First there were the slew of “skateboard bandits” hitting banks, now police in Orange County, California are looking for someone they are calling the “snowboarder bandit,” after a man robbed a Wells Fargo branch in Irvine, California, according to a story in the Orange County Register.
The robber is believed to be the man who authorities have linked to holdups in Laguna Hills, Anaheim Hills, Ladera Ranch and Corona del Mar, said Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman. Authorities have described the serial robber as a white man in his mid-20s to mid-30s, who is about 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds. . . The robber is believed to be the man who authorities have linked to holdups in Laguna Hills, Anaheim Hills, Ladera Ranch and Corona del Mar, said Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman.
You know, buying all that Volcom gear can get expensive. And come to think of it, he does look pretty much like every guy we ever see when we’re rolling behind the Velcro curtain. . .If he looks more familiar than that, click here for the tip line.
It really transcends skateboarding and becomes a story about this group of six guys who weren’t the cool kids. They weren’t the hipsters. Some might say they were borderline nerds and, for many of them, it was a real struggle to attain the position they eventually attained and we deal with that in the film.
Click the link for the short yet interesting interview with Stacy.
The Cholula Triple Air has been upgraded to a 3 star TTR (Ticket To Ride) event this year which means competitors will earn points towards their overall worldwide ranking. The TTR standard is what competitive snowboarders use to rank themselves against each other, and earn entry into events like the Grand Prix and the Olympics. . . The Cholula Triple Air Show is unlike any other big air event of its kind. Instead of one big jump, snowboarders must tackle three humongous kickers making their landings and execution crucial. Riders are scored on their best of two runs and the top 10 finishers make their way to the finals where awards are paid out to 5th place.
It was down to the wire at the 2012 Volcom Pipeline Pro with Pipeline veteran Jamie O’Brien in the lead for most of the final over Kai Barger, Nate Yeomans, and John Florence. With O’Brien in the lead, Florence had already conceded defeat, when a wave bumped up on the horizon. Florence paddled for it, slipped in, got shacked and added a 9.33 to his 10 for a winning 19.93.
“I wrote myself off half way through,” said Florence. “Kai and Jamie both had nines and eights. Jamie had two nines. I can’t believe it. Here at Pipe anything can happen. I surfed my first heat, then had my hand (injury) and tweaked my neck really bad and that was killing me. So I was seriously considering not continuing on. I got some work done on my neck, taped my hand up and it all worked out.”
JOB was equally bummed after coming so close.
“It hurts,” said Jamie, holding onto the runner-up $10,000 check. “You think you’re going to get first and you don’t. It’s OK. I got some really good scores and I put on a great performance, I felt. To me that means everything. I had a great time. I finally got in a good rhythm my last couple of heats. I enjoyed myself and it was a good day.”
Tyler De Martini, the 18-year-old Berkeley, California skateboarder who collided with a car on Monday night (January 30, 2012) died on Wednesday, February 1, 2012 from his injuries according to a story on Berkeleyside.com.
[De Martini]who lived in Berkeley but attended El Cerrito High School, was hit by a 54-year old man driving a Prius around 7:05 pm on Jan. 30. The driver was heading eastbound on Marin negotiating a left hand/northbound turn onto Tulare when the two collided, according to Berkeley police. There was no alcohol involved in the collision and the driver was not charged.
Sadly, “Berkeley police have determined that De Martini was in the wrong in the collision.” Our thoughts are with De Martini’s family and friends.
A high-end Swiss watch company might be the last thing you’d think to find in the middle of the C3 Worldwide brand stable, but this past December the company became the North American partner of Home.
“I spent my first ten years working for Swatch,” reminds C3 president and CEO Bob Gundram. “I retained a lot of those contacts through my career. When I was introduced to Swiss brothers Jak and Eddie Doose last year and saw their ideas for Home, I knew we could help them out in North America.”
The company aims to differentiate itself with its Swiss heritage and high–end materials like Swiss quartz, stainless steel, and even anodized aluminum. With price points starting at $300 and topping out around $700 they aren’t exactly for the faint of heart, but the oversized styling makes them a great statement piece. Supported by team riders Travis Rice, Gigi Rüf, and Mark Sollors, Home is gaining traction fast.
Organizers of the Volcom Pipeline Pro didn’t let 12 foot waves get in the way of competition on Day 3 of the event on January 31, 2012.
Defending Volcom Pipe Pro champion, John Florence (Hawaii), scraped through today in a heat that could have been a final. Up against former Pipe champion Bruce Irons, Australian Anthony Walsh, and North Shore local Sean Moody, Florence had his work cut out. Florence made a last minute barrel to steal second place away from Walsh and advance. . . “I was pretty nervous, I almost wasn’t going to do my heat,” said Florence. “I have a really bad kink in my neck, and my hand hurt… I kind of sat there the whole heat and luckily got a wave in the end. Anthony Walsh is so gnarly. That was definitely a scary heat to have… Moody and Bruce too… There are a lot of wash-through sets. It’s fun but there’s these crazy double ups that come in.”
Round of 32 heats could begin today. Follow the jump for full details. [click to continue…]
The Happy Hour is a new universal twin/all mountain snowboard designed by K2 in collaboration with fellow Northwest brand Airblaster.
The board sports a triangular nose and tail and is a new take on the blank board with a solid matte color design on the entire board. It is available in five colors with sizes ranging between 151 and 161 cm.
Tylur Dewolf, a 17-year-old snowboarder from Sandy, Oregon died Friday night (January 27, 2012) after she hit a tree while riding at Mt. Hood Ski Bowl, according to as story on NWCN.com.
Rescuers found Dewolf’s body near Dog Leg Run. It appeared that she had lost control while snowboarding and crashed into a tree just off of the groomed run. She suffered severe trauma to her head and chest. Investigators said she was wearing a helmet.
Friends say she was “a natural leader with a positive spirit.” Our thoughts are with Dewolf’s family and friends.
Mervin Manufacturing co-founder Mike Olson has been weird sciencing the snowboard world for nearly three decades. Some would argue (us included) that Olson (along with partner Peter Saari and Steven Cobb) responsible for more design advancements in snowboard and ski technology than any other living person. Beginning with the carving snowboard, parabolic sidecut, and cap construction, and continuing on with reverse camber, and augmented snowboard edge shapes, Olson has been going against conventional wisdom for his entire career. For the past two years Olson has been working exclusively on a new project involving what he calls “waterboards” or what the rest of us call surfboards.
Jeff Henderson, Mike Olson, Pete Saari and the new Lib Tech waterboards.
We’ve been hearing about these new surfboards for a while but we’d never seen any, most likely because he’s purposefully been keeping them out of the line-ups of Southern California breaks. Then during the Agenda Show in Long Beach we got into a late-night elevator at the Hyatt and ran into a crew from Mervin Manufacturing. They had four of the new surfboards and were taking them up to their room. We were so blown away by the boards and so interested in feeling, squeezing, and holding them that we forgot to even take a picture. We didn’t know it at the time, but in typical Mervin Manufacturing strategy Mike decided to present the surfboards to the world at the Snowsports Industries of America Show in Denver, Colorado last week where very few of the attendees would even know enough about surfing to be impressed.
We couldn’t believe what we were seeing, it’s game-changing. As much as we can say from only holding them, the boards live up to the hype. They are light, well-shaped, and (after seeing four knocked to the floor) unbelievable durable. We had some questions, and luckily Mike Olson was there to answer them in excruciating detail.
Halfway through our interview PR maven Lora Bodmer cut in to make sure Olson wasn’t giving away any trade secrets, but other than that we got 28 minutes of the straight scoop.
