For the third year friends and family of skateboarder Van Wastell gathered to remember his life, according to a post on Strange Notes.
This past weekend was the 3rd Annual Memorial Van Jam in Arvada Colorado. Dave Tuck hosted it once again at his house with a bbq and backyard pool session. The Wastell family and a ton of friends of Van’s showed up. The rain held of for the whole day and everyone had a good time.
Now that Rob Dyrdek has tightened down Street League Skateboarding’s contract skateboarders (what is this the WWE?) it’s forcing us to look at the lists and decide which roster of skaters we’d be more interested in following (not to say you can’t follow both tours).
Alex Olson, Andrew Reynolds , Anthony Van Engelen, Arto Saari, Austyn Gillette, Bastien Salabanzi, Brandon Westgate, Brian Anderson, Bryan Herman, Chris Haslam, Chris Pfanner, David Gravette, Dennis Busenitz, Garrett Hill, Geoff Rowley, Grant Taylor, Greg Lutzka, Justin Brock, Leo Romero, Lizard King, Sierra Fellers, Tom Asta, Tony Trujillo, and Vincent Alvarez.
Amazing skateboarding will go down, but don’t Grant Taylor, Greg Lutzka have prior commitments?
Former Volcom Director of Sales Donavon Dartez has jumped over to the Quiksilver mothership as the new senior vice president of sales, Americas for DC Shoes, according to a post on Footwear Business Update.
Prior sales positions in the apparel and accessories industry include Fossil and Stussy. Overall, Donavon joins DC with over 15 years of experience in sales in the action sports apparel industry. . . In his new position, Dartez will report directly to DC America’s President, Anton Nistl at the company’s Huntington Beach headquarters.
And to think, we used to know people who worked at DC. . .wait, does Ken Block still work there? Or is he just a sponsored Gymkhanaer?
Buoloco.com gets the word on “editorial creation” from Burton’sEvan Rose. If anyone has the inside line on how to make sure their brand gets coverage it is Burton. Not because the system is flawed (it is), but because Burton has been getting “coverage” and doing it right since the beginning. Like it or not.
It was an Easter Day full of shutdowns, April 24, 2011. Adriano de Souza slammed the door on Kelly Slater in the quarter finals, Mick Fanning decimated Jordy Smith in the semis, and then in the dream 50th Anniversary Rip Curl Pro Bell Beach FinalsJoel Parkinson delivered the same treatment to mate Mick Fanning.
Parko grabbed the first wave of the heat and landed an 8.53 and then just didn’t let up. By the middle of the heat Parko had Fanning combo’d but, Fanning got back in with a 7.9. By then there wasn’t much time left. With less than a minute to go Parko used his priority to block Fanning off the last wave and on the way in scored a perfect 10 at the hooter.
“Bullshit! I had no idea,” Parko said, surprised when he heard about the 10. ” Did they? I didn’t know you know. The 50th year thing it’s like a gold plated bell this year. It’s a special one.”
When he say that last set coming, Park was worried but he knew that Fanning had been our of sync with the waves for most of the head. “I was like oh no,” he said. “I’ve definitely had things taken off me that way before. I thought Mick was the form surfer of the event and I was never going to take him lightly. I was thinking he was the hardest surfer to beat.”
Fanning was obviously spent. “I’m stuffed,” he said on the podium. “I thought I was mr. fitness then tried to chair Parko up the beach and I folded right away. It was an awesome day. I had some great heats. Most of the time when you go out and surf three times you’d be buggered but this with the crowd it was great.”
Follow the jump for full results and the world from the ASP. [click to continue…]
While the ASP Elite surfers were battling away at Bells for the Rip Curl Pro, the juniors were in Cardiff, California for the Rob Machado Seaside Pro Junior. When the contest was done on Saturday, April 23, 2011 it was Evan Geiselman and Lakey Peterson who took the top spots a the 4-Star event.
“It was kind of a sluggish final for me and I think for the rest of the competitors and I was pretty tired out there, but I’m so happy to get a win and get some momentum going,” Geiselman said. “I’m not having the best year like last year so I’m so excited. I just want to thank my Mom for helping me out lately. She flew out here before the event and has been doing everything for me.”
Follow the jump for complete results and the official story. [click to continue…]
“It’s cold,” says Stangel, an East-Coast transplant who started photographing surfers in the area after a hike through the nearby forest lead him to Indian Head beach, “and thick westuits are mandatory. . . The surfers are used to the cold,” he adds, “but I feel like I’m still getting used to the rugged lushness of the ocean and mountains of Oregon. I’m constantly surprised by its beauty.”
Stangel’s images provide a balance for all the ASP action we’ve been soaking in this week. Click here to see the project, or click the link for the rest of the story.
The Heavy Current Surfing Club in Higashi-Matsushima, Japan did not lose one member in the Tsunami that claimed the lives of 1,800 of their neighbors, according to a story in the Washington Times.
When they saw the tide suddenly withdraw after a massive quake on March 11, they knew a huge tsunami was coming. They all fled the picturesque beach of this town in northeastern Japan to safety on higher ground. . . “We didn’t lose any members, because we respect and fear the ocean,” said Seiichi Kato, sitting by his surfboard and tent on the beach. “But other Japanese forgot about nature, and they could not escape it.”
Now, rather than move in to refugee shelters some club members are camping out on the beach and helping to clean the place up as a way of dealing with the grief over lost friends. One thing they have noticed: the tsunami didn’t change the beach. “We were amazed that the beach looks exactly the same as before the tsunami. It destroyed everything man-made, but nature is almost the same.”
We’re always amazing by surfers’ ability to ride things out no matter how bad it gets.
Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons was unstoppable today at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach as she racked up more 8.0 plus score waves in a day that many surfers get all season to win her first ASP Elite Tour event. Hawaii’s Carissa Moore charged through the final but was unable to match Fitzgibbon’s onslaught.
Fitzgibbons was emotional on the podium. “It’s so overwhelming. This is amazing,” Sally said fighting back tears. “Thank you for everyone coming out and watching today. It’s been a long journey for a win. . . As a young kid I’ve seen everyone ring this bell. . . To win this event is definitely the pinnacle of my career.”
Carissa Moore was smiling, and gracious in defeat. “I’m stoked to have made the final with Sally,” Moore said. “I wish i could have rung the big bell, but I had fun surfing today.”
Some would argue that there is no better job in the world than following the Nike 6.0 women’s surf team around the world and pressing the record button. We don’t think we’ve ever heard filmmaker Aaron Lieber complain about it. The film,Leave A Message, will be downloadable on May 24, 2011.
