What’s better than one medal at the Winter X Games? Two. What’s better than two medals at the X Games? Two medals and a brand new Jeep. And this is exactly what Sebastien Toutant is taking with him as he heads home from Aspen tomorrow.

Friday night saw Toutant, 18 year-old from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, throw down in the Big Air competition in Aspen, landing a frontside double cork 1080 and a backside double cork 1260. In the end, Torstein Horgmo bumped Toutant out of first with an impressive triple cork but Sebastien wasn’t discouraged. In fact, his fire was fuelled as he prepared to take his skills to the next level at Sunday’s slopestyle competition.

Amid mild temperatures and partially sunny skies, the competitors took to the course this afternoon. Eight men in total were vying for the top spot, awarded to the highest score in a best of three run format. Seb took the lead early on with a killer run that started out with a Cab 270 gap to kink, followed by a frontside 270 on the down rail, into a frontside board 270 out into a 50/50 backside rodeo 540. Keeping his speed into the jump section, Toutant threw down a Cab double cork 1260 melon, followed by a frontside double cork 1080 melon, finishing with his signature “Tootsie Roll” – a backside double cork 1080.

Try as they might, none of the competition could top Toutant’s high score. As the afternoon wore on, flat light on the landings challenged the riders, resulting in few clean runs. And so, with his first run high score holding up, Toutant was able to take a victory lap and ride away with gold.

But the good news didn’t end there. Thanks to his impressive showing in both the Big Air and Slopestyle competitions, Sebastien ended up winning the X Games Most Outstanding Athlete Award and driving home a new Jeep Compass.

From: Oneill Canada

The three Winter X Games 15 medalists doing triple backside rodeo 10’s at SNOWBOARDER Magazine's The Launch in April of 2010. R: L. Tyler Flanagan. Mark McMorris R. Sebastien Toutant P: Huggy

Pictures: snowboarder magazine

Elite Surfer Brings Twelve Years Of Pro Surf Experience To Fox Team

Fox, the brand known for its innovative products and championship heritage, is proud to welcome Damien Hobgood to its global surf team. The 2000 ASP Rookie of the Year and 4-time WCT event winner, Hobgood is one of the elite surfers qualified for the 2011 ASP Dream Tour and brings more than a decade of pro surf experience to Fox.

“We are really excited to have Damien join our Fox surf program,” says John Fox, Director of Men’s Design. “His dedication to the sport is omnipresent. He is one of the most exciting surfers in any type of condition and is always a threat at every pro tour stop. Damien also has tremendous work ethic, and supports the core of the sport in many different ways. We are looking forward to supporting his world tour effort and working with him to make our product even better.”

One of the most respected barrel riders on the pro-tour, Hobgood joins Bede Durbidge, Ian Walsh, and Eric Geiselman on the Fox global surf team. His multiyear contract for clothing, eyewear and wetsuits further solidifies the company’s commitment to the surf market.

“I just feel real honored and blessed to be a part of the Fox team,” says Hobgood. “There are some awesome athletes that I’m going to be associated with and it’s an awesome company. I feel really fortunate. I’m looking to take my surfing to the next level and doing it with Fox—it’s going to be fun.”

One of the top 25 surfers of all time, Damien Hobgood hails from Satellite Beach, Florida and is the identical twin brother of 2004 ASP World Champion C.J. Hobgood. Though he has been competing with his brother since birth—and in Eastern Surfing Association and National Scholastic Surfing Association surf events since he was twelve years old—Damien joined the professional surf world’s ASP World Qualifying Series in 1998. After just two years on the WQS, Hobgood qualified for the ASP World Championship Tour in 2000.

While on the WCT, Damien Hobgood has won four events—most recently in 2007 at Teahupo’o, Tahiti; in 2006 and 2004 at Cloudbreak in Tavarua, Fiji; and in 2005 at Imbituba, Brazil. Always consistent, Hobgood has finished in the top 16 nine times with a total of five top-ten finishes in his past eleven seasons on the pro tour.

He currently resides in San Diego with his wife, son, and daughter.

Fox team rider, Eric Geiselman, got second place in the Cold Water Classic in Tofino.

Bede Durbidge, Fox team rider.

Visit www.switchitup.com/fox to check out the latest in Fox at Switch Boardshop. Follow Damien Hobgood on Twitter @hobgoods or online at thegoodss.com.

From: www.surfingmagazine.com

Queensborough Community Centre 620 Ewen Ave New Westminster has a sweet new skate park filled with sick transition walls manni pads a cornered out bowl and some other inventive features. Check this new skate play ground designed and Built by Newline Skate parks. It is definitely worth the trip.

Visit http://switchitup.com/pavement-team

Pictures from http://www.coastalbc.com/

 This banked manni pad is sure to see a lot of creative skating.

There is also a wide range of quarter pipes wall rides banks and a Volcano set in middle of it all.

Queensborough Community Park is another gem in the sea of modern street parks that is Vancouver.

The start to Dane Reynolds’ 2011 season — assuming there is one — will be rocky.

