Dewey Weber Longboard Classic

Doheny State Park
13 June 2009

Dewey Weber Longboard Classic to Feature Competitors from Around the World on June 13th

Dana Point — A special day of surfing is about to unfold as the annual Dewey Weber Longboard Classic kicks off on Saturday, June 13 at Doheny State Park.  The event will celebrate Dewey’s legacy and showcases highly competitive longboard surfing. Surfers from as far away as Japan will be competing at this year’s event.  A highlight will be the always fun to watch Mini Grom expression session.

Also, this year’s program is part of the Doheny State Beach Surf-A-Rama where the State Park features over 50 surf inspired vendors.  Items for sale will include surfboards, books, paintings, jewelry, and classic surf items.

The program kicks off at 6:30 a.m. at Doheny’s infamous Boneyard surfing area. This particular surf spot features both a right and left hand surf break that enables longboarders to really showcase their moves while also providing great spectator viewing.  A special Saturday night awards dinner and beach party will be the social highlight of the contest beginning at 6:30 p.m.  This evening event under the stars at Doheny will feature raffle drawings and prizes with live music by Jasso and Garcia.

Background. . . A Little Bit of History: The late 1950s found Dewey Weber christened the first “hot-dogger” of surfing and one of the world’s best surfers. Dewey began manufacturing surfboards in the early 1960s and became one of the largest surfboard manufacturers.

Since longboards were the ONLY boards known in the surfing world, Dewey’s designs and surfing style were in high demand. This “little man on wheels,” with his flamboyant style, had such an impact on surfing that Surfing Magazine proclaimed him the “father of modern surfing.” Dewey’s surfing style was an impetus to the shorter and lighter boards now seen in the short board market.

His manufacturing designs pushed the envelope of surfboard design. In the late 1960s short boards were becoming the “in thing” with the younger crowd and longboarding took a back seat.

In 1981, a growing number of people once again began ordering longboards and, because of his passion for the longboard style and attitude, Dewey decided to reunite the top competitive surfers from the heyday of longboard surfing.

These surfers from the mid-1960s were invited to take a trip down memory lane with a fun day of competition at the Manhattan Beach Pier. Hundreds of surfers and observers showed up that day in May of 1981. Dewey’s vision of a “surf reunion” was a thunderous success and helped open the door to the resurgence of longboard surfing.

Over the next five years, the Dewey Weber Longboard Classic became a premier event, attracting major sponsors and media coverage. This event was covered on live television by the major network news stations in Los Angeles. In 1982, PM Magazine San Diego did a piece for their local viewers and found it so successful they syndicated it for nationwide viewing. By the second year of the event, a full press contingent gathered on the beach which included publications as notable as People Magazine.

The event continued annually through 1986 until many constraints were put on this type of venue. The Dewey Weber Longboard Classic was shelved and resurrected in 2001, harkening back to a golden era of surfing whose glow still shines in the minds of those who lived it, and those who know it only through the stories that have been passed down.

This brings us to the 2009 Dewey Weber Longboard Classic. For more information contact Anne Weber (anne@deweyweber.com) or call (949) 366-6398.

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Tim Boal signs new contracts with Oakley and Pull-In Underwear

Bordeaux, France — ASP World Tour rookie Tim Boal (Anglet, FRA), 25, recently re-signed with Oakley and also put pen to paper on a new contract with Pull-in Underwear following new endorsement deals brokered by Agency Sports International (ASI) Management.

The reigning ASP European Men’s Champion continues to power his way into 2009 after an incredible season on the World Qualifying Series in 2008, culminating in the Frenchman earning himself a precious spot on the elite ASP World Tour. After taking his place among the world’s top 44 surfers at the Quiksilver Pro in Australia earlier this month, Boal impressed spectators and judges alike by winning his first heat in emphatic style before capitulating in the 3rd round and earning himself an equal 17th place finish.

Following his promising performance on the Gold Coast, Boal took some time out to reflect on his latest endorsement deals, and said: “Oakley have been supporting me for a long time and I’m really stoked to extend my contract with them so that I can keep working with the brand.

We enjoyed a lot of success in 2008 and I’m confident that I can go on and achieve even greater things this year with the benefit of their support. It’s also a real pleasure to sign with Pull-in – they’ve got one of the most stacked action sports teams in the business, and it’s an honor to line up alongside those team riders.”

Looking ahead, Boal is anxious to build on the promising start he has made on the ASP World Tour, and said: “Professional surfing has come a long way in Europe in the last few years, and I’m really excited to be one of seven surfers flying the European flag on the World Tour this year. My support team and I have worked really hard over the last few months to rehabilitate my foot injury, and I’m stoked the hard work has finally paid off.

The opportunity to paddle out and compete against the world’s best surfers is something I’ve been working towards all my life, and I’m going to make the most of that opportunity in 2009 and hopefully beyond. Thanks to my girlfriend, my parents, my friends and my sponsors for all the support, especially during the tough times!”

Check back at the Europe.Reef.com and website to find out how Tim gets on at the next stops of the World Tour. Tim Boal’s sponsors include Reef, Red Bull, Oakley, Pull-in, Dakine, Surfersvillage and Pukas.

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A panel of doctors recently made a fascinating medical breakthrough (queue the sarcasm).

They agreed that surfing under the influence of drugs or alcohol are two of the prime dangers facing surfers.

Other factors discovered during Thursday’s 56th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Seattle included wave height, board length and interactions among surfers.

Pausing for a moment, it’s safe to say that doing anything under the influence of mind-altering drugs or alcohol is dangerous and it’s laughable to think it took an actual study by these sports medicine specialists to come to this conclusion.

According to James MacDonald, M.D., lead author of the surfing study, surfing’s “cool factor” also influences a surfer’s choice of sun protection, stating surfers purposely shun the most effective sunblocks containing zinc oxide and titanium dioxide and risk skin cancer from exposure to ultraviolet light.

MacDonald even discovered that surfers wearing wetsuits often exhibit a telltale sunburn pattern – what he calls “the surfer’s version of a farmer tan.”

The study also found surfers are territorial and occasionally fight to protect their surf break when it becomes crowded with novices and out-of-towners.

“I was surprised at how much violence there can be in surfing culture,” MacDonald says of his findings. “Some of the injuries I’ve seen have nothing to do with surfing – they’re fisticuffs.”

I’ll pause to back my fellow surfers on this one because surfers aren’t the only ones who dislike crowds – nobody enjoys a crowd – so it’s no surprise surfers sometimes get in fights when hordes of people clog the line up, but I digress.

MacDonald even urges physicians new to treating surfers to keep in mind it’s common to surf water ski or conduct other boating sports under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or other drugs, but when the surfer is high, so is the risk of drowning.

“Whatever the risk or injury,” MacDonald continues, “surfers feel compelled to get back to the sport and often ask me to close lacerations with a liquid adhesive rather than sutures because they don’t care what kind of a scar they have – they just want to get back into the water.”

After reading this survey, it’s easy to laugh at it’s findings, but it perpetuates the typical surfer stereotypes we will probably always face.

By reading the survey, one can speculate that all surfers smoke pot or drink beer before paddling out at their local break intending to beat up all the kooks or out-of-towners, then go to the doctor with an injury suffered in the fight only to tell the doctor not to use sutures because it will keep them out of the water, thus cramping their crazy, yet cool, lifestyle.

In defense of my surfer brethren, I’d like to say that surfers are some of the nicest and most down to earth people around, sure there are a few bad apples, but isn’t that the case with the rest of society, too?

Visit www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151697.php to read more about this study.

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