LA skater Charley Ford, 24, was in his car in Compton, California with another man and a 10-month-old baby Sunday afternoon (October 21, 2012) when, according to a story in the LA Weekly, “someone ran up, opened fire, and then fled on foot.”
It doesn’t seem clear if Ford was the intended target, but the other two inside the vehicle weren’t injured, deputies say: The department pointedly says the suspect “started shooting into the car at the victims. . . Ford was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.”
On Mammoth Mountain’s opening weekend (November 9, 2012) Spring Break Snowboards will be hosting a pop-up art show “featuring primitive abstract powder snowboards, photography from Spring Break contributors and original artwork. Musical performance by Luke MacMaster of The Romany Rye, and plenty of on snow fun to kick off California’s first day of shredding this season.
The show opens at the Mammoth’s Grand Sierra Lodge at 5 PM on Friday, November 9, 2012. The Grand Sierra Lodge is located at 1111 Forest Trail, Mammoth Lakes, California.
No one expected Billabong founder Gordon Merchant would go away quietly, but it was interesting to see him sink nearly AUS$800,000 more into the company by snapping up 900,058 shares last week. This new stock, purchased in two buys on October 18 and 19, 2012, brings his total holdings to 69,705,463 shares or AUS$59,946,698.18 worth (maybe he need them to increase his voting power).
At Billabong’s Annual General Meeting today (October 24, 2012 on the Gold Coast) Merchant was re-elected to the board by a vote of 198 million for to 92 million against. Collette Paull was re-elected by a vote of 197 million for to 92 million against. The closest board re-election race was Billabong US President Paul Naude. He slipped back onto the board with 160 million for and 129 million against suggesting that more than a few shareholders are not happy with his performance on the board.
For the official word from Billabong featuring that addition of Howard Mowlem to the board and the complete Annual General Meeting voting stats, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Surfer Francisco Javier Solorio Jr, 36, of Orcutt, California died Tuesday, October 23, 2012 after being bitten by a shark while surfing Surf Beach in Lompoc, California at about 11 AM, according to a story in the Greenfield Reporter.
He was bitten by the shark in his upper torso. . . Solorio “had a friend who he was surfing with who saw the shark bite or hit the man,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Mark A. Williams. “His friend ended up swimming over and pulling him from the water where he received first aid.” . . .The friend started first aid while another surfer called for help, but Solorio was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.
According to Scripps Institute of Oceanography’sAndrew Nosal quoted in the LA Times, “it was probably a great white,” Nosal said. “There is no other species swimming off of the coast regularly that could possibly do that kind of damage.”
NYC skateboarders didn’t let something as silly as a court order top their Broadway Bomb, according to a story in the NY Daily News.
Hundreds of scofflaw skateboarders gave Manhattan hell on wheels in Saturday’s “Broadway Bomb” road race, snarling traffic in an illegal mass ride from Morningside Heights to Wall Street. . . The skaters rolled south on Broadway from 116th St. to Bowling Green, defying a court order that outlawed the “dangerous” rally because it lacked permits. . . Cops tried to quash the race by stringing up temporary fences at intersections and ordering skaters onto sidewalks, but many just pushed onto side streets instead. . . “They’re like, ‘You can’t do this.’ We were like, ‘F–k off,’” said Ian McMahon, 18, a skateboarder from Killingworth, Conn. “We got so excited for this!”
Master surfboard shaper Donald Takayama has died on Monday, October 22, 2012, according to a story on Surfline.com. He was 68.
Hailing from Waikiki but raised in Honolulu, Takayama placed 2nd to Corky Carroll in the 1966 and 1967 U.S. Surfboard Championships and enjoyed other competitive accolades, however, his main contributions to the sport and culture occurred in the board building realm . . . Takayama founded Hawaiian Pro Designs, where he shaped for budding World Tour professional and eventual Pipeline Master Joey Buran. By the mid ’80s, with labels popping up everywhere and boards getting shorter and weirder, Takayama responded by producing longboards almost exclusively, two of the most popular being signature models for David Nuuhiwa and Dale Dobson.
Our thoughts are with Takayama’s family and friends and we’re honored to have one of his longboards in our quiver. Thanks, Donald.
This collectible deck is built using Arbor’s, tried and true, bamboo and maple blend to deliver lightweight pop and durability. “By adding bamboo as a deck-side power ply, we create a hybrid maple construction that has a clean Zen flavor, nice return, and long lasting durability,” says Arbor product manager, Max Myers.
The decks come in 7.75, 8.0, 8.25, and 8.5 widths and each has a different gracphic by Sylvia Ji. Follow the jump for the official word from Arbor. [click to continue…]
Here’s the short version: Analog is going snow and moving back to Burlington. The snow team will stay, but the skate and surf teams will be “transitioned out of the brand”. Gravis is moving to Tokyo and going Asia only as a lifestyle brand. The team will be “restructured to accommodate” that market. Helmet’s and optics will be combined under the Anon brand (with some Red still being produced). Burton will “exit out of” The Program brands (Special Blend, Forum, and Four Square) by 2014 (good-bye). Burton has operated the brands for eight years yet, “the businesses have failed to be viable.” In the surf world Channel Islands and it’s team remain unaffected.
Here’s what founder Jake Burton Carpenter has to say about it:
“Burton has experienced several years of income growth since the recession and paid out bonuses to employees over the last two years,” said Jake. “That said, the economy has a voice of its own that we all have to listen to, and the message is clear: do what you do best and focus purely on it. In our case, that means to narrow our focus to the sport and lifestyle that got us here – snowboarding. We will continue to support Channel Islands in its endeavor to make the best surfboards in the world and Gravis in its new home in Japan, but when you walk through the front door here in Burlington, Vermont, it will be all snowboarding and snowboarding lifestyle all the time – driven by the Burton, Analog and anon brands.”
Sound like a good plan all around and honestly, we can’t believe it took them so long with Gravis and the Program. Burton went far beyond a reasonable investment in many of their brands and should be commended for trying to make them work in spite of market response.
Follow the jump for the official word an complete breakdown of the changes. [click to continue…]
There’s real snow piling up in the mountains, but we’re still stuck watching last year’s footage. If we’re going to have to watch some, however, it might as well be Ozzy Henning, right?
