With conditions continuing to suck on the East Coast, teenagers Parker Fothergill and Sam Amses of Calais, Vermont, have taken matters—and snow—into their own hands. They’ve been hauling Zamboni shavings from a nearby ice rink to Amses’ backyard, home of a mini snowboard run made out of wooden boxes and Plexiglas. “It’s just not worth going up to the mountains right now,” Amses tells The Barre Montpelier Times Argus. “We were there earlier today but with only one lift open, you had to wait an hour. This is much more fun right now.” Take notes, snow-less people.

The Brits have finally taken notice of the Flying Tomato, and despite the fact that he’s been interviewed, what, a million times, they got some pretty good quotes out of him. Our favorite: “I went to one party where literally everyone was some big actor, there weren’t any randoms. I was talking to Tom Cruise and he was, like, ‘I was at home on the couch in my boxers watching you on television. I was nervous for you.’ I was, like, ‘Woah, Tom…!’ ” There’s plenty more where that came from.

Oceanographer Kerry Black, a professor at New Zealand’s Waikato University, wants to bring surfing indoors, and he’s going beyond wave pools—we’re talking artificial reefs. “Our innovation has the potential to turn surfing into a stadium sport where spectators can watch top surfers compete on an international circuit,” Black tells the UK’s Observer. While purists scream, Black’s VersaReef system is being tested at Ron Jon Surf Park in Orlando. But does it work?

As previously reported on lat34.com, David Milch, creator of Deadwood, is now putting together a surfing drama for HBO called John from Cincinnati. Among the revelations in a new popmatters.com interview with Milch: Luke Perry is joining the cast, John may not actually be from Cincinnati and the show is “about the effort to identify the genuine coordinates of reality. It’s such a strange idea. The strangeness of it is its essence. To try and demystify it is probably to do it a disservice. To fix the coordinates of the reality is itself the dramatic structure.” Well, duh.

Click here for the Full story >

The San Jose Mercury News uncovers yet more love between rappers and skaters in a story focusing on Berkeley rap group The Pack and their first single, Vans. “Skateboarding has moved into more and more urban environments, and people listen to the music from their neighborhoods, so it’s only right that the two should be together,” says Thrasher’s Tony Vitello. Rapper Stunna (Keith Jenkins) puts it more simply: “I just think it’s pretty much yin and yang.”

Click here for the Full story >

Transworld Matrix points out that the intro to the stellar ’80s bike flick, Rad, is on youtube. Ridiculous combination of music and BMX skills. If you’re looking for a little retro inspiration, you kind of have to watch this.

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December 21, 2006 

If you’re looking for somewhere new and totally different to shred this winter, Beijing alone has 16 resorts. You’ll just have to watch out for the skiers, according to Chinese news site e.sinchew-i.com. “Yeah, a lot of people in Beijing ski like they drive,” says Minh Tuan Khuu, former owner of Beijing’s first snowboarding outlet, Ikon X. (Hey, he said it, we didn’t.) Regardless, China’s got everybody beat in terms of weirdness—one mountain features a main lift that goes directly over an old graveyard. Creeeepy.

Full story >

Don’t have time to watch all of Burton’s brilliant For Right or Wrong (now available for free download at burton.com/movie)? Scoop up some highlights—with Shaun White, Keir Dillon, Kelly Clark, Nicolas Muller, Mads Jonsson and others—in this sweet youtube trailer:

Not that this really means anything, but Sports Illustrated had five of its swimsuit girls rate the best-looking athletes, and Kelly Slater came out number one. Says bikini babe Brooklyn Decker: “He’s just dreamy. Eyes, mouth, the body structure. A dreamy guy.” Geez, is there anything this guy doesn’t win? No other action sports dudes cracked their top 20, but on the women’s side, Malia Jones came in at number six, Gretchen Bleiler at eight, Tara Dakides at eleven, and Veronika Kay at fifteen. You go, girls!

There’s a huge battle, nay, war going on in South Africa involving major surf sponsors like Billabong and Quiksilver, local surf magazine Zigzag, and local clothing label Mr Price Red. Seems the big boys have been pressuring the mag to favor their surfers over Mr Price Red sponsored riders, and the locals are pissed. “Foreign-owned clothing brands have been given a monopoly on magazine coverage, and it’s damaging surfing in South Africa,” says world #19 Greg Emslie, who left Billabong for Mr Price Red in 2004. “The magazine is the premier voice of surfing but it is ending careers before they have started.” There’s much more, and it’s juicy.

Dammit, we just can’t wait for EA to release their much-hyped Tony Hawk rival, Skate. But until that glorious day arrives, here’s a look at a cool Jason Dill promo, plus an early render. Looks like the graphics are gonna be pretty dang good.

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December 18, 2006

Alyce Lomax of investment website The Motley Fool gets hot for the apparel company. “I believe boardsports, with their thrilling, ever-evolving tricks and focus on individualism, are here to stay, and that the retail markets surrounding them are due to grow. That bodes well for Volcom, as long as it can keep its brand intact.” She’s dubbed the company, “The Best Small Cap of 2007.” Mmm, sounds tasty.

Full story >

Transworld Business finds that surfing is blowing up in the Great White North…and businesses like Ron Jon, Quiksilver, Rip Curl, and, hey, Volcom are all over it. “Surfing as a sport is at an all-time high,” says Steve Jarrett of SBC Media, a Toronto-based action-sports publisher. Apparently the country’s one-million-plus snowboarders need something to do when the pow melts.

…Or Alaska
Meanwhile, MSNBC looks into the lives of cold-water surfers. “Surfing is a greedy, selfish sport, and the ultimate is to have the waves all to yourself,” says enthusiast Peter (Pan) Panagiotis. “The colder and nastier it gets, the fewer people you’ll see in the water.” Agreed.

Full story >

You want cold and nasty? The New York Times discovers where it’s really at: Ohio. “It was the kind of day that lives mostly in Cleveland surfers’ fantasies. Pushed by the storm’s winds, water the color of chocolate milk rose 10 feet in the air before slamming onto a beach of boulders and logs. The temperature was 40 degrees and falling.” Eh, you guys can keep those waves to yourselves.

Full story >

The Edmonton Journal reports that more than 600 kids went to the ER last year with snowboarding injuries. The paper blames both the use of MP3 players and the lack of helmets, which leaves us wondering: Is it worse to ride in a beanie without earbuds, or in a helmet with built-in headphones? Oh well, guess that’s Canada’s problem.

The new snowboarding doc is taking heat from two of the biggest newspapers in the country, The New York Times (“it never stops feeling like the in-house channel on a ski-lodge television”) and The Los Angeles Times (“tries to touch on every aspect of snowboarding culture, which sometimes makes it feel like a TV travelogue compressed into feature form.”). Ouch.

NYT review >
LAT review >

Some high school kids in Charlotte, North Carolina, have put together some skating footage to the tune of Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks.” Nothing too fancy, just five minutes of pure joy. Do it.

The Nintendo Wii is here, and there’s already a game with Tony Hawk’s name on it. Cleverly titled review site thewiire.com has played it, and they dig. “The more time I spend jamming downhill in Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, the more surprised I am by the game’s depth and breadth despite the relatively simple controls.” We wanted to try it, but Mom locked us outside.

The LA Times reports that skaters are ditching the baggy jeans look in favor of really tight denim: “Blame the teenage Latino skate-punk protagonists of writer-director Larry Clark’s “Wassup Rockers” for helping popularize the look, which turned up recently in Teen Vogue.” Ooh, it’s Teen Vogue?? Let’s run out and get some now!

Full story >

HEADLINES

Maine brawl not skaters’ fault

Surfer finds body (well, half a body) in Pacific Ocean

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December 8, 2006

SNOWBOARDING
 
Snowboarding, brought to you by Christ

They’re opening a small snowboard park in Greeley, Colorado. It will have three rails and a jump and will be covered in astroride, a carpet-like material that will allow the park to be open year-round. And it’ll be sponsored by Christ Community Church and run by one of its pastors. Who says snowboarding isn’t a religious experience?

Click here for the full story>

 

Palmer’s black ski gets rave reviews (at least one, anyway)

We recently told you how Palmer Snowboards had done the unthinkable by unveiling skis. (Skis!) Well, Ski Press World’s Jules Older gave them a try, and he’s more than a little impressed. “Three times in my life I’ve jumped on a ski and knew within the first 50 yards that this was something new and better…the third time was Palmer’s black ski.” Let’s just say it: Snowboarders do everything better. Even skis.

Click here for the full story>


Nikita launches outerwear, founder speaks

Six years ago, a woman named Heida Birgisdottir started a small clothing line in Reykjavik, Iceland. It’s called Nikita, it’s “For Girls Who Ride,” and it’s been a huge success. Now Nikita’s moving into the outerwear market with a full line of snowboarding gear. Heida tells Global Surf News why.

Click here for the interview>
 
 
SKATEBOARDING
 
Rodney rules

Sometimes you forget how awesome someone is at something until you really watch them do it. Like today, we happened to be on youtube and searched for “Rodney Mullen.” Insanity. Here’s the newest entry on the universe’s greatest freestyle skate ever. (Note: Turn your sound down first if you don’t like Fallout Boy.)


Heelys goes public

Yup, the company that makes those wacky shoes with the wheels in the heels is going all IPO, and James Cramer, that crazy yelling dude from Mad Money, is all over it. He says Heelys could be “the last great fad initial public offering of the year.” Hey, who you calling fad? They ain’t going away…anytime soon.

Click here for the full story>


 
 

SURFING
 
Surfing USA?

Transworld Business takes a look at the state of competitive surfing in the U.S., and the organization that runs it, Surfing America. Their verdict? Surfing’s in a lot better shape than it has been, but it could be a whole lot better—and bigger. “As for getting more spectators to the beach: If we build it, they will come,” says SA Executive Director Mike Gerard. “We’re not there yet. We’re still building.”

Click here for the full story>

 
Physicist greens up surf industry

An Ozone-friendly foam invented for use in nuclear warheads has been directed toward a much cooler cause: surfboards. A San Diego company called Petritech has licensed TufFoam, developed by Sandia National Laboratory physicist LeRoy Whinnery. “The primary failure mechanism for boards is that they snap, and TufFoam is significantly stronger than the TDI foams we’ve tested it against,” says Petritech CEO Dave Sheehan. “Plus, we think surfers will appreciate the cleaner chemistry.” Heck yeah they will.

Click here for the full story>

 
Slater and friends get (their voices) behind Surf’s Up

Pro surfers Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, and Sal Masekela have all lent their voices to the new Sony Pictures film, Surf’s Up, the CGI-animated tale of a small-town penguin who becomes a big-wave surfer. “The waves are so good in the movie, you want to get into the screen and surf it,” Masekela tells the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He plays a sports commentator in the film, due out in June 2007, while Slater and Machado portray penguinized versions of themselves. Wonder if Slater’s will be bald…

Click here for the full story>

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We had no luck searching for Rob Dyrdek’s Street Dreams when the 2007 lineup for the Sundance Film Festival dropped last week (Dyrdek says he’s still hoping to show the fictional skate film starring Paul Rodriguez at a private screening during the festival), but we did come across another name you might be interested in: Steve Berra.

According to Variety, the pro skateboarder’s film The Good Life made the cut for the Dramatic Competition at Sundance and “is about how the arrival of a young woman disrupts the life of a young man who’s dedicated himself to operating a faded movie palace in a small town.” The film’s stars include Mark Webber, Zooey Daschanel, Harry Dean Stanton, Drea DeMatteo, and Bill Paxton.

“I decided to take a hiatus from skateboarding, not only to heal, but to direct a movie I had written called The Good Life,” writes Berra on his homepage. “It had been my ‘other woman’ for many years, but because of my commitments as a professional skateboarder I couldn’t pursue it 100%.”

Since the film is decidedly not a skateboard film and Berra is still working on his part for the upcoming Alien Workshop video, hold yourself over by checking out clips of his part in the DVS film Skate More and footage of

Just when the DC Shoe Co. bus thought it was getting a minute away from the madness, it all started back up again this week with the DC BMX team loading up for its December to Remember tour.

The lineup serves as a reminder of just how deep the blood on this team runs –  Chad Kagy, Corey Bohan, and Allan Cooke are names you’ve been hearing a lot here on Lat34 – and also proves that the next generation of BMX is equally exciting, with riders like Edwin Delarosa, Chris Doyle, and Robbie Miranda. DC is showing its hand by bringing a few flow team riders along for the tour: We’re guessing Michael Clark, Tom White, and Craig Mast are pretty psyched for the opportunity, and we’ll assume those are names we’re all about to become very familiar with.

“The fellas on the team always see each other at various competitions throughout the year, but the December to Remember tour is a rare opportunity for the team to come together, have fun, and just ride,” according to the news folks over at DC Shoe Co.

The team has no real schedule, no set agenda, not even a definitive road map for where they’re headed, but if you live in the Southwest somewhere between Vista, CA and Austin, TX, keep an eye open for the DC bus. It’s hard to miss, but Fuel TV will be on the footage in case you miss it. 

Tired of waiting for new DVDs to drop at your local skateshop? Many companies are starting to drop free footage into regular Podcasts: With iTunes 7 and free Podcast  subscriptions, you’ll have a few good answers when Santa asks why you keep bugging him about that Video iPod. We like the Elementality footage from Element, the bi-monthly DC Shoe Co. Skate Trick Tips video podcast, the Strange Notes stuff, Volcom’s comprehensive Transmissions, and the international flavor of Puzzle Sk8TV – the European Skateboarding Videomagazine.

Fire up iTunes 7 (free download here >), search for “skate podcast” and go nuts looking for the latest from your favorite companies, your local shop, or the aspiring filmers down the street. Did we mention it’s all free? Free! 

It’s always fun to find a favorite up-and-comer, then follow them as they start blowing up big: We like Jimmy McDonald, a 20 year-old am from Bethesda, Maryland who learned his game on the streets of Washington, DC, recently claimed the King of New York title, and is ready to rule the rest of the place.

McDonald is “flow trash” at 5boro, Volcom, és, and Spectrum, and has been busy scrapping for small change on the East Coast – he picked up $1,000 for a wall ride at the Back to the Banks contest this summer, won the Manhattan Bridge contest in October, and took the DC King of New York title after wins in Staten Island and the Bronx and top-three finishes in Brooklyn and Queens.

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SURFING

Senegal celebrates 40 years of foam
The filming of The Endless Summer brought two American surfers to the Ngor village in Senegal in 1966. They found some sweet waves and introduced the Senegalese to the wave-riding life. Forty years later, surf tourism has grown up in Dakar, and even some of the locals are picking up the sport. And just like in the U.S., some families don’t want their kids to surf!

