May 8, 2010 will see winners crowned in the 2010 Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro and the Oakley Pro Juniors live from Trestles, California. Finals are on. Press the play button and watch it live here.
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May 2010
ESPN’s Jake Howard reported some sad news last night. NorCal big-wave charger and videographer Noel Robinson died yesterday, May 7, 2010 while surfing in Puerto Escondido, Mexico.
. . . this afternoon I received the tragic news that “Nor Cal” Noel lost his life today while out surfing Puerto Escondido in Mexico. Reportedly he pulled into a six-footer — a relatively benign wave by Puerto standards — and for whatever reason never resurfaced. His body was found an hour later by lifeguards and friends.
Robinson, who has a long and storied past in surfing, was most recently recognized for shooting Grant “Twiggy” Baker’s XXL-winning video.
One of the most difficult tasks a writer ever tackles is a story about the death of a friend, but Jake Howard’s heartfelt piece eloquently communicates both Noel’s place in surfing and the feelings of loss felt by everyone who knew him. Noel will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with Noel’s family and friends.
[Link: ESPN/Action Photo: Jason Murray]
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Jordy Smith was getting all over the nearly perfect performance waves at the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro at Trestles today. In the round of 48 he and Josh Kerr rolled over Brazil’s Wiggoly Dantas and Damien Hobgood and then he marched right through Gabe Kling and Aritz Aranburu and will meet Josh Kerr in Heat 8 of the Round of 16 tomorrow morning. It doesn’t look like much will stop him.
Click here for photos from today, or follow the jump for the official world from the ASP.
[click to continue…]
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Skate Park of Tampa’s Ryan Clements and his fiance Jenna Becker will be featured on an upcoming episode of Home & Garden TV’s Battle On The Block reality interior design show.
The show pits neighbors against each other to see who can come up with the best room. Here is how their show is being pitched:
In this episode, three families in the hip urban neighborhood of Ybor City in Tampa, FL, compete to redesign and renovate their master bedrooms. . . .Newly engaged Ryan and Jenna are desperate to create a soothing bedroom that reflects their hip style, but their bold color choices threaten to make their bedroom more zoo than Zen.
According to an email sent out to friends Ryan loves the new bedroom, but wonders how the show will turn out:
The worst was that HGTV literally ran our lives for five days (interviews, show prep, filming, etc.) and the best part is that we got an absolutely amazing, completely free master bedroom out of the deal,” he said. “This is my official disclaimer that I have no idea how we’re going to be portrayed on the show since we signed our lives away and have no control over the outcome. Jenna thinks that she’s going to be labeled as the ‘dumb blonde’ and my fear is that they’re going to make me look like a semi-retarded, anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive, conspiracy-theorist, maniac.”
The Clements family bedroom episode airs May 15, 2010. Set your Tivos.
[Link: Battle On The Block]
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Last weekend the 7th Annual Top Shop Team Skateboard Competition went down at the 3rd Lair Skatepark in Minneapolis. Guess who won? Yep, 3rd Lair. They won the team event and their team skater Jack Olson won the individual results.
Which reminds us: we always hate it when people invite us over to their house and then proceed to kick our asses in every single game we play. It’s just not polite.
[Link: 3rd Lair via The Skateboard Mag]
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Josh Pomer’s documentary about Santa Cruz, California’s infamous The Westsiders which premieres Saturday night (May 8, 2010) at the Santa Cruz Film Festival, is reviewed by Mark Conley in the San Jose Mercury News.
The resulting visual history of Santa Cruz surfing is beautiful — and unlike anything before compiled. It ranges from the skateboarding-spawned origins of aerial surfing with an innovator named Kevin Reed to the divergent personalities of Westside icons Richard Schmidt (now a popular surf instructor at Cowell’s) and Vince Collier (the self-appointed Godfather of the so-called Westsiders surf gang).
From there Conley says it “buries the nose and tumbles.” But we still want to see it.
[Link: San Jose Mercury News]
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As if being the largest footwear manufacturer in the world (and number 1 action sports footwear brand) isn’t enough for the Portland, Oregon based company, Chief Executive Mark Parker now says that Nike plans on growing by more than 40 percent in the next five years to $27 billion in sales, according to a story on MarketWatch.
And guess which pond they plan to over-fish. . .
In addition to retail and apparel, Nike also sees the fast-growing action sports market, which it called underpenetrated, as a growth opportunity for both its namesake brand and Hurley, according to Parker. The company also said it will do a better job gaining the wallet share of its female customers. . . Converse, which Nike bought in 2003, will help fuel growth as well. Nike wants to double the size of the $1 billion brand in the next five years, with plans to open the first full-priced Converse store in Boston this summer.
And then one day the sales reps at action sports media companies will only have to make one call a year. We can hardly wait.
[Link: MarketWatch]
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Transworld Snowboarding Magazine won two awards in Folio Magazine’s Eddie and Ozzie Awards, according to a post on Transworld Business.
The December 2008 Issue won a Silver Eddie for overall editorial excellence in the “Consumer Sports Full Issue” category and the 2009 Buyer’s Guide took the Bronze Ozzie Award in the “Best Supplemental Annual or One-Shot” category.
“Snowboarding looks easy until you try to drop in on one of those Superpipes, the same might be said about making snowboarding magazines,” said TransWorld SNOWboarding’s Editor-in-Chief, Annie Fast. “We work hard to make it look easy, so we’re especially honored by the recognition of the greater magazine world with a silver and bronze—it’s like winning our own magazine Olympics!”
Nice run, Annie.
[Link: Transworld Business]
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We have to admit that every time we see a bobsled track or water slide we think about doing this. Leave it to some crazy sponored Euro to make it happen.
[Link: via Jimshreds]
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Now everyone can decorate their offices and homes with skateboard decks that have been chopped into tiny little squares thanks to a company called Art Of Board, according to a post on Treehugger.com.
Using the colorful scraps from broken skateboard decks, we provide commercial and residential spaces and retailers with unique, sustainable design solutions to help them reach an audience, sell products and create a defining style or experience. . . With our roots firmly planted in the skateboard culture, we provide skaters and skate shops alike the opportunity to donate broken decks, thereby becoming of part of every project. We also donate a portion of our proceeds to the Tony Hawk Foundation, which supports youth and public skateparks.
Think of the hours that could be spent trying to figure out exactly whose deck each piece came from. . . .
[Link: Art of Board via Treehugger.com]
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