05.06 season
In other words, nothing much to see here. Read the rest after the jump.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 16, 2008
Fuel.TV may have been a little slow to the whole online game, but now it seems like they’re hooking up when everyone (which is great). Now they’ve put some of their content up on Next.TV. Unfortunately, Next is still in beta and we don’t have an invites.
NEXT.TV™, the revolutionary new Internet television service which debuted on Hewlett Packard consumer notebooks, today announced the addition of FUEL TV as a NEXT.TV channel partner bringing programming attuned to the lifestyle and culture of skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, BMX, freestyle motocross, and wakeboarding.
[Link: Earth Times]
by The Editors on April 14, 2008
by The Editors on April 14, 2008

It was a night where size definitely matters as the elite big wave riders gathered at The Grove in Anaheim, California on April 11, 2008 for the 8th Annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards. This year, the biggest wave of the year award went to Mike Parsons, 43, for his Cortez Bank 70 footer.
“I didn’t think a session like that could ever happen twice, I mean that day in 2001 where I rode the first winner at Cortes was incredible,” said Parsons. “It feels surreal to say that I rode a 70ft wave, I can’t believe it… There have been so many big waves ridden throughout time and when I sit at home I can’t believe that I may have ridden the biggest one ever,” he said. “The amazing thing about big wave surfing now is how global it is going.”
Parsons only got $15,000 for riding the largest wave, all the big money ($50,000) went to Shane Dorian, 35, for “Ride of the Year” for his wave at Teahupoo on November 1, 2007. Hmmm, I guess Billabong can give their money to whoever they want, huh?
[Link: Billabong XXL]