Archive for General
September 16, 2008 at 8:21 pm | Spongercity General, Industry, Podcasts News
We’re on the road in California and actually couldnt really update the site too often. We missed a couple little news stories but i’m sure we’ll be forgiven because here they are and we even have new ones for you:
- Spencer Skipper officially launched his DENZIEN leashes website the other day. Check it out herea while ago in this post last June. Looks like the leashes are made by XM surf more and it’s good quality for sure..
- The Panic Button released another episode on their cool podcast starring Hardy, Costes, Jackson, Virtue, Honeybone, Backshall, Ormerods, Luehman at the Box (WA). Go here and download / suck / rip / watch it.
- Movement Magazine changed the design of their website.
- Todd Quigley from QCD now has his own little blog. Interesting.
Other than that we (Spongercity) went to ASR the other day in San Diego. Very few bodyboard brands there. We noticed Morey / BZ were there, Catch Surf also (the Tom Morey softboards). We’ll post a couple pics if we have the time to. No good waves in South California during our trip…
We got to see the latest TURBO bodyboards though the other day, while meeting Gregg (owner/manager of the brand). Pretty cool. Good projects coming.
Also got to read Bodyboarder Magazine here in the US (the one with Dave Hubbard on the cover) which is pretty good (better than before we reckon).
July 14, 2008 at 10:46 pm | Spongercity General News
We just interviewed master shaper Dan Sivess the other day and eventually posted the whole interview online today. It’s a long and interesting interview, we talked about everything from shaping to managing a whole bodyboard factory to living abroad in Indo and we were lucky enough to have Dan answer all our questions and taking the time to do this really well. If you never heard of Dan before (which we doubt) then you need to read this interview coz Dan is the man behind a lot of boards on the market and specially behind the PLC boards from VS. If you already know Dan, then you know that he’s more than just another shaper and his job is far from your traditional shaper’s job. Learn more from this shaping guru and read the whole interview here.
July 14, 2008 at 12:23 pm | Spongercity General News
A big (illegal) fishing boat just ran aground straight into the famous padang padang reef in Bali, Indonesia. It looks unreal to see this, this and this. (pics courtesy of Aquabumps.com).
This weird situation could be fun if the boat wasnt leaking diesel fuel already and if it wasnt threatening the integrity of the Padang Padang reef. It’s a pretty massive boat and it’s hard to say if the reef is damaged but let’s hope it won’t be…
More info and pictures here on Baliwaves and here on Aquabumps.
July 8, 2008 at 11:35 pm | Spongercity General News
We’ve been willing to write this article for a while but we never got the time nor the motivation to type anything else than our little news entries the last couple weeks. Articles are like interviews and product reviews, i reckon they require more time and concentration than just writing a couple lines on the latest news around the world.
Anyway, what’s the “Myth of the one board quiver” you’re gonna ask me ? It’s a simple fact that we often observe in bodyboarding: most people ride one board hoping that it will work well in any condition and water temp. Pros usually ride heaps of different boards, eventually find a template they like and then narrow down their choice to 2 or 3, maybe 4 boards, but not just one board, or at least it’s quite rare to see pros riding one board all the time. Why ? simply because you surf better when you adapt your craft to the conditions. The article is all about how to adapt your board to the waves you surf and find the good board(s) for you.
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July 7, 2008 at 8:06 pm | Spongercity Contests, General, Industry News
Mmmh Monday, Monday ! The round 1 of the Shark Island Challenge is now complete. Check the IBA Tour Event’s Wesbite for more info, pictures, videos etc.
Seriously i dont remember any event with such a cool website, webcast, pictures galleries for all heats, press releases and all. It’s awesome and great for the sport in general. Congrats to all the people working for this event. This is what we need to make it happen, along with good mags like Movement, Riptide, Vert etc.
Other than that we got more Spongercity™ truckers caps in stock this week, there’re back by popular demand ! Check the Spongercity Store to get yourself one: Store is here. We ship almost everywhere worlwide for FREE.
We got some news from Manta team rider and Gold Coaster Tom Smith the other day and i forgot to post them here, so here you go now.
Click below to read Tom’s story.
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June 24, 2008 at 10:13 pm | Spongercity General, Moving Pictures News
Two cool short video clips that you should watch this week:
- The Bodyboard Expedition 08 Ventura (USA) – Trailer: It’s classy and well edited with a good mellow soundtrack. Good bbing action with Jake Reeves and Phil Harnsberger (note his smooth backside attack at 1:38 min.).
- The 4PLAY crew tearing apart the Cook Islands. Awesome footage shot by Todd Barnes. Super good but too short alas !
Coming this week on Spongercity: the Isolated DVD review.
Coming next month on Spongercity: we ran out of Spongercity Trucker caps but we’ll have more available in July !
Also coming next month… an exclusive interview with mmhh nah, you’ll have to wait and see ! Interesting interview it will be hey !
June 18, 2008 at 6:32 pm | Spongercity General News
We just got a little Manta Update from Manta’s shaper Reon Fisher: W.A.’s Brendon Backshall has been over at Manta HQ working on his new rides and is stoked with the way his new stock boards are looking. “I am so happy with the look and feel of my new boards. Reon (Manta shaper) and I worked on getting a nice clean template for all conditions and it has been working great.” Brendon timed his trip to the East Coast well and has been scoring all over the South Coast, linking up with video lens man Todd Barnes for his upcoming feature film “Thrash”.