Reynolds injured his knee during his stay in Hawaii late last month. He’d nevertheless surfed the Billabong Pipeline Masters on what looked like a bad wheel earlier in the month, which means his problem has been nagging him for a while. In an effort to fix the problem once and for all Dane is headed for surgery tomorrow.

Things could have been worse. Apparently the doctors feel the injury isn’t as bad as they originally feared. “The good news is that it’s not an ACL injury,” said Quiksilver’s Michael Crawley. Crawley told Australia’s Coastal Watch. “Once the damage is repaired he’ll be back in better form than before.”

Recovery will keep Reynolds out of the water for up to ten weeks, which puts his appearance at the first stop of the 2011 ASP season in doubt. The waiting period for the Quiksliver Pro begins February 26.

Dane finished fourth in the world last year, a feat all the more impressive given it looked like he was putting very little mental effort into his mission. He’s regarded by many as the best surfer on tour. Like many surfers, he’s expressed doubts about a life of traveling from contest to contest. Those doubts have turned into speculation on whether he wouldn’t even come back in 2011, after he expressed some of his feelings to STAB Magazine.

Either way, ten weeks on the sidelines will give Reynolds plenty of time for soul searching. The big question is whether being forced out of the water is more or less likely to light a fire under his ass. The clock is ticking.

From Grindtv.com

Visit www.switchitup.com/quiksilver to check out the latest in Quiksilver at Switch Boardshop

Quiksilver has posted the first episode of their series called Cinematic Video and sure enough it features our boys Chris Rasman, Will Lavigne and Matt Belzile. Check out as the guys make the most of some beautiful Southern California sun.

From: Push.ca

 

 “We are beyond excited to host the biggest pro surf event in the world on Long Island this September,” said Bob McKnight, CEO of Quiksilver. “There has always been a huge contingent of dedicated surfers and surf enthusiasts on the East Coast and they will now get a chance to watch the world’s best surfers in Long Beach. We are also bringing the best and brightest Quiksilver, Roxy and DC athletes to New York City, the largest media arena in the world, for twelve days of surf, skate, BMX, fashion, art and music that will bring incredible global attention to these phenomenal athletes and the action sports culture and lifestyle.”

 “When I was young, I remember some great waves on Long Island with my brother Sean and our friends,” said Kelly Slater, 10x ASP World Champion. “I’m really looking forward to being in New York. This event itself will be unique and kind of an unknown for us and bringing the ASP tour to Long Island should be fun cause there’s a big surf culture there already and some great surf shops.”

 “ASP International is very pleased to sanction the Quiksilver Pro New York, which joins a short and prestigious list of ASP World Tour sites around the world, including Australia, Portugal, France, South America and Hawaii’s North Shore,” said Brodie Carr, ASP International CEO. “In addition to bringing the world’s best surfers to the East Coast of the United States, Quiksilver is breaking boundaries as the first event in history to put up a $1 Million prize purse. This speaks volumes of Quiksilver’s commitment to excellence, and the ASP has every confidence in our teams working together to produce the best possible event. Long Island is considered one of the hallowed sites of East Coast surfing and the experts at both Quiksilver and the ASP, as well as the unparalleled talent of the ASP Top 34, will come together to make this one of the most memorable events in surfing history.”

 Surfline.com, the world’s leading forecaster of wave and surf conditions, conducted an independent long term 15-year wave study for western Long Island, New York, summarizing that September 4-15 is one of the most consistent time periods for sizable surf in the region. In addition, independent local feedback supports these findings, with September typically averaging 3+ hurricane swells, typically with at least one 3-4 day swell. Surfline.com is the official forecaster for The Quiksilver Pro New York.

 “This was a very fascinating study,” said Sean Collins, Chief Forecaster and President of Surfline.com. “The surf climate in Western Long Island is greatly affected by the underwater Hudson Canyon offshore, which can turn average surf into very high quality surf comparable to many of the best surf spots in the world on the right day. We are also in a La Nina year, so we expect the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season to be a little more active and hopefully we can score great surf with the world’s top surfers in one of the best cities in the world.”

 The competition dates will include the Quiksilver Pro Trials Presented by Unsound Surf, the premiere surf shop in Long Beach on September 3. Following will be the Quiksilver Pro New York WT competition window, set for September 4-15.

 “We are happy that the Quiksilver Pro New York is coming to Long Beach,” said Long Beach City Council President Thomas R. Sofield, Jr. “These professional surfers will see first hand what the local surf community gets to appreciate every day – our beautiful white sandy beaches and some of the best waves around.”

 In addition, Quiksilver, Roxy and DC will bring a world-class roster of athletes to New York City during the month of September for a series of demos, films, parties, music concerts and art exhibits that represent the best of surf, skate and snowboarding cultures.

 Please look for continued Quiksilver Pro New York updates and announcements on www.Quiksilver.com and www.aspworldtour.com

Check out the Quiksilver pro snack pack show, a small movie with the highlights of the contest.

March 10, 2011 01:47:28