Maverick’s – How to Watch the Super Bowl of Suring

Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Shred White and Blue)—Mavericks Surf Ventures, Inc. has a wide-ranging series of options for remotely watching the 2009/2010 Mavericks Surf Contest.

Mavericks CEO Keir J. Beadling explained that that the decision to offer such a large array of viewing options was informed not only by the company’s desire to bring the excitement of Mavericks to as wide an audience as possible, but also by its interest in protecting the area surrounding the world-famous break.  “In an effort to limit crowd impact on the Half Moon Bay area and coastal ecosystems, we are encouraging all Mavericks fans to watch the contest via free live webcast and by attending our live viewing party at AT&T Park in San Francisco.  Both options provide a much better viewing experience than the view from the beach. If you do plan on attending Mavericks in-person, please be respectful and cautious of the natural environment, and leave no trace.”

Millions of fans witnessed the 2008 Contest via a live webcast, and this season Mavericks has launched its most ambitious webcast offering to-date.  For the first time ever, fans can catch all the live action at Mavericks’ official website, www.maverickssurf.com. Also new this year, Mavericks will bring viewers around the world an opportunity to experience the thrill of Mavericks via a live, interactive webcast on Facebook and Ustream.  The webcasts will be powered by Ustream, the leading live broadcasting platform on the internet. The experiences will provide fans with an unprecedented level of interactivity while viewing the contest—sharing their thoughts real-time, through Facebook Connect, with other Mavericks fans everywhere.

As was the case in 2008, the day’s activities will also be available via a unique live webcast viewing event at AT&T Park—“baseball’s perfect address” and the home of the San Francisco Giants.  Ticketed fans can watch the Contest live and in high definition on the big screen in centerfield or from any of the big screens throughout the Club level. Tickets for the AT&T Park viewing event will include in and out privileges and can be purchased for $20 in advance, $25 at AT&T Park, or online at www.maverickssurf.com.

Fans who will be in the East Bay can attend a live viewing event at Miss Pearl’s Jam House in Oakland.  The event is free to attend, but space is limited, so fans are encouraged to arrive early.  For more information go to www.misspearlsjamhouse.com.

For those who want to be even closer to the action, Mavericks has a few spots available on its officially-sanctioned boat tours.  These boats are piloted by seasoned, local captains with knowledge of the area around the Mavericks surf break, and guests on the boats are provided with complimentary parking, lunches and official Contest apparel.  More information is available at www.maverickssurf.com.

Finally, fans who want to experience Mavericks from an entirely new perspective will have the unique opportunity to view this year’s event from the world’s largest airship—Airship Ventures’ Zeppelin Eureka.  The “Eureka” is a 246-foot airship that accommodates 12 guests per trip, and, weather-permitting, will run 30-minute passenger trips in the sky throughout this season’s Contest Day from Half Moon Bay Airport.  The spacious cabin comfortably accommodates the pilot, flight attendant, and up to 12 passengers with luxury features including oversized panoramic windows, an onboard restroom with window, and a unique 180-degree rear observation window and “love seat” that wraps the entire aft end of the cabin.  More details are available at www.airshipventures.com or by calling Airship Ventures at (650) 969-8100, ext. 111.

//photo by: flickr.com/jdegenhardt

It’s On! Mavericks Contest Window Opens!

Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Shred White and Blue) — On just 24 hours notice between November 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010, 24 of the world’s best big-wave surfers will be summoned to Half Moon Bay, home of Mavericks, one of the most majestic and infamous surf breaks on Earth.

There, they will test their individual skills and vie to be crowned champion of the 2009/2010 Mavericks Surf Contest Presented by Sony Ericsson. Competitors will face the dangerous elements of the frigid northern California waters in search of the perfect ride on waves reaching heights of 30 to 40 feet or more.

