Footwear News has an interview with Supra founder Angel Cabada in which he talks about why he wants his $100 million shoe company to get into running and do battle with the big boys. Here’s why:
There’s nothing out there in the running market for me. I’m a monochromatic kind of person: I wear black, I wear white, I wear gray. I don’t wear color. I keep it simple, without crazy graphics and colors. I feel like every trainer out there looks like a NASCAR race car. That’s all you can buy if you want that comfort or that look or that profile of shoe. I’m not promoting the Olympics, I’m not starting a race team tomorrow — I just want our shoes to look good, be light, comfortable and provide the same experience you’d have in any other running shoe — without looking like a Christmas tree.
For the rest the interview with the mind behind Supra, click the link.
Professional surfing co-founder, Vans Triple Crown of Surfing Executive Director, and global surfing icon Randy Rarick and Sunny Garcia were inducted last night into the Hawaii Sports Hall of Fame. Rarick is one of the rare, humble, talented surf promoters who worked tirelessly for the betterment of surfing. In a time of conflict and issues between locals, sponsors, and the media Rarick seemed always able to walk the good line through it all.
“My efforts along the way have always been to honor the sport of surfing and the meaning it has brought to my life and countless others around the world,” Rarick said. “Surfing is truly, uniquely Hawaiian and I’m honored to have had a career that has shaped and spanned my entire life. I would also like to honor others along the way who have helped me to do that, including Fred Hemmings, Buffalo Keaulana, Rell Sunn and Gerry Lopez.”
Rarick took the event as the opportunity to officially announce his “full retirement.” Thank you Mr. Rarick. Professional surfing is so much better because of you and we hope that it can survive your absence. Follow the jump for more. [click to continue…]
The surf community mourned the loss of another iconic surfer yesterday as news spread that Santa Cruz, California artist, surfer, and “funny human” Shawn “Barney” Barron died yesterday (May 5, 2015). He was 44.
According to Surfline:
Barron was born in Pomona and raised on the Westside of Santa Cruz, learning how to surf in fourth grade. By the time he was a teenager, Barron was one of the most progressive surfers in town, along with fellow Westsiders Darryl “Flea” Virotsko and Jason “Ratboy” Collins. In the mid- to late ‘90s, Barron and crew created a highly specialized niche as aerialist/big-wave freesurfers, traveling around the world and charging at home and at Maverick’s as the spot was beginning to gain notoriety as the West Coast’s heaviest wave.
Rest in power you cosmic awesome human! Shawn “Barney” Barron you were a pleasure to know and honor to surf will–first attempted 360 air I ever witnessed was by Shawn at the lane in 1987 // you are a legend sir — respect in the highest form.
According to a story in the Santa Cruz Sentinel there will not be an official cause of death until an autopsy is completed. But this is what happened:
About 4:30 p.m., a 23-year-old woman who lives at Barron’s home on the 100 block of Dufour Street heard a crash, said Santa Cruz police Lt. Bernie Escalante. She went outside to an area between the home and an in-law unit and saw Barron on the ground, Escalante said. . . She called 911 and was instructed by an emergency dispatcher to open his airway, which she did. Paramedics and police arrived and tried to resuscitate Barron, but he was pronounced dead at 5:05 p.m., police said.
More details as they become available. Our thoughts are will Barron’s family and friends.
Hey, buddy. Psssst! Hey! Gotta great deal for you. Day-glo surf wax, surfboard bags, leashes, lip balm? Right now it’s all 25 percent off at Sticky Bumps. Just use our secret code (STARTSUMMER25) and if you spend over $50 they’ll throw in free shipping, too! It’s Sticky Bumps way of saying hello to summer. And our way of waxing wise.
Adam Bhala Lough, the filmmaker behind The Carter, Bomb the System and and the Street League Skateboarding documentary The Motivation has a new film dropping worldwide on June 23, 2015. It is Motivation 2: The Chris Cole Story.
Shot over the course of a year in San Diego, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and China, Motivation 2: The Chris Cole Story is the story of a man that earned his place as an innovator, motivator and legend in skateboarding that now creates inspiration and opportunity for a new generation. Cole’s progression from humble neighborhood beginnings to the world of elite street skateboarding is revealed through recently discovered archival footage, presenting a skater that went on to achieve the highest amount of skate contest wins, a list of defining video parts, being twice selected as Thrasher magazine’s Skater of the Year, back-to-back X-Games gold medals, and becoming the 2013 Street League Super Crown World Champion. . . Featuring interviews with some of the most respected figures in skateboarding, including Tony Hawk, Rob Dyrdek, Stevie Williams, Rodney Mullen, Bam Margera and Jamie Thomas, this is already one of the most anticipated sport documentaries of the year.
