Jason Finlay signs with NMD
That’s right, Jason Finlay jsut signed with NMD! Check out the clip NMD put together: http://vimeo.com/33166456
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Archive for Industry
Deluxe Fins’ New Team Riders
Now that boards companies have sponsored every single rider on the planet who can do a spin it’s the fins companies who are locking solid teams for 2012. After Churchill’s and Stealth, it’s Deluxe Fins who’s been building its team for 2012 and they ain’t kidding:
Signature division:
Michael Novy. Black yellow
Sam bennet. Black orange
Jared houston All Black
José Otávio Blue red
FREE surf division:
Rui Ferreira purple lime green
Renan Faccini blue yellow
With the release of their new fins model with a better shape and a better evacuation system for the water there’s gonna be some serious competition on the fins market for 2012 ! We’ll try to test these fins for you !
We’ve got a Stealth Fins 2.0 Test here by the way. We’re also releasing a couple more fins test ASAP with the Hubb Churchill’s we’ve tested and the Toobs Bluntcuts fins as well.
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FOUND Boards: FOUND Absolute
FOUND Boards launches FOUND Custom Boards, here more about the new FOUND project:
There has been a buzz in the air, whispers amongst friends, rumors have been circulating and now it’s time to set the record straight.
As of today, Found Boards is proud to launch its innovative custom division ‘Found Absolute’. This latest initiative from Mitch Rawlins is going to take custom designed bodyboards to the next level with internationally renowned shaper Jarrod Gibson.
“THERE WON’T BE ANOTHER BOARD BRAND LIKE US”
YOu can now download the order form for a custom board here: ORDER FORM (PDF)
Check the official post on the FOUND website: http://foundboards.com/2011/found-absolute-launches-2011/
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Kingy’s new ride
Even though Kingy’s joking we felt bad for Glenn haha, funny video of Damian King introducing his new 2012 ride: http://vimeo.com/30411569
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Grand Flavour’s new website and retail strategy
Grand Flavour’s new website is online and it looks fresh and cool with their new collection. GF has also decided to only sell online on their website from now on and not sell in bodyboard shops anymore. GF hasn’t really explained why or what motivated this decision but we at Spongercity think it’s actually quite cool in a way, for different reasons. Anyways, the brand and team and collection is cool so whatever they choose to do it’s cool.
We’ve given our opinion about it on the Movement Mag website here in the comments. Leave your opinion or comment on the Movement Mag site or here on this post if you want. We’d be curious to see what you guys think.
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Bobby Martinez…
Looks like the IBA format and boogie vibes would fit pro surfer Bobby Martinez better than the ASP format hey ! We like Bobby’s surfing and this video shows we were right, the guy stays true to himself and tells the ASP what he thinks and tells everyone how he feels.
Happened in NYC Quik Pro earlier today:
“First of all, I’d like to say (and the ASP are going to fine me) ‘cuz I don’t want to be a part of this dumb f***ing wannabe tennis tour. All these pro surfers want to be tennis players. They want to do a halfway cutoff. How the f*** is somebody who’s not even competing against our caliber of surfers ahead of 100 of us on the one world ratings. They’ve never been here. They’ve never fucking made the right to surf against us, but now we’re ranked upon them. Come on now. That’s Bullshit. That’s why I ain’t going to these stupid contests no more. This is my last one because FTW, my sponsors is here and I just tell it like it is. This is my last one and I don’t like tennis. I don’t like the tour… Who gives a f***? You know what I mean?”
“I’ve been here before. I love this city. I’ll tell you right now, if my sponsor wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be here for this dumb contest. ASP? They f***ing…surfing’s going down the drain thanks to these people.” —Bobby Martinez
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Stealth Boards
STEALTH, well-known for their fins, just launched a Boards division, sponsoring 3 main riders: Mark McCarthy, Alex Bunting and Drew Innocend. Check their website here: http://www.stealthboards.com
Boards are available in Oz. No news yet whether they’ll be distributed worldwide.
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A preview & preso of the new 2012 boards coming soon…
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 !
The 2011 Update of the Spongercity.com shortlist
In November 2010 we listed a massive amount of brands and told you were they were made. We updated this list with the 2011 info we have. Check it out here: http://spongercity.com/global/2010/11/07/the-short-list/
Important: If you’re a board maker or a brand and would like to modify / enhance / remove something from the list feel free to contact Spongercity.com
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