“The 24” make the call

And according to Mavericks CEO Keir J. Beadling, this contest seasons adds a new and exciting element:  “This season we’re embarking on a new chapter, as the Mavericks competitors will choose the day.  Once potentially contestable conditions are identified, ‘the 24’ will vote and determine whether to pull the trigger.  If they say ‘go,’ we go, and that’s exactly the way it should be at Mavericks.”   Commented longtime Mavericks surfer and Contest competitor Kenny “Skindog” Collins, “This Mavericks Contest combined with this season’s El Niño is going to be historic!”

El Niño in-play

Official Surf Forecaster Mark Sponsler of Stormsurf.com says there is good reason to be hopeful:  “The El Niño season, which has already begun, should bring a higher number of storms moving from the International Dateline into the Gulf of Alaska than in years previous. Those storms should have the potential to push larger and more consistent surf down the Pacific Coast into California. It’s likely there will be several good opportunities to hold the contest between now and March 31 when the contest window closes.”

Once the contestants receive the green light alert, they have just 24 hours to arrive for the event.  The international roster of invited surfers consists of, in alphabetical order: Matt Ambrose, Ben Andrews, Grant Baker, Ion Banner, Chris Bertish, Carlos Burle, Kenny Collins, Shane Desmond, Nathan Fletcher, Brock Little, Greg Long, Josh Loya, Peter Mel, Shawn Rhodes, Ryan Seelbach, Evan Slater, Tyler Smith, Jamie Sterling, Anthony Tashnick, Darryl Virostko, Grant Washburn, Dave Wassell, Tim West, Zach Wormhoudt.

Also named were the 15 alternates, in order of priority: Alex Martins, Danilo Couto, Mark Healey, Tyler Fox, Rusty Long, Nic Lamb, Jamie Mitchell, Mike Gerhardt, Russell Smith, Kealii Mamala, Garrett McNamara, Andrew Marr, Lawton Smith, John Whittle, Colin Dwyer.

Record Prize Purse

This year, the invitees will compete for a record-breaking $150,000 prize purse, including $50,000 to the Champion.  The purse is personally funded by Mavericks benefactors Moose Guen and Jane Sutherland of MVision, and Barracuda Networks. In addition, a $5,000 “Gnarliest Drop” award will be offered to the surfer who exhibits the most impressive drop-in of the day.

Surf Foam: The Meyerhoffer, Shark Victims & Nuke the Soup

The Meyerhoffer

Montara, Calif. (Shred White and Blue) — You either love it, or you hate it. But people sure are talking Thomas Meyerhoffer’s new hourglass-shaped surfboard (so much so that Global Surf Industries, the OEM manufacturing the board, report a backlog that stretches to February – and the first run of 1,000 is already sold out!) The New York Times did a very cool quick take on all the hullabaloo – check it out: NY Times

As well this sweet Euro-style Youtube clip (Yeah, for sure!):

Shark Fin Protest From Who?

Seriously, if you’re not absolutely outraged at the whole shark fin soup affront, then I think maybe you just don’t know enough about what’s up. Maybe if I told you that yesterday nine survivors of shark attacks – folks who actually lost limbs to the men in the gray suits – went to Capitol Hill to plead for tougher sanctions on how these magnificently evolved beings are basically murdered every minute (there’s really no other word for it!). Check it out on the L.A. Times homepage: LA Times

Now Dig This

Just heard this mellow new tune from Nuke the Soup off their Ocean Album – the Filled with Dread track off the same set has been getting heavy play here for several months. Check it out in the music section of www.nukethesoup.com. Here are the first four lines of lyrics:

“The ocean is my church
The waves are my religion
I’ll find my way to earth
And not by my precision”

OK, that’s it from Blue. Have an awesome weekend.

Sunday Shout Out: Save the Waves, High Tides & Echo, Echo, Echo Beach

Save the Waves

Jaco, Costa Rica (Shred White and Blue) — Got a couple news blips from Costa Rica at the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games. The one that stuck was about Save The Waves asking for countries around the world to submit their top nominee for the World Surfing Reserves (WSR) program (designed to proactively protect the greatest and most threatened surf breaks around the world, of course).