Autistic child finds peace on the waves
Looking for a long, heartrending, but ultimately uplifting story about redemption through surfing? Acclaimed writer Paul Solotaroff writes in The Observer about his struggles with an autistic son, and how things changed for the better the day the kid found himself on a surfboard. You may never take the waves for granted again.

In a shocking development, a snowboard company is making serious skis. Palmer Snowboards has unveiled two new pairs of sticks as part of its Palmer Project. “We are building skis, and not just freeride or freestyle skis the way most people would expect from a company like Palmer,” CEO Jurg Kunz says. “But we’re building carving skis, too. And we’re doing it by introducing the next evolution in ski technology.” That evolution is called DPD, Dynamic Power Distribution. Sounds yummy.

Click here for the full story >

Utah resorts plug podcasts
Tired of fumbling with resort maps and brochures? Seven Utah resorts, including Park City, Snowbird, and Brighton, have hit on a solution, offering downloadable podcasts on their resorts. The free podcasts offer tips on terrain, lifts, runs, lodging, and amenities. Yes, they’re thinly disguised promos, but they’re worth checking out. We’ll try to overlook the fact that they misspelled Shaun White’s name on the site. It’s not nearly the sin that listing boarder-hatin’ Alta first is.

Click here for the podcasts >



SKATEBOARDING

UK school offers skateboarding class
Screw dodgeball. Bruntcliffe High, a secondary school in Leeds, England, has introduced skateboarding lessons into its physical education curriculum. There are currently a dozen 11- and 12-year-olds enrolled in the 12-week course. “It’s for kids that are getting a bit switched off by PE,” says school sports coordinator Alex Tate. “We’re trying to offer them alternatives to the normal core subjects that they do, to hopefully enthuse them. When I told them about it, they thought it was brilliant.” Well, duh.

Click here for the full story >

Oceansiders Scott Tilton and RJ Kraus have created a killer site to connect action-sports athletes with sponsors. In its five years of existence, SponsorHouse.com has been behind 258,000 sponsorship hookups. “We have an intimate knowledge of how hard it is for aspiring athletes to approach companies for sponsorship and vice versa, for companies to manage athletes and their sponsorship requests,” Tilton tells twsbiz.com. “SponsorHouse.com is simply the medium or connection point where athletes and companies can find each other and communicate.” Sounds good to us.

Click here for the full story >

Also in the “damn, why did we think of that?” department, a 23-year-old surfer named Michael Appelman has invented a device he claims solves the problem of wetsuit funk. He calls it the Hangair Drying System, and it’s essentially a hanger with a fan inside. For 70 bucks. We wanted to run a photo of it here, but the website is all in freakin’ Flash.

Female boarders on the rise

Another trick in the wall

 
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November 27, 2006

Click here for the full story>

 

 

SURFING

Surfline.com founder talks wave prediction

 

 

 
The skinny on turning pro 

 

SKATEBOARDING

SoCal teen gets serious  about skate park

For some Texans, skating’s a family affair

 

 

 

SURFING

Surfer sets big record

 

 

SKATEBOARDING

Mainstream vs. Core

Click here for the full story>  

 

SNOWBOARDING

Paper and powder

Click here for The Block review> 

Click here for the full story>

Click here for the full story>

 

Sixteen point nine million dollars. That’s how much Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake dropped on a sweet 1.5 acre beachfront compound in Oahu, Hawaii. The dream house features 12 bedrooms and nine bathrooms, and with 100 feet of shoreline, the couple can surf whenever they want. Think JT regrets breaking up with Britney? We kinda doubt it. Click here for the full story>

 

The New York Times is all about actions sports lately. This time, they’re chatting with embattled surf star Sunny Garcia.</a> And despite the fact that he’s low on cash, divorced, and facing prison, he could be ready to dominate the Triple Crown of surfing at North Shore, which is waiting for good waves to get going. “This is my way out of reality,” he says. “Go in the water, have fun, do what I do best. I’ve taken bad things and turned them into good things.” If this vid from last year is any indication, he’s still got some juice in the tank. Click here got the full story>

SURFING
Besieged big wave rider bounces back

In 2003, Aussie surfer Koby Abberton was charged with lying to police concerning his brother Jai, who had been charged with murder. Jai was later found not guilty, but Koby’s legal expenses cost him two beachside homes, three units, and two cars…and then Oakley cut him loose from a $1 million dollar sponsorship deal. Now things are looking up. Koby just signed a $1 million-plus deal with Analog. “I went bankrupt and all that sort of bulls... but with these new contracts I should be back in no time so I’m excited for it,” he tells The Daily Telegraph. He’s also started his own surfwear brand—it’s called My Brother’s Keeper.

Another surfing dog

So this chocolate lab named Milo in Seal Beach, California, likes to surf with his owner, LA County firefighter Chris Drunasky. “I told one of the other surfers, ‘If a set comes along and we take the wave and cut you off, don’t get mad at me. Talk to the dog,’ ”Drunasky jokes to the OC Register. We were thinking about being mildly impressed by this, but then we found this crazy video. We have no idea where these canines Check out the video below>>

 

SKATEBOARDING
Skater girls

We gotta give a shout-out to milkandcookies.com for unearthing this surreal, strange, and yet somehow sublime skating vid. We don’t want to say any more, at the risk of spoiling it, but just click here to take a look, and then decide for yourself who among Lucy, Beth, Naomi, Jessica, Titanny, and Nikita is the best skater. Actually, we’re pretty sure it’s not Nikita.

And now for a girl who can really skate, six-year-old Alize Montes. Girl really rips toward the end, and even when she bites it—hard—she doesn’t make a peep. Check it.

 

SNOWBOARDING
Urban shredding

The flakes haven’t quite hit yet in a lot of parts of the country, but that hasn’t stopped people from strapping in and riding the rails. In Auburn, California, local shop Boards’n’Motion and Rome SDS teamed up to host Box Jam as part of the “I Heart Box Tour.” We’re not sure if groms grasp the double-meaning there, but that’s probably for the best. In related news, the Denver parks and rec department announced plans to put six rails into an urban park to help get city kids hooked on snow sports. Good thinking, guys.

As much as we dig that hat, we’re kind of liking the look of these animal-based helmet covers from crazeeHeads. Yes, the raccoon, panda, lion, monkey, and tiger styles are technically designed for kids, but the website says they fit most helmets. We kinda want to go out and get a bunch. Don’t you?

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Nov.6, 2006

OK, it doesn’t happen on the water, but UK newspaper Sheffield Today is freaking out about an extreme craze in England called tram surfing. Teens jump onto the back bumpers of trams while they’re stationary, then hold tight to the windshield wipers as the public trans vehicles zoom down their tracks at up to 30 miles per hour. Says one Supertram official: “To youngsters it’s a free ride that’s a bit more exciting. But they don’t realise the dangers behind it. They could come off at a swing into the path of a tram or car coming in the opposite direction. I’m quite sure they wouldn’t be laughing if one of them got killed.” You know, it was kinda cool when Marty McFly grabbed car bumpers on his skateboard in Back to the Future, but this sounds more like kinda stupid.

EA continues to raise the hype for their new skateboarding video game, Skate, by announcing that Thrasher’s 2005 Skater of the Year, Chris Cole, will be featured. Meanwhile, the reviews are in for Tony Hawk’s Project 8, and they are good. Highlights include a huge number of objectives and missions, cool mini-games like Human Bowling, great multiplayer modes, and the Nail the Trick feature, which lets you slow down time, a la The Matrix, and use the dual analog sticks to execute freestyle moves. We sense a major rivalry a-brewin’. Here are clips of the new Chris Cole ad spot and Nail the Trick action to get it rolling.

Florida’s St. Petersburg Times reports on a fascinating culture clash taking place at Tampa’s Perry Harvey Sr. Park. Back in the day, the now run-down area was the site of businesses opened by freed slaves in 1865, Ray Charles’ first recording, and the city’s biggest race riot in 1967. Then in the late ’70s, a parks employee convinced the city council to construct a skate bowl there, and suddenly white teenagers flooded the area to shred. They loved the “Bro Bowl,” and it even appeared in Tony Hawk’s Underground. But now the city is set to demolish the bowl and “revamp” the park while preserving its history. Of course, the biq question is, whose history are they gonna preserve? Quite the conundrum.

Nollie.tv a skate site for girls, is behind this vid, which shows you how to make an Indo-style balance board using only an old skate deck and a 2-liter bottle of water. Check it out—it’s pretty cool.

So the common perception is that just about everyone who snowboards is approximately 15 years old. But just as the surfers who brought that sport to the mainstream in the ’60s continued to surf as they aged, older snowboarders are all over the slopes. That’s the word from Florida Sports magazine, and they’ve got stats to back it up. Turns out 35 percent of active snowboarders over the age of 16 are 35 years of age or older. And at the 2006 X Games, 10 snowboard competitors were in their 30s. We saw a graybearded dude pull a rail slide at New Hampshire’s Loon Mountain last season. It was gnarly.

The snowsports filmmaking legend has signed a six-year deal with Starz Entertainment that will put his library of films on the air starting this December with a 22-hour “Shred Fest Marathon.” That block will include such films as Impact, Journey, Storm, and Cold Fusion. His 2005 film Higher Ground and his newest flick, Off the Grid (see trailer below), will both premiere on Starz stations in 2007. Yeah, it’s mostly skiing footage, but they throw some snowboarding stuff in here and there to keep us happy.

SKATEBOARDING

We told you Monday how Dustin Lackey, a San Diego surfer, saved a guy's life in the ocean, only to return to shore to find his brand-new John Carper epoxy Peter Mel Machine longboard stolen. Now the publicity of that story has things looking up for him. The mayor held a news conference in Lackey's honor, a congressman called him with kind words, and a private company has volunteered to buy him a new board. Also, rumor has it that Peter Mel himself is trying to find Lackey to hook him up with a replacement ride. Best of all, the man he helped save is recovering in the hospital from a broken spine. All this, and it's only Tuesday!

 

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Oct. 30, 2006

Eight-time ASP world champ Kelly Slater has been talking a lot about retiring, but here’s something that may change his mind: Rumor has it sponsor Quiksilver has offered him a $10 million bonus if he wins 10 world titles. That’s about $8.2 million more than his career earnings, but is it for real? Quiksilver spokesman Johnathan Jenkins refused to confirm the rumor, saying: “I think you’ll find most elite sportsmen have bonuses written into their contracts.” Hmm. If it weren’t true, wouldn’t he just say, “No.”?

San Diego surfer Dustin Lackey had an up-and-down afternoon Sunday. At Pacific Beach, he watched a man take a headfirst dive off a pier, then float in the water, facedown. Acting quickly, he and another surfer held the bleeding man afloat until paramedics could reach him on a jet ski and get him to an ambulance. Then Lackey returned to shore to discover his new $700 longboard—a John Carper Peter Mel Machine, which he’d had for a week—had been swiped. Hey JC, [http://www.jchawaii.com/] maybe you can hook a brother up?

Last week at a restaurant called Orso in LA, the Flying Tomato had lunch with the world’s hottest pregnant supermodel. There’s not really much else to say, but based on this photo, it looks like they had a lovely time.

A snowboard instructor named Sean MacCarron has created a product called StanceFind, “the world’s first fully patented board riders’ stance calibration device.” It’s basically a board-like platform that you stand on and, through the use of biomechanical reference points, figure out the best possible settings for your bindings. We’re still trying to figure out where this falls on the scale between “totally brilliant” and “completely unnecessary.” But if we saw one, we’d definitely try it out.

Say goodbye to those snowboarding, base-jumping, caffeine-guzzling Dew dudes. Mountain Dew is ditching its “Do the Dew” image, which has apparently lost its edge now that action sports have become more mainstream. So, what’s next? "Extreme is no longer extreme," says one PepsiCo exec. "We don't know what the answer is. We're waiting for our agencies to come up with something and we're conducting research. We haven't come up with the Holy Grail yet.” On the upside, the Dew Action Sports Tour will continue.

SURFING

The Road Back

The Nova Schin Festival, presented by Billabong is getting ready to start crackin' on Monday. While some of the worlds best surfers congregate down in the Southern Hemisphere it's interesting to see Neco Padaratz pull a wildcard invite. Padaratz is the true dark horse as he continues down the comeback trail form six month forced suspension due to use of a banned substance. Padaratz tested positive for steroids after the 2004 World Championship Tour event in Hossegor, France. Padaratz has had some success earlier in 2006 and a good showing at the Nova Schin would be a nice way to close out the year.

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Oct. 26, 2006

Hannah Teter’s Sweet Story

We knew Hannah Teter could snowboard, but who knew she could make condiments, too? She’s selling Hannah’s Gold syrup to raise money for a very worthy cause. As she says on the product’s website: “This one-of-a kind, Grade A, Vermont Maple Syrup is being dedicated to the desperately poor children of Africa. Through my partnership with World Vision, this project will be helping those in greatest need.” Not only that, but it goes great with pancakes!

 

Buy the syrup here>

SURFING

 

HBO Plans Surf-Based Series

Still getting over the WB canceling Summerland? HBO and David Milch, creator of Deadwood (and the guy in the tie), are teaming up on a new “surf noir family drama” to air next summer. The series, titled John from Cincinnati, will focus on a dysfunctional SoCal family—an ex-surf champ, his wife, and their druggie son. So who’s “John”? A mysterious savant who comes into their lives in need of surf lessons. Sounds goofy, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s HBO.

Click here for the full story>

 

 

Surf Legend Unveils 12 Rules of The Ride

Way back in 1977, before surfing boomed and pros started raking in serious dough from contests and sponsors, Shaun Thomson won the world championship. Now 51, he’d like to see a bloated sport regain its class and etiquette. With Gandhi-esque maxims like “All surfers are joined by one ocean” and “There will always be another wave,” his new book, Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life, aims to do just that. Hokey? Maybe. But with Sunny Garcia headed to the slammer, maybe the time is right.

 

Click here for the full story>

 

Rip Curl Intros Power-Heated Wetsuit

It’s here. Rip Curl’s H-Bomb is the world’s first wetsuit to use battery power to keep surfers warm. With two fiber-coated elements on the upper back—separated from the skin by a thin layer of neoprene—it’s like an electric blanket you can wear…in the water…without being electrocuted. Says WCT pro Nathan Hedge: “It feels sooo good! It just keeps you feeling warm all over throughout.” Now the only question is: How are the waves in Antarctica?

