Tag: vans

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Week in Action Ep 3 – Mason Ho, Snowboard Africa, Dlamini Dlamini & Surf Lebanon

Another action filled week in the latest episode and you won’t be able to stop watching!

The show this week

In this week’s show we go surfing in Lebanon with Adrien Toyon, Wasted Talent and Vans. Then its off to the mountains of Lesotho for the Winter Whip with LW Magazine and Afriski. We check out a killer session by Dlamini Dlamini at the Berrics skate compound and then head to Indonesia for Mason Ho and friends in his latest video, Green Monkey. Lastly check out Jack Robinson on Instagram with his latest post from Mexico.

Win a pair of Volcom Boardshorts

Win a pair of Volcom Boardshorts this week (Winner announced next week in Ep4). Simply subscribe to my youtube channel and follow Volcom and myself on Instagram. Leaving a comment will certainly aid your chances. Good luck!

Watch the Show

See the full videos here

FLIGHT 566 TO BEIRUT from WASTED TALENT on Vimeo.

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VANS Surf Pro Classic at Lamberts Bay

The VANS Surf Pro Classic at Lamberts Bay went down in epic surf up the Weskus of South Africa. With the best local and a few quality international drop-ins, the surfing on display was of the highest quality imaginable!

The Standouts

The first standout was undoubtably the waves at Yoyos at Lamberts Bay. The South African Trestles as its affectionately called by myself and others delivered highly contestable surf. The other standout was Michael February, Mfeb to his friends, who has been on a tear in the City Surf Series. Mfeb never looked like losing and eventually took out his best mate, David Van Zyl, in the incredible final.

Vans Surf Pro Classic

The Event grows every year and is fast proving popular with even international surfers. This is great news for both local surfers and the local community as it brings much needed tourism revenue to the very poor area. I hope this event grows into a bigger event and perhaps even a WSL 10000 one day.

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Best West! Vans Surf Pro Classic fires off at Lamberts Bay

I love the West Coast! Every time I head up there I just fall in love all over again. One of the main reasons is what I like to call the “West Coast Handshake”. For this event, myself and Stanley Badger drove up a few days early and we arrive at pretty good Elands Bay in the morning with quite the crowd on it. Have a surf, go have lunch, come back to the point and the crowd gone and an old guy from the coast in the parking lot. We have a quick chat and he says, “Enjoy the empty lineup, I am paddled out and heading home.” and he shakes my hand. We score three hours of uncrowded perfection.

This is followed by the first ever WSL event on the coast and as per usual YoYos delivers whether 2ft, 8ft, crossshore or offshore and high tide or low tide. The kids are going off, the Pros are frothing and the vibe is super chilled and everyone is smiling. (Just watch the videos I tell you!) Mike February is looking sublime, but Beyrick de Vries has a look in his eye. Funny then that both end up in the final with Beyrick just pipping Mikey. In the juniors Jordy Maree smokes the field and it is good to see the Grom smiling from ear to ear with a big victory. No huge party follows, just fire, braai and a few beers. West Coast style.

I find myself parked at one of the multitude of reefs along the coast road, one surf down already on a Monday. The waves are out there and looking pretty good. A car pulls up with a bunch of frothing surfers who have just arrived. I say hi, we chat about the event and how the waves looking. A good little set peels off down the reef. I tell them to go enjoy themselves, I am hitting the road. We shake hands and I drive off with a big smile on my face.

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Skateboarding brings the Youth of South Africa together – Skateboarding for Hope

This year I have been lucky enough to MC on the Skateboarding for Hope, presented by Vans, around South Africa. The tour, which is operated by the Kimberley Diamond Cup, holds events around the country with clinics and free equipment for underprivileged areas and street skate competitions for SA skaters. Having attended all the major events in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, the major revelation for me has been that Skateboarding is truly the most inclusive sport in our country. Our skateboarders come from all cultures, races and urban demographics with probably the right ratios to make even our Governments stern demand for race quotas in sport a reality. The best part though is not one of those skaters cares about race or culture in their fellow skaters. The SA Skate crew roll together as a unified group of athletes who are all friends and are all in the sport because they are passionate about skateboarding. The rest of SA could take a big lesson from these perceived rebels of society. While the skaters are competing against one another, and believe me the competition is fierce, there is nothing but support and positivity amongst the crew outside of heats. When a skater, in a heat lands a big trick, the whole event lights up and the most noise and support is coming from their fellow skaters.

Moving forward it would be incredible to see more Brands and local Governments in South Africa and Africa getting involved, following the lead set by the Northern Cape and the brands already involved such as Vans and Red Bull. Skateboarding requires a board and a pair of shoes, equipment that is also a mode of transport and the start of a dedicated sport lifestyle. It is an incredible diversion from common dangers in poor areas such as gangsterism and drugs. An old misconception is that skateboarders are rebels and into drugs, but many of the new breed of skater are profesional athletes with their eye on the prize of an international career. These are the skaters inspiring the next generation. South Africa desperately needs more parks and skateboarding areas dedicated to the kids. This becomes apparent all over the country when kids sign up to skate the competitions, not because they want to compete, but because it is the opportunity to ride a proper, world class skate park, which is setup by Old School Productions for every event. If every city council in SA committed to building just one major plaza in a central location for the cities population, I can guarantee they would notice a difference within a few short months in the local communities. Kids are drawn to skating, it is accessible and the costs are not not astronomical. Those same plazas would attract sponsored events and help fast track our own skateboarders to where they could compete overseas and earn a salary from the sport.

All in all, skateboarding in SA is growing fast and with the world’s richest skateboarding event coming to Kimberley once again from the 7-11 October, along with the World’s best skateboarders, you can expect that growth to continue.

If you would like to get involved in skateboarding go check out the KDC website or contact me – http://www.kimberleydiamondcup.com/

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Mongoose Bmx Team slay Cape Town

Every year in mid summer a plethora of Bmx stars from around the World head for Cape Town due to the many big riding events happening close to each other. This year our local hero, Greg Illingworth, brought his fellow Mongoose team mates along for a trip and they quite literally slayed the local Cape Spots. I got to take them down to the secret bowl and watch Greg slay that which was pretty incredible live. So sit back, relax and watch some Bmx carnage as riders Kevin Peraza, Paul Ryan, Greg Illingworth and Stu Loundon slay the Cape…

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Mind bending skating at the Vans Pool Party 2015 Finals

The biggest names in bowl skating from young to ancient, go absolutely bonkers in this insane bowl!

Broken boards equals broken dreams. Chris Russell had it in the bag but one too many hang-ups enabled Tom Schaar to spin his way to the top. Meanwhile, Pedro Barros stole the show with a death defying NBD. 10 years of the Pool Party and this was the best one yet!

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RVCA Rolling Retro 2015 Video with Vans

I always appreciate a great video of the RVCA Rolling Retro day, as most times I am so busy on the day behind the scenes, on the mic and sneaking in my heat, that I miss a bunch of highlights. I am sure Robby, from Vudu Surf, feels the same way. It’s tough sometimes running the event. So when a video drops on my timeline like this, I get real stoked! The crew from We-are-Awesome, with Vans, captured our day perfectly. So sit back and watch a magical event on film and maybe like me you will get goosebumps thinking back on the best day of the year…

Vans x RVCA Rolling Retro 2015 from we-are-awesome on Vimeo.

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RVCA Rolling Retro Postponed to 01 March 2015

Llandudno, Cape Town – The 2015 instalment of the RVCA Rolling Retro surf event has been postponed by one week, to 1 March 2015, with the forecast conditions for this Sunday 22 February looking far from ideal.

