Reef adds another chapter to the bible of backsides with this 2016 Reef Calendar Girl video.
For this year’s Miss Reef calendar, the young, nomadic photographer Kate Bellm was unleashed into the jungles of Costa Allegre for her wanderlust interpretation of Just Passing Through. She took an edgy perspective but retained the mystery of Miss Reef. The final result was twelve months worth of youth culture-driven pop art of Miss Reef in cerulean lagoons and lush tropical woodlands of the Pacific Mexican coast, all with Miss Reef falling into Bellm’s brand of mischief and adventure.
And it’s not sexist because they had a girl shoot the photos.
Don’t lie. You own a soft top and so do your friends. At the beach on the weekends it seems everyone is on one. Most of these boards are coming from the same place: CostCo. Bloomberg Business has the story behind one of the biggest shifts in surfing hardgoods ever.
Since its debut in 2007, Wavestorm has become the most popular surfboard in the U.S., with about half a million sold. Novices and veterans have embraced the mass-produced soft-foam boards, which cost much less than competing products. Entry-level soft boards typically sell for around $300, and hand-shaped long boards can go for upwards of $1,000. . . Unlike just about every other surfboard brand, Wavestorm wasn’t started by a revered “shaper” (board designer) or surfer. It’s the brainchild of Matt Zilinskas, a onetime hockey player from landlocked Waterloo, Ont., and John Yeh, a Taiwanese businessman.
Zilinskas shoots straighter than anyone in the surf industry when he explains his business model:
“We don’t want to mess around collecting money from little surf shops and sporting goods stores. Margins are slim at Costco, but we pump out volume and get paid on time.”
Yep, it’s apparently the future of board sporting. And, the boards are popular for similar reasons: they’re cheap, fun, indestructible, and most importantly, a great excuse for sucking at surfing. Seriously, who expects you to rip on one of those foam boats?
Alec Cooke, the 59-year-old Hawaiian big wave surfer known as “Ace Cool” was reported missing by his girlfriend on Wednesday, October 28, 2015 after he failed to return from a surf session on Tuesday afternoon, according to a story on Hawaii News Now.
Investigators say Cooke was last seen Tuesday, when he left his home in Waialua about 4 p.m. to go surfing on the North Shore. Cooke’s girlfriend reported him missing the next morning when he didn’t return. . . Early Wednesday, investigators found Cooke’s truck in the parking lot of Missions of St. Peter near Waimea Bay. His dog and keys were still inside.
Quiksilver CEO Bob McKnight is reportedly selling his 108-acre piece of the North Shore (just across from Sunset Beach) for $15 million, according to a story in the Pacific Business News.
The 108-acre agricultural-zoned parcel is located between two private roads and a newly-paved road from the Sunset Chevron gas station and Paumalu Road in Haleiwa . . . Bob’s Paumalu LLC, which is headed by McKnight and Eddie Rothman, founder of Da Hui, has owned the property since 2005.
The property can be subdivided or you could build “four dream homes surrounded by acres of incredible rich soil, lush terrain, magnificent trees, and gorgeous timeless views.” Will be sad to see that land go.
Watching this kind of VR video clip (where you can move the field of view around using your finger on a phone or on your comp in Google Chrome browser) reminds us just how important a photographers eye is in removing all the stuff we don’t need to see when framing an epic surf clip. With this new tech, which a certain content production company is pitching as the future of broadcasting, it’s really easy to turn a great sequence into a complete visual fumble.
Oh, and we have one question: CJ, what’s with the hand. Looks like you’re holding a ghost beer or something.
Have to admit — when we saw Mick Fanning make that great escape last July, this is exactly how we felt about Mick’s man-handling of the situation. Apparently, Mick’s mum doesn’t agree.
The United States of America won the Vissla ISA World Junior Championships in Oceanside, California on Sunday October 18, 2015. It was the first time the US has won the overall competition. Individual gold medals went to Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti (Boys U-18), France’s Tessa Thyssen (Girls U-18), USA’s Stevie Pittman (Boys U-16) and Hawaii’s Summer Macedo (Girls U-16).
ISA President Fernando Aguerre spoke to the crowd at the Award Ceremony following the competition. “These have been an amazing eight days where the world came together in California to compete in a true World Championship,” said Aguerre. “With 36 countries and 322 surfers, not only did we make history, but we have made friends, progressed junior surfing and bonded as part of the international surfing community. Some of theses surfers now stand a solid chance to become the first ever Olympic Surfers in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.”
For the official word from the ISA including complete results, please follow the jump.
Tyler Wright and Gabriel Medina were the winners in a privately owned surfing content creation production contest final held today (October 15, 2015) in France.
“It feels so good, I’ve been trying so hard this year. I’m so stoked, my board felt really good and everything went my way,” Medina said. “I’m really glad to be back on the podium and especially for a win. I’m stoked to be back in France, which has always been good to me. I promised myself I would win an event this year for my grandfather who passed away a couple of months ago. ”
Both surfers are now at fifth place in the world rankings. For the official word from the content creation company, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The Vissla ISA World Junior Surfing Championships are going down live this week (October 11-18, 2015) at the Oceanside Pier in Oceanside, California. Click play above to watch 322 of the world’s best junior surfers from 36 countries battle it out in some epically great waves.
