Time flies. It’s almost halloween and in skateboarding that means one thing: the Volcom Damn Am. On October 21-24, 2010 Volcom is presenting the Damn Am on the VeeCo compound in Costa Mesa, California. Registration and practice begins on Thursday at Noon and flows through to the finals and best trick competition on Sunday (click here for complete schedule).
The competition begins with 160 skaters and the cuts begin. One more thing. The Spotlight Productions crew would like to remind everyone:
“Please wear a costume on Sunday because we will all be fully geared up in something crazy.”
Follow the jump for video coverage of last year’s event.
Don’t know how we missed this, but it’s Friday and we could all use a smile. Lizard King talks snowboarding with updown magazine. Let’s just say he’s not all that complimentary to Shaun White.
Mark has been responsible for some amazing innovations in snowboard media and events over the past 20 years and now he’s going to put those skills behind some product.
What may be most important is that Mark comes to Rome with a true passion for snowboarding and an excitement for where snowboarding’s headed. With a combination of experience, creativity, and a great work ethic, Mark is a great fit for the SDS family. . . If you’d like to come visit Mark, feel free to swing by the Rome office, where Mark’s taken up temporary residency in the Rome parking lot living out of the “Pow Explorer 2” during his transitional period from living in Idaho to becoming a Vermont resident.
We seriously can’t think of a better fit. Congrats, and good luck. [click to continue…]
Analog surf team manager Geoff Moysa was surfing Newport Beach’s 54th Street yesterday (October 13, 2010) when he saw a kneeboarder face down in the water, according to a Tom Cozad quote in on OrangeCounty.com.
Geoff Moysa (my new hero) saw Kenny floating face down in the surf. He called for help, and the crew of guys in the water which included Pat Towersey went into action. As they brought him in, they yelled to the beach for help, they mobilized his head and neck and got him to the sand as fast as they could. Not an easy task, as Kenny is a big guy.
Cozad, Towersey, and Moysa all played a serious part in saving Kenny Honingford’s life. After he was resusitated on the beach, Honingford was transferred to Hoag Hospital. Amazing work.
For those who didn’t make it to Sessions’ 12th Annual Tim Brauch Memorial Contest in San Jose, California on October 2-3, 2010. Here’s a little taste of the goodness that went down. Don’t miss it next year.
Mother ocean may not have responded to the magnitude of the Slater vs. Smith final in the Rip Curl Pro Portugalwith epic wavestoday (October 14, 2010), but that didn’t keep the world’s current number one and two from hitting it as hard as two surfers could. In total they turned in 25 scoring waves between them.
Kelly Slater kicked the heat off by sneaking into a small backside barrel. He followed that up with another left that included a snap and a mile long backside floater leaving Jordy Smith playing catch up for the rest of the heat. Visibly frustrated, Smith pulled off a superman on a backsider and kept pressing Kelly, but the ramps Jordy needed to fuel his aerial assault never materialized. He finished with 11.43 points to Kelly’s 13.33.
Kelly appeared overjoyed to slip in a win against the world’s best up and comer. “Congrats to Jordy,” Kelly said from the stage. “I’m know he’s not as stoked as he could be with this result. But Jordy is an amazing surfer. He and Dane are the guys who are setting the future of the sport and I’m just learning from them now. So I’m really happy to get this win over him.
On the podium Jordy Smith struggled to open the champagne bottle. When he finally did splash Kelly it was without enthusiasm. To be that close and see his first title slipping away must be heavy. “I had a blast here,” Jordy said. “We’ve had some really fun waves. I’ve just been stoked to be in the finals with Kelly Slater.”
With this Rip Curl win Kelly Slater has taken his 44th event on the ASP World Tour and strolls into Puerto Rico with everything going his way. We’re left to wonder— will he win claim number ten in Puerto Rico or be forced into a showdown at Pipeline in December?
Follow the jump for the full results and the official word from the ASP. [click to continue…]
While the rest of us were simply praying the 33 men trapped in a Chilean Copper mine would survive, Oakley appears to have lucked into a marketing bonanza.
According to a statement from Oakley, a Chilean journalist apparently recommended the company’s eyewear to a Chilean private health insurer. The insurer called Oakley and Oakley responded by donating 35 pairs of Radar With Black Iridium lenses, according to a story on CNBC.com.
Now, thanks to all the images of happy rescued miners rocking Oakley, the company has gotten world-wide branding on an enormous scale. The sponsorship evaluation firm of Front Row Analytics figures the value of Oakley’s “protective eyewear” donation is worth about $41 million.
Eric Smallwood, vice president of project management for the company, told CNBC that the company took into account the live coverage, the recaps and a rough estimate of the audience watching around the world. . . Front Row broke the exposure down by country. Oakley will get the most exposure in China ($11.7 million), $6.4 million in the United States, $898,000 in the United Kingdom and $703,000 in Chile. . . “It’s a goodwill gesture that will turn into mass amounts of exposure for Oakley in a positive manner,” Smallwood said.
Game development company Robomodo, the group responsible for Tony Hawk’s Ride and new Tony Hawk’s Shred game (and controller), has reportedly cut between 30 and 60 employees, according to a story on Kotaku.com.
Sources tell Kotaku that the layoffs were affected in some way by news that Tony Hawk publisher Activision had taken the franchise away from the developer. One source told us that a wrap party planned for Tony Hawk: Shred with the star attending was pushed back to November without notice prior to today’s layoffs.
Time flies. It’s almost halloween and in skateboarding that means one thing: the Volcom Damn Am. On October 21-24, 2010 Volcom is presenting the Damn Am on the VeeCo compound in Costa Mesa, California. Registration and practice begins on Thursday at Noon and flows through to the finals and best trick competition on Sunday (click here for complete schedule).
