Wetsuit test – ZION WETSUIT FLUX 3/2 STEAMER WITH BACKZIP

September 10, 2009 at 9:32 pm | Spongercity Tests, Wetsuits Tests News

ZION Wetsuits is one of the new cool wetsuit brand out there, hailing from Australia, and being “The Brainchild of former pro Bodyboarder Ryan Mattick”, who “has developed Zion for purpose built Bodyboard use in mind”. There are quite a lot of bodyboarding-specialized wetsuits brands nowadays which is great (Agent 18, Dunes, Zion, Reeflex, Void…). We tested an AGENT 18 Wetsuit last year, then a DUNES steamer, and now it’s ZION’s turn to be tested by Spongercity. We’ll make the test/review short and to the point:

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Board Test – VS RYAN HARDY 41.5 PE MESH STRINGER

September 9, 2009 at 5:38 pm | Spongercity Boards Tests, Tests News

VS boards are made by Mez in indo, in the same factory that produces NMD, LMNOP, HB, SCIENCE, SNIPER, some TOYS, some TURBO, MOREY, BZ, ELIT and even more brands… They’re all really good boards with a solid construction (Buzz Tech Laminators), CNC Machine precision for the cut of the core blanks, and hand shaped finitions for all boards (rails, nose and tail bumpers, nose bulbs & lamination process).

The Ryan Hardy is a fast and narrow board designed by Ryan and Todd Quigley. Its template is very straight in the same vein as its range compadre the VS Rawlins board. The template and curve of the VS Hardy when you look at it is quite close to the template of the NMD Player board but the Hardy board is narrower and it’s got a different curve between the wide point and the nose of the board. The NMD Player for example has a gentle curve that goes smoothly from the wide point to the nose whereas the VS Hardy has a curve that tends to go up higher, in a straight line and then turn at the last moment to meet the nose corners which makes the board very straight.

As a result the VS Hardy board is fast and draws straight lines on the wave. The rails are straight and feel fast and responsive for rail to rail turn, specially since the board is quite narrow. It’s easy to scoop, lock yourself into barrels and control the board in hollow conditions. On the contrary, small and less powerful waves would probably not fit the board as well, it would lack volume (width) a little bit and wouldn’t go as fast or be enough responsive.

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Just a few video clips worth watching

September 7, 2009 at 9:18 pm | Spongercity Moving Pictures News

Just a few videos clips we spoted on the web the last couple weeks:

- Dub in Puerto Rico: http://vimeo.com/5442952 – Really inspiring. Sick dk riding. Dub owns it.
- Mitch Woodland ‘best of’ clip: http://vimeo.com/6174029 – Sick clip & really talented rider !
- Dylan Lee: http://www.vimeo.com/4973294 – We maintain what we said before: Dylan is the only kid we’ve watched who has a Roach potential. This is how good dking looks like.
- Eddie Solomon at the wedge: http://vimeo.com/5792874 – One of the biggest roll we’ve ever witnessed on film.
- Ben Player at Black Rock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PI-xTxGwbY – Ben surfing aussie pipe, 7 hours worth of footage. Sick shit.

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World tour update and recap

September 7, 2009 at 1:37 pm | Spongercity Contests News

We havent really followed the latest events on the world tour (IBA) since the Arican Chilean Challenge, mostly because they didn’t look too attractive (sorry) with waves and spots that werent really matching the Pipe, Chili, Shark Island, Chopes, Cloud9 or other events that we had on the tour a while ago and are better suited to bodyboarding and proper TV material & entertaining stuff. However, considering how bodyboarding struggles to get coverage and touch a wider audience to make the sport bigger, better and richer we totally understand that the latest events are much needed on the tour because there’s a wider public to touch, there’s investors, sponsors and people to watch on the beach. Less impressive spots but impressive crowds and more money…

Anyway, here’s the recap of what happened on the world tour since the Chilean Challenge:

Viana Pro – Portugal: Eder Luciano wins
Sopelana BBK Pro – Spain: Amaury Laverhne wins
Sintra Pro – Portugal: Hubb wins (and his brother Dub wins DK event!)
Ferrol Deeply Pro – Spain: Winny wins (and Dub wins the Dk event again!)

Next event is Peniche, Portugal. Peniche is famous for its deep hollow barrels and it’s a world class shorey so let’s cross our fingers for scik waves and action !

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Order yours before it’s too late!

September 4, 2009 at 7:00 pm | Spongercity Spongercity Store News

We’re almost running out of stock on certain items in the Spongercity Store so get your Spongercity™ leashes and heel pads before it’s too late! Orders are flying out the office like never before. We’re re-stocking already to make sure we’ll have enough stock and to make sure all items are available in the store. The stock on the store is updated all the time so dont worry, you couldn’t place an order for something that is out of stock. If you see the item and order it, it means we have it in stock. Unless 100 people decide to get the same item at the same time maybe ? That’s something we haven’t planned anyway !

LINK TO THE STORE: http://store.spongercity.com

Images of the leashes & packaging: Here and there !

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New LeBoogie items available

September 3, 2009 at 11:34 am | Spongercity Magazines News

Phil Gallagher is taking care of the business and came up with new cool items from Leboogie Magazine:

- A 4 issue subscription is now available
- Custom Canvas printing from any image you see in the magazine is available now as well.

Check the details for these items here and then check the leboogie.com website for more.

