•Major shakas go out to ESM Senior Photographer and #1 Red Sox hater Brian Nevins from Hampton, NH, who hit a home run by scoring the October cover of Surfer Magazine. The winning image is a classic, black-and-white lineup shot of a perfect Sumatran beachbreak Brian took while traveling Indo on a Surfer photo trip. In addition to the cover, Nevins was the sole photographer for the subsequent feature story "First Class Feral," which ran a whopping 12 pages in the same issue. Onya, Nevs! •Surf art is gaining tons of notoriety throughout the industry and beyond, and to capitalize on this, Newport, RI's, Michael Montanaro hosted New England's largest surf art show this fall. The Montanaro Gallery held their Surf Art Extravaganza from September 9th through October 3rd, featuring the work of 20 leading surf artists, including John Severson, Glenn Martin, Tadeo Sparks, Andy Davis, Rick Griffin, Micah Murray, Adrian Massey, Michael and Elizabeth Montanaro, along with many others. If you missed the Extravaganza, don't worry because the gallery is currently hosting a new art/ photography exhibit displaying the paintings of Michael alongside the photos of Grant Myrdal. Myrdal is a transplanted South African who now lives in New York, and his brilliant lenswork has made the pages of numerous surf magazines, including ESM (his very own portfolio ran in 2003, Vol.12, #90). To learn about future exhibits, log on to www.montanarogallery.com. •An artist of a different sort, famed In Search Of Captain Zero author Allan Weisbecker of Montauk, NY, just finished his latest novel, titled Can't You Get Along With Anyone? A Writer's Memoir And A Tale Of A Lost Surfer's Paradise. The new book is basically a sequel to the Captain Zero tale, delving deep into the author's experience living on the point at Pavones, his work to bring Captain Zero to the big screen, and his investigation into the murder of another U.S. expat in Costa Rica. Just a few of the topics hit on in Can't You Get Along With Anyone? include why Sean Penn wants Weisbecker dead, how Weisbecker almost beat up John Cusack, why the writer took to arming himself before surfing Pavones, and how he milked Hollywood out of hundreds of thousands of dollars without a guilty conscience. Though the book is slated for official release next year, you can order advance copies at www.aweisbecker.com. Freestyle USA just announced the addition of three new faces to their New England All Star Team. Congratulations and warm welcomes go out to Casey Lockwood, who's surfing out of Steve O'Hara's Pioneers Boardshop in North Hampton, NH; John Basile from Nor'easter Surf Shop in North Scituate, MA; and Cape Cod's Brandon Silva, who rides for Sick Day Surf Shop in Wellfleet, MA. The cold country team is headed by Team Captain Marc Angelillo of Cape Cod, who scoured the New England coastline to find the creme-de-la-creme of local riders. Freestyle's squad already includes seasoned rippers, like Katy Weeks, Rachel Finn, Eric Anderson, Steve Hassett, and Danny Woodruff, who are all back onboard for their second year. To check out the new fall lineup, visit www.freestyleusa.com.
•Photographer John Carden, of Hampton, NH, sent ESM a sick selection of shots from the New Hammy lineups, which were inundated with heaps of fun waves courtesy of Tropical Storms Debbie and Ernesto this August. In addition to the local crew, including ripper Doug Wright, the swell also coincided with shaper Erie Peeples's Northeastern tour. Erie, who hails from New Smyrna Beach, FL, and designs Erie Surfboards, was in New England dropping off new boards at local shops and hosting promo parties at area watering holes like Portsmouth's The Red Door Barn. On his days off from the tour, Peeples managed to score some juice from Ernesto with the rest of the local crew. To see all of the photos from the swell, visit Carden's web gallery at www.johncarden.smugmug.com. •Another shaper touring the Northeast this fall is Shawn Vecchione, owner of VEC Surfboards Hawaii. Shawn is a native of Cape Cod, MA, but for the past two years he's been living in Kauai, where he's been busy cranking up his surfboard production. He returned home during the last two weeks in September and traveled to shops across New England with VEC teamrider Dillon Murphy of Cape Cod. If you missed Shawn, you can still check out the latest VEC Surfboards Hawaii line at www.vecsurfboards.com or by calling 808-634-8776. •One more big congrats goes out to Alexandra Cheney, a graduate student at Wheaton College in Norton, MA, who just received a $25,000 fellowship from the school to study the "intersection of surf culture and environmental stewardship" in some of the world's top surf destinations. Cheney received the funding as the 2006 Watson Fellow, and she'll travel to Polynesia, Australia, Japan, Costa Rica, Brazil, and South Africa to research the role surfers play in the protection of environmental resources. Originally from Santa Monica, CA, she started surfing at age 10 and became a Surfrider Foundation member at 12. During her studies, she'll immerse herself in the local communities, interviewing and photographing the surfers to explore their connection with the ocean and how that translates to coastal protection. Way to go, Alexandra!
