Boardistan readers may remember what we said the day (January 29, 2013) images appeared of Garrett McNamara riding what was at the time reported as a “100-foot wave” in Nazaré, Portugal. We mentioned that it seemed that the measuring sticks were getting shorter and shorter.
Now, McNamara, who is a gifted, hardworking big wave surfer, has removed his wave from the Billabong XXL Awards after images appeared that made the wave look much, much, smaller, according to a story on ESPN.com/Action. Here’s what McNamara told Jake Howard.
“We decided to pull my waves from Nazare out of Billabong XXL because I do not ride for Billabong and I did not go out that day and surf for a world record or to win any XXL prize money,” said McNamara via email. “I was out there because I live for big waves, it’s what I love to do!! It is not necessary to have a Billabong panel measure it. There have already been quite a few educated professionals who have measured it anywhere between 60-110 feet!”
As always, we never argue with guys who ride waves that big. Respect to Mr. McNamara.
Quiksilver today announced today (March 4, 2013) that they’ve hired former Nike Global Brand Director Tom Hartge as Global Head of Footwear and former Lands’ End SVP, Global Sourcing Kasey Mazzone as Global Head of Supply Chain. Here’s what President and CEO Andy Mooney has to say about the changes.
“We are centralizing key functions and responsibilities across Quiksilver, Roxy and DC in order to strengthen our brands, grow sales and drive operational efficiencies,” said Andy Mooney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Quiksilver, Inc. “Both Tom and Kasey bring world class expertise to their respective roles, as well as extensive experience with global brands. These appointments, along with Pierre’s new role and the addition of a Chief Marketing Officer, will make our company more competitive and are key elements in our evolution from a regional management structure to a global structure with experienced leaders guiding each key functional area of the company.”
Guess this is all part of Quik’s recent reorganization. For the official word from Quik, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Tony Hawk discusses how he got started, his break with Per Wilander and how he learned to say, “No.” In a Inc. magazineHow I Got Started feature.
When we first started, I was doing all the marketing and all the promotional materials myself. I was OK at it, but I wasn’t the most qualified person. Finally, one of our team members said, “Your ads aren’t very good. You’re better at skating. Why don’t you let me take this over?” . . . So I took a step back from the business and focused on skating. I stopped being so involved in the day-to-day operations and became more of an adviser. The company was growing, and everything was working out pretty well. But all that changed when we started to move outside of the skate world.
Helicopter pilot and Haines Alaska snowboard guide Christian Cabainilla has reportedly died from injuries sustained when a section of snow he were traversing gave way an caused him and two others to fall on Sunday March, 3, 2013, according to a story KTUU.com.
Alaska State Trooper spokesperson Megan Peters said troopers received a call from Haines Police on Sunday afternoon about an accident in the backcountry, although she didn’t know the exact location. . . The deceased was identified by troopers as Christian Cabainilla. He is listed as a guide for the local heliskiing company, Southeast Alaska Backcountry Adventures, on its website. The company did not respond to messages on Sunday evening.
Cabainilla was profiled on ESPN.com/Action in 2011 for a column called Dream Job. In that interview he talked about how he got into the business:
I saw that you could either pay a bunch of money to go skiing, or get paid to go skiing [as a guide]. So I just camped out in Valdez and helped out any way I could to learn the ropes of heli-guiding. I was looking for some way that I could support my snowboarding addiction, and one of the pilots at H2O, Wes Conrad, said, “Here’s what you have to do if you want to become a helicopter pilot.” So I started going to flight-training school in Seattle seasonally so I could still snowboard in Alaska and South America.
Officials report that two other people were injured in the accident, but there were still no details on exactly what happened. Our thoughts are with Cabainilla’s family and friends.
You’d think that after winning 11 ASP World Surfing titles Kelly Slater would be able to say pretty much anything he wants to say about surfing, but when Slater was quoted in an interview with Goldcoast.com.au things quickly got complicated.
Slater’s original quote was:
He [Slater] said he did not believe surfing had a performance-enhancing drug problem because he did not “think there’s a drug you can take to make you surf better”. . . Asked if there was a recreational drug problem, he said: “There clearly is — absolutely. There’s no denying that, it’s rampant, it’s full-on.” . . Slater said the Association of Surfing Professionals had introduced drug-testing last year, but it appeared to have faltered. . . “They tested us at the first event and I never got tested again all year,” he said. “Why talk about it and not do it? . . “Either do it or don’t do it.”
