by The Editors on December 5, 2012
Wall Street Journal writer and skateboarder Conor Doughterty previews the Danny Way documentary Waiting For Lightning for the hedge fund crowd in a story titled The Tao of Danny Way.
When skateboarders engage in the kind of barstool chat that consumes sports like baseball, Danny Way usually emerges as their pick for Best Skater Ever. Mainstream audiences may assume Tony Hawk is the Michael Jordan of skateboarding, but Danny Way is the skater’s skater.
We still haven’t seen Waiting for Lightning and each time we read about it we more interested. Guess we’ll have to buy in Friday when it comes out in the iTunes store.
[Link: Wall Street Jounrnal]
by The Editors on December 5, 2012
Just in time for the holidays: Shredz “posable” snowboarding action figures that apparently stay upright while sliding down the hill.
Each articulated 3.75″ snowboarder comes with an ID card detailing his home mountain and personality, a detachable helmet, and a customized snowboard. The helmets and snowboards are interchangeable between the Shredz action figures, promoting collectability. The Shredz Track Building Tool, Jump and Trick Set allow kids to design and build their own challenging snowboarding trails and terrain parks carved out of snow.
It’s always good to see how snowboarding looks to civilians. Like this, apparently. Get them while you can a Amazon for only $11.99 (only three left).
[Link: COOP Shredz]
by The Editors on December 5, 2012
by The Editors on December 5, 2012
Australia’s Adam Melling took the Vans World Cup of Surfing and $40,000 in prize money yesterday (December 4, 2012) at Sunset Beach on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. And he didn’t just sneak by a bunch of old B-teamers either. In the final he faced down Gabriel Medina, Ace Buchan and Reef Hawaiian Pro winner Sebastien Kietz.
“Waking up this morning I was like, this comp is going to be over today and I really want to be on that podium,” said Melling, who surfed a total of four heats today. “Pretty glad that I loaded myself with a lot of breakfast and just hit the vitamin water after each heat to keep a bit of energy in me. . . “I don’t know why it comes to this but on tour it’s definitely hard. It’s only 32 guys and they want it so bad and they all surf so good. Some of the smaller seeds come into play in heats especially man on man. I haven’t had too much luck this year but felt like my surfing’s been the best it’s ever been, so hopefully I don’t put myself in this position ever again.
Melling moves into a tie for second place in the Triple Crown rankings with Alejo Muniz behind Sebastien Zietz, and just ahead of John John Florence. We missed the final because, well, while surfing Sunset well may be one of the biggest challenges in professional surfing, it’s never really has held our online attention for more than a couple heats. But that’s our cross to bear.
Follow the jump for the official word from the Vans Triple Crown. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 4, 2012
by The Editors on December 4, 2012
Surfers Healing, the organization that takes autistic kids surfing, would like your help getting a grant from the American Giving Awards, presented by Chase. What they need is your votes on Facebook.
The charity with the most votes in their respective category will receive $1 million, runner up will receive $500,000, 3rd place will receive $250,000, and 4th and 5th place will each receive $125,000 grants. . . “Every year we take over 3,500 autistic children who normally suffer from sensory overload and give them the profoundly healing experience of surfing at no charge,” said Co-Founder, Izzy Paskowitz. . . “For some kids, this experience becomes a rare moment of calm and connection. Every year we have to turn families away. Even $125,000 would allow us to reach many more autistic kids with this life changing experience.”
The programs ends tonight at midnight, so if you want to help you’ve got to click here and vote now. For more info, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on December 4, 2012
Lucy Walker’s documentary film The Crash Reel, which tells the story of Kevin Pearce’s massive head injury and his road back to recovery, is set to debut January 18, 2013 at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, according to a story in the Salt Lake City Tribune.
Choosing “The Crash Reel” for the Salt Lake City opening was easy, said festival director John Cooper. “These are people that the locals know quite well,” Cooper said of Pearce, the snowboarding community, and the University of Utah doctors who treated Pearce after his Dec. 31, 1999, crash [SIC: crash was actually December 31, 2009]. . . Walker’s film “does celebrate [Pearce] as an incredible athlete. And it looks at the issues of safety in an important way, but it’s not preachy at all,” said Trevor Groth, the festival’s programming director.
We’re looking forward to seeing this one, later. You know, when it comes out on iTunes.
[Link: SLC Tribune]
by The Editors on December 3, 2012
by The Editors on December 3, 2012
We’ve all heard the stories about how Jake Carpenter met his wife Donna, but now, thanks to the New York Times we get the whole story directly from Donna herself (including all the other things she’s done in the meantime).
I GREW up in Greenwich, Conn., and was lucky enough to travel when I was young. My family traveled to Europe many summers, and we skied different mountains in the United States in the winters. I was 18 when I met Jake Carpenter during a New Year’s Eve party at a tavern in Vermont. He was just starting what would become Burton Snowboards, and I was studying political science at Columbia University.
The rest is Burton Snowboards history. Click the link for the rest of another American marriage success story.
[Link: New York Times]
by The Editors on December 3, 2012
The Vladimir Gusinsky Living Trust (click the link it’s worth it) has reportedly sued Quicksilver CEO Bob McKnight and the board of directors over some restricted stock that was given to several top executives at the company, according to a story in BloombergBusinessweek.
Awards of 4 million restricted stock units to McKnight, Pierre Agnes, president of Quiksilver Europe, and Craig Stevenson, the company’s chief operating officer, violated a 2000 stock incentive plan, according to the complaint filed today by the Vladimir Gusinsky Living Trust. . . The awards are “a waste of the company’s corporate assets and a breach of fiduciary duties owed to the company and its shareholders by the members of the compensation committee,” the trust said in the filing in Delaware Chancery Court.
The trust apparently wants Quiksilver to “improve its corporate governance procedures” and recoup some “unspecific damages” according to the story. What good is being CEO if you can’t give yourself a little stock everyone once in a while?
[Link: Bloomberg Business]
