Rich: Mitch Crews’ (boss) buys Madonna’s home!

9 years ago

19 mil and 1.25 acres of Beverly Hills, California...

The world is just plain full of haves and have nots ain’t it though. Two days ago Quiksilver declares bankruptcy, sending some of their team riders into the unemployment line (for the time being). One day ago Rockstar Energy’s founder and CEO, Russell Weiner, buys Madonna’s home for a sweet 19 mil.

Rockstar, of course, sponsors many moto fellows. Weiner had lived in Las Vegas, and launched Rockstar out of there, which explains brap-brap-brap. But the company also sponsors many surfers like Sunny Garcia, Nat Young, Jack Freestone, Oliver Kurtz, Albee Layer, Matt Meola, Laura Enever amongst many others including Mitch Crews.

The home is, according to the LA Times, “…set on 1.25 acres of manicured grounds, the walled-and-gated compound includes a French country-inspired main house, two guesthouses, a swimming pool and a north-south tennis court. A 500-foot tree-lined driveway marks the entrance to the home. Rebuilt and expanded by the pop icon during her decade of ownership, the sprawling home has two living rooms, a two-story dining room, two offices, a screening room, a gym and an art studio. Cathedral-style ceilings, rows of French doors, clerestory windows and hardwood floors are among the interior details. A total of nine bedrooms and 15 bathrooms are within 17,000 square feet of living space.”

If you are invited to a party by any of the Rockstar team surfers you should take them up on it. Girls just wanna have fun.

Loading comments...

NY Times: Surf-skate leads digital media!

By Rory Parker

9 years ago

Befuddled, once-great broadsheet, the NY Times, five years too late to party…

I’m always a little confused by the way mainstream media likes to refer to Millenials (those of us born between 1980 and 2000) as “young people.”

I was born in 1980, I’m 35 years old, far closer to middle aged than “young.”

I suppose it makes sense in the context of The New York Times, an archaic rag that earns its bread from an elder contingent too befuddled by internet tomfoolery to figure out how to find information online. To those geriatric fucks, a generation that spent their adult years dismantling every social program they benefited from, we all seem young.

Today’s technology section circle jerk contains a fascinating examination of digital media, and how hip and new it is.

It’s the next big thing guys! Did you know kids use the interwebs to look at stuff? Videos of extreme action sports. So radical.

Why is this in The New York Times? How is it relevant at all? Why is something that’s old news being used as new news? Money. Or the supposed opportunity for people to grab a hold of some of it. Not the people who create it, of course. The people who distribute it.

“…as the audience grows beyond devotees, the opportunity arises to make videos and films with higher production values that fans are willing to pay for.”

Except probably not.

The driving force behind the majority of high quality surf and skate clips is advertising, something us “millenials” aren’t so hot on paying for any more. Pretty hard to monetize something I can, and will, easily torrent.

Even harder to get me to pay attention to an ad, a couple of clicks, a great little browser extension, and that shit’s gone. Red Bull gets it. They don’t try and charge for content, their whole gig is meant to make their addictive swill seem cool so they can hook little kids.

And it works. Very well. Add those of us who don’t drink the stuff get to see cool shit. It’s a win/win, except for the obese preteens with heart conditions, but who gives a fuck about those brats? Not me.

And we’re broke.

I mean, I’m not, I’m solid lower middle class, but that’s because I’m a kept man. But I was poor, not very long ago. So poor I couldn’t afford a cable subscription, something I only missed for a bit, and once it was gone I realized how much better my life had become. Like pills, basically. So good when you’re on ’em, so glad they’re gone when you aren’t.

The old way is dying, the new way won’t work. I refuse to pay a middle man for content. If Vimeo thinks I’ll give them a penny to watch videos other people sweat and bled for they’re even higher than I am right now.

(Read the story in the NY times here)

Loading comments...

Freddy P’s sudden (and odd) retirement!

By Derek Rielly

9 years ago

World #28 scores ten, wins first round at Trestles, quits…

The thirty-three-year-old Hawaiian Fred Patacchia Jr quit the WSL main game this afternoon after beating Gabriel Medina and Bede Durbidge in round one of the Hurley Pro.

With a little under five minutes left in the heat, and a minute after scoring a 10 for the swift murder of a five-foot set, Fred caught a wave alongside Gabriel Medina, high-fived the current world champ, and came in to rapturous applause. He was wrapped in a Hawaiian flag (hello Union Jack!) and announced his retirement, effectively immediately, in his post-heat interview.

Ross Williams was first on Instagram, posting a photo of his “chicken skin brah!!!”

Now ain’t that some way to retire! Screw the possibility of winning the contest, I just hit a ten, I’m out. It’s the oddest thing ever!

It’s in marked contrast, of course, to most surfers, who grind away, grind away, gradually slipping down the ratings until, sometime in their mid-to-late-thirties, they disappear altogether.

