Action video camera company GoPro is dropping in on sponsorship of the Mavericks Invitational as the presenting sponsor of the premiere big wave surfing event.
“GoPro is a great fit,” said contest director and Mavericks pioneer Jeff Clark. “GoPro started right here in Half Moon Bay by surfers and for surfers. We’ve watched them grow over the years through their unique ability to connect the public with action sports. We’re really excited to work together.”
It’s good when an authentic event getting an seriously authentic sponsor. The Mavericks competition window opens November 9, 2012 with an opening ceremony and runs through March 31, 2013. For the official word (including the official invite and alternate list, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
It was two years ago today (November 2, 2010) that the social media world began passing messages that the unthinkable had happened. Three-time ASP World Champion Andy Irons had died, alone in a Dallas, Texas hotel room while traveling home to Hawaii from the Rip Curl Pro Search Puerto Rico. The entire surf world was stunned, shocked, and heartbroken and in many ways we still are today.
Andy Irons touched so many lives in so many different ways. And, Billabong is working to keep AI’s memory alive and to support to his widow and son.
Out of respect and acknowledgement of Andy’s legacy we continue to dedicate the Billabong Pipe Masters in his memory. . . Billabong is also proud to announce the new global AI Forever collection for release in Summer 2013 in stores and online March 15, in the USA. Proceeds from the AI Forever line will go toward ongoing guaranteed support for Andy’s wife Lyndie and young son Axel.
That’s how you take care of family. Nice work, Billabong.
Thanks to a strong dollar (hard to believe we know) Rip Curl is getting yanked into the same undertow that’s been chewing on Billabong for the past 10 months, according to a story in the Herald Sun.
The prominent Victorian company is being buffetted by the strong dollar and weak consumer sentiment and will start to cut jobs and close stores overseas. . . BusinessDaily can reveal Rip Curl, which is privately owned, suffered a net loss of $4.1 million for the year to June. A year ago, it recorded a $7.9 million profit, and three years ago its profit clocked in above $30 million. . . Finance director Lachlan Farran said the group had shouldered one-off costs for a European restructure and to meet accounting rules linked to its purchase of the Ozmosis and Waves brands.
Guess this wave of bad news is continuing to roll.
The 2012 O’Neill Cold Water Classic got through round one in “shifting two-to-four foot waves” at The Lane on day one of the waiting period (November 1, 2012). And, aside for Joel Parkinson and Taj Burrow it wasn’t the best of days for the currently ASP Top 10. Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, 2 John Florence, Adriano De Souza, Julian Wilson, Owen Wright, and Josh Kerr we’re dispatched directly to the second round. Wild card (and local) Nat Young to out Mr. Slater and Kolohe Andino in Heat 5.
“I just wanted to be able to enjoy that heat,” Young said. “It was a really special heat being able to surf against Kelly Slater. He’s been my idol since I started surfing and having him at my local spot and Kolohe (Andino), he’s one of my best friends, so I was just really excited. The waves weren’t really that great in the heat. I just got a couple of 6s and made it. I’m really happy, but I wish we could have had better waves.”
It was a good, cold, NorCal day of waves and it set to get even better over the weekend. In Round 2, Heat 1 we’ll see if Kelly Slater can keep his world title hopes alive as he squares off man-on-man with local wildcard Jason “Ratboy” Collings. Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
Each year National Geographic, the organization made famous by it’s yellow-bordered magazine covers, names an people’s choice Adventurer of the Year. Last year it was Spanish mountaineer Edurne Pasaban. This year NatGeo has nominated backcountry master Jeremy Jones.
National Geographic recognizes outstanding individuals who embody a unique spirit of adventure, and their remarkable achievements in exploration, conservation, humanitarianism, and adventure sports. A snowboard legend, Jones has been nominated for his evolving approach to riding big mountains through the use of splitboards in film projects produced by Teton Gravity Research (Deeper and recently-released Further), and his work to fight climate change through his nonprofit, Protect Our Winters (POW).
This is where you come in. People choice means we can all vote for Jeremy once a day from now until January 16, 2013. That means you can personally be responsible for 77 votes. If 2,000 people vote for Jeremy everyday between now and then he will win. Here’s the link. Start voting.
The newest designs in the IVI Vision family or now up and available for holiday purchase on the IVI website. Us, we’re partial to the Blood Orange because they’re tasty delicious.
You wouldn’t expect Vans to be the presenting sponsor of the new hit Stacy Peralta documentary The Bones Brigade: An Autobiography without getting the clothing and footwear licensing deals out of it would you? No. You wouldn’t. And you’d be right.
In celebration of the highly-anticipated new documentary from Vans’ first sponsored skateboarder, Stacy Peralta, Vans offers a limited Vans x Bones Brigade footwear and apparel collection available now at finer skate shops and Vans retail stores worldwide.
You can load up on all the Bones Brigade 2012 official gear at www.vans.com/bonesbrigade. They also have some social media friendly games to play on the page as well. Think of it as one more reason to give VF Corp more of your money.
While skateboarders can be precious, Peralta’s film is refreshingly honest about the commercial motivations behind Powell’s marketing efforts. For instance, while the biggest stars of the Bones Brigade were ramp skaters like Hawk, Powell-Peralta began pushing street skateboarding as a way to broaden the appeal to kids who didn’t have access to ramps. (He claims to have enough on the cutting room floor for an entire documentary on the advent of “street” skateboarding.)
Eureka, California Surfer Scott Stephens is glad to be alive today after going through surgery to repair serious damage to his torso after getting hit by a juvenile great white shark on Tuesday, October 30, 2012. If it weren’t for the guys who helped get him to the hospital and the doctors who sewed him up he’d just be another sad statistic. We are super stoked for him and hope he recovers quickly.
Jason “Ratboy” Collins already had one of the wild cards (by invitation) for the 2012 O’Neill Cold Water Classic and now the other goes to Santa Cruz’s Nat Young after he battled his way through the today’s trials.
“I knew it was going to be tough in the local trials,” Young said. “We have so many good surfers up here and everyone is capable of doing well and getting big scores. It was a long day and I’m really stoked.”
This win puts Young right into the thick of it as he’ll meet Kelly Slater and Kolohe Andino in Round 1. The waiting period officially starts tomorrow (Novermber 2, 2012). For the official word from the ASP follow the jump. [click to continue…]
