In the last minutes of Ben Hatchell’s jam heat at the 2010 Converse Costal Carnage he stepped off and felt his knee twist the wrong way. At first he couldn’t even get out of the bowl. Someone had to reach down and pull him out.
After walking it off he dropped right back in again. On his way toward the cradle announcer Brian Shaefer mentioned that he would give Hatchell $100 for a front blunt in the over-vert section of the bowl and as soon as he’d said it Ben was up in the cradle on his back trucks and popping right back in frontside. Like it was nothing. But that’s how he rolled the entire day.
From the stands it was pretty obvious that while Ben Raybourne, Tom Remillard, Ryan Reyes, David Loy, and Jaws were throwing down some of the fastest lines, no one really came close to Hatchell. Later, up in the VIP with an ice pack wrapped to his knee we asked him if he was okay. Counting his $100 bills he looked up and said, “I hope so.”
If the entire ASP World Tour were held in Huntington Beach, California there is a very good chance that Brett Simpson could be the number one surfer in the world rather than down at 26 on the world rankings. Over the past two years he’s beaten nearly every one of the ASP’s top five surfers at the US Open. This year he downed a nine-time world champion and the current ASP number 1 in consecutive heats to take his second US Open of Surfing victory and a check for $100,000.
“It’s amazing to beat those guys,” Simpson said. “I guess this is my best chance to compete against those guys and I know the wave really well and I just go out there and stay confident. I know which waves score the best and that’s all you can do against those guys. . .“Jordy (Smith) has been getting quick starts, so I tried to go out there and get a decent start,” Simpson said. “I got a five, and it was a low scoring heat, but all the waves I caught I maximized. Jordy had that one wave, where if he pulled that air it could have been a different ballgame. That’s the risk you take to be rewarded and with the level these days, that’s where it’s at. I kind of stayed conservative and built my scores, but either way, a win is a win.”
After 2009’s epic surf it was sad to see the Huntington Pier return to it’s normal wave size for the finals. Jordy and Brett spent much of the heat just sitting on a flat sea hoping for a wave that would save them. Brett scored a 13.97, and all Jordy could muster was 8.33. But the crowd did not appear to care as they changed into the water to mob each surfer as they tried to get back up the beach. The final was not even close to spectacular, but it did put a cap on an amazing week of surfing at the 2010 US Open of Surfing.
The Rhone Group, the international leveraged buyout firm that saved Quiksilver from financial peril to the tune of $150 million in June of 2009, and then traded $75 million of that debt for 16.7 million shares in the company last month, has now “acted on all its options” and traded the rest of the debt in for 14 million more shares (at $4.50 a share) in Quiksilver common stock, according to papers filed with the SEC. As might not be surprising Quik CEO Bob McKnight is pleased with the deal.
“We’re delighted to complete this debt for equity exchange as another important step toward further de-leveraging our balance sheet. The transaction provides us with additional operating and financial flexibility. We especially want to thank Rhône for the tremendous vote of confidence in making this investment and for their ongoing belief in our company. Since extending the original term loans to us a year ago, Rhône has become a major presence in our board room and they have added significant value to our business.”
As The Rhone Group now owns close to 33 percent of the company we’re guessing they’re going to become a major presence in more than the board room rolling forward. For the entire release follow the jump. [click to continue…]
Josh Clement, 25, of Wilmington, North Carolina reportedly kicked a shark before getting what can only be described as the smallest shark bite in the history of shark attacks, according to a story on WWAYTV3.com.
“I honestly thought that I lost my foot,” Clement said. “I mean it happened, and it hit so hard, I thought I lost my foot, and I couldn’t look back to see if my foot was there and finally I got to see if my foot was still around my leg. Of course it scared me to death, but it all comes with the territory. You’re out there in the ocean and they’re out there as well.”
Sadly, his six stitches look like nothing more than a scratch. This is reportedly “the fourth shark attack between Topsail Island and Myrtle Beach in the last six weeks.”
