We rolled to the Ryan Sheckler FoundationSkate For A Cause event at the etnies Skatepark in Lake Forest, Califronia on Saturday May, 5, 2012 and it reminded us what skateboarders and skateboarding can do when pointed in the right direction.
And example of being headed proper is filmmaker Ben Duffy. He’s working on a film titled Heartchild that tells the story of Crys Worley, her autistic son Sasha, and the work Worley has done creating A.skate to help kids with autism through skateboarding. Duffy is raising money for the film on Kickstarter. Click here to help him get the movie done right.
The two biggest points of discussion following the 2012 Nike Lowers Pro finals were Gabriel Medina’s air reverses (many surfers don’t like them) and how unknown Glenn Hall is. The first topic will probably remain in discussion until well after Medina wins his first world championship, but the second seems to have sorted itself out after we all saw Hall move past defending champ Miguel Pupo in the round of 96, Freddy Patacchia in the Round of 16, Jeremy Flores in the quarters, and 2 John Florence in the semi-finals. Yet, even Hall seemed a little surprised by his good fortune:
“It’s Lowers, it can turn on or off at any time in the day,” Hall said. “You kind of have to be on to it and luck has to go your way as well,” Hall said. “I had a few lucky heats earlier in the event and that heat was funny with Gabriel. I thought we were going to have an interference in the beginning and they didn’t call it, but it’s all good though. He surfed well and he won.”
For his part Medina was focused and flawless. Rarely falling and almost always following his airs up with a full mix of turns, Medina was functionally unstoppable in his ride to the solid gold spike.
“This is a very special win and it has been a long week,” Medina said. “I’m going to Brazil now with more confidence and this has been great. . . “I love Trestles so much. “It’s just such a good wave and it’s one of my favorites, I just don’t even have words to explain how I’m feeling right now. I’m stoked.”
The Billabong XXL Awards are the culmination of a year-long event window in which the bravest surfers chase the world’s biggest waves, in search of the event’s coveted Ride Of The Year award. Other categories include XXL Biggest Wave, Monster Tube, Monster Paddle, Verizon Wipeout Of The Year, Surfline Overall Performance and Billabong Girls Performance.
Nathan Fletcher ran away with the big award, Greg Noll showed the crowd (and worldwide Internet audience) his enormous, striped ass and The Foo Fighters played a secret show. Click play to watch it yourself, or follow the jump for complete results, photos, and more. [click to continue…]
It was a big day down at Trestles today as the Nike Lowers Pro marched through just short of the quarter finals in somewhat inconsistent two-to-four foot surf. The highlights of the day had to be in the round of 16 with Gabriel Medina over Brett Simpson, 2 John Florence over Cory Lopez, and Dane Reynolds (above with an after the buzzer stalefish attempt) downing Granger Larsen in an aerial showdown.
“I’ve been feeling really sketchy this event and been having unsuccessful free-surfs,” Reynolds said. “I was feeling better in that one. I had been riding a different board in every heat and I rode this one this morning and just stuck with it.”
Word got out this morning, May 4, 2012 that Beastie Boys’ Adam “MCA” Yauch has died after a three-year-long battle with cancer, according to a story on RollingStone.com.
Adam was the snowboarder in the group and his death had many in the industry reeling. Here’s what Mike Ranquet had to say on Facebook:
I spent a lot of time and travelled all over with that dude and I’ll miss him dearly. I’ll always laugh when I think of our trip to Vietnam, we were the two funniest dudes on the planet for those 4 weeks. RIP Adam and I hope you find the “highly coveted deodorant” we were searching for on our adventures.
Our thoughts are with his wife, daughter, and the entire Beastie Boys family.
Rob Brink and Erica Yary discuss Kyle Frederick’s large reproductive organ, kayaking with Chris Cole and the all-new season of Street League on the Weekend Buzz. It’s a good one.
The School of Visual Arts in New York City is presenting a showing of Art Brewer’s photos in a showing titled Art Brewer: Surf Evolution.
Often described as “the court painter” for the world’s surfing elite, Art Brewer is known for his mastery of the numerous technical and physical challenges involved in surf photography and the strikingly expressive quality of his images, which some have described as “portals to a vastly improved universe.” Filmmaker C.R. Stecyk (Dogtown and Z-Boys) explains in his essay accompanying the exhibition, “Art has thoroughly examined the sport of surf riding with an unparalleled sensitive ferocity…an underlying introspection is seamlessly incorporated into his works via a technical mastery which comes across as easy and elegant.”
The show runs June 8 – 20, 2012 with an opening reception on June 14, 2012 at 6 PM. Follow the jump for the official word or click to read the same thing on Surfline.com. [click to continue…]
On Wednesday, May 2, 2012 the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve a “motion aimed at outlawing recess skateboarding or “bombing,”” according to a story in the LA Times.
On a 12 to 0 vote, the council instructed City Atty. Carmen Trutanich to draft an ordinance that would prohibit “unsafe” skateboard activity and limit riders to a speed of 25 mph. . . The proposal was initiated by Councilman Joe Buscaino, who described it as a response to the death of two skateboarders over the last year. Buscaino, the council’s newest member, said he wants to end downhill skateboard “bombing” — the practice of riding at high speeds, sometimes while weaving in and out of traffic — in his harbor district.
Ordinances that specifically single out skateboarding are bad for all kinds of reasons. Rather than create special rules that apply only to skateboarders the LA City Council should simply apply the rules of the road the govern bicycles and cars. Of course, that would be too simple and not nearly as headline grabbing.
Yep. Gabe Medina got up in the air and do those reverses again. Got ’em on lock. Mark Occhilupo won his round of 48 heat and helped send Michel Bourez packing, but he came in second in his no losers round of 24 heat, so he’s still in it (and at his age). For more details on day three of the 2012 Nike Lowers Pro, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Spy just launched a collection of “vintage inspired” sunglasses titled the Crosstown Collection. They’re describing them as “stylish, handmade sunglasses inspired by ’50s and ‘60s fashion, music.”
“We worked with a small crew of athletes and fashion-forward advocates with the intent of reinventing ‘classiness’ with our own point of view,” says Michael Marckx, SPY President. “We cut our design team loose to represent what’s happening within the creative ranks of our universe, to make something that they completely groove on, which led to a really unique handmade approach that you can feel and certainly see in the line.”
