Archive for September, 2008

Sep 15 2008

New Smyrna Beach Asserts Itself as Shark Attack Capital of World

Published by under Sharks

New Smyrna Beach - Florida - Shark Attack Capital of the World

Now someone please tell me that after 22 shark nips, bites, and attacks in one year, why would anyone be out swimming, wading, or surfing the waters of New Smyrna Beach?! Anyway, Swim At Your Own Risk reports the 22nd attack of the year. “According to NewsJournalOnline a 32-year-old tourist earned the honor of becoming the 22nd shark bite victim of the year in Volusia County today, tying the previous record set in 2001.”  (image: http://SwimAtYourOwnRisk.com)

Check out all the latest shark news on Surftherenow.com here.

See Other Top Posts:

Most Amazing Photos You’ll Ever See of Waves

Diver Fights and Kills 12 ft. Tiger Shark (Photos)

Your Chances of Dying of a Shark Attack – Pretty Slim

Incredible HD Footage of Surfer in the Barrel

 

3 responses so far

Sep 13 2008

Solution to Beach Trash: PickUp3

Published by under Environment

I live and surf in SoCal. SoCal like many coastal areas has a trash problem, well it’s really a people problem. Too many people leaving there trash and too many people not caring about others trash. 5ones posts on one solution for the trash problem devised by a 13 year old. “At the ripe old age of 9, the Southern California native Cobi Emery did what few 9 yr. olds would do and started his own environmental organization, PickUp3. Cobi had become unsettled with the conditions that the beaches he grew up surfing at were progressively becoming more cluttered with every imaginable piece of trash known to man.” Cobi’s solution is simple and easy to implement, every time you go to the beach clean up your mess and pick up and dispose of 3 pieces of trash.

Hopefully, Cobi’s work will inspire cleaner beaches. Mexico tried their own version with a trash-fishing contest, why not here?

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Sep 13 2008

Photo of the Day – Taj at Lowers

Published by under ASP Tour,Photography

Taj doing what he does best in the final heat at Lowers on Thursday. Photo credit: Evan Asano (flickr photostream)

Taj at Trestles

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Sep 12 2008

Delta’s Excessive Boardbag Fees – Petition

Published by under Travel,Travel Tips

Wired Magazine has a good post on Delta’s new excessive boardbag fees for surfboards. They are $175 each way for domestic flights and $300 each way for international flights. What’s interesting is that they don’t charge for golf clubs (heavier than surfboards). Here’s a list of sporting goods you can check for free on Delta: golf bags weighing under 50 pounds, scuba gear, snowboards, pistols, rifles, shotguns, fishing equipment, javelins, parachutes, ski gear and vaulting poles. In general airlines have jacked up fees for surfboards in recent months (list of boardbag fees on major airlines). Some of this is understandable considering what’s happened with gas prices in recent months and how airlines have started charging to check in any bag. But Delta’s fees are just plain excessive. Either they don’t care if surfers fly on their airline, they want to actively discourage them, or they just think they can get away with it. Sign a petition here to protest these fees on Delta.

One response so far

Sep 11 2008

Boost Mobile Pro – Slater Wins Again!

Published by under ASP Tour,Photography

The finals for the Boost Mobile Pro were held today at Lowers, Trestles – San Clemente, CA. The week has been perfect for the contest with a un size 4-6 ft. South running all week. The conditions were a little more inconsistent today, but still plenty of overhead waves. Slater was down early in the 40 minute heat (lengthened because of inconsistent conditions) with Taj Burrow scoring early with a 9.6 and a 9.1. In fact, it looked like Kelly wasn’t going to be able to pull anything off with his early waves not scoring above an 8. Then the Slater magic happened. He scored a 9.7 with about 20 minutes remaining in the heat and then finished with a 9.2 in the last seconds. Taj sat dejected in the line-up as Kelly finished the wave right in front of the judges tower and walked onto the rocks to screams of the crowd.

Kelly hasn’t wavered from first place from when he took it with the first contest of the year at Snapper. He’s been unstoppable, winning 5 of the first 7 events! Brazil is up next, I don’t think anyone can catch him. Check the ASP World Tour rankings here.

The photos are all from today final heat between Kelly and Taj. With about 10 minutes remaining Kelly looking a bit desperate pulled into a smaller wave and tried to boost a big air immediately and flailed. Rare to see the champ flub it so badly. Check out the full frame slideshow here.

2 responses so far

Sep 10 2008

California and Hawaii Shark Attacks – Lompoc and Kaaawa

Published by under Sharks

Board bitten in a shark attack at Lompoc, CA, surfer’s beach

Two surfers have been attacked by sharks in the past week. The photo above is of a surfer’s board in Lompoc, CA north of Santa Barbara. Kyle was surfing Surfer’s Beach and saw a Great White Shark circling him! He got off his board and used it as a shield, fins out, between him and the shark. The shark chomped the board and left a reminder of what Great Whites can do. Researchers are estimating it to be a Great White between 14-16 ft in length. The pictures are unbelievable.

There was also an attack in Kaaawa, Hawaii on the east side of Oahu at Crouching Lion’s.

“The shark attack happened at about 5 p.m. Tuesday about 300 yards offshore at a surf spot known as Crouching Lion. 40-year-old Todd Murashige told emergency officials he was sitting on his surfboard when he was attacked. Murashige paddled himself to shore accompanied by another surfer. He was taken to Queen’s Medical Center in serious condition.”

