Old Pro Riders coming out

I am not a pro snowboarder by any means, but I can imagine they wish to keep being involved in the snowboard industry after the golden days. Just look at Grenade, Omatic, Forum, etc...

So with this sluggish economy some pro snowboarders left by choice (or not) their sponsors to start their own projects while they still have a momentum as pros. DCP,JPS and RDM started Yes, Antti Autti started Yeah Baby Yeah and Jeremy Jones started Jones Snowboards.
Their message are similar: bringing back the snowboarder at the center of the industry, going back to the core, saying to the kids support my brand because it's core! pretty much a sugar glazed marketing ploy.

Antti even goes to say in a Transworld interview that having a sponsor "it gets to the point where you start feeling it’s a job". Come on Bro, Sponsors pay you big dough to represent them, they pay you to increase their sales and consequently being a prosnowboarder is a job. Well to most standard, snowboarding most days instead of going in an office is not exactly what we would call a boring job.

To prevent any negative technical curves, they all decided to partner with Nidecker who has a solid manufacturing reputation.

Nidecker's message has never been extremely appealing to the youth, unlike Rome, Ride, Lib Tech. So by creating the NDF Creative umbrella, partnering to these well known pros could help Nidecker's brand. So hopefully those Pro boards will be sold for the core market while Nidecker board could be mainly mainstream market and grab more market share in the core market.

Not all pros have the desire to start a new company but for the most talented it is certainly tempting. However having more and more pros getting their own brand, it will water down the message of "being core, buy from snowboarders" and will minimize the authencity of their messages.

An additional risk is that kids know that those boards are developped by Nidecker, so they have realized that their risks are minimal, it sounds more like a Pro model with an additional "I started my own company" hype. The youth love anti-hero, someone who has the balls to risk everything and start from scratch. While being incredible riders, that may not be enough to give them this anti hero status.

Standard film - Webisodes

Eric Jackson is in the first installment of Black Winter web series.

Urbanears

Coming from Cali, I started to see a lot of hipsters wearing headphones (who doesn't have an ipod?)...but I can't believe it took that long to see kids wearing headphones going to school because 10 years ago I was already wearing those while skateboarding and snowboarding ( I am not at the origin of this cool factor, it was all over the pro snowboarders arena about that time).

With the headphone market booming, it is normal to see new brands coming out. After Nixon entering the market about a year ago, it is now the turn of Urbanears from Scandinavia to offer headphones.

However I find their marketing ads to be really similar to the Nixon ads. Don't get me wrong those are not 100% the same but product positioning and adding non related elements (paints, leaves,etc..) comes from the new Nixon ads.

Travis Rice- The reason

What are the different reverse camber?

There are a lot of different reverse cambers and before going over those, it is important to note that others ingredients are critical in making a board perform well. You have to look at the glass technology (stiffness, flex, torsion), wood core (pop,how lively and responsive), sidecut (edge hold, transition from edge to edge), the base tech (beveled base, etc..),and the overall construction. By now you must think holly sh#@T, it is already confusing enough (for most snowboarders) to think about the cambers so there are way too many parameters!!!

Well sorry but it is like having a car with a Ferrari engine and tires that are used for a French moped, you are not going to go very far. So even if you are looking at two boards with the same base technology, they may not react the same at all. But hopefully I can make your search easier, that is the only purpose of this post. The best is to try boards and if you can't, try to read reviews, call customer service from the brands you are interested in.


Standard camber: convexe arc between the two contact points (parts that touch the ground when the board lays flat)..what dinausaur like me have ridden for most of snowboarding life.
Pros: transition for edge to edge, control at higher speed, pop, chance to reposition yourself during XXL landing
Cons: takes more effort on the legs to do presses, less forgiving for normal under/over rotated landing, shorter butters, difficult to lock presses.
Tech name: Lib Tech Banana (I am just kidding); Rome positive camber, K2 camber, etc..
Note:Bataleon TBT uses a positive camber but has a triple base technology which gives a lot of added benefits, one of them is that the contact points are raised.