Who doesn’t like a little dignity in their farewell?

Fred’s career ain’t bad, in hindsight. He was the 2005 tour rookie (finished 14th), climbed to 12th the following year (his best), but tended to hover in the twenties.

What will he be most remembered by? His last-ever ride, a ten?

Or his frenzied attack upon the Snapper Rocks?

And here’s his goodbye interview…

Loading comments...

Drone-Vision: A year of waves in Portugal!

By Derek Rielly

9 years ago

Including Ericeira, a very secret slab and even Nazaré, all shot from the world's tiniest helicopter…

If his Facebook photos are to be believed, Pedro Miranda is a striking and hirsute man of, let’s say, late twenties to early thirties. Good jawline, a hint of a beard without looking like he came from 2010 and two fine legs held up by a powerful superstructure.

Pedro is part of a two-man “drone operation team highly specialised in surf and bodyboard action shots, a niche where we’ve been doing a lot of experimentation trying to get new unseen angles.”

Their setup is a custom-made DJI Quadcopter with a GoPro Hero4 Black mounted on a three-axis gimbal.

(Ladies? Are you wet?)

Pedro sent me his movie The Flying Machine today and wrote, “The waves featured in this clip are all in Portugal, and all captured during the last winter season. There are a few waves captured in several spots of Ericeira, including the ‘Cave’ which is one of the dangerous slab in the country. The most perfect waves on the clip were captured during one of the best sessions of the season on a secret spot of the west coast. At the end of the clip, there’s some action on Nazaré, Garrett McNamara rescuing Rodrigo Koxa from the rocks, a wave from Ross Clarke-Jones, another massive one by Tom Butler, and the last wave which you may recognise from Samsung’s latest commercial We are Greater than I. That’s Sebastian Steudtner surfing that wave. He won this year’s XXL Biggest Wave Award on an even bigger wave caught that day.”

My advice?

Breeze past the first minute, it starts slow, y’see, and maybe avoid it altogether if a cross-cultural mix of bodyboarding and surfing ain’t your thing.

The Flying Machine from Máquina Voadora on Vimeo.

Loading comments...

Just in: “Quiksilver Filing for Bankruptcy!”

By Derek Rielly

9 years ago

Iconic surf brand reported to be filing for bankruptcy as early as tomorrow, says Bloomberg Biz.

Nothing lasts forever. Not the Roman Empire, not the German Third Reich, not the ASP and, now, not the most iconic of all surf brands, Quiksilver.

Quiksilver. Yeah.

As reported by Blooomberg Business this morning,

“Quiksilver Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy as soon as Tuesday evening in a deal that would hand control of the beleaguered surfwear chain to investment firm Oaktree Capital Management, according to people with knowledge of the deliberations.

“As part of a prearranged Chapter 11 restructuring, Oaktree would provide $175 million in debtor-in-possession financing and assume control of the reorganized company, said a person familiar with Quiksilver’s thinking, who asked not to be identified because the proceedings aren’t yet public. Any plan would require court approval.

“Representatives for Huntington Beach, California-based Quiksilver and Oaktree didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

“The company had been trying to attract bidders for a management-led buyout, ideally outside of a bankruptcy, people familiar with the situation said last week. But that approach would have made it harder to abandon the company’s costly leases, something Chapter 11 will allow Quiksilver to do.

“Oaktree, based in Los Angeles, already has a connection to the surfwear industry. The firm, together with Centerbridge Partners, is the largest backer of Billabong International Ltd., the Australian brand. Oaktree has a total of more than $100 billion under management.

“Quiksilver shares tumbled as much as 78 percent to 10 cents in late trading Tuesday after Bloomberg News reported on the bankruptcy plan. The stock had already lost 79 percent of its value this year, closing at 46 cents earlier in the day. The company received a warning from the New York Stock Exchange in July that its low stock price put it at risk for being delisted.

“Quiksilver rode the fashion trend toward surfer and skateboarding styles in the 1990s and early 2000s, along with names like Billabong and Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. The company, which teamed up with athletes such as surfer Kelly Slater and skater Tony Hawk, sponsored surfing competitions around the world.

But a shift away from surfer fashion — along with broader pressures on the apparel industry — took their toll. After a period of heady expansion, Quiksilver struggled to compete with fast-fashion retailers like H&M. Those brands lured away Quiksilver’s teen customers with lower prices and on-trend clothes, and the company lost its cachet with athletes.

“The chain suffered a 13 percent decline in sales last year, with its net loss widening to $309.4 million.

“Quiksilver has been working with FTI Consulting Inc. on a restructuring, and is using Peter J. Solomon Co. as its investment banker. The company plans to continue with a store-closing effort after filing for bankruptcy, according to one of the people. Quiksilver’s European and Asia-Pacific operations won’t be part of the filing, the person said.”

Loading comments...

Eat beach grit spam!