Tomorrow, June 10, 2015 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater will call out SeaWorld during the company’s online annual meeting by submitting a question on behalf of PETA. Here’s the question that he is submitting:
My name is Kelly Slater, and I’m here on behalf of PETA. The veil has been lifted on SeaWorld. All the ads in the world won’t change what the public now knows to be true: that the company imprisons highly intelligent, emotionally complex, social animals in tiny, barren concrete tanks, which leads to aggression and disease. SeaWorld is experiencing declining attendance and revenue, and dozens of companies, including Southwest Airlines, Panama Jack, and Mattel, have recently ended partnerships with SeaWorld. As a professional surfer, I’m lucky and privileged to be able to spend the majority of my time in the ocean—it’s the place where I feel most at home, and thus, I feel an obligation to protect that which I have a voice in influencing. Please, tell us, when will SeaWorld allow the animals it holds captive to return to their home—the ocean—by retiring them to a seaside sanctuary? And wouldn’t this at least be viewed, if nothing else, as a public relations win for you? By righting the wrongs you have committed in the name of corporate profit for so many years, you may actually be able to recoup some of the respect that has been lost in the eyes of the public and work toward an end to the problem of animal suffering. Thank you.
Looks like surfers are back in style, according to a vomit-inducing fashion article in Men’s Journal (if that isn’t redundant). But be careful — surfcore is not easy to “pull off.”
If the surfcore style is for you, there’s a trick to pulling it off (which is the only similarity it shares with the norm core and lumber sexual looks — or any trend). The trick to making it look as good on the sidewalk as it does on the sand means distinguishing the fine line between gimmicky and genuine. “You have to be careful when it comes to fit,” celebrity menswear stylist Ashley Weston advises. “The guys who nail it do so because their floral shirt is fitted correctly. Surf wear and beach-inspired pieces cannot be worn loose because a relaxed fit translates into a sloppy tourist vibe. The fit can mess it all up. If the shirt is looser then you need to pair it with a much more fitted pant, or vice versa. The look needs to balance.”
Yeah, bro! Looks like Luke Davis will continue to get paid for a little while longer.
Hey, shred kids. Looks like the quad corkers will get the chance to go for the gold when the Five Ring Circus (aka Olympics Winter Games) drop next in 2018 in PyeongChang, Korea.
The inclusion of big air is another step from the IOC in appealing to a more youth-oriented audience. The hugely successful slopestyle events at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi provided a great platform to launch big air as an additional medal opportunity for American athletes. Big air was introduced at the 2003 FIS Snowboarding World Championships and was included on the World Cup tour in 2015. U.S. Snowboarding’s Ty Walker (Stowe, VT) won the first ever women’s World Cup this past season in Istanbul, Turkey.
We can’t wait to watch 16 guys (and girls) do the same trick over and over and over until one of them does it with a few less mistakes than the others. For the official word from the USSA follow the jump. [click to continue…]
The USA’s Tia Blanco edged Leilani McGonagle, Ella Williams, and Chelsea Tuach to take the the 2015 ISA World Surfing Games gold medal on Saturday, June 7, 2015 in Playa Popoyo, Nicaragua.
“It means the world to me, to win this Gold Medal for the USA. I am so stoked!” exclaimed Blanco, still in the awe following her win. “Getting carried up the beach by my coach and Damien Hobgood was a dream come true – it was one for the memory book. Thank you to everyone who believed in me, I could not do it without you.”
For a few more words (thought not many more) please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
We know how important the television network sponsored “games ” are to the athletes (hell, it’s Bob Burnquist’s whole year). So we’ve decided to provide this list of results for everyone’s easy perusal. As usual, we didn’t see a lick of the content and we know, we missed that great performance by the kid who was ruling it, but whatever. Follow the jump for the entire results breakdown. [click to continue…]
There are only about two things we’re suckers for — Star Wars and Disneyland. With the release of the Vans Disney footwear and apparel collection they’ve pretty much got us tied up.
Sharing a rich heritage rooted in Southern California, both Vans and Disney are dedicated to those who are young at heart and never stop following their dreams. The collection features iconic Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy and Winnie the Pooh across a range of Vans apparel and accessories and Classic footwear in adult, kids and toddler sizing.
Magic Kingdom, indeed. For the official word from Vans (including all the apparel) Please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Tony Hawk sits down with New York Times bestselling author and writer-at-large for Esquire Magazine, Cal Fussman to talk about the big part movies played in his growing up, and becoming a professional skateboarder in this episode of Fandango’s “I Love Movies.” This original video series showcases cultural influencers across the globe, sharing personal stories of how movies have touched their lives. The series airs on Fandango’s digital network, including Fandango Movieclips, the number one movie trailer and content channel on YouTube, plus Fandango channels on Hulu, Roku and Samsung’s Milk Video Service.
In the new episode, Hawk reveals the impact of the seeing the James Bond action-adventure, “The Spy Who Loved Me,” for the first time at the age of 10, around the time he first started skating. “This movie was all about me,” recalls Hawk. “There were gadgets and death-defying stunts and it inspired me to do something daring like that.” On the flip side, comedies also taught him to laugh off his first skating experience. “I couldn’t figure out where to turn and ran into a fence – my first experience on a skateboard was definitely out of “The Naked Gun,” like the scene with Nordberg getting caught in a bear-trap.” [click to continue…]
We’ve been surfing Lib Tech Waterboards for six months now and while we love the shapes and truly believe the founder Mike Olson is changing the face of the surf industry with his complete reset on surfboard construction technology, we also kept thinking how amazing it would be so other high-profile shapers got behind the technology.
Well, today Lib Tech announced a partnership with Lost Enterprises. Now some of Matt Biolos‘ masterpiece shapes are available in Lib Tech ECO ISO construction. And that is just plain rad.
Here’s what Biolos had to say about it:
“Since I first saw Lib Tech’s ECO ISO construction, I wanted to build a board with it. The strength to weight ratio, eco minded materials and techniques, and the fact that this tech was being built in the USA was incredibly interesting to me. I am stoked that the time has finally come and hope people enjoy riding them as much as we have enjoyed building them.”
Mike Olson is also obviously stoked:
“I have been working with alternative environmentally safer, high performance surf construction all my life…our ECO ISO construction process is much healthier for the craftsmen while at the same time using more environmentally friendly materials and having incredible durability. We are so stoked that Matt took notice of what we are doing up in the northern corner of the USA near Canada, we couldn’t imagine a better partner.”
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons did not let a little thing like a busted ear drum get in her way at the Fiji Pro. No, she blasted on through over South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag to defend her win at Cloudbreak.
“I’m so exhausted the tears came out,” said Fitzgibbons. “It’s been such a big couple of days and quite a bit of pain. I just thought whatever the ocean is going to deal up to me I’ll be happy with it. At this stage to have a win is so amazing and I’m just so happy. Credit to the medical staff for taping me up and to everyone supporting me back home – I love you guys, we did it. In the face of adversity this is definitely one of the most special wins I’ve ever had.”
For the official word from the privately owned entertainment company specializing in event and online streamed content production (including final results), please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Tomorrow, June 10, 2015 11-time World Champion Kelly Slater will call out SeaWorld during the company’s online annual meeting by submitting a question on behalf of PETA. Here’s the question that he is submitting:
