Long time Airwalk skater Andy Mac is already in Brazil getting his deck warmed up for another X Games competition down in Foz do Iguacu . There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Andy is a legend of the Summer X Games, racking up the highest overall medal count with 22. Will he pull in another one? We just shook out magic eightball and “Signs Point to Yes” showed up. Win!
Andy Mac is in Brazil!
Anastasia Ashley on The Chive
Photo credit: The Chive
It seems like Airwalk surfer Anastasia Ashley is always up to something. Whether it’s a night out on the town, ripping a monster wave or her day-to-day twitter antics, you can count on her to entertain you. This time around Anastasia stopped by The Chive for a photo shoot, and a chance to surf everything in their LA offices. The picture above is just the start. For the full spread, head over to The Chive.
Anastasia Ashley – Hill of Escape
Today we’re excited to bring you the more artistic side of surfing. Yes, we all love seeing someone pop off a wicked 360, but it’s also great when someone can provide a different take on a surfing video. In this short surf film, Director Daniel Russo has captured Anastasia in black and white surfing one of her favorite spots, Waimea Bay. Take a few minutes to relax and enjoy this unique piece.
Skateboarding with Saddam
Earlier this week, Airwalk hooked up our new found friends in Hollywood with several pairs of our classic Prototype kicks. The movie crew of Skateboarding with Saddam contacted us for shoes for the shooting of their new teaser trailer, and we were happy to help out. Check out these BTS picks of pro skaters Justin Strubing and Emmanuel Guzman. Also, pro skater Brian Lotti is the skate consultant on set. The feature film is being directed by Bayou Bennett & Daniel Lir, and executed produced by Sandy Hockenbery and the amazing Doug Claybourne (remember that movie The Fast and the Furious!!?) We have a feeling we might be hearing from these guys again soon! Photos: Seu Trinh.
Already Famous in the DR Update #3
The craziest day of the entire trip was our second to last day in the DR. The time: about 3 p.m. or so. Location: Puerto Plata. The temperature: blazing. We drove up to the spot of our last demo location and there was a DJ booth already set up and blasting tunes. Amidst all that was the most beautiful sight I’ve seen in a while – skaters, and lots of them. There were at least 30 kids; skating the small kicker, grindbox and flat bar that had been set up for us. It felt like home immediately. The only awkward point being when one of the girls (Maricella) interrupted one of my conversations and remarked how much she liked my ass. Something about it being big. So very strange. However, the cheers, applause and fist bumps the locals exchanged with us as we skated among them only magnified the feeling of home and proved that skateboarding transcends race, language and borders. We finished up the demo and skated with the locals to the only skate shop in the area aptly named “Skaters”.
The ride to the shop was quite an experience for all of us, including the pedestrians of Puerto Plata. It was clear that a bunch of skaters skating at top speed through streets, skitching dirt bikes, mopeds and cars was not a sight they were used to seeing. We finally got to the shop and tore it up on their mini ramp for a bit. I stood back to take a breather amazed at how well the locals skated the small ramp (which was definitely in need of much TLC) when I felt a hand on my left cheek. I turned around to see who else but Maricella yet again giggling. It was still very awkward. After mingling with all the skaters for a bit, we started the signing.
Aside from a dude (who I hoped was joking) shook my hand, looked me in the eyes and said “I love your ass, man,” the signing was solid. What exactly is it with Dominicans and my ass? Once that was through we started the product toss, carefully choosing those with the worst looking wood to give the decks to and threw everything else out into the clamoring hands. We then escaped into the van, still signing and high-fiving as we made our way to the vehicle.
All in all, I think the last day was just as crazy as it was supposed to be. I had the time of my life in the Dominican Republic and I damn sure am not looking forward to saying goodbye to this beautiful island. To any and all skate companies reading this – GO OUT THERE. Figure out what you can do to help build the scene. Get them better parks, cheaper skate products or even just year-round clinics. Please, as there is a lot of potential in this little island. They just need the right push.
Oh, and Maricella…I’m going to need to see some I.D.
– Justin Brandon Kinard
To view the last update from the trip, click here.
Already Famous in the DR Update #2
The past few days have been amazing. The group has been putting on the skate clinics with the children of the D.R.E.A.M Project. Throughout this past week, we would go to the school and put on demos for bright-eyed youths in different age groups. Each demo was followed by skate clinics run by us. I went into each one with the same sense of uneasiness. Not because I was nervous for myself or my fellow skaters, as we were all confident in and aware of our own and each other’s ability. My uneasiness came from not wanting to let the children down. For many of them, it was their first experience with skateboarding and for ALL of them it was their first experience with US professional skateboarders interacting with them on this level. It was up to us to show skateboarding as being fun and accessible. Being one of the people responsible for young attentive and impressionable minds first impressions of skateboarding felt like a lot of pressure initially but I always got over it quickly after seeing how psyched the kids were on the whole experience, and how eager they were to learn about us as well as just how skateboarding works.
Want to catch up on everything that’s happened on their trip? Check out their first update.
Granger Larsen Joins the Team
We’re stoked to announce Pro Surfer Granger Larsen has officially joined the Airwalk team. If you’re not familiar with him and his work, let us give you a brief rundown: Granger has been surfing for 15 years out of Lahaina, Hawaii, some of his most notable accomplishments include 2nd at the HIC Pro Sunset, 3rd at the O’neill World Cup of Surfing, 3rd at the Drug Aware Pro, 3rd at the Australian Open, 6th at the Triple Crown of Surfing, and 5th at the U.S Open of Surfing.