Cronulla’s Johnny Showell is also amping on his new boards. “I have been training hard for this year’s Shark Island contest and with the new CCT core in my boards, it works great for flex and speed out the Island. Fingers crossed we get a good swell during the waiting period.”
Tommy Smith, fresh back from a trip to South Oz with 2x World Champ Damian King, is determined on qualifying for this years Shark Island contest. “Everything feels right at the moment. My boards and equipment are working well, I feel fit and like my surfing is at the top of it’s game.” With determination like this and the skill level of Tommy’s riding, he is a near certainty to qualify.
Manta’s new 08/09 boards are avaliable in all good surf retailers now. For more go to www.manta.com.au
Here are some pictures from Brendo and Showell at the Manta shaping room: Brendo, Brendon again, John, John and Brendo, and a cool Manta double spread ad.
Other than that make sure you log on Riptide’s website to choose your next board on their new Riptide Buyer’s Guide. Note the cool NMD logos, they always come up with a nice design for their signature series (BP and Winny for example), also note what seems to be a golden VS board ! We’ve also notice heaps of PE boards with mesh layers, which sounds great, and noticed the VS “graphic slick” thingy that might be something new for 2008-2009.
Last minute news Plastic People news from the UK for those of you living in Europe and more specifically in the UK and looking for US New-York based brand Plastic People cltohing: Chuck Guarino and Mike Murphy’s bodyboard clothing brand Plastic People now has a UK distributor, Jonathan Tutte from Soul life store in Plymouth. Any interested stores who would like to carry the brand should contact jonathan@plasticpeoplenewyork.com Established in 2003, Plastic People Clothing is the brainchild of longtime friends Chuck Guarino (of THECAST) and Mike Murphy. These New Jersey natives joined forces to create a downtown New York design and clothing label that they themselves are eager to wear and to share with others. Plastic People is a lifestyle, celebrating the best of 80’s and 90’s surf design, punk-rock, & new wave style. Sometimes bright, sometimes dark & dirty, but always fun. For more information and news about Plastic People visit http://www.plasticpeoplenewyork.com. Soul life store is a bodyboarder owned streetwear and lifestyle store based in Plymouth, UK established in 2004. The online version of the store www.soullife.co.uk includes bodyboard brands Plastic People and Opine Clothing and offers free worldwide delivery on all orders.
June 12, 2008 at 8:20 pm | Spongercity General, Moving Pictures News
The Human Shark Island Challenge (IBA event) is coming soon and everything you need to know about the event is here on the IBA site. But that’s not all, you’ll be able to watch the event LIVE on the Shark Island website (IBA LIVE) right here. That’s sick !
The Shark Island Challenge will start with the N°6 Trials. Riders from over 9 countries will be lining up against the best in Australia. An expected field of around 130 will contest the three-day event set down for June 27th – 29th at Cronulla Point.
So what does the “more…” stands for in this post title you’re gonna ask ? Uh well, we found a few cool sites / blogs and stuff to visit the last couple days, so we’ll end this post with some link love:
First is the Press Play Film MySpace page, which has 2 cool little teasers to peep. Second is the Claws and Teeth blog on blogger that has heaps of cool stuff to watch and read. We also liked the new TURBO DESIGNS website and the Eppo’s Blog on blogger.
May 20, 2008 at 8:12 pm | Spongercity General, Industry, Moving Pictures News
Ok, so we’re back in business, and sadly also back from indo where we had a great time. It’s been pretty inspiring to see and ride with the NMD and VS crew in Bali the last couple weeks. I’m sure the Waldron Bros will have insane footage from the crew very very soon.
Anyway, while scanning the world wide web and our email box for tasty news to feed our readers with, we found out that we forgot to talk about a couple new boards enhancement and industry news.
To start with if you’re in oz, make sure you log on Qcdboards.com and check Todd and Jarrod’s new Black Label limited edition stock boards. They look pretty damn good.
Nomad has recently introduced a cool innovation to they boards core, it’s called “Engineered Flex Core”. From what we read it’s basically a core that has 3 flat stringers in it, the stringers being “encased inside the core during its manufacture”. The core seems to be made specifically for bbing, unlike classic PE or PP blanks that are usually not made specifically for bbing but for heaps more industries. Anyway, log on the Nomad site to read more and check the tech graphic to see what we’re talking about.
Last but not least Science is also innovating in 2008 with a new LTD range of boards, including the new Thomas Robinson board and MS1 board, using a special deck material called “Compression Cell” to reduce the impact on landings. Here’s a preview of the MS1 board.
The I AM NONE guys have been busy working on a new movie called THRASH, which should be another great DVD, considering how good VIDEO and ROAM where… Check the THRASH website here and the teaser here.
Grand Flavour just updated they website with a new winter 08 range, which looks cooler than ever. Peep the whole range here on the site.
May 4, 2008 at 12:42 pm | Spongercity General, Industry News
The new Nofriends USA line is out and it looks pretty good. Check it out here: Nofriends.com.
Other than that no crazy news this week, we are in Indo for a few weeks anyway. We ll try to shoot a pics if we score…
Coming next on spongercity.com is the AGENT WETSUITS review mid-may, as well as the VS Rawlins review, the latest Waldron Bros dvds reviews, plus interviews and more, so stay tuned.
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