Blow a whistle! The little Hawaiian got some new
tricks…
I wonder what would happen if we ever lost Mason Ho to
the WSL. Would he still be the same Mason, clapping his
opponents and flying into through those post-interviews sounding
like he’d just swallowed the formula for eternal awesome?
Or would he, eventually, be so beaten down he couldn’t sit
straight and, if he ever got through a heat, he’d spit out the
usual boring chestnuts?
I have a feeling we’ll never have to worry. People talk about
the virtues of a no-nonsense approach. I like nonsense.
Watch Mason Ho’s latest clip!
This is in brazil 5 mins from the recent contest
area. thought it was fun practicing there with no body
around. doesn’t get better then just you and a friend out surfing at
such a FUN & beautiful zone. wish it had the right air wind.
surfing – mason ho & LB filmed by rory pringle
thanks rip curl, …lost surfboards, etnies, arnette, and
sector9 !!
baby kine search
-mason
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An ICBM Just Flew Over My Head!
By Derek Rielly
Cyrus Sutton and his brush with a nuclear-capable
Trident missile in the Mojave desert…
Two days ago, the filmer and surfer Cyrus
Sutton, who is currently alone in the Mojave desert
working on a documentary about GMOs in Hawaii, emailed me a photo
of what appeared to be a meteor shower above his head.
Social lit up, as it does, with theories that it was a nuclear
bomb, maybe a comet, some kind of alien invasion or part of “secret
military testing.”
I figured it was part of the annual Taurid meteor shower and
told Cyrus so but, yesterday, it was revealed that it was actually
a nuclear-capable Trident missile test-fired by the US Navy.
Now I’ve been around a bit, I’ve had my share of freak-outs,
some drug-induced, some simply from an over-arching timidity that I
just can’t seem to shake. I couldn’t even imagine what it’d be
like to be alone in the desert, at sunset, when, out of nowhere, a
gigantic missile roars over your head.
Cyrus does.
“The first thing that went through my mind as that it was an
alien death ray or something. It was NOT a comet or a meteor,” he
says.
“It was NOT a comet or a meteor. It started ascending as a
glowing orange ball. Then it burst up high emitting huge radiating
bubbles that looked blue green like the northern lights, its point
was fierce white light like a star. It zoomed northward leaving an
aurora like glow in its wake.
“It was over LA. I was 150 miles east in no-man’s land. I
remember thinking of that Twilight Zone episode where the
guy is in the bank vault when the nuke detonates, he goes outside
to see that everyone is gone.”
“Then I thought, holy shit I’ve got to get a picture of this
thing. By the time I got my camera it was blue and green and white
and bubbling outward quickly eventually taking over a good part of
the sky. I missed the first few shots (blurry and underexposed)
fingers were trembling and I couldn’t think straight. Then I got my
tripod out of the back and got some proper shots. After it
disappeared only a large dab of turquoise remained where it first
exploded near the band of the milky way.
“I drove 10 miles into town to poach the wifi at the local
library to see what it was. There was nothing in the news but
social media was lighting up. A bunch of people posted phone shots
and were asking the same questions. I posted a photo asking if
anyone saw it and there were reports from SF to SD and clear east
to Vegas so the entire southern half of Southern California caught
the show.
“On the news they are saying it was a comet or a meteor but
meteors don’t rise then explode, change color and blast off into
space in a piercing white light. The next day the media said it was
the trusty US military testing an intercontinental ballistic
missile. That makes a lot more sense. A lot of people were saying
it was aliens but I don’t know. Probably some classified military
star wars shit.”
I’ve been in LA less than twenty-four hours and
my brain’s about to pop.
This is where I’m from, I’m a product of my environment. I can
handle whatever phoniness the Caulfields love to claim, and status
conscious bullshit don’t bother me a bit.
Why would it? Just empty nonsense. You want to live through your
purchases that’s fine, don’t effect me one bit.
I miss Hawaii, that simmering violence lurking just beneath the
surface. The fact that if you honk your horn at someone the moment
the light turns green there’s a far better than zero chance the
driver will throw it in park, drag you out the window, and bash you
into the groun
But the rudeness… the million petty self-centered atrocities
I’ve witnessed since I arrived late last night. I knew they were
coming, that I’d need to stay calm. Let it flow off my back like
water off a duck, or just pay it no never mind, move on and
forget.
But I can’t.
I miss Hawaii, that simmering violence lurking just beneath the
surface. The fact that if you honk your horn at someone the moment
the light turns green there’s a far better than zero chance the
driver will throw it in park, drag you out the window, and bash you
into the ground.
Small island, tiny population. Cross some motherfucker
once, you’ll run into him again and again. There’s no escape from
consequence, and that suits me just fine.
I understand LA’s not so bad. Not really. Not compared to the
vast majority of the world.
But I got out, moved on, found someplace better to call
home.
Thank my non existent lord and savior that I’ve only got two
days left in my sentence.
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Saint: Mick Fanning warms a heart!
By Chas Smith
It has been a busy year for the possible 2015 world
champ...but not too busy for love!
Professional surfing, on the World Tour, is a
grind. Oh sure, the life is not nearly as taxing as, say, working a
coal mine or teaching English to native Chinese speakers but still.
It is a twelve month per year gig with precious little time off,
which makes Mick Fanning’s latest splash such a heartwarming
one.
There is a sixteen-year-old boy named Ben Beasley from Adelaide,
Australia, who was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and has
been undergoing chemotherapy, a total drag by all accounts. His
family told him they were going on a little trip to the Gold Coast
and Ben thought it was “random” until out popped Mick Fanning,
Ben’s favorite surfer!
Mick is an ambassador of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, a
charity that makes sick kids’ dreams come true and Ben, of
course, dreamed of meeting with the three, maybe four time world
champ.
“Even to just get a photo with [Fanning] has been a dream of
mine for a long time…” the young man told the Brisbane Times.
Better yet, though, Mick paddled Ben and his twin brother out
and the three surfed for hours.
If you needed a little pick me up, which professional
surfer would you want to spend time with?
Mick with Ben and family.
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Chris Hemsworth looks charming in 'em and you remember
this gal from Wolf of Wall Street, I'm guessing. Margot
Robbie.
Surfer creates Celeb Must-Have Brand!
By Derek Rielly
Can you guess?
Incredible, yes. But this actually
happened.
Michael Crawley is a marketing guy and handler for Dane Reynolds
who was cut loose by his employer Quicksilver after 10 beautiful,
mutually beneficent years.
Crawley has dark brilliant eyes and aura of other-worldness
about him (he’s an excellent photographer, also) but even his
famous charisma couldn’t stay his execution during one of those
periodic rounds of blood-letting that have come to characterise the
brand.
With his and gal Tenielle’s redundancy cash (she was tapped from
Roxy during the purge), the pair used $54,000 to start a sunglasses
label called Valley.
And, now, well, you can just look!
Tenz and Crawley, from the ashes of unemployment
and the despair of poverty (they got chillun too! A Gold Coast
tragedy in the making!) the pair kicked Valley Sunglasses into
life.
Katie Holmes, Chris Hemsworth, Johnny Depp, Maz Manson, Kat Von
D, Margot Robbie all wear ‘em. It was also reported that the famous
Kardashian family will soon stock Valley in their chain of clothing
boutiques called DASH.
Katherine von Drachenberg aka Kat Von D is the
Mexican-born tattoo artist and she wears V.Maz Manson and Johnny Depp both wear custom
Valleys. This photo was taken by Michael Crawley. He’s
everywhere!
How did Crawley get Valley onto so many famous eyes and beaks? I
had to ask!
(Note to reader: this is an unpaid endorsement.
Hyperbole aside just for the moment, I think it’s amazing to rise
from the ashes of unemployment and the despair of poverty to
just… nailing it.)
BeachGrit: You’ve become such a celeb whore? Who y’been
screwing to get ‘em to wear your specs?
Crawley: Mate, come on. I’m not really sure why the celebs have
been so into Valley. Maybe it’s the silhouettes and they want
to be noticed. A lot of the musicians and celeb types talk
among each other and they know I’m cool to make custom frames
or get them into their own tinted lenses or custom variations so it
has kinda become a bespoke eyewear thing for a lot of them. Marilyn
Manson has about thirty pairs of custom aviators with all kinds of
wild tints. Johnny Depp got some yellow tints. Debra Messing got a
bunch of opticals. I just did some custom tinted aviators for Chris
Hemsworth. I also made some custom coloured frames in Slayer red
and black for Kerry King’s wife Ayesha with inverted crosses on the
face. Sure is fun to make them one-off pieces.
BeachGrit: Got some advice on how to get a celeb using
your gear?
Crawley: Talk to them. We don’t use a PR company. If they want
to talk to us they talk to me directly. I feel like that connection
with us directly makes a huge difference/ All the celebs are
friends of friends or connected by associates so it’s an organic
connection which goes a long way. Plus I’m a nice guy. Ha!
Tall and thin and frail like a quivering bird.
But those strong sunglasses just make Katie Holmes!
BeachGrit: Are you really in the Kardashian stores?
How’d you swing that?
Crawley: Yeah, the DASH stores have picked us up for all their
stores across the USA and our line drops in there next week. They
have a crazy following so let’s see how that goes…
BeachGrit: Who’s your fav Dash? Something about Khloe
kicks me good. And Kendall? What a transformation! If you weren’t
tied down like an anchor who would you squat down on one of your
chubby knees to marry?
Crawley: Ha! You’ve lost it. Chubby knees, are you high? Kylie
is the best one for sure…
BeachGrit: What does it take to get a biz where you are?
You’re a driven sonofabitch, I know that much. Do you ever take no
for an answer?
Crawley: Nope, if you take no then it means you give up easily.
Mate, it’s all about being unique and creating a seriously good
quality product. If you make a dope product people will come back
for more or tell 10 friends, “Fuck, those Valley frames are insane,
the quality is out of hand.” The power of the people is the key.
You can’t fool consumers these days. Making a successful
business takes a long list of points but also you have to
give it 110% at all times …
Ain’t she cute! That’s Gwen Stefani!
BeachGrit: Were there naysayers when you were starting,
saying it couldn’t be done, crowded market etc?
Crawley: For sure. People said we were crazy blah blah blah and
that’s cool and I could see their point but we have a unique
product that’s been accepted well by the market we have hit… I
know that what we do isn’t for every one which is cool and I can
appreciate that… but… we also have a strong following of
people that do love what we are doing and are dedicated valley fans
or followers that wait for every new product we do which is really
insane…
BeachGrit: Was it about the Quik talent pool? You and
Tenz doing Valley, Blackwood doing his XMax thing, Ryan and Need
Essentials, Strider owning the commentator sphere. Was it a
wonderful place to work?
Crawley: Yeah, it’s crazy the talent pool that came out of
there. Casey Egan does this denim line too called Deconstructed
Indigo Garments and I reckon these black tapered jeans are the best
jeans on the planet. They’re fuckin mind blowing. And, yeah,
Scanno’s NEED stuff is dope as well. Quiksilver was a cool place
for a little bit. I feel like they knew how to spot talented people
to put into their business but they never knew how to utilise it to
its full potential. Or maybe there were too many old dogs in there
that would get their noses outta joint if a young guy wanted to do
something wild which was out of their comfort zone.
It was a great learning tool for us. It showed me to encourage
people to look outside the box and when you’re uncomfortable with
something maybe that’s a good thing.
I work closely with an artist in LA named Jesse Draxler and he
does a bunch of artwork for us and I never give him a brief. He
knows my brand look and feel and I let him just go wild with my
imagery or whatever and create these pieces and we don’t fuck with
it and it is so raw but so fucking insane it fits right in
perfectly and creates a unique side of what we do.
If the old guys at Quiksilver embraced their employees and
encouraged them they’d have NEED basic wetsuits which have sold
like wildfire, Casey’s insane jeans and product, Valleys eyewear
collection and optics and much more from past employees.
With their dollars and distribution could you imagine the
revenue that could have generated on those three products just
there alone? Jesus! Someone fucked up didn’t they.
BeachGrit: You getting bites to buy the company? I hear
stories that include the world “million.” Tell me!
Crawley: Right now, I’m just focussing on working on our next
collection and 2016. But, yeah, we have had interest. Rumours,
mate! I have no complaints right now that’s for sure!
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Jon Pyzel and Matt Biolos by
@theneedforshutterspeed/Step Bros
