After 41 years in the “surf industry” Bird Huffman decided that he’d rather do a surf shop his way, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune. As most know, the result was Bird’s Surf Shed.
[Bird’s] vision for what surf shops should be was at odds with an industry he believes is increasingly focused on the bottom line and giving little back to the surfboard shapers who sustain it. Faced with an assault on his values, Huffman did something few in this uncertain economy would dare do: He left a comfortable job to open a new business. Equal parts museum, community meeting place, library and surf shop, Huffman’s unique shrine to surfing recently opened and is nearly complete.
If you haven’t checked the Surf Shed it out already, click the link.
The Billabong Pro J-Bay kicked off today (July 15, 2011) and not surprisingly the standout from the first round was home country hero Jordy Smith. In fact, he did so well we didn’t even miss Kelly “Tavarua Trooper” Slater.
“Sean (Holmes) is obviously a very competent surfer at Jeffreys and Adam (Melling) was Runner-Up here last year so I definitely wasn’t taking the heat lightly,” Smith said. “They both got really good waves and I had to make do with what was left. It’s not classic J-Bay, but even when it’s like this, it’s still a pretty good wave. . . I don’t really feel the pressure to perform,” Smith said. “I’ve got my little program here with my friends and I’m just focusing on getting waves and surfing well. I’m happy to be through to Round 3.”
Staying up all night to watch this event is seriously annoying, but we’ll get used to it. Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
On Saturday and Sunday, fans will witness the world’s best skateboarders including: Billy Marks, Brandon Biebel, Braydon Szafranski, Chaz Ortiz, Chris Cole, David Gonzalez, Dylan Rieder, Eric Koston, Luan Oliveira, Marc Johnson, Mark Appleyard, Mike Mo Capaldi, Mikey Taylor, Nick Dompierre, Nyjah Huston, Paul Rodriguez, Peter Ramondetta, PJ Ladd, Ryan Sheckler, Sean Malto, Shane O’Neill, Terry Kennedy, Tommy Sandoval, and Torey Pudwill inside the Jobing.com Arena competing exclusively for a groundbreaking $1.6 million prize purse.
If you can’t make it you can watch Saturday’s qualifiers (3-8 PM PST) and Sunday’s last chance qualifiers (1-2 PM PST) live on Facebook, but for the finals you’ll need ESPN2.
The Roxy Pro wrapped up in Biarritz, France today with two winners: Stephanie Gilmore proved her winning ways are not over yet by taking her first event of the season, and Hawaii’s Carissa Moore clinched the 2011 ASP Women’s World Title.
“Today was unbelievable because so much has gone down,” Roxy Pro winner Gilmore said. “In my perfect world somebody would be crowned world champ and I would take the win and that is what I dreamt about. It feels so good. I missed it so much this year. I am so happy right now.”
Moore was obviously happy about her first (of what could be many) world title wins.
“It feels amazing to make all these finals and win the title,” Moore said. “I have been thinking about this for a long time since I was a little girl. Just to be here right now and being world champ is pretty crazy, and Roxy put-up a great event. I dreamed of surfing at this level my whole life since I was a little kid and I don’t think you can ever expect or anticipate the feeling.”
Stephie didn’t get her fifth consecutive world title, but at least she won an event this season and it was against the new world champ. Not a bad day at all. Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
AR4T Gallery is presenting Karlee Mackie vs. Drew Brophy as the latest in the galleries Boys vs. Girls: The Summer of Love. It opens July 29, 2011. The summer of love is “a celebration of friendship, music, warm days, long nights and all other things that inspire the conversation between male and female artists to skip a beat.”
Workers making Converse sneakers in Indonesia say supervisors throw shoes at them, slap them in the face and call them dogs and pigs. . . One worker there said she was kicked by a supervisor last year after making a mistake while cutting rubber for soles. . . “We’re powerless,” said the woman, who like several others spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. “Our only choice is to stay and suffer, or speak out and be fired.”
While Nike has reportedly worked to tidy up their sweat-shop footwear production (where workers earn 50 cents a day), it appears that corporate profits remain their number one priority, even if it means dumping “heavy metals and hazardous, hormone-disrupting substances” into the rivers of China.
Chad Muska was allegedly arrested last night in Hollywood after spray painting his name on the front windows of a Coffee Bean around the corner from the Roosevelt Hotel and “Muska Kills” on the El Capitan Theater, according to a story on TMZ.com.
The security guards called LAPD officers … who arrested and booked Muska for felony vandalism.
The brand’s headquarters will be located in Costa Mesa, Calif., on the grounds of the former Comune offices. Chapter’s first collection will debut in a soft launch for Spring/Summer 2012. A full collection of men’s and women’s fashions will hit stores for the Fall 2012 season, according to a press release from the new brand.
Maybe Delgadillo will hold on to 51 percent of this company for his third time around, or maybe he just enjoys launching successful brands and then handing them over to investors just when they’re about to go huge.
A California State Parks official is now saying that the Watts Towers Skate Park (which has been in the works for almost three years) is “being rushed,” according to a story in the LA Times.
“Something of this magnitude deserves a full environmental review. It should be a much more open and democratic process,” Sean Woods, the state parks department’s superintendent for the Los Angeles sector, said Monday. “This is being hastily put together and rushed through.” . . The state leases the towers to Los Angeles, which is responsible for maintaining them and operating them as a cultural site.
If kids growing up without a safe spot to skate is “rushing” we’d had to see what Woods believes is a reasonable pace for developing a small concrete space in which to roll.
Proving it’s not all MMA and rally car driving at FUEL TV these days, the action cable network announced today that they will run live coverage of the surf, skate, and BMX finals from the NIke US Open of Surfing on Sunday August 7, 2011 beginning at 1:30 PM PST.
“The 2011 Nike US Open of Surfing is surfing’s biggest and most-watched event,” says Scott Paridon, FUEL TV’s VP of Production and Development. “It’s an honor to be the primary television partner and provide astonishing coverage of the various competitions throughout the entire weekend.”
If we had cable TV we’d be looking forward to being astonished. Follow the jump for more details. [click to continue…]
