August 13, 2011 at 7:34 pm | Spongercity Contests, General, International News
Jeff just won the 2011 IBA ZICATELA PRO ! Yeah Jeff ! Ryan Hardy takes second place with a great performance and much style and talent. Mitch Rawlins and Pierre-Louis Costes finish equal third with also great performances for both of ‘em.
Incredible comp once again, absolutely perfect LIVE webcast from the IBA/RedBull crew and awesome comments from Manny Vargas. Seriously, it can’t get any better than this, it’s THE best webcast in the boardsport industry now, it’s smoking everything we’ve seen before. THANK YOU SO MUCH IBA for bringing this to bodyboarding, congrats for all the hard work, organisation and everything. It’s the best world tour we can remember of, seriously. We bet all our readers think the same and we bet the sponsors and riders are stoked.
There’s only one weird thing for this event: usually it’s board Brands who sponsor events (and it was kinda the case here for the contest) but not the manufacturer itself. What’s the point (of course the IBA needs money but it’s kinda weird the have the factory itself sponsoring the event). Just our 2 cents…
See ya at the Sintra Pro soon !
August 12, 2011 at 12:58 pm | Spongercity Clips, General, Industry, International, Links, Videos News
2012 Boards are starting to show up in mags (Riptide Board Guide in their latest issue), on the internet, in shops etc. and we bet you all want to know what’s cooking for this up-coming season. Marketing, blah blah blah, innovations (real ones and fake ones), riders with pro models, rookies, new brands, new models, new materials… same boards different year ? Yeah maybe, depends on the brands… most have something new for 2012 and we’ll try to preview these innovations in this article.
Oh… and we’ll do some reviews soon of some of the 2012 boards. If you’re a board brand and by any chance you read these lines, let us know if you wanna have your board(s) reviewed – we’re always amped to review boards. And.. nope we don’t pay for boards we review – if some of the readers were wondering – we usually borrow them from brands for the tests if brands want to. Sometimes we don’t give ‘em back which is great for the brand – although it means they’ll never see their board back – coz it means we loved their board(s) !
For the curious readers here, we’re usually riding these boards:
- TOOBS customs for DK – they’ve always been the best DK boards, period. We haven’t reviewed the boards but that’s what we ride and we believe they’re the best boards out there with a couple other shapers / brands.
- NMD Winny 41 PE or 3D for when waves are good for prone and powerful. PE for cool/cold water and 3D for warm waters.
- NMD Player 41.5 PE or 3D for when the waves are small but fun for prone. PE for cool/cold water and 3D for warm waters.
- Turbo Mason Rose PE double stringer (2010 model) if the waves are really small but still fun for DK.
- Turbo King 42 (2011 model) Crescent Tail PE in DK as well in the winter coz the PE board felt good with a bit of flex in cold water for DK. For some reason we liked it for DK…
- We don’t ride “polyvalent” boards too often as we believe that polyvalent boards are not good for prone neither for DK although some DK boards allow you to ride “ok” in prone and vice-versa. It’s always best to use the right tool for the right conditions and position (Dk or Prone)
…Oh and now here’s a couple new boards or previews of boards for 2012: (note that these are just a few brands, we couldn’t write something for all brands)
- NMD and VS: with probably the best team in the business, no need to present NMD or VS. Sick pro models and shapes for 2012 with PE, PP, 3D and Parabolic Rails. Unfortunately their website is under-construction and VS doesn’t have a website that we know of if we’re correct but you can have a sneak preview of the boards in the RIPTIDE guide (out now).
- Pride, strong team with PLC, Bennett and Sharp this year. Great boards made by Mez in Indo and designed/refined by Dan Sivess.
- Turbo (now made by Agit in Taiwan), solid team and solid communication for 2012, being the major sponsor for several IBA World Tour stops. Check the 2012 boards previews (same boards models for the most part but different production – used to be made in Indo by Mez) on their website. They have a little clip to introduce their boards and pro-models for 2012 on their website and youtube.
- Found, created by Mitch Rawlins, co-sponsor of the Zicatela Pro, looks like the boards are gonna be good with Jarrod Gibson taking care of the production / shapes. Stock boards are made in Taiwan by Agit. Check http://foundboards.com/ for the 2012 boards line, there’s a catalog online on their site, it’s well done and well- designed.
- ID, created by Glen Thurston, co-sponsor of the Zicatela Pro, same as for Found Boards, it looks like the boards are gonna be good with Jarrod Gibson taking care of the production / shapes. Stock boards are made in Taiwan by Agit. Solid team as well with Novy now on board !
- Toobs, well if you need a real good custom board at an affordable price, hit Toobs.com and ask ‘em, it’s always good service, great boards, great people. Can’t go wrong !
- QCD, well, same as Toobs, if you need a real good custom board at an affordable price in Oz, hit Qcdboards.com and ask Todd.
- Cartel, great boards, great custom boards by PMA. SOme of the best DK boards on the market and of course with Roach on the team they don’t need any other publicity. No preview yet of the 2012 boards.
