The Santa Catalina Island Company hosted the Catalina Stand Up Paddle (SUP) Festival this past weekend, marking the final stop of the developing SUP tour. The three-day long event featured two days of races at the Descanso Beach Club, SUP demos, and the screening of the first ever SUP film.

The festival—deemed the largest event in the short history of the sport— brought world-class paddlers from as far as New Zealand and Hawaii to compete for a chance at $15,000. Recognizing the rapid growth of the SUP industry, sponsor REVO Sunglasses—a Luxottica-owned eyewear company under the Oakley umbrella, along with Tahoe SUP,  jumped at the opportunity to host the final event Saturday, October 1, contribute to the hefty prize purse, and donate new shades for the winners circle.

read more at transworld

Steph Gilmore and other action sports stars pose nude in this years Body Issue produced by ESPN.

“It’s daunting for female surfers to match the image of being a tan, fit beach girl in a bikini, so posing naked for these photos was liberating, and helped me stop stressing about my insecurities.” — Steph Gilmore

story/image via espn

[Confirmed by Transworld Business via sources at Surfing Magazine]

Travis Ferre’s last day as the editor in chief at Surfing Magazine was yesterday where he replaced years ago Evan Slater who is now working at Hurley. The new position that will replace Travis will be associate editor Taylor Paul. We do not know the complete details but the word is Travis will be joining forces with Kai Neville (videographer) who brought you Modern Collective and his most recent Lost Atlas.

Travis Ferre one of the many editors moving in a different direction (editors we recall that have been at Surfing Magazine; Nick Carroll, Dave Gilovich, Peter “PT” Townend, Jamie Brisick, Steve “Zeldo” Zeldin, Jesse Faen, Evan Slater, Pete Rocky and ??)

original story from surfimages