Killer Dana Board Society

Alex What look are we going to see alot of within the next year?
“There are alot of dresses, I really love dresses”

There were alot of minis up there (on runway), but WE really likes long dresses like the maxi, what about you?
“The Maxi dress, down to the floor and flowing skirts, those will be holding on strong!”

How did you design styles to fit with the brand’s beach to street approach?
“I took alot of inspiration from nature. I think it’s important for a young designer to be able to wear a lot of different hats”

A tip that he may have taken from Ezekiel’s newest creative force Desiree Faase. The lead on the 2010 Spring line and mentor to the designers from Needle and Thread. She clued us into her experience with her LA Brand Sterling, as well as her insight of what’s next .

What are you working on right now? What is next for Ezekiel Summer?
“Lots of color! With more of the corals and those perry winkles you saw this season all approved.”

What’s going to be big for the next Summer or even next Spring?
Acknowledging down to her own dress “More transitional garments, like this one. Things you can easily dress it up or down and wear with sandals”

So that’s two votes for dresses and one vote for lots of color. The Good news is that you don’t have to wait for either!

Rip Curl’s Alana Blanchard has just claimed victory at the Reef Hawaiian Women’s Pro at Haleiwa, the first stop of the 2009 Triple Crown.

“Alana has been been having an okay rookie year—equal 9ths in every event. But the Women’s Tour is a lot smaller than the Men’s Tour, so staying on means putting up a few big results. Sitting at 13th at the moment, she’s in need of a few solid results in these last two events. Well, yesterday she stamped her authority all over the Women’s Vans Triple Crown of Surfing by taking the Vans Hawaiian Pro, giving her an early lead for the Triple Crown. Though the win won’t help her up her ratings to stay on Tour for next year (no ‘QS points), it will give her a huge boost of confidence heading into the rest of the Triple Crown.

The lone Hawaiian in the final, Alana faced three women who each had at least one world title to their names (Steph Gilmore, Becca Woods, and Sofia Mulanovich). The mentality we thought she would be taking was the “Hey I’ve made it to the final. That’s a great result.” But that wasn’t what Alana had in mind.

Photo courtesy CI/ASP Scholtz via Getty Images

Though Haleiwa wasn’t anywhere near perfect, Alana was controlling the sporadic lefts all day long and getting some of the biggest scores on them. Trailing the current 2x Women’s World Champ Steph Gilmore with about five minutes left, Alana picked off another one of those lefts. The runner allowed her multiple fluid swoops on her good-looking backside resulting in a 7.83. She had snatched the lead from the woman hailed as the best women’s surfer, giving Alana the biggest victory of her career.

Photo courtesy of Sarvias

If Alana can carry this momentum throughout the rest of the Triple Crown, she’ll be surfing with them best of them. And to stay with the best of them she’s going to have to keep it up. Congrats Alana!”

Thanks to Ryan Brower at Transworldsurf.com for this great article!

Jake Halstead Wins Grom Search Nationals 14Under Division at Salt Creek‏ Beach, California!

In the Boys 14/Under division, Jake Halstead utilized the rights going into the point to unleash a succession of hacks and blow tails to undeniably scalp the 14/U National Final title and nab $500 in prize money. The powerful regularfoot and decorated G-Search vet fended off Colin Moran (CA), Koa Smith (HI), and Taylor Clark (CA), who finished 2nd-4th respectively.

For the full story check out RipCurl.com

There is something about Hawaii that makes anything and everything that much better. Take work for example. The other day I found myself digging a 500 foot long trench in the sand. With sweat pouring out every gland on my body and blisters forming with every prod of the shovel, I paused and glanced around at what surrounded me.

All of the sudden digging a trench didn’t seem so bad. It’s a small price to pay to be put up on a beautiful island for six weeks, surrounded by perfect waves.

