Last night an possibly drunk driver fleeing police crashed his car into a crowd of people in Austin, Texas directly in front of The Mohawk, home this week to the SXSW House of Vans At The Mohawk. It was just after 12:30 AM (March 13, 2014) and fans were cued up outside for a Tyler, The Creator live show.
Two people where killed and 23 people were injured, according to a story in the New York Times.
The Austin police chief, Art Acevedo, told reporters that officers on the lookout for drunken drivers had tried to pull the motorist over about 12:30 a.m. at a service station near the clubs and other venues that were hosting events related to the annual cultural and technology festival. . . But the driver suddenly sped off, Chief Acevedo said, heading the wrong way down Ninth Street, a one-way street in downtown Austin, before turning onto Red River Street, where he rammed through a police barricade and struck several vehicles, including a moped and a taxi, in addition to hitting the pedestrians. A police officer stationed at the barricade narrowly avoided injury.
Stance’sErica Yary was nearby when the accident happened. “Witnessed the worst thing I’ve ever seen tonight,” Yary said in an Instagram post. “If you pray, please pray for the deceased and the families of those injured and killed tonight. I don’t why this person plowed through dozens of people, but they destroyed many lives tonight. I’m so lucky my coworkers/friends and I were at a safe distance.”
The as-yet-unnamed driver of the car attempted to flee on foot but was caught and tasered. According to the Times, the driver will likely be charged with “capital murder charges.”
According to sources no Vans employees were injured in the accident, but our thoughts are with those injured and the family and friends of the two people who were killed.
Ellie-Jean Coffey is 19 and blonde and she’s a professional surfer for Billabong. She also posts lots and lots of bikini photos online because, you know, “‘[Bikinis are] just what I wear. Also being in the sun so much, your hair is really blonde and your skin goes very tanned so that’s definitely a positive as well,” according to the Daily Mail. And because of this she has 234,000 followers on Instagram.
Seems there’s nothing the world loves more than young blondes in bikinis who are constantly taking pictures of themselves. The Australian media needed their own Anastasia Ashley or Alana Blanchard. And now we know. It’s Ellie-Jean Coffey.
Brian Himlan, of Longshipdesign, sounds like a pretty centered, serious, thoughtful guy. He makes handplanes and other clever non-standard wooden wave sliding devices which we barely see him ride in this edit from Huck Magazine.
Are gold medal girls Kaitlyn Farrington and Jamie Anderson trying to be weird in this Gnu edit, or was it an accident? For reals. . . right? [click to continue…]
Okay, we’re a day late (and more than a dollar short) but Gabriel Medina and Stephanie Gilmore reigned supreme at Snapper Rocks and surfed away with event number 1 on the new ASP World Tour. It was the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast if you weren’t following along. Parko came in second after dispatching Kelly Slater’s angel of exit Adriano de Souza. Taj Burrow had a shot at it in semi final 1, but Medina edged him by three hundredths of a point. Close shaver.
Medina was (as they say in Australia) over the moon:
“It’s an honor to win this event,” said Medina. “This is the hardest event of the whole Tour and I feel like all the best surfers in the world, Mick (Fanning), Parko (Joel Parkinson) and Taj (Burrow), have won it. It’s been a dream to win since I was a grommet. I’ve been watching those guys on videos and reading about them in magazines. Today I had the opportunity to compete against them and I couldn’t let this chance go. It’s weird, it’s really weird, but it feels so good.”
For her part Gilmore couldn’t fight that feeling anymore:
“I haven’t felt this feeling in a while,” said Gilmore. “It’s the best feeling in the world to have all your friends and family around and hi-five everyone. I paddled up to Joel (Parkinson) before my heat to get some of his good vibes because he kept getting so many great barrels. From the beginning of the heat I had it in my head that it’s only 30 minutes and I only had to catch two good waves and just have fun. So that’s what I did. Winning the heat against Carissa was such a big confidence booster for me. It’s going to be a long hard year but I’ll do as much as I can to try and win the Title.”
