Surf

Francisco Javier Solario, 39 was surfing at a popular surf spot in Santa Barbara called Surf Beach Tuesday (10/24/12) when he was attacked and killed by a shark.

The type of shark is still being investigated but experts are guessing it was a Great White.

The shark bit Solario while he was laying on hos surfboard. It bit him in the torso and bite marks were found on his surfboard.

Solario’s friend pulled him out of the water and administered first aid but he was pronounced dead on the scene when paramedics arrived.

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The OC Ad Federation’s Summer Beach Bash

So being in the action sports industry and hearing about a charity event for the Surfrider Foundation it seemed like a good thing for us to make it out to. Support a good cause and hang out with good people. Maybe even win one of the awesome raffle prizes they were giving away. (Hoping for the Schecter Guitar).

The OC AD Federation worked hard to put this together. “We have an executive board that got together to choose a venue location, the theme, the charities involved, the music and everything else involved,” said Raquel Figlo, Promotions and former Program Director from 2010 & 2011. “I have a great group of people working with me.”

The event was pretty cool, located at Cabo Cantina in Newport beach, Ca. (For those that don’t know, this is one of the hot spots in Newport.) Outside Cabo Cantina there is a nice gazebo and grassy area where various lawn and beach games were being played. Chairs lined up in front of the gazebo as the band played some soothing gentle tunes. A table full of prizes sat in the middle of the gazebo and everyone had strings of raffle tickets hoping to win one of the many prizes.

The money from the raffle tickets was being used as charity money for the surf rider foundation. “I love working with surf rider foundation because I love what they do for the environment and educating kids about the importance of keeping the beaches clean,” said Raquel. I devote so much of my time to helping different local charities because I believe it is important to help the community you live in and also to provide a service that can better inhance the lives of others.”

“I would really like to thank my sponsors for donating such awesome prizes for this years Beach Bash. When I asked Jonny Coffin if he would like to be apart of the event he was all down for it because he is a surfer himself! Being a native from the south Mike Cirovolo of Schecter Guitars has sponsored many reliefe charities over the years and jumped at the opportunity to donate for a charity event.I would also like to thank Al Bane for Leather because he designed an authentic customed leather guitar strap to go along with the Schecter guitar that was raffled off at the event. Wh ich helped raise funds for surfrider,” said Raquel.

The event seemed pretty successful and there were many happy winners. All in all smiles all around and lots of networking went down. T His was all about raising money for the Surf Rider foundation though and that’s what they did. -Leecifer

To see all the pictures click here.

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John Angelo hangs 10. Photo by: Amelia Freeman

Everyone has seen the simple sticks with wheels attached to the bottom that people use to “paddle” or push their skateboards down the street. The Von Bone Street Paddle is that but on steroids. “This isn’t your mother’s broomstick,” said Hurricane Von Bone (inventor/creator/mastermind) as he handed me a street paddle.

“I was riding my bike one day and I saw a guy trying to push himself with a bamboo pole and he just didn’t look happy. I did that with a broomstick when I was 12, and it just didn’t really work out for me. I was riding my bike down by the beach, and all of a sudden this light bulb came on and then I created the Von Bone street paddle,” said Hurricane.

The street paddle is exactly what the name implies. It’s basically a stand up paddle board for the streets. As I paddled down the street following Hurricane, I even noticed he was standing on the board the same way you would with a stand up paddle board. His feet side by side,  in the middle of the board, pointing straight ahead, switching side to side with the paddle.

“That’s probably part of it, you know. The standup paddle boarding thing is so big right now, and you wouldn’t believe how many people are afraid of the water. I mean, they’re scared to fall on a skateboard too but they’re even more afraid of the water,” said Hurricane.

As I paddled down the street, I noticed it was a great upper body workout as well. I have tried the other sticks people use for pushing before and this is not really comparable to them. The Von Bone Street Paddle uses torque powered by the rider to spring him or herself forward.