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Flipmode, more clothes for your wardrobe

September 1, 2009 at 11:47 pm | Spongercity Industry News

Our great friend Corio just launched his website and clothing company after months of preparation and development. We’re stoked to see the result and proudly support his brand here on Spongercity.com – say hello to FLIPMODE! Preview some of the logos, tees, beanies and sweaters here: Logo, tee, more tees, hooded sweater, beanie & another tee

Here’s more about this new aussie brand and its website:

A relative newcomer to the industry but not to the sport, Running With Flippers is an Australian owned clothing company for the riders by the riders. All our work is inspired by a lifetime passion for bodyboarding and a keen eye for design. We aim to give back to the sport what it has given us for the last 20 years. Our web site, http://www.runningwithflippers.com, will showcase not only our clothing but also our future riders and anything else we like and think that you would be interested in. Running With Flippers is best described as fun, edgy, colorful with a slight element of danger!!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have helped us along the way & are showing their support, you all know who you are! To all spongers out there…..go forth and froth or as the band “Art Vs Science” would say, use your flippers to get down!!

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Spongercity leashes, fin tethers, heel pads are now available to buy online on the Spongercity Store

August 27, 2009 at 2:01 pm | Spongercity Spongercity Store News

That’s right, all Spongercity Accessories are now available online on the Spongercity Store!!! Ready to be ordered, ready to ship for free!

Shipping is FREE (worldwide!) for all leashes, fin tethers & heel pads for a limited time only. So don’t miss the opportunity to get yourself the sickest leashes on the market!

Prices are 45USD for leashes (this includes shipping almostanywhere worldwide), 17USD for fin tethers and 17USD for heel pads.

Shipping is free for Oz, US, Europe etc.

All currencies are allowed on the Store: USD, AUD, EUR, POUNDS etc.

Link to the Spongercity Store

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LeBoogie issue 1

August 25, 2009 at 7:15 pm | Spongercity Magazines News

LeBoogie Magazine just launched their new website and Issue one of the mag is already available (for pre-order). Mags will ship on Sept.10th. You can preview the first pages of the mag online already! Check it out here. Looking good! Can’t wait for the mag in the Spongercity mail box!

Issue 1 is packed with photographs from around the globe. Dave Winchester has an all photo profile, Spencer Skipper shares his holiday snaps with us, we find out about the first ever bodyboard Tom Morey shaped and we hit the open road with Thom Robinson, Dallas Singer, Dave Winchester and Spencer Skipper.

Le Boogie issue 1 weighs in at 144 pages of pure gold, enjoy.
All pre ordered copies will be shipped on the 10th of September.

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Wallpaper – Spongercity x LeBoogie Co-Lab

August 24, 2009 at 7:30 pm | Spongercity Wallpapers News

It’s time for new wallpapers ! Say hello to our third wallpaper collaboration project ! After our collaboration with VS™ Boards and Dan Sivess as well as Chris Gurney a few month ago we’ve decided to work with a magazine this time to bring you another cool wallpaper. And here you go:

The SPONGERCITY™ x LeBoogie Wallpaper Co-Lab

Who better than a Magazine knows what a good picture is ? Who better then Phil Gallagher could do a co-lab with us ? Just before Phil launches LeBoogie Magazine we’ve decided to go for another cool wallpaper co-lab thing.

This time it’s a sick Ben Player shot that we’ve choosen with Phil Gallagher, for your viewing pleasure and your computer or iPhone’s pimping.

As usual, we’ve included 10 different sizes for all computer screens, from 1920px wide to 800px wide, and have a choice between WIDE or 4:3 size resolution. Check at the bottom of the list the iPhone / iPodTouch special size. We designed it taking into account the iPhone interface to make sure the wallpaper is gonna look sick and won’t mess with the rest of the iPhone user interface like Time/Date and Unlock buttons.

Choose a screen resolution and download for it for FREE right now:

• Screen resolution: 1920×1200 pixels [Wide]
• Screen resolution: 1680×1050 pixels [Wide]
• Screen resolution: 1600×1200 pixels [4:3]
• Screen resolution: 1440×900 pixels [Wide]
• Screen resolution: 1400×1050 pixels [4:3]
• Screen resolution: 1280×960 pixels [4:3]
• Screen resolution: 1280×800 pixels [Wide]
• Screen resolution: 1024×768 pixels [4:3]
• Screen resolution: 320×480 pixels [iPhone]

PCINSTRUCTIONS: Click on the wallpaper you want, wait until it’s downloaded in its new window, then control-click the wallpaper : choose “Save as wallpaper”. Close the window once you’ve got your wallpaper.

MACINSTRUCTIONS: Click on the wallpaper you want, wait until it’s downloaded in its new window, then you can simply drag the wallpaper onto the desktop. Or you can also control-click the wallpaper and choose “Download image to disk” which works fine as well. Close the window once you’ve got your wallpaper. Go to your Mac preferences panel to customize the settings of your desktop.

iPhoneINSTRUCTIONS: Download the wallpaper (iPhone size of course) and drop it on your computer in any folder (or on your iPhoto library if you’re using iPhoto on a Mac). Then open iTunes, go to the “Photos” tab while you synchronize your iPhone with your computer and choose to sync the folder that contains the wallpaper (or sync the wallpaper directly from iPhoto if you’re on a Mac). Once the wallpaper is uploaded on your iPhone and the synchronisation is over just go to your iPhone settings > Wallpaper then choose the wallpaper and validate. Boom! Done !

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