In Jacó, the federations submitted their surf spot nominations to be considered as World Surfing Reserves, with the first reserves declared in 2009 and 2010. Save The Waves also presented its recently unveiled World Surfing Reserves/Google Earth 3D virtual tour of the nominated surf spots, in which internet users can download an application and tour detailed aerial maps and satellite photos of the nominated surf spots and their surrounding environments. Check it out at: www.savethewaves.org

East Coast Surf: 2 Feet Higher and Rising

Internet — Wired Magazine has a sweet little piece on scientists freaking out because they can’t figure out why peak tides at some East Coast surf spots have “outstripped predictions by two feet.” I bet global warming doesn’t have a single thing to do with it.

Or maybe it’s just the natural vagaries of life and waves and stuff: According to a quote from NOAA in the Wired story: “The ocean is dynamic. It’s not uncommon to have anomalies like this but the breadth and the intensity and duration were unique.” See who said that, along with the rest of the Wired report at: Wired.com

Echo, Echo, Echo Beach

Newport Beach, Calif — It seems like Echo Beach has been in the news for almost a year now, and that the surf-u-mentary has been enjoying ‘premieres’ since May at least. But Thursday night it really is hitting the home break, with a screening of the film showing locally on August 6th, at the Lido Theatre, 3459 Via Lido, Newport Beach 92663, at 7:00pm and again at 8:30pm.

Love this blurb about why it’s worth checking out: “Echo Beach tells the story of the Newport Beach surf scene in the eighties. Originally a reference to the steep, fast breaks between 52nd and 54th Streets, the name “Echo Beach” came to signify an entire era of Southern California surf culture. A group of innovative, extra-rebellious local surfers rose to global prominence not only for their new level of athleticism in the sport of surfing, but also for their (then) whacked-out contributions to style, fashion, business, culture and the arts. Neon colors, new styles, and a general loudness pervaded the Echo Beach scene, along with the usual cornucopia of drugs, girls and parties that always abounds in any surf scene worth its salt.”

Read more about Echo Beach.

Waves image: flickr/gerrygiroux

In Praise of the Bikini (and Ursula Andress)

It’s hot as hell here today. And you can see flat water all the way out to the horizon line. The beach is shimmering with skin, sun and sand.

When I came inside for a peach it was so cool that I turned on the TV and that old James Bond movie, Dr. No, with Sean Connery (the best James Bond ever) was on. “The movie that started the ’60s spy craze is high-spirited fun and action all the way,” according to my Blockbuster Video movie guide. But what everybody remembers most is how great Ursula Andress looked in that little brown buckskin bikini when she first appeared on the screen.

“Now that’s a woman,” my girlfriend said when she walked in to the room. Then she went off on a little diatribe about all those anorexic little things walking on the beach today without any flesh or muscle tone.

Which, of course, is the beauty of a bikini – all the many different curvy, shapely, busty, bodacious, badass, babe-licious ways that woman’s bodies look in them. A bikini without a body is like a candy wrapper after the chocolate is gone.

Online I found out that French car engineer Louis Reard invented the bikini in 1946 (after taking over his mother’s lingerie company – get as Freudian as you want with that one). He named it after the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands where we were conducting nuclear tests at the time.

With all the fireworks, fantasies and photographs that the swimsuit has inspired, it seems an appropriate marriage: French fashion and American bombs.

Wikipedia tells me that Parisian stripper Micheline Bernardini was the first to publicly model summer’s greatest accessory, at a poolside fashion show in Paris on July 5, 1946. And that the two hankies of cloth were banned from the Miss World contest until 1951 – the very Mecca of swimsuit competition!

The entry also says that “The bikini is perhaps the most popular female beachwear around the globe, according to French fashion historian Olivier Saillard, due to “the power of women, and not the power of fashion.” He adds, “The emancipation of swimwear has always been linked to the emancipation of women.”