 

Click here for the full story>

 

SKATEBOARDING

Hip-hop label Sponsors Skate Team

Pharrell isn’t the only rapper supporting skaters. Diplomat Records CEO Jim Jones has started Dipskate, a collaboration with Courtney and Chris Brown of lifestyle brand B. Unique, who showed Jones their skate documentary Know Difference. “When I got the opportunity to see their tape and they told me how the skaters feel when it comes to the Diplomats, I was honored,” says Jones, whose own hit, “We Fly High,” is climbing the Billboard Hot 100. “They feel like we're the realest thing out there and they love everything that we're doing, so it was a beautiful opportunity.”

 

Click here for the full story>

 

Born-again Christian (Hosoi)

In the ‘80s, pro skater Christian Hosoi had it all: money, fame, women…and all the pot, speed and methamphetamine he could handle. But after his career waned in the ‘90s, there was less skating and more drugs. A botched drug deal landed him in prison in 2001. But his girlfriend (now wife) handed him a Bible, and five years later, he’s sober, skating for Quiksilver, and an ordained minister. A DVD about his life, "Rising Son: The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi," hits shelves Nov. 14th. We’re guessing it has a happy ending.

 

Click here for the full story>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Oct. 24, 2006

SURFING

Aussies Surf the 50 states

For no immediately apparent reason, a couple of loopy Australians have decided to surf in all 50 US states. This may seem a little tricky, considering that most of our states don’t have, you know, waves, but Jonno Durrant and Stefan Hunt are prepared to get creative by throwing their boards down on “snow, lakes, rivers, grass, concrete, puddles, crops, wavepools.” (In this pic, for example, they’re tackling the mighty surf hills of Wyoming.) They’ve knocked out nine states so far and, naturally, they’re making a movie about it. We were totally gonna do the same thing in Australia, but last time we checked, they don’t have states.

Click here for the full story >

SKATEBOARDING

Tony Hawk’s Project 8 captures the motion

For the first time ever, the insanely popular skate video game franchise has used motion capture technology to take the game’s reality to a whole new level. (That means they attached those magic sensors to a bunch of pros and had them skate around doing their best tricks.) This sweet video goes behind the scenes of Stevie Williams’’ mo-cap session. If you think kickflips are tough now, try doing them in a spandex suit.

Click here for the video >

SNOWBOARDING

Secrets of Sessions

Joel Gomez dropped out of San Diego State in 1983 to open Sessions, the world’s first snowboarding shop, way back in 1983. Now, 23 years later, the company is still independent and still going strong. Last year, making and selling apparel for skateboarders, snowboarders, skiers, and surfers, it brought in over $10 million. Sessions’ keys to success? Signing a great team of riders, staying true to its roots, and staying positive. “It wasn't scary," says Gomez. "It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't make it, and I didn't think of all the bad things that could've happened." That’s a pretty gnarly attitude, for both the mountain and the business world.

Click her for the full story >

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Oct. 10, 2006

SURFING

Surfing dog more popular than surfing people

 

A dog and his owner got in trouble at a contest in Brazil because the dog, who happens to surf, had more fans than the actual competitors did. The duo rode together on the same board during intervals at the Praia da Tiririca, part of the 2006 Surf World Championship, but not everyone was amused. Said police: "We were called to remove the pair because they were drawing more attraction than the actual competition." Yeah, that really fits with the spirit of the sport.

Where is “Surf City USA”?

A debate is raging in Southern California over which city really is “Surf City USA.” Bruce Noland, the owner of two surf shops in Santa Cruz, is suing the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, which has threatened him with legal action for selling T-shirts that read “Surf City Santa Cruz California USA.” Huntington Beach, the city referenced in the 1963 Jan and Dean song, “Surf City,” applied for a trademark on the phrase in 2004. But Noland, whose city has been referred to as “Surf City” in newspaper articles from as early as 1927, just wants everyone to chill. “I think of `Surf City USA' more as a state of mind, not some kind of enforceable trademark or official title,'' he says. Damn straight.

The snowboard company announced dates for its global movie tour, which will screen the film For Right or Wrong, in 22 cities over the next month, starting October 14^th in Tokyo and ending November 11th in Innsbruck. “When we set out to create For Right or Wrong our vision was to show the variety in snowboarders’ personalities, their riding styles and the terrain they ride—all from an insider’s viewpoint,” says Jake Burton. “It’s a perspective on our sport that has never been seen before.” With pros like Shaun White, Keir Dillon, Kelly Clark, Terje Haakonsen, Mads Jonsson, and Jeremy Jones on board, it’s sure to be a shred-fest.

We’re deeply saddened by the news that Alta Ski Resort, one of four ski areas left in the U.S. that prohibit snowboarding, has decided to close its two-year-old terrain park. Says spokesperson Connie Marshall: "Skiers liked it but they would just use it once or twice as a side activity and then head back to the regular runs." Well, duh. Can we make a suggestion that would have solved this problem? Let in snowboarders.

Friends are still wondering what happened to Benjamin Bradley, a backcountry snowboarder who disappeared this summer while hitchhiking from Winter Park, Colorado to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to celebrate his 29th birthday. His remains were found two weeks ago in area called Red Desert, three miles from the nearest road, and police are investigating.

The structure that housed the Zephyr Shop, one-time home of the Z-Boys who revolutionized skateboarding in the 1970s (See Dogtown and Z-Boys, Lords of Dogtown) is in danger of being torn down. While some see it as a cultural landmark, the owner is planning to tear down the building to create an earth-friendly mixed-use complex. The development would include “more green space, no air-conditioning, natural light and low water-use toilets for its residential units.” Sounds great, but couldn’t ya build it somewhere else?

Click here to visit the site>

SKATEBOARDING

 

According to police, a 30-ish white male with dreadlocks stabbed another man twice in the chest outside of a bar in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. Which really wouldn’t be news, except that the attacker then pushed off on a
skateboard. Hey, they’re a lot cheaper than getaway cars! Click here for the (very brief) full story>

His voice has yet to crack, but Andrew Classon, a 12-year-old skater from British Columbia, already has his face on skate decks. His sponsor, Surgo Skateboards, slapped his likeness on boards under the word “Wanted.” “It was a pretty big surprise–I didn’t know they were doing it or anything,” says Classon. “I love it. I think it’s pretty sick.” In yet another instance of life being ridiculously unfair, guys twice his age are still trying to get sponsored.

King of Kings Skateboard Ministry International, a five-year-old organization based in Arizona, uses skate, BMX, and motocross pros to spread Christianity. Here’s the head-scratcher: They’ve teamed up with born-again actor Stephen Baldwin (!), who’s now head of an “extreme sports ministry” in San Diego. "We will find the churches that are receptive to these kids…whether or not they have tattoos or piercings or whatever," says Baldwin. This from a guy who once starred in a film called Sex Monster.

Finally, a challenger to Tony Hawk’s dominance of skateboarding video games. EA’s Skate will be released in 2007 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. "We're focused on capturing the actual feeling of skating with the innovative control system, the physics driven animations, and the intelligent cameras working together to really deliver the closest thing to being on a board," says Scott Blackwood, executive producer, EA Black Box. The game will feature pro skaters Danny Way and PJ Ladd, and this crazy Italian site offers a first look at some graphics. Oooh, purty. Click here for the images> 

Movies have the Oscars. Music has the Grammys. And now action sports has…the Arbys? OK, they’re not actually gonna be called that. But on December 10^th, Fox will air an awards show to honor the best in skate, surf, snow, ski, wake, FMX, BMX, and motocross, and the maker of the Bacon Beef ‘n Cheddar sandwich is paying for it. All the big names—Pastrana, White, Teter, Burnquist, Slater, etc.—are up for accolades, and winners will be selected by a combination of fan balloting and “expert judges.” So why’s Arby’s involved? Says senior v.p. Debra Mager: “These kids take risks and excel at being different, which is something we at Arby’s have always prided ourselves on.” Oh, right. Got it. Click here to vote > 

 

Fishhooks caught in wetsuits? It’s just another day in the bitter battle between surfers and anglers over San Diego’s Oceanside Pier, the longest wooden pier on the West Coast. A local ordinance requires surfers to stay at least 100 feet away from each side of the 1,954-foot pier, where fisherman reel in mussels, squid, and croakers. But naturally, that’s where some of the best surfing is. When yummy fish go up against yummier waves, it gets nasty, to the point of a fistfight this past Memorial Day. And, we’re sorry to say, the surfer got his ass kicked. Click here for the full story>

You know “The Block,” that hotel chain that caters to snowboarders? It’s got locations in Big Bear Lake and South Lake Tahoe, California, and its rooms feature “amenities” like stripper poles, PS2s, and convenient boot dryers. Word is, the cable channel G4 is making it the basis for a reality series featuring its founders, pro boarder Marc Frank Montoya and Las Vegas hotel honcho Liko Smith. The show, to premiere in January, will follow the Lake Tahoe staff and their dealings with guests, pro boarders, rock bands, and celebs. You know what would be crazy? Watching The Block while staying at “The Block.” Whoa. Click here for the full story>

Oct. 6, 2006

SKATEBOARDING
 
UK Film Exposes Skater Struggles

Wassup Rockers was an eye-opening look at Latino skaters in LA, but it was fiction. Now filmmakers in North Devon, England, have found a real-life version. Their documentary, Teenage Kicks, ain¹t pretty, but it so powerfully shows what life is like for UK skater kids (rough) that it¹s scheduled to be shown to parliament!
Click here for the full story>
 
Grip Tape, circa 2006

Ever wanted, say, the Mona Lisa, to stare back at you from the top of your board? A (relatively) new company in California makes killer grip-tape designs of skulls and demons and, well, Renaissance art. Click here to see the grip>
 
 
SNOWBOARDING
 
Rail Jam in Jersey Somehow

This just in: people were snowboarding in New Jersey last weekend! Staffers at Mountain Creek Resort trucked in 55-gallon barrels of hockey-rink ice shavings to provide enough white stuff for a rail jam. Seriously. Click here for the full story>

 
Park City Marketing Plan: Free DVDs!

They're not trucking in snow, but Park City Mountain Resort has found another way to go after the groms. A pro-Park City promo DVD featuring Shaun White (yeah, we hear he¹s pretty good) will be packed into the December issue of Future Snowboarding. Click here for the full story>

Oct. 5, 2006

In writer Steven Kotler's new book, West of Jesus: Surfing, Science, and the Origin of Belief, he embarks on a three-year quest to explore a myth about a surfer who could control the weather. Fighting Lyme disease at the same time, he uncovers a mystical connection between surfing and healing. Sounds epic. Click here for the full story>

Wetsuit? Check. Yarmulke? Check!

Kotler isn't the only one communing with higher powers in the ocean. Calling himself the Surfing Rabbi, Rabbi Nachum Shifren leads kosher surf trips to Costa Rica, Mexico, and Hawaii. You don¹t have to grow a sweet beard like his to sign up, but you¹d look way cooler if you did. Click here for the full story>
 
Surfers with a cause

Big-wave studs Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama are teaming up to bike and paddle their surfboards from one end of the Hawaiian Islands to the other (that¹s 500 miles) in seven days. It ain¹t just for fun‹they¹re raising money to distribute a documentary, Beautiful Son, about a friend¹s autistic child. Can you think of a better reason to surf? Click here for the full story>

Former Baywatch stud David Hasselhoff has decided that he “is as popular as Elvis.”  What’s a guy to do when he comes to that life changing realization?  Design a clothing line of course.  The ‘Hoff’ has been so overwhelmed with fans that are rockin’ the “Don’t Hassel the Hoff” tee, that he is left with no other choice but to design a line of laid back surf gear under the name Malibu Dave.

"It's just going to be supercool, laid back surfing gear. Everywhere I go, there are all these guys, like 400 guys, wearing the 'Don't Hassel The ‘Hoff' shirt. "There are guys who turn up dressed like me. It's a bit weird. I'm like Elvis, only alive. "Although just between you and me, Elvis is alive. He's living at my home."

Get the full story>

 

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Oct. 3, 2006

As if the little black-and-white beakfaces haven’t done enough, it now appears they invented surfing. At least, that’s the theory behind Sony Animation’s latest movie. Slated for a summer 2007 release, Surf’s Up focuses on the efforts of a young tuxedo-bird named Cody Maverick to become the next great pipeline legend. From the looks of the trailer, this could be gnarly.Click here for the trailer >

The 3rd Lair Skate Park in Golden Valley, Minnesota, may just be closest thing to adolescent skater heaven. It’s a 25,000-square-foot indoor oasis that hosts all-night lock-ins—from 9:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.—every other month, to the delight of around 200 grind-happy young locals.Click here for the full story > 

Fuel TV’s cool action sports show, “The Daily Habit,” is slowly being commandeered by Etnies Girl athletes. Surfer Mary Osborne and snowboarder Leanne Pelosi have already co-hosted, and snowboarders Alexis Waite and Janna Meyen and surfer Schuyler McFerran are all on the schedule for future episodes.Click here for the full story >

After three Olympics, Rosey Fletcher, the 2006 Olympic parallel giant slalom bronze medalist and a two-time World Championships medalist, has announced she is retiring from World Cup competition. For the Nagano Games in 1998, Fletcher was the first rider named to the first U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team.Click here for the full story >

In search of athletes to sponsor, snowboard apparel maker Liquid Boardwear is holding the equivalent of open tryouts. Amateurs can upload photos and footage of themselves to the company’s website, and Liquid rider Jeff Meyer will decide whether you’ve got what it takes to go pro…and get a bunch of free clothes.  Click here for the full story >

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Sept. 29, 2006

Tony Alva, the godfather of skateboarding, is making headlines again. This time with the new Alva L.A. Women’s Team – the all-star skate crew that’s taking America and the world by storm.

The girls team is comprised of the best female skaters in the world including Cara-Beth Burnside, Jen O’brien and Mimi Knoop. They’ve also got Amy Caron, Annie Sullivan, Vanessa Torres, Felicity Coral and Lauren Mollica, with Jaime Lopez at the helm as team manager. They talked to Lat34 about how the team started and what their plans are for world domination: Get the Lat34 interview here>

The whole did they or didn't they has been confirmed by Bam Magera and was reported in US Magazine on September 27. Apparently the Viva La Bam and Jackass star and Jessica Simpson hooked up while she was married to Nick Lachey according to Bam in an interview with Howard Stern. The big question US wanted to know though was what Simpson saw in the "grungy pro skater?"