The film premieres June 20, 2015 at LA Live in Los Angeles and will be followed by a party at The Berrics. We all can download a copy from iTunes on June 23, 2015. Not a bad way to kick off the summer, right?
Remember how everyone was getting out from under their underwater mortgages during the last recession by doing a “short sale” claiming they couldn’t afford to make the payments on a loan that was more than their house was worth? Well, that’s apparently what former pro surfer (and RVCA co-founder) Conan Hayes did. But according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office he wasn’t exactly straight up about his ability to make the mortgage. They are charging him with “one felony count of grand theft with a sentencing enhancement allegation for property loss over $200,000” according to a story in the Orange County Register. According to the story:
Hayes co-owned the surf clothing brand RVCA and sold his interest in the company in 2010 for more than $7.5 million, prosecutors say. . . They allege that Hayes got the bank to approve the short sale by falsely claiming that he lost his job and was unemployed. But, they say, he didn’t tell the bank he made millions of dollars in the sale of the company.
If found guilty Hayes could face a maximum sentence of five years in jail. He’s currently out on $586,245 bail. For a little more background check Beach Grit and this.
Surfer Keala Kennelly is reportedly suing the producers of the Bethany Hamilton bio pic Soul Surfer (Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, Inc.) because they denied her a role in the film based on her being “a lesbian, but also because they believed she starred in gay porn,” according to a story on Courthouse News.
In January 2010, Kennelly learned that Brookwell McNamara had chosen not to give her any role for the biopic, according to the suit. . . . Kennelly claims that as producers mulled over casting, a female producer told director Sean McNamara she “had some dirt on” Kennelly. . . “‘For one thing, she is gay,'” Kennelly’s complaint quotes the producer as saying. “‘And she does gay porn. It’s on the Internet.'”
Okay, so according to Courthouse News “though openly gay” Kennelly denies ever making pornographic movies. Kennelly lost her Screen Actors Guild health coverage because she didn’t get the role in the film. Now she is “suing for religion discrimination based on sexual orientation and sexual orientation discrimination. She seeks compensatory, special and punitive damages,” in Hawaii’s First Circuit Court. She filed the lawsuit on April 29, 2015.
While caught up in the magic of a skateboard video premiere like Vans’ Propeller it is easy to forget that behind all those shots, and edits, and effects, there was someone making every single decision. Sometimes doing an edit different ways for weeks before finalizing it. In the case of Propeller that person was director Greg Hunt. His critically acclaimed body of work shows that he has gotten his head around the long form skateboarding video, but what’s interesting is hearing what he has to say about the process and how his ideas are reflected in the video. That’s why this interview by Concrete Skateboarding’s Editor Jeff Thorburn is so key.
Here’s a slice of what Hunt has to say:
It’s just a video I made at home, so it’s hard for me to imagine that it’s going to push skating in any direction,” Hunt says. “It’s a video. I don’t mean to downplay it, but it’s a video. It’s not going to change the world or anything. But I would like to think the way these guys skate, and the way it’s presented, it’s honest. It’s honest and real skateboarding. If anything, it’ll hopefully keep things going in that direction. I don’t think it will push skateboarding in any new direction, because I don’t think skateboarding needs that. I would like to think that maybe with everything that’s happening within skateboarding and outside of skateboarding right now, that this will just keep pushing that sort of true skating that’s at the heart of everything, in the direction that it’s always been going, and hopefully not let it derail into some sort of other strange competitive thing.”
See? Skate wisdom straight up. For the rest of this exceptional (and long) interview, please click the link.
The ISA World Surfing Games are headed to Playa Popoyo, Nicaragua May 31 to June 7, 2015 with over 25 countries represented.
“With its incredible surf and 24/7 offshore winds, Nicaragua will be the perfect venue for the world’s best surfers competing for Individual and Team Gold Medals,” says ISA President, Fernando Aguerre. “I’m very excited about the top-level athletes and look forward to being in Nicaragua, a true surfing paradise. As a surfer, there is no greater honor than representing your country as a member of your National Surfing Team.”
For the official word from the ISA, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Today we were reminded how much we love Transworld Skateboarding’s Skate Nerd. Everything about it is right. Not sure we knew any answers, but maybe you will. Watch it here. Now.
Footwear News has an interview with Supra founder Angel Cabada in which he talks about why he wants his $100 million shoe company to get into running and do battle with the big boys. Here’s why:
