A lot of fitness equipment is something that might perform well, but doesn’t look all that good. The Swami Surfboards are those rare examples where form and function simply come together. These boards feature highly-polished resin finishes that will look good in the water or at your home.
The surf isn’t the only thing that is up. Apparently so are the tariffs that U.S. surf board makers are now facing when selling American made products aboard. However, the United States allows foreigners to sell in the United States duty-free. The question, as asked on PBS Newshour – which first reported on this story – whether a response could in turn create a trade war.
Surfing was supposed to be about catching waves and good vibrations, but nothing about this story sounds like it.
[Via PBS Newshour: High Foreign Tariffs on US Surfboards: Should We Retaliate?]
To truly experience the endless summer means going to the waves. While it would be nice if the waves could actually get you to the destination, the truth is that chasing the waves around the world requires some air travel. As frequent travelers we worry enough that our suitcase will make it in one piece – and can’t imagine that the good vibrations aren’t enough to protect a surf board.
However, Alliance Air Freight & Logistics, a full-service freight shipping company, has announced its niche surfboard shipping and handling division. This allows for surfers to move fast and catch that wave, and be sure that the board arrives in good form!
[Via Surfer Today: Shipping company promises full surfboard protection]
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From YouTube: LifeBEAM SMART Cycling Helmet – R&D team’s Brief Continue reading Weekend Reading List (04.06.2013): Beam It Up, Hot Stuff
Protecting the environment and finding new uses for old things shouldn’t be rare, it should be commonplace and that’s just what Rareform Surfboard Bags are looking to do. We first heard about this company last fall, and now it has gone from concept to reality. The Los Angeles business is up and running and with surf season’s waves picking up we decided it was time to remind our readers about this company.
Rareform is a company that upcycles used products – in this case vinyl often reclaimed from billboards – and this makes each of its surfboard bags totally unique. These are made of UV-, hat-, water and mildew-resistant tarpaulin along with a quarter inch of foam padding so the board inside will be protected. The bags feature a mesh interior pocket, plus a 600D polyester nose protection, and even come with a removable shoulder strap. We expect these Rareform bags to be commonplace very soon.
From GearJunkie: Industrial Wasteland Transformed into Climbing Paradise (in Buffalo, NY)
Buffalo, New York, isn’t a climbing hot spot, but it appears that could be about to change. A project dubbed Silo City Rocks is renovating a 100-year-old grain elevator on the Buffalo River into one of the largest and most unique climbing facilities in North America. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (03.16.2013): Climbing Tower, Back Country Dangers, Mad Snacks, Charlie Don’t Surf
Lexington, Kentucky is rather far from the ocean and quite a bit above sea level as well. It is really more known as horse country than surf country, but a new exercise center in its download is letting some feel like they’re catching the waves – even if they never get wet in the process.
Surfset Lexington offers fitness courses that are based on riding a surfboard, utilizing a device called a RipSurfer X. A 45-minute workout can reportedly burn 500 to 850 calories. Sessions cost around $20 but no trip to the beach is necessary!
[Via Kentucky.com: Surfboard-focused fitness center opens in downtown Lexington]
They blend into the landscape and even if we notice them, many think they’re eyesores. We’re talking about billboards. But here is something most of us never think about: what happens to the materials after the ad campaign is over? What becomes of the billboard?
Alec Avedissian clearly wondered exactly that, because he and two fellow surfers, Ryan Judy and Sho Rust, got together and formed Rareform, a business venture that takes the vinyl material from old billboards and creats durable, water-proof, mildew proof surfboard cases. Given the number of billboards in his native Los Angeles it isn’t hard to see that Rareform could have an endless supply of material! Continue reading Billboards Become Surfboard Bags
The “classic” movie about surfing easily remains The Endless Summer but what do you do if summer in your part of the world feels like a warm winter day at best? You don the best wetsuit you can and hit the waves anyway.
That’s the ideas that directors Matt Crocker and James Dean had as they traveled through the United Kingdom collecting stories about the British surfers. So instead of The Endless Summer, the pair has fittingly chronicled The Endless Winter. The story actually begins about 100+ years ago when a Hawaiian Princess allegedly hit the waves by Brighton Pier, but really picks up following World War II when American and Australian surf culture made it to England, and so began the quest for surfing in The Endless Winter. For those who want to experience it from the warmth of their couch, the DVD will arrive later this month.
[Via Sabotage Times: Endless Winter: The History Of The British Surfing Scene]
From CNN: Sunday’s New York City Marathon canceled due to Sandy
The New York City Marathon – scheduled for Sunday – was canceled Friday due to lingering effects from Superstorm Sandy, the city’s mayor said. Continue reading Weekend Reading List (11.03.2012): Run Won’t Go On, Fit to Rule, Surfing Sandy, Redneck Runs in Armor
The problem with many fitness and athletic products is that there is little that can be done with the material once it breaks. Some products can be recycled – such as metal bicycle frames – but all too often the broken parts and equipment is simply abandoned or tossed in the trash. For surfers this is a problem because even when thrown in the trash broken boards can end up as floating garbage.
But Southern California residents Ed Lewis and Kipp Denslow came up with another solution. They’re taking old and broken surfboards to create handplanes, essentially miniature boards that bodysurfers can strap onto their hands while catching waves. They’ve created a new company, dubbed Enjoy Handplanes, as well to sell their upcycled products and as a way to spread the word that a broken board shouldn’t mean the end of the materials usefulness.
From Cycling News: Nike terminate Armstrong’s contract
In a sudden change of stance, Nike has announced it has terminated Lance Armstrong’s contract because of the “seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade.” Continue reading Weekend Reading (10.20.2012): Armstrong Doesn’t Do It, Reality Bytes, Endless Wave, Ice Ice Leggy
We heard about Danny Hess of Hess Surfboards and like what he’s doing a lot. He saw that a lot of commercial surfboards are full of petrochemicals and carcinogens – not exactly the kind of materials that surfers probably think is good for the waves.
Instead he is using salvaged wood, natural finishes and organic resins to craft his boards, which are built to last – ironically unlike many boards made of synthetic materials. The other irony is that when Hess’s boards reach end of life they should decompose naturally, whereas those synthetic boards can’t ride the waves but won’t exactly biodegrade anytime in the next dozen lifetimes!
