by Board Retailers Association | May 24, 2022 | Awards, Industry, Surf
Sebastian, focused amidst the chaos of Nazaré. Photo: Joerg Mitter. We know this: several massive swells have occurred at Nazaré in the past couple of years. And with them have come the things we aren’t so sure of. Namely, if the world’s largest wave may have been surfed during that time. Claims of catching the elusive 100-foot wave have been made time and time again, so much so that it tends to become background noise. At least until someone confirms it using a plausible system. Measuring waves is a difficult task, especially the shifty monsters on offer at Nazaré. In recent years, however, attempts have been made to standardize the way big waves are quantified, hopefully bringing clarity to the often murky claims. That’s becoming increasingly important as the hunt for the “100-foot wave” has gained mainstream attention thanks, in part, to the recent HBO documentary. “You want the largest ruler possible in the image and to validate its size,” Adam Fincham recently told the Washington Post. Fincham is a University of Southern California associate professor of engineering specializing in geophysical fluid dynamics, who led the analysis of Steudtner’s wave. As they can be easily measured, the “largest ruler possible” is often a Jet Ski. In the case of Steudtner’s wave, though, there wasn’t one positioned correctly within the footage. Instead, they used something else: Steudtner’s lower leg. “That distance does not change since you can’t bend your lower leg,” Fincham explained. The surfer’s entire height is less useful as a reference point since big-wave surfers are often low in a crouch, zipping along at breakneck speeds over often-uneven faces. Using Steudtner’s lower leg as a ruler,...
by Board Retailers Association | May 6, 2022 | Awards, Community, News, Surf
Owen Beim with the winning entry of the Black and White Category presented by White Claw. Last weekend, at the Traveler Surf Club in Malibu, The Inertia awarded the winners of the 2022 Film and Photo Challenge presented by White Claw. And the talent runs thick. A big congratulations goes out to everyone who entered and many thanks to all the talented photographers and filmmakers who participated. It was a huge success! With nearly a thousand submissions and so many people sharing great work from around the world, it’s always tough to select just one winner of each category. This contest is a great reminder each year of the depth of talent in our community. You’re all an inspiration. With that said, here’s a quick look at the winners. Young Owen Beim gets us started with the heat and his Black and White beauty of Eimeo Czermak on a Tahitian bomb (above). “Absolutely pumped to have won the Black and White category,” Beim said. “This shot of Eimeo Czermak is no doubt my favorite shot in black in white and it was truly a moment I won’t forget.” Blair Conklin, deep in the belly of the beast, as seen through the lens of James Ferrell. In the Emerge category presented by Miir, a category dedicated to up-and-comers, James Ferrell captured this gorgeous shot of Blair Conklin in deep. The Wedge continues to help develop astounding young talent, and Ferrell is chief among the youthful photogs in residence at the famous mutant wave. This image of a solid winter swell won Paul Greene the Lineups category of The Inertia Film & Photo Challenge presented by White Claw. Photo: Paul Greene Meanwhile, Paul Greene captured...
by Board Retailers Association | Apr 5, 2022 | Awards, Community, Industry, News, Skateboard
In the documentary “Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Come Off,” director Sam Jones chronicles many of the bad falls and injuries of Hawk’s long career. One of the worst injuries came after filming when he broke his right femur. Credit…HBO Documentary Films A documentary chronicles the challenges of Hawk’s skating career. He sat down to discuss the devastating leg injury that made promoting it (and walking) a challenge. While everyone’s attention was focused elsewhere, another thing happened at this year’s Oscars. Tony Hawk, the world’s most iconic skateboarder, unveiled his latest trick: Standing without a cane. Hawk, 53, took the stage with Kelly Slater and Shaun White to introduce a James Bond movie montage, but it was Hawk’s mobility that seemed the most notable. Less than three weeks before, he had snapped his right femur when he misjudged the landing on a McTwist — a 540-degree aerial rotation. It’s a trick he’s done tens of thousands of times. That day, though, his speed was off. “After I fell,” he said, “I rolled over and my leg didn’t.” Surgeons repaired the bone with a titanium rod, and a physical therapist designed an aggressive rehab regimen, but neither offered a timeline for recovery. Their reticence granted Hawk something like permission. The next day, he posted a video of himself crutching his way down a hospital corridor. A week later, he shared another video where he tentatively skated across the bottom of his ramp. Hawk was able to walk unassisted onto the stage during the Oscars but he used a cane at the various related events.Credit…Krista Schlueter for The New York Times His unmistakable goal...