Guess we’re not the only one who are over the Quiksilver mega corp. Dave Rosenberger, the former VP of sales for Quiksilver Young Men’s and Quiksilver and Roxy winter sports has joined the team at Lost as EVP of Sales, Marketing and Operations for domestic, Canadian and Central American.
“I see …LOST as probably the most authentic, complete, long standing, relevant surf brand in the current market. From the heritage, progressiveness and craftsmanship of the boards to the solid clothing collection, accessories and skateboards, …LOST is what most brands wish they could be,” said Rosenberger. “My intention is to keep the brand moving steadily forward and to help Joel, Matt, Mike and their team to navigate and build the business on the solid base it has.”
We agree. Congrats, Dave. For the official word from Lost, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
We’ve kind of fallen off our coverage of Billabong because they (along with Quiksilver) no longer seem like a brand in our category. Sure they make clothing for the ocean, but past that they’re really just a more authentic version of Hollister, mostly focused on mall customers and bottom lines. That said, it is interesting that Billabong could be facing a class action lawsuit from the Australian firm of Slater & Gordon for allegedly misleading and deceiving investors with earning guidance in 2012, according to a story on Inside Council.
“Our clients allege that Billabong’s internal initiatives had no viable chance of substantially increasing profit margins, contrary to what the company had conditioned investors for. They further allege that, had the market been informed of the true dependencies underpinning the earnings forecast, it would have disregarded the guidance as unrealistic, and this would have been reflected in Billabong’s share price.”
Billabong will apparently defend itself. Which would probably be a good idea.
This week the March Logo Madness moves out of surf (last week’s winner was Thalia Surf Shop) and into skate with the face-offs shown above. Click the link, vote, and let your voice be heard above the logo raving masses. For the official word from Valhalla Design & Conquer, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Group Y is launching a new online series of interviews with industry titans, athletes, and thought leaders called #AuthenticityIsEverything.
More than just a buzzword, Authenticity is the North Star in a landscape driven by commitment, progression and constant reinvention. From the clothes on our backs, to the content on our screens, to the terrain we ride and the heroes we embrace…originality and true passion transcends it all.
For a full list of people you’ll be able to catch dropped knowledge from follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Some spectators even stopped by at one point during the contest.
It’s Monday morning. Time to review all the snow shredding we missed over the weekend. Namely, the Burton Mini US Open of Snowboarding from Vail, Colorado. Apparently some amazing aerial stunts went down.
Mark McMorris was scored correctly (unlike in Sochi) and he won the slopestyle and showed absolutely no bitterness toward the Olympic games at all. . . .
“To end my season at an event by snowboarders for snowboarders with back-to-back wins is really cool,” said McMorris. “There’s no bobsled team or figure skating team at the Open – it’s just a bunch of snowboarders who all share the same love for riding. And it’s really cool for me to end my season at such a legendary event.”
Jamie Anderson followed her Olympic gold medal up with a another win in Vail.
“I love this event,” said Anderson. “I love that Burton has created a stage for us to really show what snowboarders are capable of. To have it open to all riders to get involved in is definitely huge and something that I wish more events incorporated. I love the Rockies and Vail, and being here supporting the Open is so fun.”
In the u-jumpy jump Kelly Clark continued her domination of US Open halfpiping with her 7th win.
“The US Open means a ton to me,” said Clark. “I grew up nine miles away from the US Open. It really holds a near and dear place in my heart. If I could pick a contest to win, it would be this one. I’m really happy I was able to put down my run today.”
“Coming into the event, I wasn’t really putting a lot of expectations on myself,” said Gold. “It was a relief to have the Olympic cycle over with. Just having fun here was my main goal, so walking away with this is beyond anything I expected.”
We watch about 10 minutes of the event and feel kind of badly about it. If you also missed it, go ahead and click here to watch all the replays. For the official word from Burton and the complete final results, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Last night an possibly drunk driver fleeing police crashed his car into a crowd of people in Austin, Texas directly in front of The Mohawk, home this week to the SXSW House of Vans At The Mohawk. It was just after 12:30 AM (March 13, 2014) and fans were cued up outside for a Tyler, The Creator live show.