“With the way it’s designed, no matter how you grab it when your switching hands and hitting the ground with it you’re at the right angle. The grabbing handle’s round and the traction ball’s round so no matter how you hold it you got the right angle” said Hurricane.

Karly Freeman gets barreled. Photo by: Amelia Freeman

The street paddles come with two different pounds of torque, the 60 lb version and the 80 lb which are suitable for the majority of riders. There is version however a lighter resistance model and a heavier resistance model being designed to better accommodate riders of all abilities and strength.

For the short time I was at the booth I saw lots of people excited about the product and many people wanted to try it. Their booth was packed the whole time I was there.

“We’re getting people who have never even skated before that are looking at this going, ‘you know, I think I could do that.’ I’m getting moms and grandmothers trying it. They may not take up the sport but they’re thrilled with it, and you wouldn’t get them to walk into your average skate shop and try a board out. Something about our product makes it appealing to the general population, not just the skate kids.”

The Von Bone Street Paddle is an awesome invention that creates a way for people anywhere at anytime to go outside their house and start paddling away. The stick is light enough to easily carry around and it just further shows the relationship between skateboarding and surfing. They go hand and hand and this brings the concept of stand up paddle boarding to the land. It’s only natural that this thing was built and designed in Huntington Beach, aka Surf City USA, in the beautiful state of California. – Leecifer

www.vonbone.com

Find them on facebook.

John Angelo paddles down the boardwalk. Photo by: Amelia Freeman

Stop by their booth Tuesday’s on main st in Huntington Beach between 5-9. They also skate the boardwalk at Huntington St saturdays and sundays. Photo by: Lee Eisler

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself. Graphic by Stephen Johnson

Cracked skulls, brain damage, and death are some of the things that can happen from not wearing a helmet, and many new or inexperienced riders still choose ride without one. Most do so following the example of several professional riders.

Professionals have an uncanny way of balancing. They know where they are in the air and it seems as if they can easily catch their falls with their hands and feet.

A large majority of those professionals have also taken major crashes resulting in various types injuries, even they aren’t invincible.

Within the past five years, we have had many of our fellow riders killed or permanently injured due to accidents involving riders not wearing helmets. Just go talk to an emergency room trauma nurse about the severity and number of injuries that could have been prevented if the victim had been wearing a helmet, it is appalling.

Watch some videos on the Internet of kids hitting their heads and you will see some pretty graphic images, you might just get scared into wearing one.

Wearing a helmet shows a sign of intelligence. It shows that you are smart enough to want to protect your brain. If younger kids see you wearing a helmet they will be more likely to wear theirs, especially if they look up to you. This means you could potentially be helping protect the lives of young riders.

I went to the skate park recently and there were a total of three of us wearing helmets, and about 15 kids not wearing helmets. About six of those kids had brought helmets, but left them on the side with their stuff while they skated. Some of them were doing some pretty fast, big tricks. It was unclear to me whether they would decide to actually put it on.

If you have ever attempted to ride a skateboard down ramps, or even your driveway for the first time, then you will know that if your balance is a little of you are in danger of flying back and hitting your head. Keeping your balance is not as easy as it looks unless you have many hours logged on board.

Most professional extreme sports athletes do not don helmets, and set extremely terrible examples for riders of all abilities, mainly young newcomers. After all, you don’t want to stand out as the new kid when you’re young. You want to be like your favorite skater and be exactly like them.

There are multitudes of skate, snowboard, BMX, and rollerblade videos with sponsored professionals not wearing helmets. In the videos they pull off tricks that are extremely difficult, making them look easy. So easy, that after watching it, an attempt might be made, leaving you to find out how difficult it actually is.

Protective gear is especially important for inexperienced riders, or people who are pushing their limits; trying something they haven’t done before.

Frankie doing the right thing

Losing your balance can easily happen with any extreme sport, and unexpected elements can come into play at any time.