Slater then later reportedly emailed a statement saying his “rampant” and “full-on” drug remarks were taken out of context, according to story on Ninemsn.com.au.
Slater said his comments weren’t referring solely to the ASP World Tour or surfing in general but actually to sport as a whole. . . “I definitely think there are issues for athletes across all sporting disciplines that need to be looked at and acknowledged and serviced,” Slater said. . . “I look forward to working with Kieren (Perrow, ASP interim commissioner) and Paul and ASP Management in further enhancing any process that contributes to the betterment of the sport and its athletes.”
The fact that Slater’s longtime agent Terry Hardy and Hardy’s business partner new ASP CEO Paul Speaker own the Association of Surfing Professionals only makes this entire issue even murkier. Speaker, however, says the ASP is standing firm on doping: “The ASP has a very clear stance on doping that is consistent with protocols from other international professional sports as well as with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA),” Speaker said. “The ASP remains fully committed to adherence and enforcement of our policy.”
Scott Hultgren the design mind behind the Valhalla Design & Conquer agency has created an action March Logo Madness grid to find the best action sports /youth culture logo of all time, but he needs you to vote to make it happen. Here’s how he describes it:
That’s right, just like the basketball tournament but different. The voting will be open for a week, at the end of the week the votes will be tallied and the winner will go on to the next bracket. At the end, the designer of the winning logo will be able to claim he is the world champion of the logos and may receive a prize of some sort.
For the first round match ups click here. In the skateboarding category Independent and Thrasher go up head to head in round one. Man, that’s a hard decision to make. Check back each week as the winners go head to head in the next round.
You knew it was going to happen, but today Volcom “officially” launched their new line of shoes for Fall 2013 and they appear to be very “fashion forward.”
Volcom’s Fall 2013 footwear collection features a variety of colorful styles in an array of assorted fabrics ranging from waterproof leather to classic canvas, catering to a diverse taste range for both men and women. The men’s line offers up a selection of sneakers, slip-ons and boots, each suited for maximum wearability. “Looking to the collection, we’ve built upon the success of our open-toe products by offering on-trend styling at key price points. Subtle queues to angle and asymmetry have kept the styles fun, yet unmistakably Volcom.” shared Jason Graham, Senior Director of Accessories/Footwear at Volcom. Though sneakers and slip-ons are also present in the women’s collection, platform wedges and boots lend a sensible, stylish take that expands on the vision of contemporary footwear.
Halfpipe judging is always suspect, but never more so when an amagingly talented new kid goes up against a well established halfpipe juggernaut like Shaun White. That’s what happened, apparently, in the second run of the 31st Burton US Open Snowboarding Championship at Vail, Colorado on Saturday, March 2, 2013 when just crowed World Snowboard Tour Halfpipe Champion Ayumu Hirano, 14, went up against White in the second run. White ended up 8.18 points ahead of Hirano even though many people agree that Hirano’s run was one of the best they’ve seen. White, however, had his say in the second run.
Coming off of his 6th consecutive X Games win, Shaun White put together an unbeatable second run at the US Open with a top score of 95.58, earning him his fifth US Open men’s half pipe victory – in addition to his two US Open men’s slope style titles. His winning trick combination included a backside air, frontside 1080 double cork stale fish grab, Cab 1080 double cork melon grab, frontside 540 stale fish grab, backside 1260 double McTwist mute grab, to a frontside 1260 double cork stale fish grab. Shaun also claimed the top five highest trick scores of the day. . . “It was incredible to get my fifth US Open half pipe title in Vail, and hands down, this is the best pipe of the year,” said Shaun White. “I’m pretty happy to end my season with a win at the US Open.”
Hirano’s second run included a Method Air, Frontside 1080 Tail Grab, Cab 1080 Nose Grab , Frontside 900 Tail Grab, Backside 540 Mute Grab, Frontside 1080 Double Cork Indy Grab. So the truth is, while the judges may have been a little off (or a lot) on the numbers, they were not off on the placing order.
For the women, Kelly Clark won her sixth US Open title over For the official word from Burton and video of Hirano’s second place run follow the jump. [click to continue…]