Head over to his bio page to read up more about him, and when you’re done, send him a tweet welcoming him to the Airwalk family.
Mahalo!
Already Famous in the DR Update #1
We just received another update from Justin. Check out what he and Wade are up to down in the Dominican Republic.
After having done the demo and signing I’m trying hard to find an adequate word to explain the experience.
Cool, isn’t enough; Awesome doesn’t cut it. Even amazing falls slightly short. How about..life changing. Yes, life-changing should suffice. I’ll start with the signing. We arrived to a crowd of maybe 20-30 kids. Some of them were skating off the stage, the others talking while others watched us comes in and set our stuff down. I’ve grown used to the look on their faces by now seeing as how that’s how every native had looked at us since we got on the plane. It was one of curious examination. Amusing in that it reminded me that I wasn’t as good as I thought at blending in, but not at all too off-putting. As the table began to get set up with product, and I started skating the stage as well, more kids started pouring in. The original plan was to just throw out some products, sign some things and shut it down, but after watching the kids huck themselves off the stage, we knew we just HAD to have a contest. After about 30 minutes of watching the local talent and distributing prizes, it was time for the signing. Seeing as how I am by no means famous (at least not in my own eyes) it felt a little strange signing autographs for the delighted faces that lined up to greet us.
Even stranger was the numerous requests for photos we got when it was all over.
As I posed for photo after photo, I began to realize that it didn’t matter to these kids whether or not they we were professional skateboarders as it’s defined in America, it didn’t matter if they even knew our names; the skaters of D.R. were just happy to see that someone cared enough to come to their country and support their scene.
There is A LOT of talent in the Dominican Republic. My wish is that other companies will make the effort to come out here, see and support their scene. Build some new and much needed parks.
We held the demo at Montecino skate park, the only skate park in Zona Colonia and one that could definitely use some love.
(If any skatepark-building foundation is reading, take notice) But I digress. All in all it was a blast. We managed to put on a pretty crazy demo, the cheers and applause almost never stopped.
After an insane product toss where we gave boards to the kids whose boards were the worst and the hungry little shredders took even the shirt off my back, we gave away a few more autographs, some photos ops and escaped into the van to relax, pack and get ready to get back on the road to Cabarete the following morning.
To catch up on everything that’s happened on the trip, click here.
Spring Break Giveaway with Anastasia!
CONTEST UPDATE – CONTEST HAS ENDED.
Right about now we’re sure you’re ready for spring to peek its head around the corner. After a brutal, snowy winter, we’re right there with you. Well, we’re happy to bring everyone a little ray of spring sunshine with the one and only Anastasia Ashley. We decided to come up with something fun to get you in the mood for brighter days. So, we’re giving away Anastasia’s signature tank top, a pair of flip flops, and a $50 giftcard to our online shop. Entering the contest is easy! Just follow these steps below.
1.) Follow both Anastasia Ashley and us on Twitter.
2.) Click this link to send out a tweet. OR tweet “I’m ready for #Spring with @anastasiaashley and @airwalk_online. Are you? http://ow.ly/i6sEZ”
3.) On Friday at 12PM EST we’ll pick one lucky winner to take home this prize pack!
Get out there and start tweeting!
Already Famous & HHF Visit DR
A few months ago, Airwalk got word that the Harold Hunter Foundation was planning its first international service trip. The NYC-based organization was teaming up with the DREAM Project in the Dominican Republic to share the power of skateboarding. An American and Dominican non-profit organization, the DREAM (Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring) Project offers quality education for more than 3,000 children annually through 24 programs in 11 different DR communities. HHF will be hosting several skate clinics in Cabarete, DR and providing skate gear to area youth through one of the many DREAM programs. Not wanting to miss out on such a great trip for an amazing cause, Airwalk has sent Already Famous skate ambassadors Wade Yates and Justin Kinard on the service trip. Justin and Wade will be sending us updates throughout the trip.
UPDATE: You can now read all of Justin and Wade’s updates:Â Read update #1Â |Â Read update #2Â |Â Read update #3
Here are Justin’s thoughts as they prepare to embark:
So here we sit; our bags packed, anxiously waiting till it’s time to make our way to the airport and I can’t shake this feeling of adventure. This surely isn’t the first skate trip Wade and I have been on together; but this one is different from all the others for many reasons.
First off, it’s our first international skateboarding mission; Secondly (what makes this so different from the others) is the purpose of this particular trip. You see we’ve been on the usual go here, and skate wearing this and representing that brand for the sake of representation or bolstering sales; This, trip however is bigger than that, bigger than us. This trip is about spreading the life-changing power of skateboarding. It’s about giving some much-needed attention to a skate scene in its infancy in a country where a good many people aren’t as well off as even middle class folk here. We are on this mission as ambassadors.
All of the thanks I’ve gotten from kids over there in my inbox and the general excitement I see before we’ve even arrived reminds me how important this all is and that it awards me the opportunity to create some unforgettable memories for a whole lot of kids. It humbles, excites and entices me all at once. Nothing will be the same after this trip is over. Not for the skaters of the Dominican Republic and most assuredly not for us.
–Justin B. Kinard
Want to see how the trip went? Just click below.
Read update #1
Read update #2
Read update #3