Archives

Volume 7, Number 2

Pancho Sullivan readies for the fight of his life

On a Wednesday afternoon, I ring Pancho Sullivan. We’ve been trading missed calls and emails for the past week, trying to set up a time for an interview. But he’s a busy man these days and, regrettably, for reasons that most of us would rather not fathom. He’s father to a sick child, his daughter Kehau, was born with a congenital heart defect in September of last year. Faced with a mountain of medical bills—the condition requires a series of operations that begin in infancy and last until Kehau reaches her 20s—it was reported that Pancho was faced with a mountain of costs to pay for saving his daughter’s life.

Read more: At all Costs-Pancho Sullivan readies for the fight of his life

Volume 7, Number 2

The Bolt Is Back

For an era, The Bolt symbolized a generation of surfers. It was the equivalent of having hexagrams on your surfboard today with roots stretching back to Gerry Lopez. For more than a decade, Lightning Bolt symbolized quality craftsmanship. And then, like an electric strike, it disappeared, gone from sight and out of memory. But as the saying goes, everything comes back around. Credit it to solid marketing or the retro movement, but The Bolt is back with a new line of clothing for all you retro-minded kids.

Read more: Inside Section

Volume 7, Number 2

Amid a global recession that’s left the world scrambling, The Vans Triple Crown of Surfing saw its richest purse ever take form throughout its laurelled 27-year history. In the face of adversity, Vans laughed and upped the ante by throwing an extra $50,000 for the men’s Triple Crown champion, $25,000 for the women’s Triple Crown winner, another $50,000 for the Billabong Pipeline Masters victor and $50,000 to the new ASP men’s world champ. Added up with each event’s cash awards already in place and the total amount of money on line came to a staggering million dollars. With big money comes big competition. By the eve of the trifecta, more than 150 competitors from around the world had landed with three things in mind: ASP world title “possibilities” (what a snake’s nest that one was), end-of-year ranking points and all that cash.

Read more: The 2009 Vans Triple Crown of Surfing - Dissected

Volume 7, Number 2

Zeke Lau Talks Recovery

Zeke Lau had a feeling there might be something wrong. At Nationals last summer, midway through the final, bolts of pain were shooting from his lower back throughout his body, reeking havoc on his nerves. Zeke would go on to win his first national title, but between the joys of winning at that level, he was plagued by the stomach-turning bouts of pain emanating from his back. A visit to the doctor when he returned home to HI would bear the fruit of bad news. Zeke had broken his back a few months prior, the result of an ill-timed floater. Despite winning a national title in excruciating pain, if Zeke wanted to continue his budding career as a professional surfer, he would have to put down his thruster and heal.

Read more: On the Mend

Volume 7, Number 2

On the shape of what’s to come

FreeSurf: When we first saw Slater take that now-infamous Wizard Sleeve board out at the Quik Pro, we tried to hold back our comments. But now, nearly a year later, it seems that the smaller boards are sticking around. What did you think when you saw Kelly ride that board last year?

Glenn Pang: I think Kelly took it a little too far. On some of his boards he looked like he wasn’t surfing to where he was capable of. But now he’s brought it back to something more workable. You’ve got to know where the limit is. He sort of took it down to the limit and now we’re coming up a little bit. And it seems to be working.

Read more: Glenn Pang

Volume 7, Number 2

The Galapagos Islands

Island hopping home for Thanksgiving, from New Zealand to Indonesia, through Taiwan to Oahu, I promptly disembarked again for a new archipelago: the Galapagos. From Ecuador I flew to these mysterious islands lying 1,000 km off the coast, a land made famous by Charles Darwin, whose observations of the unique and otherworldly fauna in the Galapagos developed his theory of evolution. And otherworldly the Galapagos are. From the 200-year-old giant tortoises lumbering through the lush highlands to technicolor marine iguanas swimming and fishing alongside sea turtles on countless shorelines; there are species of creatures there seen nowhere else. And apart from the visually bizarre and mysterious, these animals are ridiculously tame, unafraid, if not curious, of we tourists that are but obstacles in the paths of their everyday lives. (Ninety-seven percent of the Galapagos Islands are a protected national park area, thus animals haven’t been hunted here in more than half a century.)

Read more: Off the Map

Volume 7, Number 2

A Call to Pens

The first wave I ever caught came at the hands of a three-time world champion. In another world, where things like omens and signs take precedent over reality, I may have gone on to become a professional. I would have been fearless at Teahupoo, laughed like a maniac while getting whipped into beasts at Shipsterns. I would have drank beers with Fanning on the Goldy and Parko would call me “Mull-O.” Dane and I would talk about music and wax poetically about organic coffee beans. It would have been glorious. Sigh.

Read more: Editor's Note

Volume 7, Number 1

Quiver

At 12 years old, Kalani David has become one of the most talked about young surfers to call Hawai‘i home since John John sprouted wings. Well before Kalani reached the ripe old age of 10, he was getting lofty at the Sandbar and garnering his fair share of magazine coverage. So we want to know: how do you get so damn good so quick? We can speculate all we want, but one thing is certain: the quiver that Kalani’s got under his feet can only be helping.

Read more: 12 years old, Log Cabins: Kalani David