by Board Retailers Association | Mar 25, 2022 | Awards, Competitions, News, Skateboard, Snowboard, Surf
Kelly Slater will be at the Oscars. Pretty good for a surfer from Cocoa Beach, right? Photo: WSL/Heff/Wikimedia Commons There are a few people in sports who transcend the sport itself. They get famous for their talent, but stay famous for something else. Take, for example, Kelly Slater. If you were to mention his name in non-surfing company, most would know who he is. Take John John Florence, and I’ll bet far fewer non-surfers would be familiar. Mason Ho? Clay Marzo? Probably not. They’re big names in surfing, but that’s a big fish in a small pond. Kelly Slater, Shaun White, and Tony Hawk are three action sports stars who have gone bigger than their sport. Which is why the Oscars, airing on March 27 on ABC, enlisted them as presenters. Slater, White, and Hawk join a cast of immensely famous people including Kevin Costner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Hopkins, Samuel L. Jackson, Josh Brolin, Jennifer Garner, Tiffany Haddish, Jason Momoa, Elliot Page, Bill Murray (Kelly’s golf pal), DJ Khaled, and more. Although Slater is certainly used to the public eye by now — he’s been in it for the majority of his life, after all — he’s aware of how incredible it is to be asked to present at the Oscars. “Well, I guess it’s remarkable that a surfer kid from Cocoa Beach is presenting on the big stage,” he told me. “Some things in my life have been unimaginable. I’m very honored.” As usual, though, the decision-makers at the Oscars are facing backlash for some of their choices. Scott Weinberg, a film producer and critic, is one of the people who...
by Board Retailers Association | Jan 24, 2022 | Awards, Community, Industry, News, Skateboard
This article originally appeared on VICE Belgium. When it comes to skateboarding, the only thing more important than actually going skating is making sure that you have footage of you doing it. You can tell people you’ve pulled off this, or jumped that, but without actual evidence of those particular alleged achievements, people will take you as seriously as Boris Johnson’s apologies. Skating owes much of its enduring popularity precisely to these videos. This has been the case for the past half a century, with the first ever skateboarding video dating back to 1965. Titled Skaterdater, a dialogue-free, coming of age short film shot in sunny California focused on a group of downhill skaters known as the Imperial Skate Board Club as they hoped to impress local girls with their prowess. The film won the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at 1966’s Cannes Film Festival and has proved to have a long shelf-life, having been the subject of both academic study and extreme sports fandom. Skaterdater is still of cultural interest, even if it presents us with a vision of skate videos that looks nothing like the ones that aficionados like myself and my friends sit down and enjoy together today. As skateboarding became increasingly popular amongst young people the world over, Hollywood cottoned on to the fact, featured skating in cult movies like Back to the Future and Gleaming the Cube. This was, as skate historians might remind you, a moment when the sport was still largely confined to pools, bowls, and ramps. The Californian surf-inspired skating scene of the 1970swas immortalised for younger skaters in the 2001 documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, directed by skate supremo Stacy Peralta. That’s not to say that skating was the sole preserve...
by Board Retailers Association | Jan 7, 2022 | Awards, Community, Industry, Surf, Trade Shows
Photo: Mez/ESM The East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame inducted its esteemed class of 2021 yesterday in a ceremony at Surf Expo in Florida. A star-studded class featuring world champs, matriarchs, shapers and media moguls. Congratulations to all those who’s names are now etched in history. East Coast Surfing Hall Of Fame class of 2021: Jeannie Chesser, Bill Hixon, CJ Hobood, Chris Lundy, Danny Melhado, Kristy Murphy, John Parton, Eric Penny, Kathy Philips (Cecil Lear President’s Award), Matt Walker (Media), Spyder Wright (Legends). Learn more Coast Surfing Hall of Fame by clicking this link: https://eastcoastsurfinghalloffame.org We, at Board Retailers Association, love the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center (SHACC). We absolutely appreciate the entire staff for everything that they do to preserve the remarkable culture and history of Surfing and to promote surf shops. BRA would like to sincerely thank Glenn (former SHACC Executive Director) and the epic staff at Surfing Heritage and Culture Center for hosting the BRA Retailer Roundtable Event in November 2019 as well as each of the Supporting Event Partners including Solite Boots, Exchange Collective, Locally, Action Watch and Sambazon. Board specialty retailers from throughout Southern California and beyond as well as board sport related manufacturers and trade organizations participated in this open forum solutions-oriented discussion about the issues and opportunities facing our industry today and in the future. – Doug Works, BRA Executive Director If you are a board specialty retailer interested in either Regular or Distinguished BRA Retail Membership, please complete this super simple join...