Hello? Skater rebel boys who drive fast cars and make money for simply just being themselves is kind of hot. Just ask Paris Hilton who has an on again, off again relationship with pro skater Chad Muska. See Lat34s coverage on Bam's latest Jackass movie here>

Missoula, Montana is not exactly the kind of place you would first think of when you are listing the hottest places to skate, but after the grand opening of Missoula's new skate park, you might just change your mind. This past weekend 12,000 people including skaters Tony Hawk and Bam Magera attended the "MOBASH" grand opening in Missoula. This is one of the newest concrete waves to add to the ever growing and increasingly impressive USA collection of parks, but it has a geat story in that the town rallied together to raise the money for the park over the last six years. "The skatepark in Missoula is an absolute hit and we're all still basking in the glory of a job well done," said founder Ross Peterson, who has worked hard on this project since 2000. " The pros including Tony said that this was 'the best demo they'd ever been to'. Not bad for a little northern town...eh?" he added.

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Sept. 18, 2006

On Wednesday, September 6, word began to flow sadly out of Hawaii that legendary surf and skate photographer Warren Bolster had committed suicide. There was shock and sadness but not a lot of surprise as Bolster had been struggling with health and financial problems for many year. He suffered from arthritis and the Oxycontin he took to ease that pain, “made him crazy,” according to a friend who had known Bolster from his heydays. Get the full story here>

If you weren’t in Portland Oregon on the night of September 1, too bad for you because Volcom Clothing threw the party of the month for the premier of their latest snowboard video “Es Scamble”. Obviously like most companies Volcom sponsors professional snowboarders and documents their winter traveling all over the world, but it has been a few years since they put their team to work. It was well worth the wait though  because the all star roster... Get the full story here>

This weekend Boardfest, a girls surf event in Huntington Beach, CA every summer, will be adding snow to the summer fun. Event organizers are dumping 20 tons of snow on the beach and inviting some of the top rail riders to attend. The best trick contest will net one lucky snowboard femme fatale $1,000. To check out the happenings or attend the event go to: http://www.boardfest.com/

The last time skateboarding was a household name in the White House was when skater Andy Macdonald spoke in front of the White House Press about kids just saying “no” to drugs. On August 30, the USINFO website posted an article about skateboarding being one of the top new lifestyle sport in America to watch. The USINFO is an information provider of current U.S. foreign policy and about American life and culture.  The piece offers up a layman’s run down on skateboarding with great lines such as: “The countless tricks mastered by millions of skateboarders have their own names, including "ollie," "heelflip," "nosegrind," "indiegrab," "180" and "varial."  If executed well, fellow skaters will offer their most superlative compliment: "Dude, that stinks!" or our favorite comment: “Like its distant cousin surfing, skateboarding appeals to daredevils, risk-takers and, admittedly, showoffs.” Wonder what the multi-million dollar skaters Tony Hawk and Danny Way would think about that statement. Those silly show offs!

Wet Hits the Newsstands

Longtime surf writers and former Surfer Magazine editor Ben Marcus has just launched a new girls surfing magazine called Wet. The high glossy, 90-page publication is currently the only hardcore surf magazine on the market for women. In the past year both Surfing Girl (aka SG) and Surf Life for women folded leaving a hole for girl surfers, so Wet is a welcome addition to the scene. Some of the top features in the mag include a piece on 13-year-old surfing phenom John John Florence’s mother and a piece on Bethany Hamilton, the surfer who lost her arm to a shark a few years ago. While there are pessimists who say a girl’s surf mag is just not going to happen and the past filures are proof, Marcus is ignoring the naysayers. He told the Santa Cruz Centenial earlier this month: Did those magazines fail because there's not a big enough market to support them, or because they're not good magazines? "I'm trying to be great. I hope that first issue is fairly great, as good as any magazine out there that happens to be about women." So far we are impressed with the first attempt. Get your copy at www.wetmagazine.org

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Sept. 1, 2006

Shark Attack
An Oregon man was bit by an 8-10 foot great white shark on Tuesday, August 29 in Florence, OR. Todd Larson, 23, of Eugene, OR felt a tug on his foot and then looked down to see a two-foot dorsal fin in the water. The shark bit his foot through his rubber booty and then came back for more, but Larson beat the shark on the head with the fin of his board. Eventually the shark sank back into the water allowing the surfer to paddle back in. He told the Register Guard, “The scariest part of it all was paddling in,” because he didn’t know whether the shark would return for more. Larson received 30 stitches from the incident and said he hopes to be back in the water within a few weeks. The last shark attack in Oregon was December 26, 2005 in Seaside, OR, 166 miles to the North of Florence. Since 1959 there have been 17 shark attacks in Oregon. For more information on Shark Attacks go to: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm 
 

Orlando Bloom Meets a Sea Urchin While Surfing
Rumor has it according to the web, which we know is always truthful, Pirates of the Carribean star Orlando Bloom recently was in Los Angeles for surgery on his foot after stepping on a sea urchin while surfing in Mexico with his girlfriend, Blue Crush star, Kate Bosworth. The actor tried pulling the sharp prongs out and even had Bosworth pee on this foot (this is supposed to stop the stinging) but neither remedy worked. Bloom flew home underwent minor surgery to remove the barbs. His rep wouldn’t comment on this happening or on Bosworth peeing on him, but Lat34 isn’t concerned about their lack of insight. We just hope he keeps surfing and showing the world what a fun sport it is. 
 
 
 
 

Lat34 Quick Hits 1-8-07

Times tumbles down Echo Mountain

We gotta hand it to New York Times writer Anne Goodwin Sides. She really tries to infuse the language and culture of action sports into her piece about Colorado’s terrain paradise, Echo Mountain. That means lines like, “he shouted as a twin-tip skier popped off the hip, arcing backward, arms outspread, a snowboarding Greg Louganis tracing the sky with his fingertips.” Wow, we didn’t realize a skier could transform into a snowboarder in mid-air. (Still a fun article to read, though.)

Full story > http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/travel/escapes/05ski.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Tahoe boarders launch clothing line
With members like Danny Kass, Shaun Palmer, Andreas Wiig, and Tara Dakides, the Southshore Soldiers ooze street cred. Now they’re gonna make some dough. “We’re not a corporate brand with standards and approvals,” Soldiers’ co-founder Robert Crosby tells the Tahoe Daily Tribune. “If we like it, it goes to production. This is a liberty few other companies can claim.” Oh, but what do pro snowboarders know about clothes?

Full story > http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20070105/NEWS/101050070

Snowsports big with kids

NC’s Asheville Citizen-Times reports that resort users are getting younger. According to a recent National Ski Areas Association study, the proportion of minors on the slopes rose from 12.9 percent in 2004-2005 to 15.5 percent last season. Other interesting stats: The average male boarder is 21, while the average male skier is 32. The average female boarder is 23, and the average female skier is 28. About half of skiers are male and half female, while almost three-quarters of boarders are male. And 13.3 percent of you are still reading this.

Full story > http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770103080

Freeskiing saves the world

Just when skiing seemed ready to keel over and die in the wake of the snowboarding boom, freeskiing brought it back to life. “When skiers started going 20 to 22 feet out of the halfpipe at the (Winter) X Games and snowboarders were only going 16 to 17 feet, kids saw that,” says Doug Donovan, general manager of, yeah, Echo Mountain. “There’s always a crowd out there that wants to go bigger, and skiing allows for that.” This may be totally true. Or it may be a way for the Rocky Mountain News to hype the Jeep U.S. Freeskiing Open, which comes to Copper Mountain January 16 through 21.

Full story > http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/winter_activities/article/0,2777,DRMN_23946_5260703,00.html

Burton techs it up

This may look like a sadly broken-in-half Burton G-Twin, but in fact, it’s a USB drive from ACP-EP memory. They’ve also got Custom and Vapor versions, and they’re available in 512 MB, 1 GB, and 2 GB varieties. Is this cool, or just really, really dorky? Either way, we want one!

The next (female) Shaun White?

Minnesota rider Alexis Rolland is only seven years old, but she already has a pro contract and will appear in an upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated. “They just tell me I’m really good,” she says. “I am pretty good.” Eh, we’re not so sure. Check out WCCO’s video to watch her do several uninspiring boardslides in her backyard. Twenty bucks says she peaks at age 10.

Queensland’s best waves in six months mean too many people in the water, and surf rage mania. Check out these quotes: “This bloke thought he owned the waves and he kept dropping in on me so I pushed him off. When he came up he came at me and it was on.” / “You have to psych yourself up just to paddle out because you know, sooner or later, someone’s going to have a go at you.” / “I love to surf but that’s just ridiculous. I mean, it’s supposed to be fun.” Something tells us these guys haven’t been reading Surfer’s Code.

Full story > http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21021682-3102,00.html

Here’s a story you don’t hear too often. Ron Cowan, a father in Selinsgrove, PA, thinks the local borough council is screwing over his skateboarding son and his friends by limiting the area where they can ride. Reports the Sunbury, PA, Daily Item: “In a letter Mr. Cowan distributed to community members and throughout the Selinsgrove Middle School, he asked for community support and said, “I will be asking the council to amend or suspend the use of Article V, Ordinance number 587, “Skateboards.” ’Atta Dad!

Unidentified snowboarder collides with, kills skier on Mt. Hood

Connecticut boarder saves drowning woman

Seven stranded boarders rescued in Nagano; two skiers missing

Hawaiian surfer survives shark attack

Alaskan racer, 17, makes US Snowboarding Team

Colorado avalanche sweeps cars off roadway

The Block to premiere this month
The first snowboarding-based reality show—about life at Mark Frank Montoya’s rider-friendly Lake Tahoe hotel—will make its debut on G4 on January 15^th at 10 p.m. ET/PT. And from the looks of the trailer, it’s really gonna show off what mature, sober people boarders are.

The Denver Post tracks the efforts of Juan Alberto Delaroca to get more Hispanics on snow. His Equipo Roca marketing company has teamed up with Burton, Copper Mountain, and The Sports Authority to create “El Primero Descent,” a grassroots effort to change the fact that just three percent of the U.S. Hispanic population rides. Turns out he’s not alone—other Colorado organizations are reaching out, too.

Click here to read the full story >

According to the Tahoe Daily Tribune, 29 snowboards were swiped at Boreal and Northstar resorts near the end of last year, and most of them were Burton sticks. “Get a no-name board,” advises the wife of one victim. Or skis. Oddly enough, none of those have been stolen.

Click here to read the full story >

Speaking of skiers, the Seattle Times brings us this great photo of local two-planker George Ackley, who is really grateful to have been wearing a helmet when he landed headfirst on a rock. Can you imagine why?

Click here to read the full story >

Scott Bair, a staff writer for San Diego’s North County Times, reviews the year in action sports and places Shaun White’s Olympic gold at the top. “His performance elevated action sports into mainstream consciousness, and his personality turned a beloved local into a media darling and an international superstar.” But did he go to Disneyland?

Click here to read the full story >

Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown Medical School say competitive surfing is safer than playing college soccer or basketball. “We found that competitive surfing has a relatively low risk of injury, 6.6 significant injuries per 1,000 hours of surfing—compared to other sports for which comparable data is available,” says the study’s lead author. Clearly, this man has never met Zinedine Zidane.

Click here to read the full story >

Georgia’s Savannah Morning News examines the business fallout from the collapse of leading surfboard material company Clark Foam a little over a year ago. A shortage of quality board foam has forced boardmakers and merchants to switch to other materials, diversify their product lines, and, well, work harder. “I have to cater to people who don't surf,” says custom boardmaker Jim Stephens. “If I don’t, I might as well charge admission at the door, because I’m not going to get any money out of them.”

Click here to read the full story >

Surfrider boss not afraid to rock the boat
Jim Moriarty, the unconventional, Christian conservative executive director of the Surfrider Foundation is really taking the organization to the next level—and saying some interesting stuff. “I spoke to a church group recently,” Moriarty tells Common Ground magazine, “and I told them, ‘You’re being labeled, maybe rightfully so, as ambivalent on the environment. Read the Bible! If you believe that God created the heavens and the earth, then you’ve got a mandate: take care of creation.’ ” You tell ’em, Jim!

Click here to read the full story >

Sony is developing a motor-powered, platform-based human-moving device, as indicated by these sweet conceptual images. According to The New Scientist, they’re hoping to compete with DEKA’s Segway human transporter. Which shouldn’t be too hard, considering they’ve sold, what, five of those?

Full story >

January 1, 2007

SNOWBOARDING

This is how conditions look these days at Wintergreen Resort in Virginia. About 100 other eastern mountains could produce similar pix. Honey, get the kids…we’re moving to Whistler!

Click here for the full story >

You may have heard of Mount Baker, that snowboarder’s paradise an hour east of Bellingham, Washington. Well, now the Times has, too. “You don’t have to read a marketing article in some magazine to know it’s going to be good up there,” Travis Parker tells the paper. “You can count on just blasting off stuff and going superfast.” Here’s hoping coverage in a major media outlet won’t change that for the faithful.

Click here for the full story >

Clearly in an action sports mood, the paper is also all over the scene in La Grave, France, home of the Snowkite Masters. “In snowkiting, we are going back to the roots of the mountain, of the calm, the serenity and virgin snow,” says legend Pascal “Big Air” Joubert. “The biggest pleasure for me is to flow over the snow and in the air. In snowkiting, we are no longer a victim of gravity.” Gee, sounds nice.

best friend and brother Dave Genchi suffered a serious spinal injury. While snowboarding with our guides, Dave took a surf turn, hit a rock, lost his balance, tumbled and seriously injured his neck. Our guides reacted immediately and we transported him safely off Buffalo Pass. A life flight ultimately transported him to St. Mary’s hospital in Grand Junction, CO, where he is currently on the path to recovery. Surgery was successful to stabilize the fractured vertebrae. Dave currently has limited movement only in his upper extremities; he is more than able to communicate and shows evidence of improvement everyday.” Dave, all of us lat34.com are thinking of you.

The Canadian Ski Council’s 2005-2006 review has found that snowboarding is apparently down with the kids, and skiing is up. According to the review, the number of (Canadian) snowboarders aged 12 to 17 has dropped from 362,000 in the winter of 2002-03 to 307,000 last season. At the same time the number of young skiers has risen from 176,000 in 2002-03 to 218,000 last winter. Those crazy Great White Northerners, what will they think of next?

Click here for the full story >

The New Year isn’t looking too rosy for the Santa Cruz-based, family-owned company. The rise of mall-based chain skate outlets like Zumiez and Pacific Sunwear has made it difficult for mom-and-pop shops like Skateworks, in business since 1988, to compete, so they’re closing four stores and pumping up their website. “Your purchases do make a difference,” says Letitia Ruano, owner of local shop Consolidated Skateboards. “Do we want our country to become a Wal-Mart of everything?” Quick, buy something at skateworks.com today!

