The Accidental Surf Star
Checking in with Tasmania's high-flying Dion Agius.
November 20, 2009, 2:48 PM
By: Kimball Taylor
Taylor
Dion, contemplating the correlation between his computer and his career.
Had it not been for an unwanted Christmas present, 24-year-old Dion Agius might have ended up a professional boogie boarder. When he was a kid the young Tasmanian was already earning shots in bodyboard mags, but watching his son ride prone was a sight Dion's father just couldn't abide. So one Christmas the old man presented his son with a brand spanking new surfboard—the last thing the teenager wanted. What he really wanted was a new bodyboard. "I was bummed," Dion says now.
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Florida parties, skips the hangover.
Though the attention was largely up north on the last East Coast swell, Florida partied without the morning after headaches.
November 20, 2009, 7:55 AM
By: Jon Coen
Although most of the attention from the huge Ida, nor'easter, Nor'Ida — whatever you want to call it — mess was focused north of the Mason Dixon line, up in gloves and boots territory, certain spots in Florida really benefited. Granted, the Sunshine State
didn't get dredging double ups and black water bombs, but they got waves. And there wasn't road washouts, beach damage, and crazy debris floating in the line-up. It was just warm, blue, groundswell.
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Lady Killer
The lovely Alana Blanchard steals first jewel of the Triple Crown season.
November 20, 2009, 4:53 AM
By: Jake Howard
Servais
Forget the cliché photo of the winner on the podium, we figured we owe it to both you and Alana to offer up a better likeness.
Today, for the first time in my 10-plus years of writing about surfing, I actually regretted missing a women's surf contest. Typically I avoid them like Swine Flu, and for that you're welcome to label me a chauvinist pig, but when I got the call today that Alana Blanchard had won the Vans Hawaiian Pro, I was legitimately bummed that I wasn't there to witness it ... or at least watch her get carried up the beach.
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Fox Surf and Turf
Fox brings surf/moto crossover event to Oahu.
November 18, 2009, 10:22 AM
By: Jon Coen
If there's one thing outside of sport of kings that Hawaiians love, it's dirtbikes (well — that, Spam
, trips to Las Vegas, and the San Diego Chargers.) But the 50th state, and its surfers in particular, are very much into the surfing/moto crossover. From Sunny Garcia to Natalie Eichner, there is a long history of waveriders getting dirty up in the Island hills. Of course, the Islands' best dirt riders can also surf better than you. What better place for Fox to hold it's Surf and Turf event than Oahu, during the start of the Vans Triple Crown?
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The Super Sponge
When looking like a tool isn't enough, go bigger.
November 18, 2009, 2:59 AM
By: Jake Howard
Howard
Really? A regular boogie board wasn't dorky enough?
You'll have to excuse how out of focus the above photo is. I was out on the beach at Off The Wall today with my handy G10 when I noticed this abnormally sized boogie board and figured it was definitely worth documenting and sharing. I tried to zoom in for you, but this is what I got. And what exactly is it you may ask? Boogie boarding's version of an island gun? An experimental stand-up boogie board? Or just an oversized kitchen sponge? For the life of me I can't figure it out. Regardless, it's ridiculous ... and kind of annoying.
Atlantic Fury Storm Tales
A seriously deep low pressure off the East Coast makes for serious barrels and grave situations.
November 17, 2009, 11:15 AM
By: Jon Coen
Rich McMullin
Randy Townsend played host while logging a few barrels himself this weekend. Gallery »
Nor'Ida.
Those folks at the Weather Channel
are pretty clever. That's what they decided to call the hybrid system of once Tropical Storm Ida, as it morphed into a disastrous nor'easter off the Outer Banks. Wish I though of that.
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Saint Somewhere
It may not be making all of the headlines, but St. Augustine, Florida, has been pumping.
November 17, 2009, 1:22 PM
By: Jake Howard
While the North Shore's been relatively flat, and the Northeast's been pumping, the Sunshine State's lucked into a few good days of it's own. "Got really good for Florida yesterday in Saint Augustine," wrote filmer Dustin Miller in an email last week. "Zander Morton, Eric Taylor and Chris Ropero were on it. Really fun Florida tubes, we had no idea it was going to get like that."
Don't Call It "Flat"
Proof that even if the waves aren't pumping on the North Shore you can still feel a pulse.
November 16, 2009, 3:41 AM
By: Jake Howard
Servais
The skills vs. charms debate on the North Shore rages: Monyca Byrne-Wicky or Alana Blanchard? I present to you Exhibit A.
"I slept the whole day the other day," said Kai Barger, "I don't know, it might have been yesterday?"
Forgive the kid for forgetting what day he pulled a Rip Van Winkle, it's been a slow couple of days here on the North Shore. But of course, you can't expect everybody to sleep through the doldrums.
On Saturday evening Jack Johnson played host to a fairly sizable affair on the other side of the island. I told myself I would try not to and make any comparisons between Jack's hair style and Ron Burgundy, so I won't. But man, he sure is looking classy.
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Where's Wilbur?
Wilbur Kookmeyer still alive in webland.
November 15, 2009, 8:52 PM
By: Jon Coen
When I first started reading Surfer Magazine
back in the late 1980s, one of the first sections I would flip to was Wilbur Kookmeyer.
Penuelas
Dude went over the falls in every sense.
Back then, Surfer held undisputed claim as the Bible of the Sport, and there were sections of editorial that you just couldn't wait to check out. Extra (still the last page of content) was always a hysterical photo. You could learn what Sunny Garcia ate for lunch and what bands he liked in Human Touch. And there was plenty of Pottz coverage.
And Wilbur, the work of San Diego artist, Bob Penuelas was a bold move by the mag, a monthly satirical commentary, poking fun at surfing itself. You can only imagine the kind of fun Penuelas would have today with fodder like $2,000 surfboards, Fantasy Surfer, hater blogs, SUP wars, energy drinks — Alex Knost! — it would be a field day.
First appearing in 1986, Wilbur, buck-toothed and slow-whitted, was the ultimate kook, ever trying to achieve status in the surf world for all the wrong reasons, and constantly getting pitched over the falls. The characters all represented the extremes of surf personalities and reminded us never to take ourselves too seriously.
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Confessions From Off The Wall
It ain't easy, but I'm surviving.
November 14, 2009, 4:03 AM
By: Jake Howard
Joli
Life on the North Shore always comes in shades of gray.
For your amusement, I offer up my first 48 hours on The Rock:
"It's nice to be getting here when it's kind of small," I say to Cory Lopez in the Enterprise Rent-A-Car office on Wednesday. Attempting to make small talk, I continue,"You know, kind of ease into things."
"I don't know, I wouldn't mind getting off the plane and jumping right into 10-foot Pipe," he says.
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