Friday is the annual “Go Skateboarding Day” put on by the Go Skateboarding Foundation, and to promote this year’s celebration of pavement and polyurethane, more than 6,000 Instagram photos tagged from last year’s event were used in a massive photo-mosaic recreating Grant Brittain’s famous photo of Tod Swank. The foundation is selling prints of this year’s poster to benefit its “Just One Board” campaign right over here, so if you support the cause and dig the poster, go get yourself one for your bedroom wall. And don’t forget to grab your skate and hit the streets on Friday.

Channel Islands (from left to right) Pat Curren, Kilian Garland, Brandon Smith, Pat Ecker; photo courtesy of Oakley

You live to surf, you work at a surf shop, your team competes in a regional shop team challenge, and your team wins. What does it all mean? It means that as a finalist of Surfer magazine’s Oakley Surf Shop Challenge, you’ve won an expense-paid, trip-of-a-lifetime to Bali.

The Oakley Surf Shop Challenge pits four-man teams (two surf shop pros and two shop employees) against each other for a chance to win $10,000, an advertising spread in Surfer magazine, and the title of best surf shop in the country. The seven shops who made it to the finals in Bali this year are Surf Ride (Southwest champs), Sunrise (Southeast champs), Sweetwater (Mid-Atlantic champs), 7th Street (Northeast champs), Channel Islands (Northwest champs), HIC (Hawaii champs), and Revolution (West champs).

Before these teams boarded their planes and headed for surf paradise, we took the opportunity to glean from them some locals-only knowledge about their shops’ home towns. Lucky for us (and you) they obliged. Next up is Pat Ecker from Channel Islands surf shop in Santa Barbara, California. (For info from the Northeast champs, click here.)

And one last thing: Good luck to the finalists—you’re all winners in our book—and you can follow the contest here: surfshopchallenge.com.

Photo of Channel Islands surf shop and its three-hexagon logo courtesy of Channel Islands

Where is the best place to grab a coffee, to lunch, and most important, to surf?
Channel Islands: Best coffee: The Good Cup on the Mesa. Best lunch: Metropolis deli—best sandwich in town! Best surf: Rincon.

Tell us about the local trends. What are the top three brands in your shop, trends in your town, and places to be seen?
Channel Islands: Brands in the shop: CI surfboards, Quiksilver, Volcom, and O’Neill Wetsuits. Trends in town: black wetsuits and white boards. Places to be seen: downtown Santa Barbara’s State Street.

Surf lore: Share with us a story about your town. It can be fact or fiction, but it has to be relatively well-known by local standards.
Channel Islands: The story about how the Channel Islands logo came about, as told by Al Merrick: “I looked through the magazines and wanted the logo to show on the waves and wondered what I could do to make that happen. I saw a photo where light was reflecting off the ocean, and it created a hexagon, so I put three together and that became our logo.”

The image of a downhill slope on Mars might look like fresh tracks left by snowboarders, but in reality these “linear gullies” on a Martian sand dune were created by chunks of frozen carbon dioxide—dry ice—gliding downhill while cushioned by gas, similar to how a miniature hovercraft would work.

The recent finding by NASA researchers prompted one scientist to alter her Martian dreams.

“I have always dreamed of going to Mars,” said Serina Diniega, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “Now I dream of snowboarding down a Martian sand dune on a block of dry ice.”

Watch and see why the NASA scientist thinks it might be possible:

As you can see, scientists replicated what happens on Mars by placing chunks of dry ice at the top of a sand dune and watching them easily glide downhill.

From NASA:

Gaseous carbon dioxide from the thawing ice maintained a lubricating layer under the slab and also pushed sand aside into small levees as the slabs glided down even low-angle slopes.

 

The outdoor tests did not simulate Martian temperature and pressure, but calculations indicate the dry ice would act similarly in early Martian spring where the linear gullies form.

As for snowboarding or skiing on Mars, well, keep dreaming.

Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona. Photo of snowboarding astronaut is a screen grab from the video.

For Immediate Release:

(June 18th, 2013)

Ice fishing on White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Photo courtesy of Scott Costello/Flickr

A 72-year-old fisherman was sentenced Monday to seven days in jail for cheating in an ice fishing derby over the winter in Minnesota.

Alfred “Tom” Mead of Long Prairie caught two northern pike from another lake and kept them alive with the intention of submitting them as catches in the fishing tournament in an attempt to win the grand prize of a $10,000 Ice Castle fish house, according to WDAY News and other reports.