Months ago, we noted that the building housing the Horizons West surf shop and the Zephyr skateboard shop, original home of the Z-Boys, was in danger of being torn down. A new piece in the Santa Monica Monitor doesn’t report any new developments, but it does have some cool info on the shop’s history, from Horizons West owner Randy Wright: “They wanted to skate like the guys who surf. They didn’t want to do ‘nose wheelies’ or handstands, what people used to do in the ’60s. So these guys went to Del Mar as a team, the Z-Boys and they rock and rolled and a lot of people didn’t like it because it was futuristic [but] a lot of people think in retrospect that that was the birth of the ‘hardcore’ movement.” Oh wait, they kinda covered that in Dogtown and Z-Boys, didn’t they?

Click here for the full story >

In an achievement akin to Jackie Robinson playing Major League Baseball, 18-year-old Kwezi Qika has become South Africa’s junior surfing champion. “The chicks were like, “You’re from Africa? You know how to surf? Oh my gosh,” Qika says of competing at the world championships in California. Now he’s the man in a sport that was once for whites only in his country. Pretty good for a poor kid who took up the sport six years ago, when he didn’t know how to swim.

Click here for the full story >

Global Surf News reports that last year, the following surf records were broken: Most surfers on one wave (broken four times, it’s now at 73, thanks to riders at Muizenberg Corner in South Africa); longest surfboard to ride a wave (28 feet, ridden by Brazil’s Rico de Souza); most ASP world titles for a man (Kelly Slater won his eighth); most ASP world titles for a woman (Layne Beachley won her seventh). Oh, and Sofia Mulanovich won the Vans Triple Crown.

Click here for the full story >

For a new low-carb beer called Bondi Blonde, ad man John Singleton is holding a contest to pick a girl to be the face of it. And along with Paris Hilton and Singleton’s son Jack, the third judge is Koby Abberton. He’ll have to pick from 40 bikini-clad beauties displaying their goods at a Hilton Hotel in Sydney. Man, pro surfers have it tough.

Click here for the full story >

With conditions continuing to suck on the East Coast, teenagers Parker Fothergill and Sam Amses of Calais, Vermont, have taken matters—and snow—into their own hands. They’ve been hauling Zamboni shavings from a nearby ice rink to Amses’ backyard, home of a mini snowboard run made out of wooden boxes and Plexiglas. “It’s just not worth going up to the mountains right now,” Amses tells The Barre Montpelier Times Argus. “We were there earlier today but with only one lift open, you had to wait an hour. This is much more fun right now.” Take notes, snow-less people.

The Brits have finally taken notice of the Flying Tomato, and despite the fact that he’s been interviewed, what, a million times, they got some pretty good quotes out of him. Our favorite: “I went to one party where literally everyone was some big actor, there weren’t any randoms. I was talking to Tom Cruise and he was, like, ‘I was at home on the couch in my boxers watching you on television. I was nervous for you.’ I was, like, ‘Woah, Tom…!’ ” There’s plenty more where that came from.

Oceanographer Kerry Black, a professor at New Zealand’s Waikato University, wants to bring surfing indoors, and he’s going beyond wave pools—we’re talking artificial reefs. “Our innovation has the potential to turn surfing into a stadium sport where spectators can watch top surfers compete on an international circuit,” Black tells the UK’s Observer. While purists scream, Black’s VersaReef system is being tested at Ron Jon Surf Park in Orlando. But does it work?

As previously reported on lat34.com, David Milch, creator of Deadwood, is now putting together a surfing drama for HBO called John from Cincinnati. Among the revelations in a new popmatters.com interview with Milch: Luke Perry is joining the cast, John may not actually be from Cincinnati and the show is “about the effort to identify the genuine coordinates of reality. It’s such a strange idea. The strangeness of it is its essence. To try and demystify it is probably to do it a disservice. To fix the coordinates of the reality is itself the dramatic structure.” Well, duh.

Click here for the Full story >

The San Jose Mercury News uncovers yet more love between rappers and skaters in a story focusing on Berkeley rap group The Pack and their first single, Vans. “Skateboarding has moved into more and more urban environments, and people listen to the music from their neighborhoods, so it’s only right that the two should be together,” says Thrasher’s Tony Vitello. Rapper Stunna (Keith Jenkins) puts it more simply: “I just think it’s pretty much yin and yang.”

Click here for the Full story >

Transworld Matrix points out that the intro to the stellar ’80s bike flick, Rad, is on youtube. Ridiculous combination of music and BMX skills. If you’re looking for a little retro inspiration, you kind of have to watch this.

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December 21, 2006 

If you’re looking for somewhere new and totally different to shred this winter, Beijing alone has 16 resorts. You’ll just have to watch out for the skiers, according to Chinese news site e.sinchew-i.com. “Yeah, a lot of people in Beijing ski like they drive,” says Minh Tuan Khuu, former owner of Beijing’s first snowboarding outlet, Ikon X. (Hey, he said it, we didn’t.) Regardless, China’s got everybody beat in terms of weirdness—one mountain features a main lift that goes directly over an old graveyard. Creeeepy.

Full story >

Don’t have time to watch all of Burton’s brilliant For Right or Wrong (now available for free download at burton.com/movie)? Scoop up some highlights—with Shaun White, Keir Dillon, Kelly Clark, Nicolas Muller, Mads Jonsson and others—in this sweet youtube trailer:

Not that this really means anything, but Sports Illustrated had five of its swimsuit girls rate the best-looking athletes, and Kelly Slater came out number one. Says bikini babe Brooklyn Decker: “He’s just dreamy. Eyes, mouth, the body structure. A dreamy guy.” Geez, is there anything this guy doesn’t win? No other action sports dudes cracked their top 20, but on the women’s side, Malia Jones came in at number six, Gretchen Bleiler at eight, Tara Dakides at eleven, and Veronika Kay at fifteen. You go, girls!

There’s a huge battle, nay, war going on in South Africa involving major surf sponsors like Billabong and Quiksilver, local surf magazine Zigzag, and local clothing label Mr Price Red. Seems the big boys have been pressuring the mag to favor their surfers over Mr Price Red sponsored riders, and the locals are pissed. “Foreign-owned clothing brands have been given a monopoly on magazine coverage, and it’s damaging surfing in South Africa,” says world #19 Greg Emslie, who left Billabong for Mr Price Red in 2004. “The magazine is the premier voice of surfing but it is ending careers before they have started.” There’s much more, and it’s juicy.

Dammit, we just can’t wait for EA to release their much-hyped Tony Hawk rival, Skate. But until that glorious day arrives, here’s a look at a cool Jason Dill promo, plus an early render. Looks like the graphics are gonna be pretty dang good.

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December 18, 2006

Alyce Lomax of investment website The Motley Fool gets hot for the apparel company. “I believe boardsports, with their thrilling, ever-evolving tricks and focus on individualism, are here to stay, and that the retail markets surrounding them are due to grow. That bodes well for Volcom, as long as it can keep its brand intact.” She’s dubbed the company, “The Best Small Cap of 2007.” Mmm, sounds tasty.

Full story >

Transworld Business finds that surfing is blowing up in the Great White North…and businesses like Ron Jon, Quiksilver, Rip Curl, and, hey, Volcom are all over it. “Surfing as a sport is at an all-time high,” says Steve Jarrett of SBC Media, a Toronto-based action-sports publisher. Apparently the country’s one-million-plus snowboarders need something to do when the pow melts.

…Or Alaska
Meanwhile, MSNBC looks into the lives of cold-water surfers. “Surfing is a greedy, selfish sport, and the ultimate is to have the waves all to yourself,” says enthusiast Peter (Pan) Panagiotis. “The colder and nastier it gets, the fewer people you’ll see in the water.” Agreed.

Full story >

You want cold and nasty? The New York Times discovers where it’s really at: Ohio. “It was the kind of day that lives mostly in Cleveland surfers’ fantasies. Pushed by the storm’s winds, water the color of chocolate milk rose 10 feet in the air before slamming onto a beach of boulders and logs. The temperature was 40 degrees and falling.” Eh, you guys can keep those waves to yourselves.

Full story >

The Edmonton Journal reports that more than 600 kids went to the ER last year with snowboarding injuries. The paper blames both the use of MP3 players and the lack of helmets, which leaves us wondering: Is it worse to ride in a beanie without earbuds, or in a helmet with built-in headphones? Oh well, guess that’s Canada’s problem.

The new snowboarding doc is taking heat from two of the biggest newspapers in the country, The New York Times (“it never stops feeling like the in-house channel on a ski-lodge television”) and The Los Angeles Times (“tries to touch on every aspect of snowboarding culture, which sometimes makes it feel like a TV travelogue compressed into feature form.”). Ouch.

NYT review >
LAT review >

Some high school kids in Charlotte, North Carolina, have put together some skating footage to the tune of Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks.” Nothing too fancy, just five minutes of pure joy. Do it.

The Nintendo Wii is here, and there’s already a game with Tony Hawk’s name on it. Cleverly titled review site thewiire.com has played it, and they dig. “The more time I spend jamming downhill in Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam, the more surprised I am by the game’s depth and breadth despite the relatively simple controls.” We wanted to try it, but Mom locked us outside.

The LA Times reports that skaters are ditching the baggy jeans look in favor of really tight denim: “Blame the teenage Latino skate-punk protagonists of writer-director Larry Clark’s “Wassup Rockers” for helping popularize the look, which turned up recently in Teen Vogue.” Ooh, it’s Teen Vogue?? Let’s run out and get some now!

Full story >

HEADLINES

Maine brawl not skaters’ fault

Surfer finds body (well, half a body) in Pacific Ocean

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December 8, 2006

SNOWBOARDING
 
Snowboarding, brought to you by Christ

They’re opening a small snowboard park in Greeley, Colorado. It will have three rails and a jump and will be covered in astroride, a carpet-like material that will allow the park to be open year-round. And it’ll be sponsored by Christ Community Church and run by one of its pastors. Who says snowboarding isn’t a religious experience?

Click here for the full story>

 

Palmer’s black ski gets rave reviews (at least one, anyway)

We recently told you how Palmer Snowboards had done the unthinkable by unveiling skis. (Skis!) Well, Ski Press World’s Jules Older gave them a try, and he’s more than a little impressed. “Three times in my life I’ve jumped on a ski and knew within the first 50 yards that this was something new and better…the third time was Palmer’s black ski.” Let’s just say it: Snowboarders do everything better. Even skis.

Click here for the full story>


Nikita launches outerwear, founder speaks

Six years ago, a woman named Heida Birgisdottir started a small clothing line in Reykjavik, Iceland. It’s called Nikita, it’s “For Girls Who Ride,” and it’s been a huge success. Now Nikita’s moving into the outerwear market with a full line of snowboarding gear. Heida tells Global Surf News why.

Click here for the interview>
 
 
SKATEBOARDING
 
Rodney rules

Sometimes you forget how awesome someone is at something until you really watch them do it. Like today, we happened to be on youtube and searched for “Rodney Mullen.” Insanity. Here’s the newest entry on the universe’s greatest freestyle skate ever. (Note: Turn your sound down first if you don’t like Fallout Boy.)


Heelys goes public

Yup, the company that makes those wacky shoes with the wheels in the heels is going all IPO, and James Cramer, that crazy yelling dude from Mad Money, is all over it. He says Heelys could be “the last great fad initial public offering of the year.” Hey, who you calling fad? They ain’t going away…anytime soon.

Click here for the full story>


 
 

SURFING
 
Surfing USA?

Transworld Business takes a look at the state of competitive surfing in the U.S., and the organization that runs it, Surfing America. Their verdict? Surfing’s in a lot better shape than it has been, but it could be a whole lot better—and bigger. “As for getting more spectators to the beach: If we build it, they will come,” says SA Executive Director Mike Gerard. “We’re not there yet. We’re still building.”

Click here for the full story>

 
Physicist greens up surf industry

An Ozone-friendly foam invented for use in nuclear warheads has been directed toward a much cooler cause: surfboards. A San Diego company called Petritech has licensed TufFoam, developed by Sandia National Laboratory physicist LeRoy Whinnery. “The primary failure mechanism for boards is that they snap, and TufFoam is significantly stronger than the TDI foams we’ve tested it against,” says Petritech CEO Dave Sheehan. “Plus, we think surfers will appreciate the cleaner chemistry.” Heck yeah they will.

Click here for the full story>

 
Slater and friends get (their voices) behind Surf’s Up

Pro surfers Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, and Sal Masekela have all lent their voices to the new Sony Pictures film, Surf’s Up, the CGI-animated tale of a small-town penguin who becomes a big-wave surfer. “The waves are so good in the movie, you want to get into the screen and surf it,” Masekela tells the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He plays a sports commentator in the film, due out in June 2007, while Slater and Machado portray penguinized versions of themselves. Wonder if Slater’s will be bald…

Click here for the full story>

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We had no luck searching for Rob Dyrdek’s Street Dreams when the 2007 lineup for the Sundance Film Festival dropped last week (Dyrdek says he’s still hoping to show the fictional skate film starring Paul Rodriguez at a private screening during the festival), but we did come across another name you might be interested in: Steve Berra.

According to Variety, the pro skateboarder’s film The Good Life made the cut for the Dramatic Competition at Sundance and “is about how the arrival of a young woman disrupts the life of a young man who’s dedicated himself to operating a faded movie palace in a small town.” The film’s stars include Mark Webber, Zooey Daschanel, Harry Dean Stanton, Drea DeMatteo, and Bill Paxton.

“I decided to take a hiatus from skateboarding, not only to heal, but to direct a movie I had written called The Good Life,” writes Berra on his homepage. “It had been my ‘other woman’ for many years, but because of my commitments as a professional skateboarder I couldn’t pursue it 100%.”

Since the film is decidedly not a skateboard film and Berra is still working on his part for the upcoming Alien Workshop video, hold yourself over by checking out clips of his part in the DVS film Skate More and footage of

Just when the DC Shoe Co. bus thought it was getting a minute away from the madness, it all started back up again this week with the DC BMX team loading up for its December to Remember tour.

The lineup serves as a reminder of just how deep the blood on this team runs –  Chad Kagy, Corey Bohan, and Allan Cooke are names you’ve been hearing a lot here on Lat34 – and also proves that the next generation of BMX is equally exciting, with riders like Edwin Delarosa, Chris Doyle, and Robbie Miranda. DC is showing its hand by bringing a few flow team riders along for the tour: We’re guessing Michael Clark, Tom White, and Craig Mast are pretty psyched for the opportunity, and we’ll assume those are names we’re all about to become very familiar with.