Next, there are entries on “mankinis” (think Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat), string bikinis, thong bikinis and even sports bikinis.

At www.bikini.com I end up checking out “Karate Hotties” and “All Star Sizzlers” (somebody’s gotta do the research on this one).

Then it’s time to get back outside, to see real bikinis. And real women.

Shred Salute: Disabled Vets Get Fresh Waves

Malibu Beach, Calif. (Shred White and Blue)—I can’t think of anything more appropriate to post on this site for the 4th of July than a link to an organization that helps real American heroes go surfing.

Founded in 2006, Operation Amped gets veterans wounded in the service of our country a hand up hitting the waves again (on those very same beaches that they sacrificed to keep free for the rest of us, I might add).

Really cool. Check out some of the events, and give these guys some love. Visit Operation Amped.

Happy Birthday America!

Photo: Operation Amped

Jessica Alba’s Sweet Spot for Sharks

ALL THE WORLD’S OCEANS (Shred White and Blue) — I’m not sure what I feel more defenseless against, a great white shark, or Jessica Alba’s smile.

Put them both together, in Oklahoma of all places, and I become even more confused. But it seems that the fan-cute-tastic Miss Alba has become a big supporter of the shark fin hunt protesting White Mike campaign. She was apparently doing some business in middle America, decided to moonlight by plastering copies of the enviro-fanged White Mike poster (talk about hands on!) over some other charity media, and got accused of vandalism.

She apologized. Paid a fine. And got tons more publicity about how despite our already epically grotesque human wastefulness, with the continuing stupidity of things like shark fin hunts, we only continue to accelerate our collective loss of mind.

I dig this lady more all the time.

In honor of Miss Alba, and this totally stupid practice, here are some sobering scoops from the fine folks at the White Mike campaign. Don’t look away now, weenie, because this is happening right now, in your lifetime: (and check out White Mike himself).

“The reason is that illegal shark fin hunting affects the people of Oklahoma. It affects us all.”

As the apex predator of the oceans, sharks have evolved over millions of years to manage the immensely complex and fragile ecosystems of the ocean kingdom.

The largest study ever done on marine ecosystems has proven that when sharks disappear a deadly domino effect is triggered in the food chain, ultimately resulting in the collapse of the coral reefs, the spawning ground for the fish we (and other species) depend upon. With the growing demand for shark fins, shark populations have been decimated. By some estimates, over 90% of the shark population has been lost in the last 30 years. This year an estimated 100 million sharks will be killed, a mortality rate which will almost certainly end in the extinction of the species.

Check out more at the Humane Society.

Read about shark fin hunting via the BBC.

Read a first hand account from the filmmaker of Sharkwater.

Rider Down: The Electric Surf of Bob Bogle

LOS ANGELES (Shred White and Blue) — No sport other than surfing has its very own music – not skating, snowboarding or even skiing unless you count reggae, and can somehow make an inseparable match for mystic Jamaican rhythms and snow-covered mountains in your mind.

But surfing? Man, that certain clean twang of guitar and snare snap of drums can conjure up the blue waves and bright sunshine every time.

Guitarist Bob Bogle helped create that sound. Bogle, who died on June 14, at the age of 75, was a founding member of the Ventures, whose tightly paced instrumental masterpieces such as “Walk, Don’t Run,” “Hawaii Five-O,” and even their cover of the Surfaris legendary “Wipeout,” set the template for surf music in the 1960s.

John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival) called them “the most popular instrumental rock and roll band of all time,” just last year when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

As for Fogerty’s own two degrees of surf separation? That’s CCR’s Susie Q that the two Playboy bunnies are dancing to in Apocalypse Now, shortly after “Lance” and Robert Duvall grab a quick session amidst the smell of napalm.

Here are two quick YouTube clips of Bogle’s immense contribution to the stoke. Every time the needle hits the wax, he makes you feel paddling.

Thanks, man.

Walk Don’t Run

Wipeout