Reverse camber: Rocker the whole length of the board.
Pros: Ease for initiating turns and presses. Great if you want a board specially for practicing your rail killing skills and butter like nobody's business. It creates a more playful ride
Cons: lack stability and edge control giving it a twitchy feel. Loose a bit of initiation and turn exit control at higher speed. May lack pop (but can be compensated by the core and glass tech).
Tech name: Lib Tech Banana, Salomon Pre-sure Rocker, Forum Chilly dog, Technine 9Rocks reverse camber, Flow I-rock ( except flat camber at the tip/tail on the contact points)



Centered Rocker:A long mid-body of reverse camber combined with straight camber in the nose and tail.
Pros: good blend of control on edge and playfulness, good powder ride
Cons: less pop than camber boards or rocker-camber boards
Tech name: Rome Reverse-MTN, Omatic B.S (+beveled edges is another real important factor giving additional charactheristic), Lib Tech Banana BTX


cam-rock: like a standard camber board except it is less pronounced and you add a bit of rocker between the tips and bindings
Pros: like a camber board except gives a bit of a looser feel, better playfulness as well as flotation in powder
Cons: Bit less playful, not as great in powder than reverse camber, flat camber or powder rocker
Tech name: Nidecker CamRock, Yes snowboard, Salomon Wingtips (very light rocker just contact points that have been raised), Rome HybridCamber, Signal Wavelength, K2 catchfree



Rocker-Camber: a light rocker between the bindings and a bit of camber between the tips and bindings (don't rise your eyebrow, it is the exactly what you are thinking of: the contrary of a cam-rock).
Pros:Stability during high speed cruising and solid landing as well as excellent pop for ollies while the rocker gives good control for presses. The pop is usually better than on a CamRock board. and Thanks to the centered rocker this will be enough to make it a great board for powder as well.
Cons: NA except if you are 100% jib, butters you can find a better suited board for that category
Tech name: Nitro Gullwing, Never Summer R.C, Lib Tech Banana C2
Note: Inca used to do two individual camber under each insert..not quite the same than rocker-camber but the idea is the same and I will call that dual camber.




3 stage rocker: a light rocker between the bindings and a bit of rocker between the tips and bindings, which counts for 3 rockers on the whole board
Pros: great for pow,jibs, guffing aroud. A lot like the reverse camber, except there is more edge control
Cons: like reverse camber "lack stability and edge control giving it a twitchy feel. Loose a bit of initiation and turn exit control at higher speed. May lack pop (but can be compensated by the core and glass tech)"
Tech name: Burton Vrocker



Powder rocker: rocker from the tips to the front bindings and then normal camber throughout the rest of the board
Pros: By applying pressure on the tail (camber matches the board set back stance) that leads the entry rocker to lift giving the best control, power & speed in deep snow. If you surf and have the opportunity to ride a lot of pow..that's the board for you, as close as it can get to the surfing experience. The regular camber part allows a lot of snap out of the tail allowing powerful turns completion.
Cons:excels in powder but not the best all terrain board design. Directional design so it can be difficult to ride switch.
Tech name: Capita Mono reverse flat kick, Burton S-rocker, Rome S-camber


Zero Cam: the board is flat (of you course it isn't a door,you still have a tip and a tail). distribute pressure on the snow in a neutral fashion.
Pros: Some people refers the feeling as if the board had been broken in after few season. I would not go as far as some manufacturers saying it is the best of Camber and Rocker board. however I would say it is a fair compromise, with a flat camber you take the pressure off of the contact points but don't pull them away from the snow,so you get somewhat the responsivity & control of a camber board and the playfulness of a reverse one.
Cons: not as good as camber boards for XXL landing, a bit less control at higher speed and you will not get the extrem toy feels of reverse camber boards.
Tech name: K2 Flatline, Salomon Flat profile, Nitro Zero camber



Zero-Rocker: zero camber between the bindings and rocker at the tips & tail
Pros: Zero Camber between your feet focuses control, it gives a solid platform for stability while riding & landing. Subtle rockers lift the tip and tail (the usual contact points on camber board are lifted), giving you the power to press and a hookfree feel in addition to better pow riding than regular camber boards.
Cons: Not as responsive as camber board but at some point you have to decide cuz you can't get a board that is the best in the powder, the hardpack, park and street. So great compromise except if you are a 100% rail freak and you like to put butter on everything you eat.
Tech name: Capita Dual Reverse flat kick, Burton P-rocker, Ride LowRise rocker, Salomon Pow rocker, Rome Reverse-jib camber, DC Bender Anti-Camber, K2 powder rocker (front rocker more pronounced than back one, see benefit of powder rocker), K2 all terrain rocker (rocker from the inserts to tips/tail), K2 jib rocker (rocker just before the tip/tail)

Hitler goes Banana

I watched earlier this year the same Hitler movie that was dubbed with some football story...It was not funny as this one.

So here is the real translation...it was not about football but F#$king Banana.

Camber Vs. Rocker

If you are looking into buying a new deck for winter and you wonder what board to get? maybe you are interested in reverse camber boards but you head start spinning after looking at all those manufacturers calling it different names, etc..

So let's start with the basic and the next week posts, I will go over some major brands. However until you test different models, you will not know for sure what is the best board matching your style. At least I will try to sum up all the info I can get so you are not as confused.

Before going into all the rocker variations, it is important to understand what we used to ride for over 20 years: cambered boards.



camber is a mellow convex rise from the contact points of the tip and tail inward with an apex at the midpoint. If you lay a cambered board on the ground, you can usually put your finger between the center of the board and the ground (7-12mm). Thanks to the rider weight, the camber will flex under the pressure enhancing edge hold, pop providing lively turns and giving a better stability at higher speed.It will be also better in XXL park, it will give the possibility to readjust your body placement if you landed too much on your tail or tip (but longitunal flex has a lot to do with that too). However it will require more effort to do presses, butters and will be less comfortable for jibs. on smaller jumps, the board will not be as forgiving as a rocker board in the landing if you came short in your rotation (or over rotated).

Rocker is essentially the opposite of a camber, so instead of being convexe, it is a light concave arc from contact point (the centre of the board). Each manufacturer has added its own recipe that will work for certain type of terrain, riders, etc...
the advantages are better powder float, rails, butters and forgivingness. It is easier to initiate turns and tricks.
the disadvantages are less control at higher speed. BUT manufacturers have came up with additional tech to improve the pop and control (mini camber, carbon fiber, variable sidecuts,etc..)


In the next post, I will talk about the different reverse cambers, etc...

Ouch!!

trick tip FS 720

Here is a good trick to think about for this coming season!!!

This is it ! MJ

That's right "Michael Jackson This is it"was the box-office champion over the Halloween weekend, taking in an estimated $21.3 million in the United States. But even bigger news comes from our Bataleon friends who released MJ's true face with the best no nose job and all the good stuff coming from the Netherlands!

Danger zone Episode 2

Dangerzone Season 2 Episode 2 - "This is Halloween" from Nick Visconti on Vimeo.

I found this video while looking at actionsportsblips, I am not quite sure what to think about it. You would have asked me seven years ago before moving to the States and I would have said that Halloween was useless but I got to warm up to this holiday and by the end of this video from Nick Visconti, I thought their jam to be quite hilarious.

Surfing all day / forgot to charge your phone ?

Green Technologies Inc, a start up coming straight from San Diego has realized many of us carry several electronic devices on us. So they came up with the brand Ecowatt to deliver solar powered bags and backpacks.

At first, It sounds a bit like a geek accessory but the fact they are using recycled PET materials for all materials, a waterproof solar panel and various design that can satisfy all those short attention span teenagers.

Now here are the basic info:
to power a laptop you will need to buy the high powered bag ($200) and to charge your phone, ipod, etc.. you can buy a low powered bag ($60-$80). TO fully charge your iphone, it would take about 6 hours.

Sloppy day for a final

Fanning has won the Rip Curl Pro Search and is now showing he will be the man to beat at the North Shore event. Bede was amazing against Parko but couldn't do much against Mick who was in top shape.

Supertubos is going off!!!

Those guys are incredible, they got some elephant balls to drop on some of those waves. It is a shame that Owen Wright got his eardrum blasted because it now lives the door open for Fanning to go straight to the finals.

Nixon supporting Boarding for Breast Cancer

So Nixon is releasing the third limited rubber edition of the player and as it is the month for Breast Cancer Awareness, it was a logical choice.

Loveolution teaser

Lovedistribution from Vienna has a brand new website and is also releasing their new movie Loveolution! watch 0.56sec that's really sick. After having a knee injury earlier this year, I wonder how those guys are going to walk when they get older! oh well check this teaser.
However the mission statement from Lovedistribution looks very similar to WeSC..anyway just thought I would mention it.

Zero teaser from Heartfilm

I am throwing a lot of teaser lately, only because I getting antsy for the season to come..maybe I should have gone to Japan last summer. This one I watched while looking at the Yes website

Design Snowboard Competition - Salomon

Here are some news from Whitelines mag with the Salomon Design contest. Salomon launched its Snowboard Artist Contest for the first time in 2003.