The injury to Murashige is reported to be serious. It is the second attack at Crouching Lion’s in just over a year.

Board bitten in a shark attack at Lompoc, CA, surfer’s beach

Board bitten in a shark attack at Lompoc, CA, surfer’s beach

3 responses so far

Sep 09 2008

Photo of Shark at Ocean Beach

Published by under Sharks

Shark at Ocean Beach

Here’s a photo from a couple days ago of a surfer blasting the top of a wave at glassy, beautiful Ocean Beach, San Francisco… oh wait, there’s a fin in the background?!

Ocean Beach, San Francisco is in the Red Triangle, or in case you haven’t heard is one of the sharkiest places in the world. There have been a slew of recent great white sightings at Ocean Beach and Stinson Beach, further north in Marin. Stinson Beach was closed over Labor Day Weekend because of shark sightings.

Check out all the latest shark news on Surftherenow.com here.

See Other Top Posts:

Most Amazing Photos You’ll Ever See of Waves

Diver Fights and Kills 12 ft. Tiger Shark (Photos)

Your Chances of Dying of a Shark Attack – Pretty Slim

Incredible HD Footage of Surfer in the Barrel

15 responses so far

Sep 06 2008

Return to Grace: Wooden and Environmentally Sustainable Surfboards

Nose Riding on a Grain Surfboard

I bought a magnificent quad fin fish last year. Surfs beautifully, sadly it won’t last. It’s a fiberglass board glassed with light fiberglass probably for high performance. Within a couple session, the deck had visible dents on it and I had to apply another layer of glass and resin to it. Fiberglass boards are the one-hit wonders of surfboards. They’re great for a few months, but die out after that, losing pop and gaining weight from dings. Within a year of consistent surf, if they’re not already broken most traditional fiberglass surfboards are done at a high environmental costs. Nothing can be recycled with fiberglass boards, they’re made with toxic chemicals, and production of the blanks, resin, and fiberglass requires petrochemicals and outputs a significant amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. Simply, the system is broken. It was born broken.

Fortunately, there are more sustainable options becoming available. Ecowarrior, Joe Santley, started the company ReSurf along with support from Lost surfboards to begin recycling surfboards (ask your local surfshop that they begin participating). The ReSurf website explains more about the project and list nearby locations. Greenlight Surfboard Supply makes Bamboo fins and other sustainable surfboard materials.

Country Feeling Surfboards is a company building surfboards out of these sustainable materials. “Country Feeling Surfboards celebrates the nature that surrounds us with surfboards made with environmentally friendly materials:  soy-based  and   sugar-based  foams; deck inlays made from hemp, organic cotton, bamboo and silk; and resin that is catalyzed by the sun.”

Quiver of locally crafted Grain Surfboards

What seems like the best option is the resurgence of wooden surfboards. The entire process is sustainable. They’re locally buily, often using local materials, the strong and long lasting. After years and years of use, when it comes time to retire them they’re completely recyclable. The wood can be reused or composted. They’re expensive but if you consider a fiberglass is likely to have a 1/4 the lifetime of a good wooden board and that many wooden boards may last a lifetime then they’re simply good investments.

Grain Surfboards are based in York, Maine and build beautifully crafted, hand shaped wooden boards. Hess Surfboards is based in Ocean Beach, San Francisco and also build hand shaped wooden boards. For the deck and bottom of the board, Hess uses sustainably farmed poplar and red cedar (salvaged from local Victorian homes). For the rails he uses cork and for the fins, bamboo. A small amount of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam. Boards start around $1300. A look through their gallery will be enough to convince you. The Surfer’s Journal has written features on both of them. Timberline Surfboards offers wooden surfboards shaped out of Santa Barbara, CA.

Shaping Room of Hess Surfboards





2 responses so far

Sep 06 2008

Cannibals in Paradise: Where Not to Surf

Published by under Destinations,Indonesia,Travel

The Wave at Lagundri Bay, Nias

Cannibals and surf exploration don’t mix well. In 1975, traveling Australian surfers, Kevin Lovett, John Giesel, and Peter Troy were traveling Indonesia on motorcycles in search of new perfect waves. They were drawn to the island of Nias off the coast of Northern Sumatra by a horseshoe shaped bay a the Southern end of the island that looked promising for surf. They were right. They discovered Lagundri Bay and surfed it alone for three months. The discovery set would set the surf world on fire and open the door for further exploration of Indonesia. (An account of surfing the remote islands of Northern Sumatra).

Kevin Lovett later learned that the three of them had been targets of cannibal practicing tribes on the island during their stay. The blog, Strange Maps of the World, presents a early 20th century map of the world highlighting areas that practice cannibalism both historical and present. A good guide when heading off to Papua New Guinea, Vanatu, or other unchartered areas. [Link to larger image of Map] “Indonesia, Micronesia and the rest of Oceania are marked by many contemporary instances of cannibalism, in Australia, New Guinea, Borneo (Dayaks) and Sumatra (Bataks).” Don’t think we were not immune to it, while Europe seemed free of Antropophagie (Greek for “eating of humans”) – something that may more than anything indicate a bias in the map, North America certainly was not.

Map of Cannibalism throughout the world

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Sep 06 2008

Insane Downhill Skating Video

Published by under Videos

Check out this insane short film of Adam Kimmel and friend bombing down Claremont Canyon trading a video camera back and forth. Watch the HD version if you can. The film is by Ari Marcopoulos.


Adam Kimmel presents: Claremont HD from adam kimmel on Vimeo.

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