•Another female surfing scholar who deserves mention is New York's Kristin Angiulo, who was recently awarded the ESA Marsh Scholarship for the third year in a row. Kristin, who graduated from Rutgers University in 2005 with a B.A. in Communications, claimed the $1500 scholarship this August, and the funding will go toward her graduate studies at UCLA, where she'll pursue her Master of Education in Counseling and Student Affairs starting this fall. Who says surfers are all a bunch of lazy beach bums?
•On the skate scene, the crew at Adio held their East Coast tour, No Sleep Till New Bedford, which started in Orlando, FL, and ran all the way up to New Bedford, MA in August. The Adio team, which includes Right Coast skate pros Bam Margera from West Chester, PA, and Ed Selego from Miami, FL, managed to fit in 13 autograph signings and 12 skate demos in just 13 days. All right guys, now that the run is over, you can finally get some shuteye! •The lads and lasses at Irish Surf Culture came all the way from the emerald green shores of Bundoran, Ireland, to attend the Newport Irish Festival in Newport, RI, which was held Labor Day weekend. Teamriders Richie Fitzgerald, Chris Wooten, and Briohny Radda hit up the Newport Yachting Center for the event, and they were spotted working the crowds and getting the word out about their new company. ISC seeks to provide Irish surfers across the globe with a product they can identify with by designing original clothing that combines ancient Celtic imagery with modern Irish surf culture. If you'd like to check out what ISC has to offer, they currently have a North American distribution center in Neptune Beach, FL, which can be reached by calling 904-247-0050, or you can simply log on to www.irishsurfculture.com. •This just in: Unsound rider and displaced New Yorker now living in Santa Cruz Chris Rempe just returned from a trip to Bali, where he scored, as usual.
•The ESA-South New England District reported the August 19th Cape Cod Surfing Championships scored epic surf, and the event was one of the most exciting in recent memory. Though the rest of New England languished in flatness, the lineups along Cape Cod saw solid, chest to head-high groundswell with offshore winds for the entire contest. Standout competitors include Brazilian transplant Ronaldo Lima, who ripped his way to victory in the super competitive Open final, along with scoring a close 2nd in Men's Open and 3rd in Men's Longboard. Chuck and Ana Barend, who run the Christian Surfers Association Rhode Island Chapter, also saw big wins. Chuck carved his way to the title in Senior Men's and went on to take 2nd in both Open and Masters Longboard, while Ana easily won Senior Women's and Senior Women's Longboard. Finally, holding it down in the Women's division was winner Katie Weeks, who also finished 4th in Women's Longboard. To get updated on the rest of the ESA- SNE District contest schedule, call the hotline at 401-727-2605 or visit www.surfesa.org. •Thanks to photographer buddy Joe McGovern, Peter Pan recently scored the cover of Prime Time Magazine, "A Senior Living Publication" aimed at the 50-plus crowd. •And speaking of the big 50, Maine man Kevin Grondin just celebrated his half-a-century birthday. Compiled by Chris Towery |
Todd & Chalee Holland -- Jimbo 
