After having a major whinge in the weeks leading up to the event, Kelly Slater finally manned up and crushed the competition at the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach. In as story titled “Kells Bells” Australia’s The Age put it this way.
With three minutes left in the 35-minute final, Slater blasted off the top of a wave, leaving the crowd, commentators and surely the judges, gasping at his spectacular aerial skills. . . “I was really surprised Bede let me paddle up there (to Rincon) by myself,” he said. “I caught a little one (wave) and it wasn’t very good, then looked out the back and there was a really good one, so I went and sat out there.” . . . The “really good one” produced a score of 8.30 for Slater, which combined with his next-best wave gave him a total winning score of 15.63.
We’re just glad to see Kelly hungry and back on the hunt. He makes the ASP tour worth watching, no doubt.
The crew at Robust Flavor is sending it with viral videoness. As the proprietor said, “A video on Youtube.com can get one million views, that’s more people than read the action sports magazines. And putting it out on Youtube is free.”
The gadget wanks at my favorite technology blog Gizmodo (specifically writer Brian Lam) are getting together at Alpine Meadows on April 5, 2008 for a techno snowboard “meetup.”
The place: Alpine Meadows. The Time: 9AM, upstairs in the main lodge cafeteria or something Nokia is coming with a fleet of N95s we can use, and Vudu and JBL are donating a prizes to give away, as are a few others who aren’t locked down yet.
This is probably the entire snowboard industry’s target market so it may be something worth checking out: Alex Birch and Rick Alden you guys listening?
DVS, Spotlight Productions and The Copenhagen Skatepark are kicking down the second annual CPH Pro – Copenhagen, Denmark June 20-22, 2008.
Staying in tune with last year’s event, Pros from around the world will converge upon Copenhagen for three days of skateboarding, parties and Viking traditions. This year, the event will take place on the weekend of, “Go Skateboarding Day”, which will bring even more action!
Follow the jump fro the rest of the press release.
Cullen Poythress, the new marketing manager at DVS Shoes is thanking Podium Distribution for moving him out to Cali when they did. Poythress, who previously worked for Surf Expo in Atlanta, moved out of his place one week to the day before the tornado destroyed his apartment at the Fulton Cotton Mills Lofts. “DVS saved my life,” Poythress said. “Literally.”
Poythress’ apartment window is the fourth from right in the bottom right hand corner of this Atlanta Journal-Constitution photo. “The tornado touched down on top of the place and ripped the whole roof off,” he said. “My new flat screen would’ve been laterd.”
As happy as he is with the new job, he’s also happy to have left the ATL. “We got out just in time,” he says. Now, lets just hope for no earthquakes.
Burton and Go211.com are pleased to announce a five-year partnership in which Go211 will become a global partner of the Burton Global Open Series (BGOS) and webcast all BGOS competitions and other events over the next five years.
Let’s see, the last time Burton did a big online deal for the Open series it was with a company called Lat34.com. Sadly, Lat34 ran out of money before they could webcast even one full season of Burton Opens. This deal sounds like it will last about three years longer than GO211.com will be around.
The most famous wave in the world claimed another life on Sunday March 16, 2008, as Joshua Kalai Nakata, 23, of Mililani, Hawaii “apparently hit his head on the reef while surfing at the Banzai Pipline.”
The waves were about 6 to 8 feet at the time, said Bryan Cheplic, Honolulu Emergency Services Department spokesman.. . . . Lifeguards pulled Nakata out the water and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation until paramedics arrived. Rescuers took the man to Kahuku Hospital in critical condition. He died later at the hospital, Cheplic said.
Our thoughts are with Nakata’s friends and family.
We’re not the kind to get excited when a ski resort that has banned snowboarding “until hell freezes over” finally realizes that it might be a good idea to start taking snowboard dollars. All the same, we’re glad Taos Ski Resort has decided to open on March 19, 2008, even if they’ll have mad poop behind their ears for eternity.
Australian newspaper the Geelong Advertiser has run a story today claiming that Kelly Slater decided to surf in the Rip Curl event because of comments from the newspaper’s readers.
Readers and local surfers – including big wave champion Tony Ray – appeared in a video stating why they felt Slater should compete. . . . The message got through, according to the 36-year-old American, who said he changed his mind after watching the video on the internet.
While we’re sure he changed his mind post video viewing, we’re going to guess that there was a lot more going on than pressure from the locals. . . you know, like another title? And, more media incentive money, and the chance to jack with the rest of the ASP top 44.
Apparently, this was a show that aired on Fuel TV last summer. We don’t get Fuel so we never watched it. This is a show about a famous tough guy Kala Alexander and his Wolf Pack crew. Thug life meets the surf. And now, thanks to Hulu.com (the new online TV “network” set up to put iTunes out of business) we can see all the episodes of the world according to Kala.