Today, mixed somewhere into a Southern California day filled with all manner of flying boards, Hawaii’s Carissa Moore confidently paddled out at the Huntington Beach Pier and put the vice to current ASP World Tour number two Sally Fitzgibbons. With several paddle battles to start the heat, Moore didn’t let up until the US Open of Surfing’s Woman’s Final horn blew and she had won the largest women’s prize purse in the history of surfing.
“I was pretty nervous because I only had two 4 point scores,” Moore said. “Sally (Fitzgibbons) is gnarly and is a great competitor and I knew when that last set came, if I didn’t get on it Sally would have gotten the score easily. I’m just so on top of the world right now, I’m so psyched. . . . “It is really amazing to win this event,” Moore said. “I just can’t even believe it right now. It just seems really surreal. That Final went by so fast and I wish I could have done some more surfing, but I’m just really stoked.”
For Sally’s side of the story and all the official details, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
We stopped by the 2010 Maloof Money Cup at the Orange County Fairgrounds yesterday to pick up our credentials and checked out the first half of Am and Pro street qualifying. (That’s David Loy going off the rocks).
As one industry insider told us: “You can’t believe the level of talent that isn’t making the cut.” Let’s just say the finals are going to get crazy. Watch them live on Fuel TV Sunday August 8, 2010 at 6 PM PST of the second half of Pro qualifiers right now (2:30 PM PST Saturday).
For the second year in a row we’ve hung out at the Converse Coastal Carnage mini park for practice. Something about the smaller crowds, missing TV cameras, and no pressure often makes practice more fun to watch than the finals. But don’t let that stop you from watching the qualifiers and finals live on the US Open of Surfing website on Saturday and Sunday August 7-8, 2010.
Follow the jump for the 12 finalists who will skate on Sunday.
With the 2010 US Open of SurfingNike (with Hurley, Nike 6.0, and Converse) is presenting what is likely one of the most spectacularly produced action sports events so far. Every single detail of the 2010 US Open of Surfing looks right. From the layout of the village, to the music stage, the four live webcasts, the iPhone app, and the Converse mini-park everything is well designed, attractive and functional.
For more of what we’re talking about click here for the photo gallery from the Village, the Surfing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, and the Converse Coastal Carnage.
After opening their own retail stores, selling most all of their products online, and playing pretty rough with some of their highest volume retailers in recent years, it appears that Burton Snowboards (who just relaunched their website) is making an effort to give back to local shops, according to a Jake Burton letter sent to retailers and posted on The-Tackled Box.
Here’s a little of what Jake says:
While I completely back where we are at and what we have done, I also feel strongly that we need to support local shops more than ever. You are the backbone of our sport, and everyone in this industry will benefit from your growth and success. Yo will see more from us in this spirit, starting with this catalog and some of the distribution decisions we have already made. . . we know who got us here and we know how much you do for the sport. Thanks for you support and know that will will do more for you in the future.
Those are very nice thoughts. We hope local shops get some benefit from all the wonderful things Burton has planned for them because they need all the help they can get. (Click the image to read it full size)
[Update Saturday August 7, 2010: Yesterday, the OC Register updated its story regarding “arrests” at the US Open to reflect the following. “About 94 misdemeanor citations were issued Wednesday during the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, police officials said. . . Four people near the pier and six from the beach and downtown area were also arrested and booked, police spokesman Lt. Russell Reinhart said.]
Huntington Beach Police are apparently being proactive when it comes to crowd management at the US Open of Surfing.
On Wednesday, August 4, 2010 they reportedly arrested 26 cited 94 people “near the pier” in only five hours according to a story in the OC Register.
“We didn’t have a riot or anything, there were just (several) people at the beach,” he said Thursday. . . Lt. Russell Reinhart said the police expect activity at the pier to get “much busier” as the weekend approaches. . . “This happens every year for this surfing contest event,” he said.
They’re not going to let another Op Pro riot go down on their watch. No, sir.
