A life well lived and a legacy not forgotten… 

Pauly Van Doren, the legendary founder of the world’s most enduring surf-skate grand Vans, who was born just as the Great Depression was kicking into gear, has died, aged ninety.

Van Doren, a high-school drop-out, whose nickname was Dutch the Clutch, created the Van Doren Rubber Co in 1966 with his little brother, James, who died in 2011, and their pals Gordon, Ryan Emmert and Serge D’Elia. 

The first store, in Anaheim, California, sold American-made shoes direct to the public with the slogan, “Canvas Shoes for the Entire Family” at prices between two and four dollars a pair. 

On opening day, Pauly forgot to put cash into the register. 

“It was so stupid,” he said, telling customers to come back with the exact cash. “We sold something like 22 pairs of shoes that first day, and the remarkable thing is every single person came back and paid. Treat people like you would want to be treated.”

“Paul was not just an entrepreneur; he was an innovator. The Van Doren Rubber Company was the culmination of a lifetime of experimentation and hard work in the shoe industry,” the Vans company said in a statement. “Like Paul, from the first day of business, Vans was uniquely innovative. When the first Vans store opened, there were no stand-alone retail stores just for sneakers. Paul’s bold experiments in product design, distribution, and marketing, along with his knack for numbers, and a genius for efficiency turned Paul’s family shoe business into an all-American success story.”

Y’don’t have to trawl too deep into a surfer or skater’s wardrobe to find a dirty ol pair of Off the Walls or Authentics, shoes mercifully unchanged in almost fifty years.

The passing of an icon.

As Stacy Peralta said: “Vans is one of the greatest legacy companies not only in skateboarding, but in the worldwide community of action sports.”

Final words go, as they must, to Sean Penn, who used his own pair of Vans OTW  slip-ons in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a decision that would propel sales of the show into the stratosphere,

“Curiosity and obsession for exploration!”

Florence Marine X, a twelve-million dollar start-up, is to John John Florence what Former is to Dane Reynolds, a labour of love for men repulsed by the hoops the major surf labels had made ‘em jump through. 

Reynolds turned down millions to display a sticker from Quiksilver; John John wasn’t so into Hurley’s pivot  into inflatable pool toys and beard oils. 

Now, and after much ado, Florence Marine X has opened its online store which sells, boardshorts, t-shirts, lycra or “active” shirts, hats and wetsuits.

The boardshorts are standard enough, most made in various shades of dull, the hats are hats, the tees are tees, but the hooded rash vests are a sight to behold, worn, I imagine, by VALS or Tom Curren (to jump on The Grit’s Kook or Curren gag), yours for eighty shekels.

If you want a wetsuit, y’ain’t gettin’ it cheap.

Wetsuit jackets, $250, a two mm impact suit is $650 and a Japanese-made three mm steamer costs $750. Only smalls left in the three mm wetsuit; large and XLs in the padded suit and most of the jackets are done until June.

But, excellent quality, one must imagine, a trademark of the Japanese cult of artisan craftsmanship. The red pennant logo gives a feel of unfettered glamour and will capture popular imagination, at least for those chasing the athletic-wear-meets-the-street look.

It’s a curious website with a fringe brand feel about it and y’gotta buy a twenty-dollar life membership to get anything although memberships are only available to US customers therefore etc.

Shop here.

"Every time a shark gets close to a surfer I get nervous – perhaps it's because the vast majority of attacks are on surfers…"

It gives me enormous pleasure to watch videos like this, a five-minute short filled with drone footage of juvenile Great Whites, the feistiest of ’em all, happily swimming around packs of surfers in southern California.

Where is the blood? Where is the terror?

Drone photographer James Glancy has made it his thing to fly his drone along the Californian coast and record what are either “close calls”, which presumes attack is always imminent when Whites are around, or evidence that Whites only go in for the kill when visibility is real low and they think the shredder is a seal or whatever.

“The further south I go (in California) the more sharks seem to enjoy the surf,” says Glancy. “They’re right there next to humans most of the time… the humans sharing their home have no idea. A surfer falls off a board, within reach of the shark, yet the shark shows no interest… as I filmed these encounters I felt that perhaps they’re not the mindless hungry fish I thought they were.”

At the three-ish min mark, the drone pulls back to show a scene of happy man-beast co-existence.

“The following clip is a demonstrative example of this concept. The White shark is surrounded by surfers. I purposefully left the drone stationary to capture the whole scene. It appears no surfers know the shark is there and yet the shark appears relaxed and in no way makes aggressive moves.”

Glancy admits he still gets a lil shiver seeing Whites real close to people, howevs.

“Somehow,” he says, “every time a shark gets close to a surfer I get nervous – perhaps it’s because the vast majority of attacks are on surfers. Watching this again, I can’t comprehend this surfer did not see this White shark… a great example of how White sharks are truly non-aggressors the vast majority of the time.”

Reassuring, yes?

And if you were shredding with your VAL-pals and a drone guy was shooting Whites swimming around your feet, would you expect a lil courtesy call?