by The Editors on February 18, 2014
Joe Turpel, Pat Parnell, Rosy Hodge, Todd Kline, and Martin Potter are headlining the ASP’s World Tour announcer team for the 2014 season. Ross Williams, Peter Mel, Strider Wasilewski and Ronnie Blakey round out the team.
“We’re very excited about the core commentary team for 2014,” Jed Pearson, SVP of Content and Programming, said. “Their experience and background within the sport is unparalleled and for the first time in ASP history, we’ll have a dedicated and consistent team for the sport. In addition to our core team, we look forward to utilizing regional resources around the world to ensure that the broadcast is the best possible quality for the fans.”
No complaints here. Truthfully, we enjoy listening to all of them and looking at a few of them. For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump.
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by The Editors on February 18, 2014
Wondering why? Watch this Tia Blanco edit and wonder no more. Welcome to the Reef team. It’s always good to see Reef girls who can surf. Oh, and to quote Dr. Hook, she’s “only 16” if you were wondering. For the official word from Reef, follow the jump.
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by The Editors on February 10, 2014
Gold Coast surfer and professional abalone diver Mark Morlock, 41, could lose his right eye after an attack he calls the “most brutal and cowardly thing I’ve ever seen,” according to a story in the Courier-Mail. Another surfer fired his board directly into Morlock’s face stabbing him in the eye while the two were at Snapper Rocks.
He said a fellow surfer who he unwittingly cut off on a wave at the same break about five months ago confronted him. . . “I heard a voice behind me go ‘hey you’ and I’ve turned around and he goes ‘you remember me?’,” Mr Morlock said. . . “I said ‘yeah I remember you, what do you want?’. Then he let his board go from between his legs, straight into my face. He said ‘you’re not laughing now, are you mate?’
Morlock has reportedly undergone 12 hours of micro surgery to save the eye and the offender is described as a “notorious troublemaker.”
[Link: Courier-Mail]
by The Editors on February 7, 2014
Garret McNamara’s car sponsor is apparently Mercedes Benz (not bad), but that was only on the road. Now, according to a story on DesignBoom, the company’s ad agency (BBDO Portugal) wanted to get the Mercedes branding into the water with him. And they did that just last week on February 2, 2014 in Portugal.
For the first time, technicians, engineers and designers at mercedes-benz AMG in stuttgart developed a surfboard with a built in telemetry system capable of measuring surfing performance. the board was created specifically for Garrett McNamara’s trademark riding style and tailored for catching big waves.
Looks like the board worked, but we can’t say it was the best wave we’ve seen from Nazaré. And where’s the “telemetry data”? Guess they’re not sharing it just yet. For more photos of the Benz surfboard, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 5, 2014
Yesterday, Wednesday, February 5, 2014 Kelly Slater won the Volcom Pipe Pro ASP 5-Star event at Pipeline. Yes, 2 John Florence was there, Jamie O’Brien and a crew of other hard-charging locals were in it, and the surf was macking (see Bielmann photo above), so it wasn’t exactly like Kelly was playing in the kiddie pool. Mr. Slater was happy with his performance no matter the details.
“This was some of the best Pipe I’ve ever surfed in my life,” said Slater. “There were some really gnarly, intense, kind of vicious waves this morning. It was really doubling up, a new swell, it was a little bit wonky. . . There were a couple waves that I got right in that little sweet spot where you can just barely make the wave. It did feel like there was definitely some room out there to work on things and the opportunity was there because when the wave gets really intense, you’ve got to just totally commit, and you can see if a guys committed or not, and you can choose to be like that.”
Congrats to Kelly. Brazil’s Wiggolly Dantas finished second, and Mason Ho and Adriano De Souza rounded out the top four [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 3, 2014
Jon Rose and friends are making valiant efforts to get clean water to people who need it through his Waves For Water initiative. Now, Nike is taking this opportunity to upgrade their social conscience (and their Hurley surf division) by participating in World Water Day 2014.
Five groups of Clean Water Couriers will lead missions to five different parts of the globe: Brazil, Haiti, Indonesia, Liberia and Nicaragua. Each team of key advocates will include Hurley Surfers and ambassadors to participate in the distribution of water filtration units. The teams will be bringing with them 1,000 water filters for a single-day activation (March 22, 2014), with capacity to provide clean-water access for 100,000 people. . . “We typically work in a very lean and covert fashion to maximize our efficiency on the ground, but since this specific project is just as much about awareness as it is action,” says Waves For Water Founder Jon Rose. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to bring some of our longtime friends and advocates – Carissa Moore, Rosario Dawson, Rob Machado, Alex Atala, and more – along for the ride.”
From the official word from Rose and Hurley, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 31, 2014
How long before all this RC helicopter drone footage gets boring? Probably next week when every single GoBro is buzzing his Hero 3+ around every corner of the world. Remember the Matrix shot? And all the slider track shots? Have to say, Sterman sure works magic with this soon-to-be cliche radio controlled image capturing trick. Wow!
[Link: Surfer Magazine] [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 28, 2014
Dragon adds Alejo Muniz to their H20 Floatable Collection.
“I am very excited to start the New Year with a brand that I have always admired and I am looking forward to fun times ahead with the Dragon family,” states World Tour athlete Alejo Muniz.
For the official word from Dragon, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 28, 2014
The Boardroom’s spring 2014 consumer surfboard show being scheduled for May 17 & 18, 2014 at the Del Mar, California fairgrounds will feature a surfboard shaping contest open to absolutely everyone. Well, at least two spots in the contest will be.
For the first time ever two of the six shaping spots in the competition will be chosen via a random draw, opening up the competition to shapers from around the world. Three of the remaining spots go to shapers of Ben Aipa’s choice (tbd). One spot is reserved for the defending champion (Matt Calvani of BING Surfboards). . . “We’re excited about the new format. There are a lot of great shapers out there. It just makes sense to open it up to all of them,” said Scott Bass, THE BOARDROOM event director. “The response (to the new format) has been tremendous. Heck, it’s free to enter, any shaper can enter and there’s a thousand dollars on the line. More importantly, it’s a chance to honor and to pay tribute to one of the all-time greats — Mr. Ben Aipa.”
Guess that means if you’re a foam mower and would like to put your skills right up in front of the surfing world, this is your chance. For the official information, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on January 23, 2014
When 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…]