Arrival at the Reef Hawaiian pro

In case you are wondering the reasoning behind digging trenches in the sand, it has a lot to do with the the annual surfing circus that comes to the North Shore every year. You might know this better as the Triple Crown of Surfing. The trenches are necessary for the massive amounts of cable it takes to run an event and webcast it to the world.

This webcast is the reason that for the next six weeks, I will be working on the North Shore; helping produce three webcasts, checking out the people and hopefully getting piped off my rocker.

Just a tiny bit of the gear for the webcast

The sadly ironic part about the latter is that when the waves are really pumping, I will be working. The first week here has been fairly sizeable although lacking the right direction for prime conditions on the reefs of the North Shore.

Haleiwa, the first stop of the Triple Crown has been absolutely dismal and has only held competition one day so far. This is due to a rare swell direction out of the east north east that doesn’t wrap around into the historic surf break.

The trailer set up

After a few days of event preparation, the swell direction graced our crew with not only a few lay days, but fun waves on other parts of the island.

The amount of surfers converged on this rock during this time of year is a sight in itself. Every breaking wave you see is bound to have a couple guys ripping. Usually there are a couple lenses on the beach to follow their every turn.

The first stages of a cable trench

Familiar faces pop out everywhere you go. From checking the waves, to Foodland, to Sharks Cove Grill, it’s hard to go somewhere without broing down at some point. Much like work though, the bro down here is that much better by the simple fact that you are both in Hawaii.

The guys that have been doing this pilgrimage for years have their programs on lock. Crews form, packs converge and cliques rise out of what was a peaceful country town a couple months ago and is now a collection of national and cultural groups interacting with each other. The beautiful part is that everyone is brought to this island through surfing.

Stormy sunset

The eight mile stretch of beach that makes up the North Shore of Oahu is geared up and ready to roll for another season. The boys will have a week or so of small surf, but we can all bet that when that first solid swell rolls into town, everyone is going to be on it.

Movember is an annual, month-long celebration of the moustache, highlighting men’s health issues – specifically prostate and testicular cancer.

To date, Movember has raised $47 million globally making it the world’s largest charity event for men. Significantly, awareness of men’s health issues has improved with Movember helping to spread important health messages directly to millions of Mo Bros & Sistas around the world.

We challenge you to join us in changing the face of men’s health.

The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia.  The guys behind it joked about 80s fashion and decided it was time to bring the moustache back.  In order to justify their Mos (Australian slang for moustache), they used their new looks to raise money for prostate cancer research… never dreaming that facial hair would ultimately lead to a global movement that would get men talking about a taboo subject – their health.

A Mo Bro starts Movember – the month formerly known as November – clean shaven, and grows a moustache all month long, garnering support from friends and family in the form of donations.  What’s more, a Mo Bro is a walking billboard for the cause as his new look opens the door for him to talk about cancers affecting men – making the moustache a symbol, much like the pink ribbon is for breast cancer.  Each Movember culminates in a Gala Partè in major cities around the globe where Mo Bros dress up to match their Mo, channeling the likes of Tom Selleck, Gandhi and Ron Burgandy, vying for the ultimate accolade:  Man of Movember.

This Movember, the money raised in the U.S. will be split between the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation will use the money raised by Movember to fund: research to find better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer.

The Lance Armstrong Foundation will use the money raised by Movember to fund:
• the LIVESTRONG Young Adult Alliance program which has the goal of improving survival rates and quality of life for young adults with cancer between the ages of 15 and 40.
• research initiatives to further understand the biology of adolescent and young adult cancers.

For further information, visit The Movember Foundation.

There’s something a little 80’s and a little sporty about the Across-Body bag look, which is only going to get bigger next season…

Cross-body bags are hassle free purses that come with class and style. They’re perfect for concerts, busy walks in the city, or just a good ol’ anti theft devise.

One of the biggest supporters of this hands-free look is Rachel Bilson, who loves her small 2.55 Chanel classic bag ($2500, chanel.com). If this price is a little bit out of your rage, try this amazing Lost Lilah Bag ($29-) that comes in a camel and red wine color.

