by The Editors on April 26, 2011
Fuel TV announced today that its founding father CJ Olivares has chosen to step down to “pursue opportunities more closely related to the action sports genre to which he remains passionate.”
“CJ has worked tirelessly to make FUEL TV live up to its original mission of providing unique, male-oriented sports and entertainment programming with a distinctive voice,” said FOX Sports Media Group Chairman David Hill. “We thank him for his creativity and dedication, and appreciate his commitment to the action sports world in which he has unparalleled expertise. He will be missed.”
Olivares was the action sports heart and soul of the cable channel.
“It has been my honor and privilege to lead a team of dedicated and talented professionals at FUEL TV these last eight years,” offered Olivares. “As the network continues to evolve, I realize that my passion remains the action sports that were FUEL TV’s core and I now have the opportunity to explore the emerging possibilities in the expanding action-sports entertainment landscape.”
Kind of makes since now that Fuel is reportedly pulling away from some of the more core content and getting more into MMA and motorsports. Follow the jump for the official word from Fox.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 26, 2011
by The Editors on April 25, 2011
For the third year friends and family of skateboarder Van Wastell gathered to remember his life, according to a post on Strange Notes.
This past weekend was the 3rd Annual Memorial Van Jam in Arvada Colorado. Dave Tuck hosted it once again at his house with a bbq and backyard pool session. The Wastell family and a ton of friends of Van’s showed up. The rain held of for the whole day and everyone had a good time.
Click the link for the rest of the photos.
[Link: Strange Notes via Thrasher Mag]
by The Editors on April 25, 2011
Now that Rob Dyrdek has tightened down Street League Skateboarding’s contract skateboarders (what is this the WWE?) it’s forcing us to look at the lists and decide which roster of skaters we’d be more interested in following (not to say you can’t follow both tours).
The Maloof Money Cup has just released the first half of their 48 skater invite list and it looks pretty stacked:
Alex Olson, Andrew Reynolds , Anthony Van Engelen, Arto Saari, Austyn Gillette, Bastien Salabanzi, Brandon Westgate, Brian Anderson, Bryan Herman, Chris Haslam, Chris Pfanner, David Gravette, Dennis Busenitz, Garrett Hill, Geoff Rowley, Grant Taylor, Greg Lutzka, Justin Brock, Leo Romero, Lizard King, Sierra Fellers, Tom Asta, Tony Trujillo, and Vincent Alvarez.
Amazing skateboarding will go down, but don’t Grant Taylor, Greg Lutzka have prior commitments?
[Editors’ Note: Scratch the Lutzka mention. He has now reportedly “severed ties” with Street League.] [click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 25, 2011
Former Volcom Director of Sales Donavon Dartez has jumped over to the Quiksilver mothership as the new senior vice president of sales, Americas for DC Shoes, according to a post on Footwear Business Update.
Prior sales positions in the apparel and accessories industry include Fossil and Stussy. Overall, Donavon joins DC with over 15 years of experience in sales in the action sports apparel industry. . . In his new position, Dartez will report directly to DC America’s President, Anton Nistl at the company’s Huntington Beach headquarters.
And to think, we used to know people who worked at DC. . .wait, does Ken Block still work there? Or is he just a sponsored Gymkhanaer?
[Link: Footwear Business Update]
by The Editors on April 25, 2011
Buoloco.com gets the word on “editorial creation” from Burton’s Evan Rose. If anyone has the inside line on how to make sure their brand gets coverage it is Burton. Not because the system is flawed (it is), but because Burton has been getting “coverage” and doing it right since the beginning. Like it or not.
[Link: Buoloco]
by The Editors on April 23, 2011
It was an Easter Day full of shutdowns, April 24, 2011. Adriano de Souza slammed the door on Kelly Slater in the quarter finals, Mick Fanning decimated Jordy Smith in the semis, and then in the dream 50th Anniversary Rip Curl Pro Bell Beach Finals Joel Parkinson delivered the same treatment to mate Mick Fanning.
Parko grabbed the first wave of the heat and landed an 8.53 and then just didn’t let up. By the middle of the heat Parko had Fanning combo’d but, Fanning got back in with a 7.9. By then there wasn’t much time left. With less than a minute to go Parko used his priority to block Fanning off the last wave and on the way in scored a perfect 10 at the hooter.
“Bullshit! I had no idea,” Parko said, surprised when he heard about the 10. ” Did they? I didn’t know you know. The 50th year thing it’s like a gold plated bell this year. It’s a special one.”
When he say that last set coming, Park was worried but he knew that Fanning had been our of sync with the waves for most of the head. “I was like oh no,” he said. “I’ve definitely had things taken off me that way before. I thought Mick was the form surfer of the event and I was never going to take him lightly. I was thinking he was the hardest surfer to beat.”
Fanning was obviously spent. “I’m stuffed,” he said on the podium. “I thought I was mr. fitness then tried to chair Parko up the beach and I folded right away. It was an awesome day. I had some great heats. Most of the time when you go out and surf three times you’d be buggered but this with the crowd it was great.”
Follow the jump for full results and the world from the ASP. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 23, 2011
While the ASP Elite surfers were battling away at Bells for the Rip Curl Pro, the juniors were in Cardiff, California for the Rob Machado Seaside Pro Junior. When the contest was done on Saturday, April 23, 2011 it was Evan Geiselman and Lakey Peterson who took the top spots a the 4-Star event.
“It was kind of a sluggish final for me and I think for the rest of the competitors and I was pretty tired out there, but I’m so happy to get a win and get some momentum going,” Geiselman said. “I’m not having the best year like last year so I’m so excited. I just want to thank my Mom for helping me out lately. She flew out here before the event and has been doing everything for me.”
Follow the jump for complete results and the official story. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on April 23, 2011
Photographer Jake Stangel’s latest project is titled, The Pacific and it documents surfing on the Oregon Coast, according to a story on the Good Magazine website.
“It’s cold,” says Stangel, an East-Coast transplant who started photographing surfers in the area after a hike through the nearby forest lead him to Indian Head beach, “and thick westuits are mandatory. . . The surfers are used to the cold,” he adds, “but I feel like I’m still getting used to the rugged lushness of the ocean and mountains of Oregon. I’m constantly surprised by its beauty.”
Stangel’s images provide a balance for all the ASP action we’ve been soaking in this week. Click here to see the project, or click the link for the rest of the story.
[Link: Good Magazine]
by The Editors on April 23, 2011
The Heavy Current Surfing Club in Higashi-Matsushima, Japan did not lose one member in the Tsunami that claimed the lives of 1,800 of their neighbors, according to a story in the Washington Times.
When they saw the tide suddenly withdraw after a massive quake on March 11, they knew a huge tsunami was coming. They all fled the picturesque beach of this town in northeastern Japan to safety on higher ground. . . “We didn’t lose any members, because we respect and fear the ocean,” said Seiichi Kato, sitting by his surfboard and tent on the beach. “But other Japanese forgot about nature, and they could not escape it.”
Now, rather than move in to refugee shelters some club members are camping out on the beach and helping to clean the place up as a way of dealing with the grief over lost friends. One thing they have noticed: the tsunami didn’t change the beach. “We were amazed that the beach looks exactly the same as before the tsunami. It destroyed everything man-made, but nature is almost the same.”
We’re always amazing by surfers’ ability to ride things out no matter how bad it gets.
[Link: Washington Times]
Fuel TV announced today that its founding father CJ Olivares has chosen to step down to “pursue opportunities more closely related to the action sports genre to which he remains passionate.” 