It is always good to be prepared for the worst, and wearing a helmet while participating in these activities is a great way to accomplish this. After all a crash isn’t usually something you’d expect or want to happen… it just does. – Leecifer

This is an amazing interview with a legendary skater who paved the road for modern day skateboarding. He was a part of the legendary Zephyr surf and skate team, and lived and grew up in Venice Beach, CA (dogtown). Adams was a teenager in the 70′s and skated alongside Stacy Peralta and Tony Alva.

“Jay Adams may not have been the world’s best skater but he was the man, the real deal, the original, the first. He is the archetype of our shared heritage.” – Stacy Peralta

“Jay was a natural. He would do things that you would think incomprehensible,” says Jeff Ho, owner of the legendary Zephyr surf shop. “He would do things that would look like they were going to be a disaster, and he would turn it into artwork. He would fucking flow.”

Adams was skating before there were professional riders. There was no money to be made, and everyone skated for the love of it. “For me, skateboarding started in 1965 so by the time the Dogtown era came around I’d already been skating for 10 years. When I started it was clay wheels and mostly home made decks. We were just trying to copy surfing. Everything about skateboarding had to do with surfing. It was all about fun and a way to surf when the waves were shitty.” said Adams.

The things Adams would do had not been done yet. He was an innovator of the sport, a pioneer. “Watching him skate was something new every second, he was ‘skate and destroy’ personified.” said Peralta. It was well known that Adams did not much enjoy the competition, he skated and surfed for the love of it. He was there when they first learned to carve a wall in a pool, when they figured out they could hit the ledge, and when the learned to drop into the bowls. Skateboarding was rebellious, aggressive, and free.

Adams later got tied up with drugs and partying. “Well, using drugs has wasted a lot of years, but you gotta understand when I grew up, in the ’60s and ’70s and even the ’80s, everybody I knew used some sort of drugs. And most of the people I knew and hung around never let them get outta hand. We partied, we surfed and we skated, and it didn’t seem to be a problem. But later in life, drugs finally took their toll and got to the point where they were a very big problem.” Things quickly went from good to bad. “I was thinking man, all I do is sell drugs and do dope and been to jail a couple times. And I’m pretty much a menace at this time in my life.” Jay Adams was addicted to meth, and was in and out of the legal system. He was charged for murder and assault following a gay bashing he instigated in Los Angeles, and landed himself in prison again after being caught as the connect for a buyer and seller trying get crystal meth from California to Hawaii.

He has been through a lot of shit throughout his life, but is now living clean and sober (and is a reborn christian). He is still surfing and skating. Understandably, Adams is thankful to be alive and still doing these things in his 50′s. We recently got the chance to meet and bomb a hill a few times with Jay. It was incredible day, we had a blast. My mind is still blown. “This is my first time bombing hills in about 30 years” said Adams. “Can’t wait to bomb some real hills, Sunday was just a taste.” said Adams.

“This is my first time bombing hills in about 30 years”- Jay Adams. Photo By Leecifer Eisler

Me lurking in the back and Dave Hacket playing the Jay Adams drum. Photo By: Key Dougherty

Well, the man that started it all isn’t done yet, so why do I always hear people telling me they’re too old to skate? Anyway,  meeting Jay Adams Sunday was one of the coolest things that has happened to me in a while. To capitalize on his presence we had Dave Hackett there as well as a plethora of other well known riders who had been in the skate game almost from the beginning, Jay Adams paved the way for everyone though. Because of him they knew carving in a bowl and hitting the coping was possible. He showed them the possibilities on a skateboard. Skateboarding rules! Thanks Jay for everything you have done for the sport! You are a legend, a hero and a skater for life. – Leecifer

Resources

Words from the mouth of Stacy Peralta- http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/peralta/thrasher.html

2001 Jay Adams interview: http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/jayadams/2001.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/jayadams/law.html

Reprinted from Thrasher Magazine- http://www.angelfire.com/ca2/jayadams/