The Shaun White snow show is back in full effect. No matter how much grief we give him Target’s newest interior decorator rides like a wizard. And Kelly Clark nails down number 13 in a row at stop one of the Carbonated, Caffeinated, High Fructose Corn Syrup Tour. Follow the jump for complete results. [click to continue…]
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Tempe, Arizona’s Madcap Theater will be host to the December 17, 2011 premiere of The Other Ones staring Fred Gall, Kenny Reed, Jack Sabback, Jon Goemann, Ben Raybourn, Aaron Homoki, Ryan Lay, Danny Dicola, Ryan Reyes, Steve Durante, and Matt Rodriguez, but the film is not sponsored by their (in some cases former) shoe company. And if you don’t see it then, watch it live Christmas Eve on The Skateboard Mag.
Madcap Theater is located at 730 S. Mill Avenue, Tempe AZ 85281. Follow the jump for the flyer. [click to continue…]
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German artist Frank Kunert builds small surrealist models and then photographs them as if they are full-sized. In this piece Tennis-Halfpipe he does what Sole Tech’s Pierre-André Senizergue is trying to do with his PAS House in Malibu. But Kunert goes for the simple, direct approach, plus tennis.
[Link: Frank Kunert via Gizmodo]
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Vans released numbers today saying that the Triple Crown of Surfing served 10.4 million live streams during the 13 days of competition for the 2011 season.
Even if you figure that many of the people (like us) signed in at least 30 times during those days that’s still a lot. in fact, Vans says 1.8 million unique individuals tuned into the events. They’re calling it an action sports record.
“Surfing’s audience is passionate, active and adventurous, and, if they cannot watch in person, they’re finding Vans Triple Crown of Surfing events on their computers and mobile devices,” says Vans Vice President of Marketing, Doug Palladini. “Hawaii also helps us to reach a broader audience than any other surfing event given it’s incredible scenery, dramatic waves and rich beach culture.”
Now, if we figure that one day of modern surf webcasting costs roughly $55,000 (on the low end), then Vans, Reef, and Billabong and the rest of the sponsors of the Triple Crown ended up spending about 40 cents to reach each viewer. That may not seem all that expensive considering the brand bath viewers are immersed in while watching surf broadcasts. On the other hand, if Boardistan.com charged those ad rates then we’d definitely have someone else typing these words right now.
Follow the jump for the official word from Vans. [click to continue…]
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The Association of Surfing Professionals announced today (December 16, 2011) that the 2012 Quiksilver Pro New York has been cancelled.
“It is unfortunate that we announce the cancellation of the 2012 Quiksilver Pro New York,” Dave Prodan, ASP International spokesman, said. “The 2011 installment was a fantastic event with excellent waves, tremendous local support and some of the best surfing we enjoyed all season. That said, we understand the factors leading to Quiksilver’s withdrawal of the New York event from the 2012 schedule. We appreciate Quiksilver’s continued support of the world’s best surfers with the Australian and European elite level events in 2012.”
For those who are worried, Quik CEO Bob McKnight was quick to point out that this has nothing to do with Quiksilver’s commitment to surfing, “Quiksilver is still very much committed to the ASP and the professional surfing tour in 2012 with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast (Australia) and the Quiksilver Pro France.” No, we’re guessing it has more to do with Quiksilver’s continuing commitment to the bottom line. NYC is expensive, right?
[Link: ASP World Tour]
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Bonfire and Salomon Snowboards parent Amer Sports announced today that they have purchased the women’s action apparel company Nikita for an undisclosed amount.
“Amer Sports is filled with people who skate, surf and snowboard, and we’ve got great brands with Salomon Snowboards, Bonfire and now, Nikita,” said Brad Steward, Head of Action Sports at Amer. “Nikita will give us a broader portfolio in the area of Action Sports, complementing Salomon snowboards and Bonfire. Amer now has a platform to grow with new consumer groups and bring a broader range of exciting, authentic products to market”.