There is a very real worry that the surfboard collection will be damaged, and that large surf at Llandudno could result in irreplaceable surfboards possibly being broken. So it is in respect to this heritage collection of surfboards that the event will be postponed by one week.

There is also the family element to consider. “The swell is expected to be big this Sunday, and puts us in a place where it might not be ideal for the kids, ladies and casual surfers,” said contest director Kai Linder. “We have decided to postpone till next Sunday, 01 March 2015.”

So, another week of anticipation. The retro surfboards, supplied by Robby from Vudu Surf www.facebook.com/VuduSurf are ready, and the handslides, made by Wawa Wooden Surfboards www.facebook.com/pages/Wawa-Wooden-Surfboards/131058550324846 are also ready and available for the bodysurfers.

On Sunday 01 March the day’s festivities will be based around the Llandudno Surf Lifesaving Club, and the event helps raise funds for the club. Check out the Facebook Event Page for more details – www.facebook.com/events/772227866197463/

Robby from Vudu has about 50 vintage boards from his personal collection on hand for the event. From original Whitmore longboards and a 7’6 Whitmore Spoon, to Safaris, Larmonts, a Gerry Lopez Pipeline single fin, and a bunch of other classic boards for the surfers to choose from. It’s a fun event, and surfers are going to win by combining old school style and retro moves, with positioning and style.

The RVCA Rolling Retro 2015 will also, for the first time, feature a Bodysurfing division. There are slots for 40 bodysurfers in this division, with ten wooden Wawa handslides available for contestants to use in the competition. Bodysurfing is the art of riding a wave without the assistance of any buoyant device such as a surfboard or a bodyboard. All that a bodysurfer needs is a set of fins, with a handslide providing increased speed and less drag. The bodysurfing event will award three El Jimador agave handslides valued at R1,800 each for the three bodysurfers with the most stylish manoeuvres.

It is probably going to be a warm day at the beach, and the RVCA Rolling Retro is going to be one busy event. Parking is going to be scarce, and it is recommended that people utilise Uber www.uber.com/cities/cape-town or Myciti Bus services next Sunday to get down to the beach. Uber have taken it to the next level, offering R200 off to anyone going down to the event. Check promo code below:

uber_capetown_rvca-rolling-retro_social_880x400_r1

Bring sunscreen, and bring some money, as it’s going to get hot down there, and drinks and food will be available.

If you want to see what it’s all about, check out the event teaser video clip here –

RVCA ROLLING RETRO TEASER 2015 from RVCA South Africa on Vimeo.

There is also a great music lineup for the event, with RVCA partnering with Vans to present ‘Good Vibrations’ with a number of great local bands in the mix. The bands include Bilderberg Motel, The Dyna Jets, The Larter Brothers and Roastin’ Records.

The event hashtag is #rvcarollingretro

For more details check out the RVCA Rolling Retro Facebook event page www.facebook.com/events/772227866197463/ ??

To follow the event go to the RVCA South Africa Facebook page www.facebook.com/RVCA.South.Africa???

For all things RVCA contact:

Melissa Williams

e. melissa@rvcasouthafrica.co.za

t. 072 488 4279

For all things Rolling Retro contact:

Kai Linder

e. kaisurf@yahoo.com

t. 074 154 2618

For all things media contact:

Craig Jarvis

e. info@craigjarvis.co.za

t. 082 376 4443

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6 Weeks of Aloha – Vans Triple Crown 2014

The Vans Triple Crown runs over the best period for waves during the North Shore winter. The world’s best compete against the core Hawaiian locals and the action is red hot. Vans have taken the best of the contests, the best of the free surf sessions and blended it all together into a power packed short movie for your viewing pleasure.

Every winter the North Shore of Oahu hosts 3 of professional surfing’s most prestigious events known as the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. For 6 weeks the worlds best surfers join the surf community of the North Shore. Heavy waves and Heavy wipeouts. Contest day title races and lay day dream sessions. This is the story of the 2014 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.