NORCAL SURFING

Surfing in Northern California is like climbing Everest, just in the fact that it is freezing cold. Before every session you need to get mentally prepared put on the wet suit and paddle out in the harsh conditions. The one good thing is there are always good waves around every corner, so it is worth the pain. Like my football coach would say ," NO PAIN NO GAIN!!"





The Santa Cruz Surf Posse.





Surfing out at Moss Landing today we ran into Dino Andino and Mike "Snips" Parsons. They love surfing so much they drove 7 hours to surf for two days in the freezing cold conditions and are headed home today.

Merry Christmas___ SHREDD it!!!

This made my Christmas dreams come true, a pink surf cab was the best present ever. SHAKA kaliki Maka.

HAWAII hangout

This time of the year in Hawaii is really rainy, which gets annoying fast. The one good thing is that with rain comes beautiful rainbows.




Danny and Bob, spending another afternoon in the sun at the quiksilver house.




Rory was holding it down over on the NS. He's sporting a sick mohawk with the Mr. T fades in the side, it looks mental.




Kalani and Bol were battling on the foozeball table. Bol is one of the Bali boys, I spent some time with all of them over at Rory's house, they are awesome.




Casey Brown and CJ Kanuha, Big Island brothers. This photo was taken by Brophy from the PRICKS, he's the man. The Pricks played a few shows on Oahu this past month and everyone was into their deal. Pricks for life.

Hawaii Lemonade

On the final day of the Pipe masters Kalani brought a lemonade stand to the beach to raise money for kids with Cancer. He was raking in the cash and everyone was giving him props.





Kalani making a major sale.




Ford brought his lunch money to the beach.




Ford supporting his team mate Kalani in his efforts to raise some money.

Hawaii: Etnies Party

Surfing Mag's Travis Ferre and Evan Slater ( always sporting RVCA).




Robert Hennessy and CJ Kanuha, island bradas partying.




I AM A ROBOT killed it, their set was really energetic and everyone got their boogie going.

RVCA San Fran

Russell and me out front of the RVCA store in SF. The day after the ceremony we charged to SF to explore. The RVCA store was amazing, everything in it was tight and tied into the RVCA family. It is right on the corner of Haight and Ashbury, so many things happpening and really interesting people. I haven't been to a big city in a long time so it was really eye opening and intriguing.




Russell, waiting for the store to open.




Haight Street has some interesting things to look at, here is one of them.




The Golden Gate always reminds me of my favorite TV show Full House, Jesse rocks!

Russel Smith-Good Morning America

Watch all the way to the end because that is where Russell has a classic cameo.

Mavericks Opening Day Ceremony

The Opening Day Ceremoy for the Mavericks surf contest was a media frenzy. Every local and major news station was there to cover the event which officially announces the waiting period for the event that will carry through from December to March. All the big wave chargers were there to accept the invite and take part in the festivities. It started on the beach where event director Jeff Clarke announced all the invitees, then carried over to a party where they had some great food, a band and did a lottery to announce the heats. The whole day was buzzing with everyone talking about the last major swell. All the boys were re-living their best rides and exchanging war stories, there was a lot of testosterone in the room. RVCA is proud to their team rider Russell Smith as one of 22 invitees to this prestigious event.




All the surfers, lined-up with their big wave weapons. Notice the amount of media people standing below.




Russell in the line-up, standing next to Grant "Twiggy" Baker, last years champ.




ABC's Good Morning America, interviewing brothers Smith about big wave surfing and the last major swell where they towed into Ghost Trees. On that same day there was a tragic death of a fellow big wave charger, Pete Davi.




Russell and his brother Tyler. Last year Russell made the semi-finals and Tyler got 2nd. Brothers Smith are pretty solid.




Russell and his girl Paige.




Russell and Jeff Clarke, picking a number that will determine which heat he will surf in.




Lucky number 3, putting Russell in heat number 1




Shawn Rhodes, Russell Smith, Brock Little, Greg Long and Jamie Sterling. All the heats were stacked, with only 22 competitors and all the worlds top big wave riders, there aren't any easy heats.

SURF NIGHT

This past weekend in conjunction with the Triple Crown, all the surf industry came together to give back to the North Shore community by showing up at Sunset Elementary to sign autographs and give away free product. With the worlds best waves in their back yard, being a professional surfer is a no brainer, especially when they come to your school and give you free things. At my school we had some guys come with yo yo's and do a demo, it was lame.




Rory and Kalani, representing.



Casey Brown stoking out the groms with some autographs.



The team was in full effect with the RVCA banner waving high.



Daniel, Kalani and Casey. The girls in the photo look the same age as Kalani, I'm sure they chase him around school all day.

MAVERICKS SURF CONTEST

RVCA TEAM RIDER RUSSELL SMITH WILL SURF IN THE MAVERICKS CONTEST

The Highly Anticipated Mavericks Surf Contest® is Back

The Official 2007/2008 Contest Window Will Open on December 7, 2007

HALF MOON BAY, Calif., Nov. 13 2007 - On just 24 hours notice between December 7, 2007 and March 31, 2008, 24 legendary big-wave surfers will make the trek to Half Moon Bay, home of Mavericks, one of the most majestic and infamous surf breaks on earth, to test their individual skills and vie for the highly sought-after 2007/2008 Mavericks Surf Contest® title. Competitors will face the dangerous elements of the frigid northern California waters in search of the perfect ride on waves reaching heights of 30 to 40 feet.

The international roster of invited surfers, which remains the same as last season with the exception of the alternates, consists of, in alphabetical order: Matt Ambrose, Grant “Twiggy” Baker, Ion Banner, Ross Clarke-Jones, Kenny “Skindog” Collins, Randy Cone, Danilo Couto, Shane Desmond, Brock Little, Greg Long, Josh Loya, Garrett McNamara, Peter Mel, Shawn Rhodes, Ryan Seelbach, Evan Slater, Tyler Smith, Russell Smith, Jamie Sterling, Anthony Tashnick, Darryl “Flea” Virostko, Grant Washburn, John Whittle and Zach Wormhoudt.