I love contests, there are fun, pretty cool to see (example like the pacsun contest) and can get you hooked up with some prize money or gear if you are the lucky winner. Action sports consumers usually want to be involved beyond purchasing products.

"Design your own snowboard – and win it if you’re lucky! Designs must be drawn by hand completely and incorporate the Salomon Snowboards logo symbol somewhere. Apart from that any colour and/or any style is possible. Don’t forget to state your age and contact details when entering.

There are 3 age catagories (under 10, 10 – 15, 16+), with one winner in each. Salomon Snowboards will have the winning designs airbrushed professionally onto a Salomon snowboard. The runner up in each age group will receive a subscription to Whitelines magazine!

Last Entries will be taken on Dec 10th 2009 and the winners will be announced on Dec 24th 2009 on Salomon.

Takaharu Nakai joins Salomon international team

Takaharu Nakai grew up riding the legendary powder of Hokkaido, Japan and first gained international notice at the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. He currently rides the varied terrain of Whistler Blackcomb where he combines technical precision with big lofty airs all over the mountain.

“I decided to join the team after really enthusiastic talks with Rio Tahara, Bonfire and Salomon’s Sports Marketing Manager in Japan. He helped me see a bright future with both the brands. I look forward to riding and hanging out with the international team and the team in Japan. It’s an awesome crew,” said Takaharu.

His departure from Burton and Analog was based on his decision to ride for Salomon Snowboards and Bonfire Outerwear.

Kelly lost against De Souza

That's right by 0.07...If you watch Kelly's first wave, there is no question that is worth more than a 7.0. BUT since Kelly is certainly not going to win the title, I wish Parko could keep the advantage. We will see at Supertubos what Parko and Fanning can do.

New Capita website is live

Well I am sure there are some kids out there who love Capita but they are not my style, the feel of Bmovie give me the same impression for their boards. Anyway the new site is live and I think the home is way to messy, it looks like a bad Myspace home page from a frustrated teenager.
But the slogan sums it up pretty good: "We devour everything" and I would add anything

Quiksilver heated vest

Here is Quiksilver speech:

"Quiksilver introduces the first ever battery-powered heat vest that can be worn and operated under any wetsuit. Utilizing FAR infra-red heating technology, the Cypher PS+ Heat Vest System delivers hours of heat to vital organs maintaining your core temperature and extending your session! The Cypher PS+ Heat Vest utilizes flexible water proof carbon pads to house the powered heat elements and distribute heat to the body and water within the wetsuit.

These pads are incorporated into a lightweight polypropylene vest which can be worn under any wetsuit and serves as an additional thermal layer. Once the vest is on and under your wetsuit it is easy to press the button to change the heat settings or to turn the vest on and off.

Details: Comes with recharge-able battery that will last 2 hours on “High” Comes with Car Charger and Wall Charger with adaptors for different countries. Can be worn under any wetsuit (thickness or brand) Uses FAR infra-red heat technology – 129 deg on high setting and 116 deg on low setting 7 1/2 oz Polypropylene "

Surfing in San Diego with a 4/3 and booties have never been an issue but I guess if you live in North Cal or on the NE, I bet I wouldn't mind having one of those heated vest.
By heating your core, the warm blood is then reaching the feet and hands. I heard from the first test it is like like a big pee session in your wetsuit:)

The only caution I would have is the remote that is the size of an old generation cell phone. So if you hit your board while wearing it, this could easily break some ribs.

Union Binding new site

In a previous blog I talked about the custion Union binding, so here is the new 09/10 website

Four minutes twenty eight secondes

This guy was so lucky, that must be the longest minutes of his life.

Even small avalanches are a serious danger to life, even with properly trained and equipped companions who avoid the avalanche. Between 55 and 65 percent of victims buried in the open are killed, and only 80 percent of the victims remaining on the surface survive. Thus, one normally would have a 20% chance of survival if caught in a significant avalanche. Research carried out in Italy based on 422 buried skiers indicates how the chances of survival drop:

* very rapidly from 92 percent within 15 minutes to only 30 percent after 35 minutes (victims die of suffocation)
* near zero after two hours (victims die of injuries or hypothermia)

Avalanche Skier POV Helmet Cam Burial & Rescue in Haines, Alaska from Chappy on Vimeo.

Mick Fanning is getting closer of N1 spot

Mick is the fastest surfer out there, actually I saw him surfing at my old break, Ponto at Carlsbad and it seriously makes you wonder what you are doing wrong as he goes 10 faster than anybody out there..