Nikita Co-Founder Heida Birgitsdottir seems happy about the deal. “We are all really pleased to work with a company that can give our brand and our customers a solid base. As the Head of Design, I’m excited to see what we can create with Amer Sports’ support.”
For the rest of the story, follow the jump [click to continue…]
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Praxis Footwear, the Ashland, Oregon based skateboarding footwear startup has partnered with S & J Sales out of Toronto to distribute and build their brand in Canada.
“S&J is the perfect fit to launch the Praxis brand into Canada,” says Praxis co-founder Travis Matsdorf. “The Greenidge family has deep roots within the marketplace, a firm understanding of the space and a sound infrastructure. We will ensure they are supported in executing our unified vision.”
For the official word, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
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As fans of competitive surfing we’re finding it hard to care about Quiksilver at all lately what with Kelly Slater’s rumored towel throwing on number 12 and Dane Reynolds falling off the tour to become Quik’s younger, better looking, more talented, less weedy Dave Rastovich. But by being a public company Quiksilver is forced to report their earnings so we’re somewhat obliged to at least copy and paste their quarterly press releases.
On the surface Quik “beat Wall Street expectations” according to Reuters. Revenues reportedly “grew 10% to $545.2 million as compared to $495.1 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 and grew 6% in constant currency.” This great news caused the stock to go up 12 percent this morning. Even with this boost, however, the stock is still down 31% on the year, and over 78% in the last five years). Luckily, the past doesn’t matter on Wall Street.
Then there are things they don’t count like “$52.1 million of special charges.” When you look at the year including “special charges” Quik ends up with a “loss from continuing operations [of] $21.3 million, or $0.13 per share, compared to $11.5 million, or $0.09 per share, for the full year of fiscal 2010.” So, while more informed heads will explain exactly why “special charges” don’t count, we’ll put it simply: Quiksilver lost nearly twice as much money in 2011 as they did in 2010.
The other thing we found interesting is that Quik is cliff dropping back into outerwear in the Americas. In the conference call (which you can read here) CEO Bob McKnight was particularly excited about re-re-relaunching the Quiksilver Mountain division at January’s Outdoor Retailer Show:
We see a large opportunity to expand our addressable market in the middle part of the United States and Canada by adding cold weather outerwear to our product range, much like we’ve successfully done in Europe. The first step in this strategy is the launch of the Quiksilver mountain division at Outdoor Retailer Show in Salt Lake City in January 2012.
A cynic would ask why McKnight believes the launch will work this time, where it has failed in the past. In these situations and with Quik’s business in general, it’s a good thing is that investors only care about two quarters: last and next. And because of that many are now rating Quiksilver a buy, which means it’s probably a buy again. Crazy. But before you log into trade, maybe you should read Jeff Harbaugh’s Market Watch.
For the official word form Quik, please follow the jump. [click to continue…]
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We’ll just say this–we’ve rarely seen anything so stupid filmed so beautifully. (Except maybe this). Blank Snowboards knows how to party.
[Link: Auto Blog]
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Eagle River, Alaska surfer Scott Jones was out for a December surf on Kodiak Island when Mother Nature began conspiring against him. He say he felt like “all the bad things that could happen, happened at once,” according to a story in the Alaska Dispatch.
“I started paddling against the rip and realized there was no way I was going to get out of this,” Jones said when reached by telephone Wednesday. So he did the smart thing and went with the flow as he angled toward shore. . . “That’s when the gale force winds picked up,” Jones said. He went ashore to wait, thinking they’d die down. They didn’t. He said he tried once to paddle out and around the point. But between the rip and the wind, sea conditions were brutal. “I was getting slammed by head-high waves,” Jones said.
He ended up having to climb into a cave where he waited for either the tide to go back out so he could walk back around the point, or a helicopter rescue. The later arrived soon after and now, Jones has a Youtube rescue video to remember it by.
[Link: Alaska Dispatch]
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