by The Editors on July 7, 2008
According to SurfingMagazine.com Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama are co-chairing the PacSun Pipeline to a Cure Dinner Gala, on July 19 at the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach. The event will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
The correlation between surfing and healing surfaced two years ago when patients with cystic fibrosis in Sydney, Australia reported feeling better after hitting the waves, stating that their chests felt relieved as the ocean water cleared the mucus from their and sinuses and lungs. The finding made complete sense, as the top daily treatment for the disease, Hypertonic Saline Solution, mimics a “surf session” for the lungs.
“Our duties as co-chairmen are to help push the snowball over the hill,” Kalama explained. “We want to help raise as much awareness and get as many people on board as possible by lending our name to the cause. Surfing has been so great to us and now it is our chance to give back.”
For more info click the link.
[Link: Pipeline To A Cure via Surfingmagazine.com]
by The Editors on July 7, 2008
Cole Ortega, 14, a competitive snowboarder from Bend, Oregon lost his arm (between the elbow and shoulder) while surfing in Pacific City, Oregon after he was run over by a dory (a 20-foot-long motorized boat) driven by Darrel Martin, 55, of Beaver, Oregon, according to a story on Oregon Live.
Other surfers grabbed the boy’s severed arm and helped him to shore on a surfboard. Doug Shugart, an Oregon State Police trooper checking fishing licenses, rushed into the water to help, said Tillamook County Sheriff Todd Anderson. Shugart grabbed his medical bag and started working on the boy, whose arm was severed between the elbow and shoulder.
Apparently, the boats come in and out off the beach and when the surf gets big, the “high waves often obscure visibility in the popular surfing area.
A Life Flight crew airlifted him to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland. His condition was not available Sunday night.
Our thoughts are with Cole and his entire family.
[Editors’ Note: For updated coverage click here.]
[Link: Oregon Live photo: Mt. Bachelor]
by The Editors on July 6, 2008
On June 28, 2008 snowboarders Danny Kass and Nate Holland visited Afghanistan to rally the troops for the war on terror, according to a story on First Tracks Online. You’d have to think that Grenade gear would be pretty popular about the barracks.
The hospital brought me to the reality that this war is really happening,” said Kass, who got the opportunity to visit with the medical staff as well as a few patients, and used his unique style, fashionable sunglasses and witty personality to lift their spirits.
Looks like the service members were glad to see them all. Nice that Danny and Nate cared enough to make the trip. It also appears that two budding action sports photographers got a nice shot of Kass ass.
[Link: First Tracks Online]
by The Editors on July 6, 2008
In the world of ocean art there can be some pretty hideous stuff, but we’ve been hypnotized by Newport Beach artist Phil Roberts‘ WCT work for Billabong since spending the first part of last December at Pipeline sitting next to the event banner. That’s why we were stoked to read an interview with Roberts on the The Billabong Pro J-Bay site, where he discussed his art for all the events.
Jefferies Bay I broke barriers in myself in painting skills… I now feel I can call myself a painter and no longer an illustrator after this painting ( I went straight to paint with no pencil under drawings, I sketched it out with a 4″ brush ) and I wanted to “school” all of those “crappy” underwater painters on how to paint dolphins surfing.
We agree. Click the link for the entire interview.
[Link: Billabong Pro]
by The Editors on July 6, 2008
Letter from a skateboard-loving reader of the Malvern Gazette, in the UK:
CONGRATULATIONS to the stupid young skateboarder who rolled out into the road at the top of Newtown Road yesterday – he is still alive.
Had I been paying less attention he may not have been.
Clearly unhappy with using the car park to practice his idiocy, he felt it necessary to extend it onto the public highway. I can only hope that he has learnt something from the experience of nearly having his legs broken although I shall not be holding my breath.
SIMON ROWE, Belmont Road, Malvern.
From past experience, this guy probably works for city government in some capacity.
[Link: Marlvern Gazette]
by The Editors on July 6, 2008
Tom Butler is the five time British junior surfing champion and now he’s the English champion. What better time for the women’s section of the Times UK to interview the “surf dude” where he got to answer questions like this:
How do you let your hair down? Have a few beers, go out with my mates.
Spend much time grooming? I moisturise a little bit.
Seems like a nice guy to put up with these kinds of questions.
[Link: Times Online]
by The Editors on July 6, 2008
Laird Hamilton will apparently be helping roll out a significantly more upscale line of clothing to the US market on July 20, 2008 as Oxbow opens it’s first store at 131 Broadway in Santa Monica.
Oxbow has sponsored me for almost 20 years: from my first experimentations with speed sailing in Europe and tow-in surfing in Maui in 1990 to the millennium wave in Teahupoo in 2001, and today, I am very proud to be associated with the launch of Oxbow in the US,” explains Laird Hamilton.
Which is great because his recent “more affordable” line of clothing isn’t doing so well.
[Link: Surfer’s Path]
by The Editors on July 6, 2008
It’s a gas-guzzling hillbilly nightmare on both land and water. Built especially for Nike by Jim Paetschow in Clare, Michigan.
One question: where’s the bass boat and the confederate flag?
[Link: The Morning Sun]
by The Editors on July 4, 2008
The Maloof family has not gotten rich by giving away more money than they keep, and that’s probably why 3-day Professional Session VIP passes to “the world’s greatest skateboarding competition” The Maloof Money Cup cost $350 a pop.
If you want to sit and watch the contest (in a seat, in the grandstands) it’s going to cost you $65.45. The cheapest general admission tickets for the three day event are $32.30 (admission to the Orange County Fair is included).
Now, granted, this is a sporting event and sporting events are expensive to produce, especially when you’re giving away $500,000. But it’s funny how none of the stories in the skateboard media have mentioned how much the tickets were going to cost the kids.
[Link: Ticketmaster]
by The Editors on July 3, 2008
The 15th Annual Mystic Cup starts tomorrow in Prague.
For three days starting July 4, more than 10,000 spectators will converge in a haze of booze, marijuana smoke and music to watch these athletes compete in three events for a $50,000 purse — the largest in the event’s history. “This is bigger than other events in Europe,” says Lukáš Daněk, one of the 15 Czech skateboarders who will be competing in the event. “They don’t get the media coverage like there is [at Mystic Sk8].”
Click the link for the rest of the story as told by the Prague Post’s Adrian Chen.
[Link: Prague Post]
According to SurfingMagazine.com Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama are co-chairing the PacSun Pipeline to a Cure Dinner Gala, on July 19 at the Hyatt Regency in Huntington Beach. The event will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