“The fellas on the team always see each other at various competitions throughout the year, but the December to Remember tour is a rare opportunity for the team to come together, have fun, and just ride,” according to the news folks over at DC Shoe Co.

The team has no real schedule, no set agenda, not even a definitive road map for where they’re headed, but if you live in the Southwest somewhere between Vista, CA and Austin, TX, keep an eye open for the DC bus. It’s hard to miss, but Fuel TV will be on the footage in case you miss it. 

Tired of waiting for new DVDs to drop at your local skateshop? Many companies are starting to drop free footage into regular Podcasts: With iTunes 7 and free Podcast  subscriptions, you’ll have a few good answers when Santa asks why you keep bugging him about that Video iPod. We like the Elementality footage from Element, the bi-monthly DC Shoe Co. Skate Trick Tips video podcast, the Strange Notes stuff, Volcom’s comprehensive Transmissions, and the international flavor of Puzzle Sk8TV – the European Skateboarding Videomagazine.

Fire up iTunes 7 (free download here >), search for “skate podcast” and go nuts looking for the latest from your favorite companies, your local shop, or the aspiring filmers down the street. Did we mention it’s all free? Free! 

It’s always fun to find a favorite up-and-comer, then follow them as they start blowing up big: We like Jimmy McDonald, a 20 year-old am from Bethesda, Maryland who learned his game on the streets of Washington, DC, recently claimed the King of New York title, and is ready to rule the rest of the place.

McDonald is “flow trash” at 5boro, Volcom, és, and Spectrum, and has been busy scrapping for small change on the East Coast – he picked up $1,000 for a wall ride at the Back to the Banks contest this summer, won the Manhattan Bridge contest in October, and took the DC King of New York title after wins in Staten Island and the Bronx and top-three finishes in Brooklyn and Queens.

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SURFING

Senegal celebrates 40 years of foam
The filming of The Endless Summer brought two American surfers to the Ngor village in Senegal in 1966. They found some sweet waves and introduced the Senegalese to the wave-riding life. Forty years later, surf tourism has grown up in Dakar, and even some of the locals are picking up the sport. And just like in the U.S., some families don’t want their kids to surf!

Autistic child finds peace on the waves
Looking for a long, heartrending, but ultimately uplifting story about redemption through surfing? Acclaimed writer Paul Solotaroff writes in The Observer about his struggles with an autistic son, and how things changed for the better the day the kid found himself on a surfboard. You may never take the waves for granted again.

In a shocking development, a snowboard company is making serious skis. Palmer Snowboards has unveiled two new pairs of sticks as part of its Palmer Project. “We are building skis, and not just freeride or freestyle skis the way most people would expect from a company like Palmer,” CEO Jurg Kunz says. “But we’re building carving skis, too. And we’re doing it by introducing the next evolution in ski technology.” That evolution is called DPD, Dynamic Power Distribution. Sounds yummy.

Click here for the full story >

Utah resorts plug podcasts
Tired of fumbling with resort maps and brochures? Seven Utah resorts, including Park City, Snowbird, and Brighton, have hit on a solution, offering downloadable podcasts on their resorts. The free podcasts offer tips on terrain, lifts, runs, lodging, and amenities. Yes, they’re thinly disguised promos, but they’re worth checking out. We’ll try to overlook the fact that they misspelled Shaun White’s name on the site. It’s not nearly the sin that listing boarder-hatin’ Alta first is.

Click here for the podcasts >



SKATEBOARDING

UK school offers skateboarding class
Screw dodgeball. Bruntcliffe High, a secondary school in Leeds, England, has introduced skateboarding lessons into its physical education curriculum. There are currently a dozen 11- and 12-year-olds enrolled in the 12-week course. “It’s for kids that are getting a bit switched off by PE,” says school sports coordinator Alex Tate. “We’re trying to offer them alternatives to the normal core subjects that they do, to hopefully enthuse them. When I told them about it, they thought it was brilliant.” Well, duh.

Click here for the full story >

Oceansiders Scott Tilton and RJ Kraus have created a killer site to connect action-sports athletes with sponsors. In its five years of existence, SponsorHouse.com has been behind 258,000 sponsorship hookups. “We have an intimate knowledge of how hard it is for aspiring athletes to approach companies for sponsorship and vice versa, for companies to manage athletes and their sponsorship requests,” Tilton tells twsbiz.com. “SponsorHouse.com is simply the medium or connection point where athletes and companies can find each other and communicate.” Sounds good to us.

Click here for the full story >

Also in the “damn, why did we think of that?” department, a 23-year-old surfer named Michael Appelman has invented a device he claims solves the problem of wetsuit funk. He calls it the Hangair Drying System, and it’s essentially a hanger with a fan inside. For 70 bucks. We wanted to run a photo of it here, but the website is all in freakin’ Flash.

Eight years ago, Mark Sperling, marketing director for TWS, starting Girls Learn to Ride (girlslearntoride.com). This season, the program is putting on 800 action-sports clinics across the US. Although women make up only 33 percent of snowboarders, they comprise half of new riders. Not surprisingly, they’re good for business—women spent $240 million in the last year on equipment and apparel, 64 percent more than five years ago. And it’s not just kids. “A lot of women now have the time to learn and want to reconnect with their kids,” Sperling tells The Buffalo News. See ya on the slopes, Mom.

Click here for the full story >

BMXer Ryan Sher busts out a cool new trick, riding the curved wall of a spiral staircase. It’s pretty sweet, especially when you consider what would happen if he bailed.

Click here to watch the wall ride >

Why it pays to be core

 

The New York Times talks to Jamie Thomas, Tony Hawk, and Danny Kass to uncover what most riders have known all along—the best, and best-selling, board sports brands are those that were started by people who actually ride. This is why Nike is still trying to crack the market, while labels like Blackbox and Grenade continue to go grow. It’s a solid story, but we do have one tip for the NYT factcheckers: The CEO of Quiksilver is named Bob, not Phil.

When epic waves begin to form in Hawaii or Tahiti, the first person Laird Hamilton hears from is Sean Collins. He’s the guy behind every surfer’s best online friend, swell forecast site surfline.com. What makes it so popular? “If you set a threshold, that if I miss it by two feet of face height or if I miss it by 12 hours and that classifies as a miss…we’re over 95 percent accurate,” Sean tells globalsurfnews.com. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.

Click here for the full interview>

If National Geographic decided to get into the surf film business, something like Taylor Steele’s new film, Sipping Jetstreams, might result. It’s a colorful, majestic, world-spanning panorama, with stops in Hong Kong, Italy, Egypt, Japan, Cuba, Barbados, Morocco, and Indonesia. And it’s got some killer surf footage, too. Here’s the trailer.

How hard is it to become a professional surfer, and is the payoff worth the risk of not making it? The Honolulu Advertiser takes a pretty in-depth look at this question through the eyes of Kekoa Cazimero, a high school senior with straight A’s who’s foregoing college for a shot at the bigs. And guess what—if you’re young, talented, and Hawaiian, it’s probably worth a try.

Click here for the full story>

Just about every day, some city newspaper runs a story about kids aching for a skatepark in their town. Adam Miller, a 17-year-old in a place called Hemet, California, was one such kid. “If you’re a skateboarder, whenever you go somewhere you get kicked out,” Miller tells The Press-Enterprise. “There’s really no skate park and nothing really to do in town.” That’s why he submitted a petition bearing over 600 signatures to his city hall, urging them to build one.  Believe it or not, now they’re thinking about it.

Click here for the full story>

The Austin-American Statesman journeys to Mabel Davis Skate Park and discovers that, hey, not all skaters are teenage boys who like saying “dude.” In fact, some of them are 40-something dads—whose kids also skate—and even aunts. What in the name of Dubya’s limited vocabulary is going on?

Click here for the full story>

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November 24, 2006

Teen (and pre-teen) titans 

The awesomely named Seattle Post-Intelligencer tipped us off to Kids Who Rip, a collective of 15-and-under groms who tear it up on snowboards, skateboards, bikes, and everything else Mom makes them wear a helmet for. It’s really cute. And by “cute,” we mean “seriously gnarly.” They may not be shaving yet, but their skills are ridiculous.

A Brazilian surfer named Rico de Souza has set the Guinness World Record for riding a wave on the biggest surfboard (26.42 feet). He rode for 11 seconds at Macumba beach, near Rio de Janeiro. But for the, ahem, record, the wave itself was kinda piddly.

Click here for the full story (such as it is)>

Question: Which is more critical to the skateboarding industry—huge, multi-sport mainstream events that draw millions of live and TV viewers, or small, skate-only core events attended by a few thousand? Answer: Both. As twsbiz.com reports, it turns out the core events satisfy those who truly love the sport, but the big spectacles are needed to bring in new fans and help the sport grow. Shocking, isn’t it?

The New York Times is ready to ride. This week, they reviewed Northern California’s snowboarder-focused hotel The Block, then ran a big feature about Colorado’s backcountry ski haven, Silverton Mountain. The verdicts? The Block is “a crash pad for hardcore snowboarders still carrying Mommy’s credit card.” Meanwhile, the terrain at Silverton is “awe-inspiring—comparable to only a few of the best resorts in North America, like Whistler and Squaw Valley—and certainly the most challenging in Colorado.”

Silver medalist Gretchen Bleiler is teaming up with Aspen/Snowmass to host the first Snow Angels Invitational. The comp will take place during the 7^th Annual Bud Light Spring Jam, March 22^nd to 25^th, 2007. Bleiler and other female stars like Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark, and Torah Bright will rock the super-pipe for a cash prize of $20,000. The girls’ time in Aspen will be filmed, and there’s talk of a behind-the-scenes doc. Behind the scenes with hot snowboard chicks? But who would be interested in that…

Click here for the full story>

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November 20, 2006

SURFING

Surfers (try to) save the world
Members of a UK group called Surfers Against Sewage (motto: “Not just surfers—not just sewage.”) were among 25,000 people who marched in London to urge the prime minister and other world leaders to tackle climate change. The rally, which was organized by Stop Climate Chaos, took place on the eve of talks about this very issue in Nairobi. Nice work, guys. We especially like your sign boards.




Life Like Liquid features great angles, trippy music
We’re excited about Aussie Dave “Rasta” Rastovich’s new movie, Life Like Liquid, for two reasons. One: He used a mini-lens strapped to his temple, attached to a video camera in his backpack, to shoot footage while surfing. This makes for some very cool “view from the tube” shots. Two: All the music in the movie is made by the surfers themselves. It’s experimental, spontaneous, and, um, Jethro Tull-like. Of course, that might just have been the flute. Anyway, here’s the trailer.



Tandem surfing: Still cheesy

According to one writer, tandem surfing, in which a woman balances on a man’s shoulder as he rides a surfboard, is making a comeback on Waikiki Beach. “The thing about tandem surfing is that when a man lifts a woman he is protecting and displaying her,” says a surfer who goes only by Bear. Hmm. Last time we checked, women can ride on their own.  Click here for the full story>

Those waves are just sick Where not to go surfing this year?
Try Delaware, where the Cape Gazette is reporting that several wave riders are falling ill…apparently from the water. They all report the same symptoms: fever, chills and severe sinus infection, often accompanied by a green or yellowish discharge. Yuck. “Rehoboth Beach is an urban area and it’s well known that the storm water running off urban streets in Rehoboth or any city is going to have elevated bacteria levels,” says one official. Double yuck.

Click here for the full story>

SNOWBOARDING

Burton rocks a sweet Stash
Once again pushing the envelope, the guys at Burton have hooked up with Northern California’s Northstar-at-Tahoe resort to develop a new freestyle run that melds terrain park concepts with the natural features of a mountain area. Instead of ramps, boxes, and rails, the Stash features log slides, cliff drops, road gaps, tree rides and, um, a yeti. Named Shreddie. Burton riders Dave Downing, Jeremy Jones, and Kimmy Fasani consulted on the run, which will have at least 34 hits and opens December 15th.

Click here for the full story>

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November 17, 2006  

SURFING
Besieged big wave rider bounces back

In 2003, Aussie surfer Koby Abberton was charged with lying to police concerning his brother Jai, who had been charged with murder. Jai was later found not guilty, but Koby’s legal expenses cost him two beachside homes, three units, and two cars…and then Oakley cut him loose from a $1 million dollar sponsorship deal. Now things are looking up. Koby just signed a $1 million-plus deal with Analog. “I went bankrupt and all that sort of bulls... but with these new contracts I should be back in no time so I’m excited for it,” he tells The Daily Telegraph. He’s also started his own surfwear brand—it’s called My Brother’s Keeper.

Another surfing dog

So this chocolate lab named Milo in Seal Beach, California, likes to surf with his owner, LA County firefighter Chris Drunasky. “I told one of the other surfers, ‘If a set comes along and we take the wave and cut you off, don’t get mad at me. Talk to the dog,’ ”Drunasky jokes to the OC Register. We were thinking about being mildly impressed by this, but then we found this crazy video. We have no idea where these canines Check out the video below>>

 

SKATEBOARDING
Skater girls

We gotta give a shout-out to milkandcookies.com for unearthing this surreal, strange, and yet somehow sublime skating vid. We don’t want to say any more, at the risk of spoiling it, but just click here to take a look, and then decide for yourself who among Lucy, Beth, Naomi, Jessica, Titanny, and Nikita is the best skater. Actually, we’re pretty sure it’s not Nikita.

And now for a girl who can really skate, six-year-old Alize Montes. Girl really rips toward the end, and even when she bites it—hard—she doesn’t make a peep. Check it.

 

SNOWBOARDING
Urban shredding

The flakes haven’t quite hit yet in a lot of parts of the country, but that hasn’t stopped people from strapping in and riding the rails. In Auburn, California, local shop Boards’n’Motion and Rome SDS teamed up to host Box Jam as part of the “I Heart Box Tour.” We’re not sure if groms grasp the double-meaning there, but that’s probably for the best. In related news, the Denver parks and rec department announced plans to put six rails into an urban park to help get city kids hooked on snow sports. Good thinking, guys.

As much as we dig that hat, we’re kind of liking the look of these animal-based helmet covers from crazeeHeads. Yes, the raccoon, panda, lion, monkey, and tiger styles are technically designed for kids, but the website says they fit most helmets. We kinda want to go out and get a bunch. Don’t you?

