According to a story on AppleInsider.com, Apple has patented a new technology that will allow snowboarders to track their airtime and pretty much everything else they could want to know riding including:
. . . loft time; a speed of the vehicle; a peak loft time; an average loft time; a total loft time; a dead time; a real activity time; an average speed; . . . successive records of loft information; successive records of speed information; a distance traveled by the vehicle; a height achieved by the vehicle off of the surface; and an indication of a number of a successive record relative to all successive records.
It’s going to be like a dashboard for your snowboard. Guess there will be no more guessing who got the most air. It will be right there on your iPhone and we’ll finally have the charts and the graphs to prove that we suck. How nice will that be?
Sometimes it’s good for all of us to be reminded of how much we all love skater/artist/ human Ed Templeton. ESPN (with help from Micah Abrams) has been kind enough to give us this reminder in both text and video form all on one page. Check it out.
Mt. Baker snowboarder Sean “Donkey” Mansfield and photographer Gunther Frank are both missing and presumed drowned after Frank’s 18 foot sailboat apparently capsized near Washington State’s Bellingham Bay in the early morning hours of Friday June 5, 2009 with six people on board, according to a story on the Frequency The Snowboard Journal website.
At approximately 1:40 am on Friday, June 5, Bellingham Police responded to a call from a resident, reporting a woman at her door, wet and cold, describing a capsizing. While the police were taking statements another survivor came up the street. The Port Angeles Coast Guard station dispatched a rescue helo along with a cutter from the Bellingham CG station at 2 am. As well, Whatcom County Sheriff, Bellingham Fire, Search and Rescue and US Border Patrol assisted in the search. At approximately 4 am another woman, stranded on a tidal cliff, was rescued by the Coast Guard Cutter.
The four others (two who reportedly stayed with the boat and the two women who swam to shore) survived. According to Frequency publisher Jeff Galbraith Donkey, who was sponsored by Volcom, Lib Tech and the Mt. Baker Snwoboard Shop, was “one of the most respected and creative riders to grace the slopes of Mt. Baker in the last 15 years.” Friends have posted a website (http://donkeyandgunther.blogspot.com) with more information. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Mansfield and Frank.
It’s a bit of the strange interviewing the weird scenario (or vise versa) as snowboard visionary Peter Line is questioned by “Internet sensation” Sarah Morrison . . . but compelling all the same.
Skateistan, the organization that is using skateboarding to help teach peace and personal empowerment to the children of Afghanistan, is now building out a skatepark/classroom facility that will include “rooms for launguage and music classes,” according to a story in The Toronto Star.
The organization in October asked the Canadian government for $5,000 and was given $15,000. The German embassy has invested $140,000 and Denmark has contributed $125,000. Percovich has raised enough to build a 1,750-square-metre indoor skate park, a $200,000 steel-roofed building that will be completed this August. He hopes to attract hundreds of children and teenagers.
But it’s not all happiness. Some see the school as teaching a “western indulgence” and one girl has been reportedly beaten by her brothers for skateboarding.
On the heels of the June 8, 2009 news that Quiksilver had secured a $150 million loan from The Rhone Group and would not be selling off any of its brands, DC Shoes President Nick Adcock has resigned “to pursue other interests,” according to a story on SportsOneSource.
Adcock had been president of DC Shoes since February 2006. Prior to becoming president, Adcock had been with DC Shoes for three years and previously served as Australian General Manager, in which he set up the company’s first subsidiary operation. Prior to joining DC Shoes, he held senior positions with Reebok Australia and Reebok International. . . . Quiksilver Americas’ President Craig Stevenson will assume Adcock’s responsibilities on an interim basis while a search for his replacement commences.
This appears to put to rest recent (completely unconfirmed) speculation that Adcock may have been rallying the financing to purchase DC Shoes and take the company private.
Burton’s Senior Vice President of Creative Greg Dacyshyn is experiencing the “pleasure” of announcing the company’s latest collab with designer Paul Smith. This time things are getting a little punk “which is right up Paul Smith’s alley,” according to a press release on Burton.com.
The focal point of the 2009 Fall/Winter collection is a bondage-inspired snowboarding jacket that combines fashion and function with welded pockets, taped seams, a pass pocket, gauntlet cuffs and an adjustable hood. The jacket is available in two colorways; black shiny rubber and jacquard leopard print.
A “black shiny rubber” bondage jacket? According to the release, Burton team rider Chris Sorman definitely wants “to get my hands on these pieces.” But the real shame is that David Carradine won’t be around to enjoy this one.
SIMA’s fundraiser for a fundraiser held June 5, 2009 at the Cyprus Shore Community Park apparently raised $50,000 to help fund the Waterman’s Ball fundraiser. Yeah, apparently that’s how these things work.
“The SIMA Environmental Fund is excited to be going into our 20th year for Waterman’s Ball,” said Paul Naudé, SIMA Environmental Fund president. “This year’s economic climate has presented many challenges, but through a combined industry effort we are determined to maintain our support of 18 proven ocean-related environmental organizations, and look forward to achieving our fundraising goal of more than $400,000 raised at Waterman’s Weekend this year. The success of this Underwriting Party was a tremendous step toward meeting this goal. We know the very deserving event beneficiaries much appreciate the support of all the event underwriters.”
Spending $50,000 to raise $400,000 is pretty good margins when you think about it. [click to continue…]
A 30-year-old man was arrested after US Board Patrol agents caught him attempting to paddle 24 pounds of marijuana into the United States on his surfboard near Imperial Beach, California, according to a story on KTLA.com.
Agents spotted the man, identified as a Mexican national, on a surfboard approximately 200 yards off-shore paddling north of the international border in Imperial Beach early Sunday. The surfer was holding a blue duffel bag which he released into the water while he continued to paddle north, according to Border Patrol officials.
After arresting the man the bag eventually floated ashore and officers found nearly $74,700 worth of weed in the bag.
