by Board Retailers Association | Sep 16, 2022 | Awards, Competitions, Industry, News, Surf
She earned it. And we forgot about her. Photo: Thiago Diz//World Surf League “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” wrote bad boy Billy Shakespeare. Or in Stephanie Gilmore’s case, some quietly achieve GOAT status whilst no one is watching. Perhaps of the most remarkable aspects of Gilmore’s eighth world title was that no one had given her a chance of making history. In a massive fail in surfing groupthink, it’s hard, in hindsight, to justify how most surf fans, and so-called experts, underestimated and ignored the greatest female surfer of all time. How did a seven-time world champion, one of the most stylish humans to ever ride a surfboard, and with a competitive track record only bettered by Kelly Slater, get written off before the WSL Finals? It was an incredible lack of foresight, matched only by a dearth of respect of which I was very much a part of. And yes, I can pathetically list all my reasons for writing off Gilmore. After all, she had to surf six, maybe seven, heats at Trestles, the last two or three against Carissa Moore, by far the best surfer of the last five years. The WSL Finals format was set up to reward performances throughout the calendar year, and Gilmore had been handed a severe handicap based on a largely mundane 2022. Having missed Pipeline due to COVID, in the next five events she managed just a single semifinal. Early on there was talk not of world titles and impending greatness, but of relegation and retirement under the brutal new cut system. After Margaret River, Gilmore...
by Board Retailers Association | Aug 20, 2022 | Awards, Competitions, News, Surf
The surfers came. And Teahupo’o absolutely delivered all week. While the waves weren’t quite as big for finals day, the conditions were clean and glorious throughout as Courtney Conlogue made a late-season push, winning at Teahupo’o and Miguel Pupo nabbed his maiden CT victory. Push Play to view Finals Day of this remarkable Surf Contest Conlogue, who’d had a relatively quiet year (two even thirds in Australia were her best finishes), took down Brisa Hennessy in the final, who surfed brilliantly as well throughout the event, solidifying her spot in the final five at Trestles in September. That quiet year kept Conlogue, an Orange County native, from qualifying for the WSL Final at her home break but did move her into the seven slot in the rankings, easily within re-qualification for next year and sending her home with some momentum to close out the season. Miguel Pupo’s 2021-2022 campaign was an even slower burn than Conlogue’s. His younger brother, Samuel, it could be argued might have had a stronger season. Until now, that is. The 30-year-old Brazilian’s best finish this year was an even third at Pipeline. But Teahupo’o’s walls were a good match for the goofy-footer as he captured one of the most prestigious CT wins on the tour. It’s been a slow career burn for Pupo, in fact, who’s been grinding on the CT since 2011. The highlights were many in easily the WSL’s best event of the year. We leave you with two questions. How do you create more events like Teahupo’o? And doesn’t it feel like the WSL Final should take place somewhere like “The End of the Road?” Be...
by Board Retailers Association | Aug 1, 2022 | Awards, Brick & Mortar, HR, Retail Strategy
Credit: Getty Images by Sarote Pruksachat There may be a day when you wake up and simply don’t have the motivation to do your job anymore. When you think about going to work, you may feel helpless, trapped, detached or cynical. This lack of motivation or interest related to your job is commonly known as burnout. Managing this fatigue in the workplace is an increasingly important task for employees, managers and directors. So, how do you boost team morale to prevent job burnout from taking hold of your employees and your workplace culture? Burnout can be contagious and can spread throughout your organization without the proper prevention strategy. Here are five things you can do to tackle the issue before it takes hold: 1. Just ask. Presumably, you’re not a psychic, so asking your employees what’s most challenging about their work experience and what could be done to mitigate those challenges is advisable. Open communication between various team members will slowly create the perfect environment for everybody inside the building. When people feel like they can talk about what’s challenging without the fear of losing their jobs or being ostracized, they’re more likely to share their thoughts. And as hard as that may be for you initially, it will only accelerate your company’s health. Consider options such as an anonymous feedback box or Google form. Even if your employees know it’s safe to share, anonymity helps lessen the anxiety that can still arise when sharing thoughts openly. 2. Organize team-building activities. Full-time employees spend around 40 hours per week inside office walls. Those 40 hours are spent with relative strangers...
by Board Retailers Association | Jun 28, 2022 | Awards, Competitions, News, Surf
We all know that you can get your college tuition subsidized, even fully covered, for playing sports like basketball, baseball, or football in college. Well, now the same holds true for surfing. University of California San Diego just handed out the first college surfing scholarship recognized by the National Scholastic Surfing Association, the governing body for youth competitive surfing. The scholarship went to Makena Burke, a freshman at UCSD who has been topping the podium quite a bit recently and absolutely shreds – just check out her Nicaragua edit, above. The 19-year-old from Ventura, Calif. recently won the state championships at San Diego’s Seaside Reef in March, and three days ago won the NSSA National Championships at Salt Creek while carrying the UCSD surf team to a third place finish. UCSD is likely the most surf-oriented college in the nation, with surfboard-shaping classes, research programs such as the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and famous surfer graduates like Holly Beck, Cliff Kapono, and others. Oh, and the college itself is located right above Black’s Beach in San Diego, a.k.a. the “Californian Pipeline.” Which also happens to be the training ground for the UCSD Surf Team. “Being able to give out the first surf scholarship gives us great pride and (the) support from like-minded organizations in our home town means a lot,” says UCSD Surf Team Head Coach of 20 years Tyler Callaway, speaking to the donors that made the scholarship possible. Be sure to visit The Inertia website to view valuable Surfing related News and Resourceful Articles regularly. Speaking of helpful articles from the good people behind The Inertia, you may want to click on...
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...