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Nov.6, 2006

OK, it doesn’t happen on the water, but UK newspaper Sheffield Today is freaking out about an extreme craze in England called tram surfing. Teens jump onto the back bumpers of trams while they’re stationary, then hold tight to the windshield wipers as the public trans vehicles zoom down their tracks at up to 30 miles per hour. Says one Supertram official: “To youngsters it’s a free ride that’s a bit more exciting. But they don’t realise the dangers behind it. They could come off at a swing into the path of a tram or car coming in the opposite direction. I’m quite sure they wouldn’t be laughing if one of them got killed.” You know, it was kinda cool when Marty McFly grabbed car bumpers on his skateboard in Back to the Future, but this sounds more like kinda stupid.

EA continues to raise the hype for their new skateboarding video game, Skate, by announcing that Thrasher’s 2005 Skater of the Year, Chris Cole, will be featured. Meanwhile, the reviews are in for Tony Hawk’s Project 8, and they are good. Highlights include a huge number of objectives and missions, cool mini-games like Human Bowling, great multiplayer modes, and the Nail the Trick feature, which lets you slow down time, a la The Matrix, and use the dual analog sticks to execute freestyle moves. We sense a major rivalry a-brewin’. Here are clips of the new Chris Cole ad spot and Nail the Trick action to get it rolling.

Florida’s St. Petersburg Times reports on a fascinating culture clash taking place at Tampa’s Perry Harvey Sr. Park. Back in the day, the now run-down area was the site of businesses opened by freed slaves in 1865, Ray Charles’ first recording, and the city’s biggest race riot in 1967. Then in the late ’70s, a parks employee convinced the city council to construct a skate bowl there, and suddenly white teenagers flooded the area to shred. They loved the “Bro Bowl,” and it even appeared in Tony Hawk’s Underground. But now the city is set to demolish the bowl and “revamp” the park while preserving its history. Of course, the biq question is, whose history are they gonna preserve? Quite the conundrum.

Nollie.tv a skate site for girls, is behind this vid, which shows you how to make an Indo-style balance board using only an old skate deck and a 2-liter bottle of water. Check it out—it’s pretty cool.

So the common perception is that just about everyone who snowboards is approximately 15 years old. But just as the surfers who brought that sport to the mainstream in the ’60s continued to surf as they aged, older snowboarders are all over the slopes. That’s the word from Florida Sports magazine, and they’ve got stats to back it up. Turns out 35 percent of active snowboarders over the age of 16 are 35 years of age or older. And at the 2006 X Games, 10 snowboard competitors were in their 30s. We saw a graybearded dude pull a rail slide at New Hampshire’s Loon Mountain last season. It was gnarly.

The snowsports filmmaking legend has signed a six-year deal with Starz Entertainment that will put his library of films on the air starting this December with a 22-hour “Shred Fest Marathon.” That block will include such films as Impact, Journey, Storm, and Cold Fusion. His 2005 film Higher Ground and his newest flick, Off the Grid (see trailer below), will both premiere on Starz stations in 2007. Yeah, it’s mostly skiing footage, but they throw some snowboarding stuff in here and there to keep us happy.

SKATEBOARDING

We told you Monday how Dustin Lackey, a San Diego surfer, saved a guy's life in the ocean, only to return to shore to find his brand-new John Carper epoxy Peter Mel Machine longboard stolen. Now the publicity of that story has things looking up for him. The mayor held a news conference in Lackey's honor, a congressman called him with kind words, and a private company has volunteered to buy him a new board. Also, rumor has it that Peter Mel himself is trying to find Lackey to hook him up with a replacement ride. Best of all, the man he helped save is recovering in the hospital from a broken spine. All this, and it's only Tuesday!

 

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Oct. 30, 2006

Eight-time ASP world champ Kelly Slater has been talking a lot about retiring, but here’s something that may change his mind: Rumor has it sponsor Quiksilver has offered him a $10 million bonus if he wins 10 world titles. That’s about $8.2 million more than his career earnings, but is it for real? Quiksilver spokesman Johnathan Jenkins refused to confirm the rumor, saying: “I think you’ll find most elite sportsmen have bonuses written into their contracts.” Hmm. If it weren’t true, wouldn’t he just say, “No.”?

San Diego surfer Dustin Lackey had an up-and-down afternoon Sunday. At Pacific Beach, he watched a man take a headfirst dive off a pier, then float in the water, facedown. Acting quickly, he and another surfer held the bleeding man afloat until paramedics could reach him on a jet ski and get him to an ambulance. Then Lackey returned to shore to discover his new $700 longboard—a John Carper Peter Mel Machine, which he’d had for a week—had been swiped. Hey JC, [http://www.jchawaii.com/] maybe you can hook a brother up?

Last week at a restaurant called Orso in LA, the Flying Tomato had lunch with the world’s hottest pregnant supermodel. There’s not really much else to say, but based on this photo, it looks like they had a lovely time.

A snowboard instructor named Sean MacCarron has created a product called StanceFind, “the world’s first fully patented board riders’ stance calibration device.” It’s basically a board-like platform that you stand on and, through the use of biomechanical reference points, figure out the best possible settings for your bindings. We’re still trying to figure out where this falls on the scale between “totally brilliant” and “completely unnecessary.” But if we saw one, we’d definitely try it out.

Say goodbye to those snowboarding, base-jumping, caffeine-guzzling Dew dudes. Mountain Dew is ditching its “Do the Dew” image, which has apparently lost its edge now that action sports have become more mainstream. So, what’s next? "Extreme is no longer extreme," says one PepsiCo exec. "We don't know what the answer is. We're waiting for our agencies to come up with something and we're conducting research. We haven't come up with the Holy Grail yet.” On the upside, the Dew Action Sports Tour will continue.

SURFING

The Road Back

The Nova Schin Festival, presented by Billabong is getting ready to start crackin' on Monday. While some of the worlds best surfers congregate down in the Southern Hemisphere it's interesting to see Neco Padaratz pull a wildcard invite. Padaratz is the true dark horse as he continues down the comeback trail form six month forced suspension due to use of a banned substance. Padaratz tested positive for steroids after the 2004 World Championship Tour event in Hossegor, France. Padaratz has had some success earlier in 2006 and a good showing at the Nova Schin would be a nice way to close out the year.

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Oct. 26, 2006

Hannah Teter’s Sweet Story

We knew Hannah Teter could snowboard, but who knew she could make condiments, too? She’s selling Hannah’s Gold syrup to raise money for a very worthy cause. As she says on the product’s website: “This one-of-a kind, Grade A, Vermont Maple Syrup is being dedicated to the desperately poor children of Africa. Through my partnership with World Vision, this project will be helping those in greatest need.” Not only that, but it goes great with pancakes!

 

Buy the syrup here>

SURFING

 

HBO Plans Surf-Based Series

Still getting over the WB canceling Summerland? HBO and David Milch, creator of Deadwood (and the guy in the tie), are teaming up on a new “surf noir family drama” to air next summer. The series, titled John from Cincinnati, will focus on a dysfunctional SoCal family—an ex-surf champ, his wife, and their druggie son. So who’s “John”? A mysterious savant who comes into their lives in need of surf lessons. Sounds goofy, but if anyone can pull it off, it’s HBO.

Click here for the full story>

 

 

Surf Legend Unveils 12 Rules of The Ride

Way back in 1977, before surfing boomed and pros started raking in serious dough from contests and sponsors, Shaun Thomson won the world championship. Now 51, he’d like to see a bloated sport regain its class and etiquette. With Gandhi-esque maxims like “All surfers are joined by one ocean” and “There will always be another wave,” his new book, Surfer's Code: 12 Simple Lessons for Riding Through Life, aims to do just that. Hokey? Maybe. But with Sunny Garcia headed to the slammer, maybe the time is right.

 

Click here for the full story>

 

Rip Curl Intros Power-Heated Wetsuit

It’s here. Rip Curl’s H-Bomb is the world’s first wetsuit to use battery power to keep surfers warm. With two fiber-coated elements on the upper back—separated from the skin by a thin layer of neoprene—it’s like an electric blanket you can wear…in the water…without being electrocuted. Says WCT pro Nathan Hedge: “It feels sooo good! It just keeps you feeling warm all over throughout.” Now the only question is: How are the waves in Antarctica?

 

Click here for the full story>

 

SKATEBOARDING

Hip-hop label Sponsors Skate Team

Pharrell isn’t the only rapper supporting skaters. Diplomat Records CEO Jim Jones has started Dipskate, a collaboration with Courtney and Chris Brown of lifestyle brand B. Unique, who showed Jones their skate documentary Know Difference. “When I got the opportunity to see their tape and they told me how the skaters feel when it comes to the Diplomats, I was honored,” says Jones, whose own hit, “We Fly High,” is climbing the Billboard Hot 100. “They feel like we're the realest thing out there and they love everything that we're doing, so it was a beautiful opportunity.”

 

Click here for the full story>

 

Born-again Christian (Hosoi)

In the ‘80s, pro skater Christian Hosoi had it all: money, fame, women…and all the pot, speed and methamphetamine he could handle. But after his career waned in the ‘90s, there was less skating and more drugs. A botched drug deal landed him in prison in 2001. But his girlfriend (now wife) handed him a Bible, and five years later, he’s sober, skating for Quiksilver, and an ordained minister. A DVD about his life, "Rising Son: The Legend of Skateboarder Christian Hosoi," hits shelves Nov. 14th. We’re guessing it has a happy ending.

 

Click here for the full story>

 

 

 

 

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Oct. 24, 2006

SURFING

Aussies Surf the 50 states

For no immediately apparent reason, a couple of loopy Australians have decided to surf in all 50 US states. This may seem a little tricky, considering that most of our states don’t have, you know, waves, but Jonno Durrant and Stefan Hunt are prepared to get creative by throwing their boards down on “snow, lakes, rivers, grass, concrete, puddles, crops, wavepools.” (In this pic, for example, they’re tackling the mighty surf hills of Wyoming.) They’ve knocked out nine states so far and, naturally, they’re making a movie about it. We were totally gonna do the same thing in Australia, but last time we checked, they don’t have states.

Click here for the full story >

SKATEBOARDING

Tony Hawk’s Project 8 captures the motion

For the first time ever, the insanely popular skate video game franchise has used motion capture technology to take the game’s reality to a whole new level. (That means they attached those magic sensors to a bunch of pros and had them skate around doing their best tricks.) This sweet video goes behind the scenes of Stevie Williams’’ mo-cap session. If you think kickflips are tough now, try doing them in a spandex suit.

Click here for the video >

SNOWBOARDING

Secrets of Sessions

Joel Gomez dropped out of San Diego State in 1983 to open Sessions, the world’s first snowboarding shop, way back in 1983. Now, 23 years later, the company is still independent and still going strong. Last year, making and selling apparel for skateboarders, snowboarders, skiers, and surfers, it brought in over $10 million. Sessions’ keys to success? Signing a great team of riders, staying true to its roots, and staying positive. “It wasn't scary," says Gomez. "It never crossed my mind that I wouldn't make it, and I didn't think of all the bad things that could've happened." That’s a pretty gnarly attitude, for both the mountain and the business world.

Click her for the full story >

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Oct. 10, 2006

SURFING

Surfing dog more popular than surfing people

 

A dog and his owner got in trouble at a contest in Brazil because the dog, who happens to surf, had more fans than the actual competitors did. The duo rode together on the same board during intervals at the Praia da Tiririca, part of the 2006 Surf World Championship, but not everyone was amused. Said police: "We were called to remove the pair because they were drawing more attraction than the actual competition." Yeah, that really fits with the spirit of the sport.

Where is “Surf City USA”?

A debate is raging in Southern California over which city really is “Surf City USA.” Bruce Noland, the owner of two surf shops in Santa Cruz, is suing the Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, which has threatened him with legal action for selling T-shirts that read “Surf City Santa Cruz California USA.” Huntington Beach, the city referenced in the 1963 Jan and Dean song, “Surf City,” applied for a trademark on the phrase in 2004. But Noland, whose city has been referred to as “Surf City” in newspaper articles from as early as 1927, just wants everyone to chill. “I think of `Surf City USA' more as a state of mind, not some kind of enforceable trademark or official title,'' he says. Damn straight.

The snowboard company announced dates for its global movie tour, which will screen the film For Right or Wrong, in 22 cities over the next month, starting October 14^th in Tokyo and ending November 11th in Innsbruck. “When we set out to create For Right or Wrong our vision was to show the variety in snowboarders’ personalities, their riding styles and the terrain they ride—all from an insider’s viewpoint,” says Jake Burton. “It’s a perspective on our sport that has never been seen before.” With pros like Shaun White, Keir Dillon, Kelly Clark, Terje Haakonsen, Mads Jonsson, and Jeremy Jones on board, it’s sure to be a shred-fest.

We’re deeply saddened by the news that Alta Ski Resort, one of four ski areas left in the U.S. that prohibit snowboarding, has decided to close its two-year-old terrain park. Says spokesperson Connie Marshall: "Skiers liked it but they would just use it once or twice as a side activity and then head back to the regular runs." Well, duh. Can we make a suggestion that would have solved this problem? Let in snowboarders.

Friends are still wondering what happened to Benjamin Bradley, a backcountry snowboarder who disappeared this summer while hitchhiking from Winter Park, Colorado to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to celebrate his 29th birthday. His remains were found two weeks ago in area called Red Desert, three miles from the nearest road, and police are investigating.

The structure that housed the Zephyr Shop, one-time home of the Z-Boys who revolutionized skateboarding in the 1970s (See Dogtown and Z-Boys, Lords of Dogtown) is in danger of being torn down. While some see it as a cultural landmark, the owner is planning to tear down the building to create an earth-friendly mixed-use complex. The development would include “more green space, no air-conditioning, natural light and low water-use toilets for its residential units.” Sounds great, but couldn’t ya build it somewhere else?

Click here to visit the site>

SKATEBOARDING

 

According to police, a 30-ish white male with dreadlocks stabbed another man twice in the chest outside of a bar in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. Which really wouldn’t be news, except that the attacker then pushed off on a
skateboard. Hey, they’re a lot cheaper than getaway cars! Click here for the (very brief) full story>

His voice has yet to crack, but Andrew Classon, a 12-year-old skater from British Columbia, already has his face on skate decks. His sponsor, Surgo Skateboards, slapped his likeness on boards under the word “Wanted.” “It was a pretty big surprise–I didn’t know they were doing it or anything,” says Classon. “I love it. I think it’s pretty sick.” In yet another instance of life being ridiculously unfair, guys twice his age are still trying to get sponsored.