A freshly caught northern pike, but not one of the fish in question. Photo courtesy of Jami.1022/Flickr

Mead had won the same Park Rapids American Legion Community Fishing Derby and other contests, leaving a trail of suspicion as he collected prizes in fishing contests throughout Minnesota, according to the Park Rapid Enterprise.

It was unclear how Hubbard County Sheriff Cory Aukes caught Mead at the Feb. 2 tournament on Fish Hook Lake, but as Mead was escorted off the ice, other fishermen heckled him, yelling “Cheater!”

“What can I say, I got caught,” Mead said when his cheating was exposed, according to the Park Rapids Enterprise. “God told me not to do it, but I did it anyway.”

Mead pleaded guilty in Hubbard County District Court to a felony charge of “theft by swindle” in exchange for having the prosecutor drop a game and fish violation of transporting live fish.

In addition to jail time, Mead was placed on four-year probation, fined $200, order to pay a $75 public defender co-payment, and had his fishing and hunting privileges taken from him for two years in Hubbard and adjacent counties. He had been facing a maximum of five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

“Your conduct had a major impact on these things [fishing tournaments],” Judge Robert Tiffany said at sentencing. “I hope you realize the seriousness of your conduct. [Cheating] takes the enjoyment and joy out of it for those who bring their kids [along with the honest participants].”

Legion members were said to be happy justice was served.

The CLAE Bruce scaling walls at Havana’s famous fort, La Cabana; photo by Kade Krichko

After packing the Bruce down to almost nothing in my carry-on, I was excited to try out CLAE’s new offering in Cuba’s capital city. As anticipated, temperatures stayed in the 90s for most of the trip with humidity hovering around 90 percent, making it nearly impossible to stay dry. However, the Bruce’s slim profile and open weave mesh upper allowed for optimal airflow, helping my feet breath and still look sharp (some foot powder never hurts though).

My trip was based around sports photography, so I needed my shoe to provide support as I chased the action or climbed up to get my shot. A stiff heel cup provided the support I worried a minimalist mesh shoe would lack, and the flexible rubber cupsole gave me the maneuverability I needed to climb up fences, dodge traffic, and kick soccer balls—camera in hand. When I was snapping pictures of divers jumping off Havana’s seawall, the Bruce’s held me steady as crashing waves sprayed water and people jostled for position.

Some locals showing off for the camera at Havana’s seawall, El Malecon; photo by Kade Krichko

On top of that, the sole kept my feet happy on days where I could log over 6 miles on foot. The shoes slipped a bit on slick sidewalks, but overall the grip was more than adequate.

One intangible I didn’t anticipate was how easy the Bruce was to wash and dry. A simple towel scrub took out grime and the shoes air dried in a few hours. Usually I wouldn’t bother, but cleaning the shoe was so easy, it was hard to resist.

In 30 days of intense use and scorching tropical weather, the Bruce’s stood up to every test I threw at them. Heck, they even helped a gringo salsa dance (sort of).

Taking in the action from up above in downtown Havana; photo by Kade Krichko

Check out the Bruce here.

For more on Kade Krichko’s adventures in Cuba, click here.

Follow Kade Krichko on Twitter.

Mac Miller drops some knowledge with the new Neff and Mac Miller collection; photo courtesy of Neff

Reality television star, social media troller, basketball ringer, and hip-hop artist Mac Miller likes to have his hand in a little bit of everything. The Pittsburgh native continues to spread his wings with the launch of his newest clothing collection, a collaborative effort with Neff Headwear dubbed the Neff x Mac Miller Collection. The collection features nine co-branded pieces—t-shirts, hats, a tank-top, sweatshirt, and watch—all with the vibrancy we come to expect from Neff and some additional Miller flavor. The collection coincides with the drop of Miller’s second studio album, “Watching Movies with the Sound Off,” which debuted on Tuesday. GrindTV caught up with Neff founder Shaun Neff to find out more about working with the 21-year-old rapper who once Twitter feuded with Donald Trump.

What are you guys most excited about with this newest collaboration?
Personally, the most exciting thing about this collaboration was the opportunity to get to work with Mac and go through the creative process with him. Neff is working on pushing out a fresh new feel with more mature designs, and putting out this collection with Mac was a great way to do that.

