We ran into former Transworld Media President and Group Publisher Liam Ferguson in the Cardiff Reef, California parking lot on Sunday and got the low down on his new gig as the vice president of sponsorship integration at the Association of Surfing Professionals, but today the official word finally came out.
As part of recently hired Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer Michael Lynch’s team, Ferguson will help lead the process of securing sponsorship marketing partners. . . “This is an unprecedented time in the sport’s history and we are fortunate to have someone with Liam’s extensive experience and capabilities join the team,” Lynch said. “Liam has an excellent rapport with sponsorship and marketing individuals in both endemic and non-endemic circles and his passion for professional surfing is evident in everything he does. We are both very excited about this next chapter for the ASP.”
How’s the for landing on your feet? Turns out the ASP is looking inside the industry for talent as well. Not a bad idea. Ferguson’s skills will come in very handy as the ASP rolls out its plans for the future. Congrats, Liam. For the official word from the ASP, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
During the summer of 2012 the City of Mammoth Lakes, California (home to Mammoth Mountain) filed for bankruptcy thanks to losing a lawsuit to a developer. Rather than throw in the towel, the City worked with Mammoth Mountain to plan for their eventual rise from the ashes and the strategies they used over the past seven months could work for almost any business that is down and feeling like there is no way out. For the entire breakdown check out this story by Robert Holmes on Urban Land.
It would appear that the wizards behind the Wave Garden are continuing to perfect their magical wave building machine. They’re also giving us a much better look at what the entire place looks like. The big question: When will the first one show up in Minneapolis?
The Boardroom, the consumer surf expo that will be rolling in with Surf Expo September 7-8, 2013 in Orlando, Florida, is hosting a new shaping contest called the Chunk Of Foam Challenge. Four world renown surfboard shapers will be given an 8 x 2 foot block of foam and asked to make a surfboard out of it.
“Harken back to the days of ancient Polynesian board building,” says Scott Bass, producer of The Boardroom. “Boards were made out of chunks of wood. If you wanted a board you found a tree. We are tweaking that concept just a touch. We are challenging a selection of top-echelon shapers to create a surfboard out of an 8’ x 2’ chunk of foam. That’s it. The Chunk of Foam Challenge is an attempt to see who can really shape a good board without the modern accoutrements.”
Guess we’ll find out rather quickly who knows how to mow foam. For the official word from The Boardroom, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
[Editors’ Note: We’re reposting this to the top of the order because Endeavorand snowboarding in general need your help now. Max Jenke is currently in second place (to a sign printer no less) in the BDC Young Entrepreneur Award race and voting ends at 9 AM PST on Tuesday morning June 11, 2013. That means we all only have two days to tip this vote for snowboarding. Click here to vote every day! Your vote could mean $100,000 to an independent snowboarding company.]
Jenke would use the award money for time management and customer service software, and to engage established, on-the-ground sales agencies throughout the U.S. Having credible agencies that already represent compatible brands is crucial, he said. . . “You really need to be down there to make an impact,” but selling “hard goods is hard,” Jenke said. “It’s like selling cars. There’s a lot of work for not a lot of return for the sales reps.”
This is where we all can help. Max needs us all to vote for him. Max is currently in 5th place and we need to move him right on up to number one. Sign in with Facebook and get your vote on now. Do it for Endeavor. Do it for snowboarding! Vote!Then, vote again.
Dylan Rieder, Natas, Greyson Fletcher, Ryan Wilson, Jack Fardell, Alex Gray, and Chippa Wilson apparently went to New Zealand and did their thing. Monster Children was there to hop on board and document a little of it. It looks like Team Average 2.0.
A least one surfer in Santa Cruz, California was apparently hoping to grab more than his/her share of the first major summer swell when they posted close to 10 fake shark warning signs at Pleasure Point, according to a story on KTVU.com.
Warning signs with the California State Parks logo were posted Wednesday night at Pleasure Point Beach near Santa Cruz warning people of a shark. . . At first glance the sign, which tells surfers to go to another beach, appears real. . . The sign ends with “Surf Cowells instead.”
It fooled some surfers for a while, but most figured it out after reading the “Surf Cowells instead” line. Desperate times requires desperate measures. We’re surprised this doesn’t happen more often.
Rusty Gregory, the man who has helped run Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort for decades (first as Dave McCoy’s right hand and more recently as CEO) announced to the Mammoth Lakes, California Town Council this week that he is stepping down from the position, according to a story on Sierra Wave.
With little explanation, Gregory said, “In two or three weeks I’ll be announcing who will run Mammoth Mountain Ski Area next. Mammoth Mountain,” he said, “will not be run by me.”. . .After saying he would not be running the Mountain, Gregory said, “We’re making a lot of changes organizationally that are difficult to make because for us to do things in the future, we can’t do things the same way harder and faster and expect a different result.”
Sounds like more changes are coming. Wonder what those will be?
It’s the mainstream vs. the subculture in Drift this summer’s latest addition to the Hollywood surf movie cannon. The film follows the Kelly Brothers as they fight to surf and find success in the booming Australian surf scene of the 70s.
After their mother escapes from Sydney to Margaret River in the 1970’s, the two Kelly brothers spend their youth searching for the perfect wave. Out of necessity the family launch a backyard surf business – re-thinking board design, crafting homemade wetsuits and selling merchandise out of their van. Battling big waves, small town conservatism and criminals, the brothers give rise to a global brand. A story of passion, corruption, friendship and loyalty, deadly addictions and fractured relationships, DRIFT tells a tale of courage and the will to survive at all odds.
Or something like that. The film reportedly opens August 2, 2013.
The boys from Bohnam have have set aside their outdoorsy vibe for a moment and picked up paddles for some table tennis action. From the looks of it, no one runs the table like Austin Lycans.
We ran into former Transworld Media President and Group Publisher Liam Ferguson in the Cardiff Reef, California parking lot on Sunday and got the low down on his new gig as the vice president of sponsorship integration at the Association of Surfing Professionals, but today the official word finally came out.