- Stealth, yes Stealth is now making boards (they’re famous for their fins) and recruted Mark McCarthy, Alex Bunting and Drew Innocend. If we’re not wrong Stealth was/is a “distributor’s brand” – it means it’s been created by the Distributor for Morey, NMD, VS etc. (called World Bodyboards we reckon – correct us if we’re wrong).
- Nomad: with Lackey, Chris James, Halsey and Damian Martin they’ve got a solid crew of riders. You can preview a clip for their EFC core here: http://vimeo.com/27323630. For more info peep their site here: http://www.nomad.com.au/
- Manta and 4Play: same group and same innovation for this year, the TFX (or TFC) core: a mix of PE/PP core with PE along the rails and PP in the center of the board. Solid team as well with Skipper on Manta and Dallas+Robinson on 4Play with pro models for the 3 riders.
- Morey, has a great team this year with Nick Gornall, Finlay and Dubb who all have pro models for 2012. Looks like really good boards and it’s made by Mez in Indo. We’d love to test-ride a Gornall or Finley board !
- No6 Boards: EFC core (same as Nomad) and made by Agit in Taiwan. No6 has a solide intl’ team and is always innovating and coming up with new stuff and they’re sticking to their brand image and values since the beginning which is cool. Good Dkers and prone riders in the team too. Peep their site: http://www.theno6.com/
- Division71: Designed by shaping guru Brian Peterson inthe US of A and apparently made in indo by Mez. We’d love to test-ride those babies. Sick style and nice templates. Check Division71 here for more info.
- Sniper: European brand created by French distributor Hoff. Solid team with world champ Amaury Lavernhe and a roaster of talented euro riders. Made by Mez in Indo, good boards and materials. Check their range here: http://www.sniperbodyboards.com/index.php
- Toys: Although AKA is not with Toys anymore (we won’t go into details), the TOYS brand seems to go well for 2012 with new pro-models (Dylan Lee, Raffi Meyer) and good collabs with Plastic People. Can’t wait to see the new DK pro models. The TOYS site is under-construction.
- LMNOP: No more Jake Stone since Jake is now riding for VS but it seems that LMNOP is still around for 2012.
- HB: solid and diverse team with good creative people in there like James Kates, and also chargers like Hughesy. Good shapes made in indo by Mez. HB always comes up with cool video clips of their team and a good range of boards. Check ‘em out here: http://hbbodyboards.com/
- Custom-X: has a different image and team in the US and OZ but the brand is still here for sure, making good boards (some made in the US, other made in Taiwan we reckon). Their most famous rider being aussie charger / aerialist Ewan Donnachie, we’re sure Custom X will deliver the goods for 2012 whether it is thru their team and action or with their products. We’d love ‘em to make a revival of their Fred Booth models ! Those 42.5 PE boards were some of the best we rode in the 90’s with a great Dk/versatile shape ! Come on Custom X ! Do these again !
Sorry for all other brands we forgot. If we did forget you, let us know. It has not been done on purpose, there are so many brands out there that it’s hard to keep track of everything / everyone and we wrote this article just as a preview for 2012, not a complete & exhaustive list of manufacturers or innovations. Thanks for your understanding.
And comment in the comments if you want to add stuff !
August 11, 2011 at 6:55 pm | Spongercity Australia, Clips, General, International, Videos News
In The Nest – Episode 5.5 with Jose Marquina – To be watched here: http://vimeo.com/27426197
From Jose & Alex Bunting: Jose was strangely absent from the usual pumping line ups over the past two months of epic swells on the east coast. Travel commitments and a tweaked wrist after a bike crash keeping him in transit lounges or medical waiting rooms. On the coldest day Sydney recorded so far this winter Jose was feeling good to hit the salt again for a quick sesh before his 9-5 grind. 10 hours later he jumped on the novelty wagon to surf Bondi beach of all places in the dark. With an Ice Skating rink laid over Australia’s most recognised sand, stadium floodlights lit up the ice for awkward first daters and school holidays kiddies. The lights conveniently shone straight into a running left rip bowl that a novelty surf was in order and well worth dodging clean up sets and the marine life that lurks beneath in the moonlit hours of the day.
August 6, 2011 at 1:04 pm | Spongercity Clips, Contests, General, International, Videos News
The Zicatela Pro in Puerto Escondido, Mexico just started with 2 consecutive days of trials. It’s the 4th stop on the world tour on a total of 8 stops. Don’t miss the event and watch / follow it LIVE on the IBA site and Redbull.com
PUERTO ESCONDIDO, Oaxaca / Mexico (Wednesday, Aug 5, 2011) – With Day 2 of the trials complete, the field of competitors vying for the 8 slots available in the Grand Slam main event has been withered down to the top 32. The groomed offshore and crystal blue water made for excellent conditions as solid 2 meter barrels reeled across the sandbars of Puerto Escondido. Standout performances included Fabio Rodriguez (BRA), Babby Quinones (PR) and Jorge Colomer (PR). The remaining quarter finalists need to advance into the semifinals to secure their place amongst the elite top 24 in the 2011 AGIT/Turbo Zicatela Pro Grand Slam.
Already available on video:
Trials Day 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgX_I2Tn-CU
Trials Day 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpGr9×5nm9A
For more info: http://ibaworldtour.com/
LIVE WEBCAST: Redbull.com