Neff are no strangers to bright colors, but some of the other designs are a new step for you guys. How did that come about?
At its roots, Neff has always been all about fun designs, bright colors, and pushing the limits with fashion. For the last few years, we’ve felt sort of handcuffed to the suckerface logo due to its popularity at retail—no matter what we designed it had to incorporate that face. We’re excited to start moving away from that and to start making more creative product without worrying about an icon.

Mac Miller’s second studio album, “Watching Movies with the Sound Off,” dropped Tuesday; photo courtesy of Neff

What was it like working with someone as high energy as Mac Miller?
Mac surrounds himself with a great team, and our meetings were always energetic and exciting. My brain is always spinning a million times a second trying to think of fresh and fun ideas, and Mac and I were really able to connect on that level, which was rad.

What say did Mac have in the process? How does he feel about the collection?
This whole collection was designed by Mac and his team—Jimmy and Q. The first time I met Mac he was wearing a backpack with an Indian-inspired print, and we ended up presenting a few Indian patterns in our second meeting. Mac loved the idea and took it to the next level with his team. Both of us are stoked on this collection.

Do you guys have your eyes on more music acts coming up? Any other collaborations we should keep our eyes out for?
We just inked a deal with Damian Marley, which I’m super excited about. He’s been another amazing person to work. Beyond that, we’re always in talks with different personalities. Be on the lookout for some huge collaborations coming out later this year.

The Mac Miller Collection is available exclusively at Zumies.

The footage was captured in Norway and the wolf makes a few other faint-hearted charges, which end in similar fashion.

But the video uploader provided no details.

It’s not clear, for example, why an attacking wolf would turn cowardly in the face of farm animals that commonly fall prey to predators such as wolves.

Nor is it clear whether the presence of a videographer was a factor, or whether wolves are used to hunting in packs and this one simply turned timid in the face of adversity … or whether the wolf was mostly just being playful.

Regardless, it’s an amusing scene and further evidence that animals are unpredictable, and sometimes very entertaining.

What seemed like harmless fun involving a live catfish nearly turned deadly when the sharp spine of a catfish impaled a 13-year-old boy in the neck, coming just a couple of centimeters from puncturing a main artery. “I thought I was going to die,” Aiden Menchaca told KATV of the incident during a Father’s Day fishing outing in Maumelle, Arkansas. KATV, the ABC affiliate in Little Rock, has the story:

KATV – Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports

The barb the video talks about is actually a razor-sharp spine, found on the dorsal fin and pectoral fins of catfish.

Melissa Menchaca, Aiden’s mother, was joking around as she held the slippery catfish near her son.

“I wanted to give him a kiss,” she explained. “He got nervous, the fish flopped, and it smacked him on the neck.”

Aiden said it didn’t hurt until he realized the sharp spine was in his neck.

“When I got stuck, I screamed like a girl as loud as I can,” he told KATV.

Melissa was going to pull the spine out until she saw a bulging artery. She left the spine in place and immediately phoned for help.

“It seemed like forever for 911 to come,” she said. “It was a nightmare.”

When paramedics arrived, they were said to have been surprised at what they saw. They were forced to wait 30 minutes until the fish calmed down before they were able to cut the fin and airlift Aiden to Arkansas Children’s Hospital where the spine was safely removed. An ultrasound revealed how close Aiden came to possibly dying.

Thankfully, the incident had a happy ending, but it taught Aiden, whose new nickname is Catfish, a valuable lesson.

“Not to mess around with fish,” he told KATV.

Photos are screen grabs from KATV’s report.

Hat tip to Field and Stream. 

What’s not to love about Laura Enever? The 21-year-old World Tour surfer turns heads with her bold style both in and out of the water. In “I’m Laura,” a new quarterly series from GoodCheer, Enever talks about her hopes and dreams for 2013, kicks off her competitive season at the Roxy Pro on Australia’s Gold Coast, attends the ASP awards banquet, and drops in on a young friend’s birthday party.

Laura has been known to surf in fishnet stockings and is regularly caught dancing around and whipping her long blond hair on camera. But this fun-loving surfer girl also has a serious side; when she’s home in North Narrabeen, Australia, Laura hits the gym four to five times per week and works hard to stay fit and healthy so she can compete at the top of her game.

All those hours surfing and training at the gym are paying off—Miss Enever is currently ranked fifth in the world.

Check out “I’m Laura (A New Beginning)” and visit Laura’s site here.