King of Kings Skateboard Ministry International, a five-year-old organization based in Arizona, uses skate, BMX, and motocross pros to spread Christianity. Here’s the head-scratcher: They’ve teamed up with born-again actor Stephen Baldwin (!), who’s now head of an “extreme sports ministry” in San Diego. "We will find the churches that are receptive to these kids…whether or not they have tattoos or piercings or whatever," says Baldwin. This from a guy who once starred in a film called Sex Monster.

Finally, a challenger to Tony Hawk’s dominance of skateboarding video games. EA’s Skate will be released in 2007 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. "We're focused on capturing the actual feeling of skating with the innovative control system, the physics driven animations, and the intelligent cameras working together to really deliver the closest thing to being on a board," says Scott Blackwood, executive producer, EA Black Box. The game will feature pro skaters Danny Way and PJ Ladd, and this crazy Italian site offers a first look at some graphics. Oooh, purty. Click here for the images> 

Movies have the Oscars. Music has the Grammys. And now action sports has…the Arbys? OK, they’re not actually gonna be called that. But on December 10^th, Fox will air an awards show to honor the best in skate, surf, snow, ski, wake, FMX, BMX, and motocross, and the maker of the Bacon Beef ‘n Cheddar sandwich is paying for it. All the big names—Pastrana, White, Teter, Burnquist, Slater, etc.—are up for accolades, and winners will be selected by a combination of fan balloting and “expert judges.” So why’s Arby’s involved? Says senior v.p. Debra Mager: “These kids take risks and excel at being different, which is something we at Arby’s have always prided ourselves on.” Oh, right. Got it. Click here to vote > 

 

Fishhooks caught in wetsuits? It’s just another day in the bitter battle between surfers and anglers over San Diego’s Oceanside Pier, the longest wooden pier on the West Coast. A local ordinance requires surfers to stay at least 100 feet away from each side of the 1,954-foot pier, where fisherman reel in mussels, squid, and croakers. But naturally, that’s where some of the best surfing is. When yummy fish go up against yummier waves, it gets nasty, to the point of a fistfight this past Memorial Day. And, we’re sorry to say, the surfer got his ass kicked. Click here for the full story>

You know “The Block,” that hotel chain that caters to snowboarders? It’s got locations in Big Bear Lake and South Lake Tahoe, California, and its rooms feature “amenities” like stripper poles, PS2s, and convenient boot dryers. Word is, the cable channel G4 is making it the basis for a reality series featuring its founders, pro boarder Marc Frank Montoya and Las Vegas hotel honcho Liko Smith. The show, to premiere in January, will follow the Lake Tahoe staff and their dealings with guests, pro boarders, rock bands, and celebs. You know what would be crazy? Watching The Block while staying at “The Block.” Whoa. Click here for the full story>

Oct. 6, 2006

SKATEBOARDING
 
UK Film Exposes Skater Struggles

Wassup Rockers was an eye-opening look at Latino skaters in LA, but it was fiction. Now filmmakers in North Devon, England, have found a real-life version. Their documentary, Teenage Kicks, ain¹t pretty, but it so powerfully shows what life is like for UK skater kids (rough) that it¹s scheduled to be shown to parliament!
Click here for the full story>
 
Grip Tape, circa 2006

Ever wanted, say, the Mona Lisa, to stare back at you from the top of your board? A (relatively) new company in California makes killer grip-tape designs of skulls and demons and, well, Renaissance art. Click here to see the grip>
 
 
SNOWBOARDING
 
Rail Jam in Jersey Somehow

This just in: people were snowboarding in New Jersey last weekend! Staffers at Mountain Creek Resort trucked in 55-gallon barrels of hockey-rink ice shavings to provide enough white stuff for a rail jam. Seriously. Click here for the full story>

 
Park City Marketing Plan: Free DVDs!

They're not trucking in snow, but Park City Mountain Resort has found another way to go after the groms. A pro-Park City promo DVD featuring Shaun White (yeah, we hear he¹s pretty good) will be packed into the December issue of Future Snowboarding. Click here for the full story>

Oct. 5, 2006

In writer Steven Kotler's new book, West of Jesus: Surfing, Science, and the Origin of Belief, he embarks on a three-year quest to explore a myth about a surfer who could control the weather. Fighting Lyme disease at the same time, he uncovers a mystical connection between surfing and healing. Sounds epic. Click here for the full story>

Wetsuit? Check. Yarmulke? Check!

Kotler isn't the only one communing with higher powers in the ocean. Calling himself the Surfing Rabbi, Rabbi Nachum Shifren leads kosher surf trips to Costa Rica, Mexico, and Hawaii. You don¹t have to grow a sweet beard like his to sign up, but you¹d look way cooler if you did. Click here for the full story>
 
Surfers with a cause

Big-wave studs Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama are teaming up to bike and paddle their surfboards from one end of the Hawaiian Islands to the other (that¹s 500 miles) in seven days. It ain¹t just for fun‹they¹re raising money to distribute a documentary, Beautiful Son, about a friend¹s autistic child. Can you think of a better reason to surf? Click here for the full story>

Former Baywatch stud David Hasselhoff has decided that he “is as popular as Elvis.”  What’s a guy to do when he comes to that life changing realization?  Design a clothing line of course.  The ‘Hoff’ has been so overwhelmed with fans that are rockin’ the “Don’t Hassel the Hoff” tee, that he is left with no other choice but to design a line of laid back surf gear under the name Malibu Dave.

"It's just going to be supercool, laid back surfing gear. Everywhere I go, there are all these guys, like 400 guys, wearing the 'Don't Hassel The ‘Hoff' shirt. "There are guys who turn up dressed like me. It's a bit weird. I'm like Elvis, only alive. "Although just between you and me, Elvis is alive. He's living at my home."

Get the full story>

 

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Oct. 3, 2006

As if the little black-and-white beakfaces haven’t done enough, it now appears they invented surfing. At least, that’s the theory behind Sony Animation’s latest movie. Slated for a summer 2007 release, Surf’s Up focuses on the efforts of a young tuxedo-bird named Cody Maverick to become the next great pipeline legend. From the looks of the trailer, this could be gnarly.Click here for the trailer >

The 3rd Lair Skate Park in Golden Valley, Minnesota, may just be closest thing to adolescent skater heaven. It’s a 25,000-square-foot indoor oasis that hosts all-night lock-ins—from 9:30 p.m. to 7 a.m.—every other month, to the delight of around 200 grind-happy young locals.Click here for the full story > 

Fuel TV’s cool action sports show, “The Daily Habit,” is slowly being commandeered by Etnies Girl athletes. Surfer Mary Osborne and snowboarder Leanne Pelosi have already co-hosted, and snowboarders Alexis Waite and Janna Meyen and surfer Schuyler McFerran are all on the schedule for future episodes.Click here for the full story >

After three Olympics, Rosey Fletcher, the 2006 Olympic parallel giant slalom bronze medalist and a two-time World Championships medalist, has announced she is retiring from World Cup competition. For the Nagano Games in 1998, Fletcher was the first rider named to the first U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team.Click here for the full story >

In search of athletes to sponsor, snowboard apparel maker Liquid Boardwear is holding the equivalent of open tryouts. Amateurs can upload photos and footage of themselves to the company’s website, and Liquid rider Jeff Meyer will decide whether you’ve got what it takes to go pro…and get a bunch of free clothes.  Click here for the full story >

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Sept. 29, 2006

Tony Alva, the godfather of skateboarding, is making headlines again. This time with the new Alva L.A. Women’s Team – the all-star skate crew that’s taking America and the world by storm.

The girls team is comprised of the best female skaters in the world including Cara-Beth Burnside, Jen O’brien and Mimi Knoop. They’ve also got Amy Caron, Annie Sullivan, Vanessa Torres, Felicity Coral and Lauren Mollica, with Jaime Lopez at the helm as team manager. They talked to Lat34 about how the team started and what their plans are for world domination: Get the Lat34 interview here>

The whole did they or didn't they has been confirmed by Bam Magera and was reported in US Magazine on September 27. Apparently the Viva La Bam and Jackass star and Jessica Simpson hooked up while she was married to Nick Lachey according to Bam in an interview with Howard Stern. The big question US wanted to know though was what Simpson saw in the "grungy pro skater?"

Hello? Skater rebel boys who drive fast cars and make money for simply just being themselves is kind of hot. Just ask Paris Hilton who has an on again, off again relationship with pro skater Chad Muska. See Lat34s coverage on Bam's latest Jackass movie here>

Missoula, Montana is not exactly the kind of place you would first think of when you are listing the hottest places to skate, but after the grand opening of Missoula's new skate park, you might just change your mind. This past weekend 12,000 people including skaters Tony Hawk and Bam Magera attended the "MOBASH" grand opening in Missoula. This is one of the newest concrete waves to add to the ever growing and increasingly impressive USA collection of parks, but it has a geat story in that the town rallied together to raise the money for the park over the last six years. "The skatepark in Missoula is an absolute hit and we're all still basking in the glory of a job well done," said founder Ross Peterson, who has worked hard on this project since 2000. " The pros including Tony said that this was 'the best demo they'd ever been to'. Not bad for a little northern town...eh?" he added.

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Sept. 18, 2006

On Wednesday, September 6, word began to flow sadly out of Hawaii that legendary surf and skate photographer Warren Bolster had committed suicide. There was shock and sadness but not a lot of surprise as Bolster had been struggling with health and financial problems for many year. He suffered from arthritis and the Oxycontin he took to ease that pain, “made him crazy,” according to a friend who had known Bolster from his heydays. Get the full story here>

If you weren’t in Portland Oregon on the night of September 1, too bad for you because Volcom Clothing threw the party of the month for the premier of their latest snowboard video “Es Scamble”. Obviously like most companies Volcom sponsors professional snowboarders and documents their winter traveling all over the world, but it has been a few years since they put their team to work. It was well worth the wait though  because the all star roster... Get the full story here>

This weekend Boardfest, a girls surf event in Huntington Beach, CA every summer, will be adding snow to the summer fun. Event organizers are dumping 20 tons of snow on the beach and inviting some of the top rail riders to attend. The best trick contest will net one lucky snowboard femme fatale $1,000. To check out the happenings or attend the event go to: http://www.boardfest.com/

The last time skateboarding was a household name in the White House was when skater Andy Macdonald spoke in front of the White House Press about kids just saying “no” to drugs. On August 30, the USINFO website posted an article about skateboarding being one of the top new lifestyle sport in America to watch. The USINFO is an information provider of current U.S. foreign policy and about American life and culture.  The piece offers up a layman’s run down on skateboarding with great lines such as: “The countless tricks mastered by millions of skateboarders have their own names, including "ollie," "heelflip," "nosegrind," "indiegrab," "180" and "varial."  If executed well, fellow skaters will offer their most superlative compliment: "Dude, that stinks!" or our favorite comment: “Like its distant cousin surfing, skateboarding appeals to daredevils, risk-takers and, admittedly, showoffs.” Wonder what the multi-million dollar skaters Tony Hawk and Danny Way would think about that statement. Those silly show offs!

Wet Hits the Newsstands

Longtime surf writers and former Surfer Magazine editor Ben Marcus has just launched a new girls surfing magazine called Wet. The high glossy, 90-page publication is currently the only hardcore surf magazine on the market for women. In the past year both Surfing Girl (aka SG) and Surf Life for women folded leaving a hole for girl surfers, so Wet is a welcome addition to the scene. Some of the top features in the mag include a piece on 13-year-old surfing phenom John John Florence’s mother and a piece on Bethany Hamilton, the surfer who lost her arm to a shark a few years ago. While there are pessimists who say a girl’s surf mag is just not going to happen and the past filures are proof, Marcus is ignoring the naysayers. He told the Santa Cruz Centenial earlier this month: Did those magazines fail because there's not a big enough market to support them, or because they're not good magazines? "I'm trying to be great. I hope that first issue is fairly great, as good as any magazine out there that happens to be about women." So far we are impressed with the first attempt. Get your copy at www.wetmagazine.org

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Sept. 1, 2006

Shark Attack
An Oregon man was bit by an 8-10 foot great white shark on Tuesday, August 29 in Florence, OR. Todd Larson, 23, of Eugene, OR felt a tug on his foot and then looked down to see a two-foot dorsal fin in the water. The shark bit his foot through his rubber booty and then came back for more, but Larson beat the shark on the head with the fin of his board. Eventually the shark sank back into the water allowing the surfer to paddle back in. He told the Register Guard, “The scariest part of it all was paddling in,” because he didn’t know whether the shark would return for more. Larson received 30 stitches from the incident and said he hopes to be back in the water within a few weeks. The last shark attack in Oregon was December 26, 2005 in Seaside, OR, 166 miles to the North of Florence. Since 1959 there have been 17 shark attacks in Oregon. For more information on Shark Attacks go to: http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/ISAF/ISAF.htm 
 

Orlando Bloom Meets a Sea Urchin While Surfing
Rumor has it according to the web, which we know is always truthful, Pirates of the Carribean star Orlando Bloom recently was in Los Angeles for surgery on his foot after stepping on a sea urchin while surfing in Mexico with his girlfriend, Blue Crush star, Kate Bosworth. The actor tried pulling the sharp prongs out and even had Bosworth pee on this foot (this is supposed to stop the stinging) but neither remedy worked. Bloom flew home underwent minor surgery to remove the barbs. His rep wouldn’t comment on this happening or on Bosworth peeing on him, but Lat34 isn’t concerned about their lack of insight. We just hope he keeps surfing and showing the world what a fun sport it is. 
 
 
 
 

SNOWBOARDING

One reason to wear a brain bucket

 

 

 

SURFING

 

SKATEBOARDING

 

SURFING

Surfer sets big record

 

 

SKATEBOARDING

Mainstream vs. Core

 

SNOWBOARDING

Paper and powder

Click here for The Block review> 

 

Sixteen point nine million dollars. That’s how much Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake dropped on a sweet 1.5 acre beachfront compound in Oahu, Hawaii. The dream house features 12 bedrooms and nine bathrooms, and with 100 feet of shoreline, the couple can surf whenever they want. Think JT regrets breaking up with Britney? We kinda doubt it. Click here for the full story>

 

The New York Times is all about actions sports lately. This time, they’re chatting with embattled surf star Sunny Garcia.</a> And despite the fact that he’s low on cash, divorced, and facing prison, he could be ready to dominate the Triple Crown of surfing at North Shore, which is waiting for good waves to get going. “This is my way out of reality,” he says. “Go in the water, have fun, do what I do best. I’ve taken bad things and turned them into good things.” If this vid from last year is any indication, he’s still got some juice in the tank. Click here got the full story>