Who wants a free Roxy Cross-Body Purse>?! Well you can win this one (in black) if you want! Our homes over at Roxy so graciously donated it to us… just for you!

All you have to do to win is tell us why you wanna win this purse, and maybe what you’re gonna do or not do with it?!! Super easy.

Top two explanations win!!!! Contest ends tonight at 11:59pm. Free shipping to U.S. residents only.

Clear your calendar, and save the date for November 19th! Our buddies over at O’Neill wanna give you a premier sneak peak at their Women’s Spring 2010 line! Hay ohh!

Where: San Clemente Store (lots of parking in back of store)
When: 6:00-8:00pm
What: Preview of the full Spring 2010 line
Snacks: Yesssum and drinks!
Discounts: GRAND OL’ discounts off all O’Neill Women’s Clothing

Bring your friends, and we’ll see you there!

The first ever AFMXA Amateur Freestyle Motocross contest went down at Pala Raceway over the weekend and it was a huge success! Amateur FMX riders traveling from all around the United States, with some coming for as far as Canada and even Japan, made it to Southern California, the Mecca of the FMX industry, for their chance to shine on a big stage. The big stage being a FMX course built with the safety of up-and-coming riders in mind, and the once rare opportunity to show their skills to a judging panel of FMX legends.

The judges were Ronnie Faisst, Blake “Bilko” Williams, Nate Adams, Ronnie Renner, Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg, and Mike Metzger. You couldn’t even begin to count the X Games medals collectively hanging from these guys’ walls! With that star-studded panel judging your ever jump and trick, it’s safe to say the pressure was on for these amateurs, who for most it was their first time competing in a contest.

The best of 2 run qualifying round narrowed down the 18 riders to the top 9 for a 1 run final. Top qualifier Rob Sakai of Japan rode his momentum into the finals where he tied for 1st place with Jimmy Hill out of Bakersfield, CA. Rob and Jimmy both agreed that they don’t like ties and the only way to settle it was with an old school run-off! Jimmy won the coin flip and decided to go first. Unfortunately for Jimmy, a dead sailor really cost him in the judges scoring. Rob followed up with a near flawless run that made it obvious that he was the winner.

Congratulations to Rob Sakai on the win, Jimmy Hill in 2nd and Bryce Hudson 3rd!

After the amateurs tore up the course it was on to the Pro-Am division. The Pro-Ams are the guys that have ridden in paid demos, have some sponsors, and some can backflip, but they’re still new or little known in the sport and haven’t competed in any pro level contests. It’s a fine line between Pro-Ams and the real Pros, but you can bet some of these guys will be competing in the big leagues real soon.

Lance Coury came out on top of the Pro-Ams. With a bag full of big tricks, and some solid backflip tricks to boot, Coury rode smooth and consistent, all things the judges love to see. Very close behind Coury in 2nd palce was Destin Cantrel, who has some of the best tricks in the game but is not backflipping. To pull off second place without the backflip in a field of guys with the backflip says a lot for the quality and extension of Cantrel’s upright tricks. Rounding out the podium in 3rd was Keith Sayers of Butte, Montana.

Here are the full results:

Amateur Final Results:
1. Rob Sakai
2. Jimmy Hill
3. Bryce Hudson
4. Kyle Demelo
5. Andy Bakken
6. Edgar Corona
7. Rob Haslam
8. Matt Halmark
9. Nick Gore

Pro-Am Final Results:
1. Lance Coury
2. Destin Cantrell
3. Keith Sayers
4. Nick Dunne
5. Wes Agee
6. Greg Schaffe
7. Jesse Jolson
8. Luke Dolin
9. Garrett Ahlf
10. Steve Haughelstine

Check out the full photo gallery from the Amateur Contest and the AFMXA Awards right here!

Check out Metal Mulisha’s blog for more stories like this one.