50 Years of Shaping Interviews Begin

                                                                                 Beginnings

Rusty Whitlock

 Cory Patterson, Keith Halterman and the BW crew were in Carlsbad, CA last week to begin interviews for the documentary, 50 Years of Shaping, The Journey of a Surf Family. In true Aloha spirit, the Whitlock family opened their homes, their shop, RW Surf, but most of all, their hearts, to us. 
                                                   

Pic of the back of the shop

Cory Patterson, the project’s Director, has spent hours over the past year filming – work in the shop, board shaping, surf lessons, and, of course, lot’s of surfing. But this trip was about the story. Rusty, the centerpiece of the story, was not feeling well, but he came up to Carlsbad from Mexico, anyway. I’ve spent hours with Rusty on the phone, but this was my first face to face. And, yeah, I was a bit awed. It’s not every day I get to hang out with surf royalty.

 

 

 

 

Interviews and More Interviews

 We spent most of the first day with Rusty, piecing together his story, taking him back in time with hours of questions. We heard stories about a time when the surf industry was in its infancy. The pioneers of the 50’s had opened the doors for young adventurers like Rusty and his friends. He grins
a little as he tells us ‘we just wanted to surf’.

 

They were just a bunch of young surfers who went on to become surf legends that we all know today…names like David Nuuhiwa, Herbie Fletcher, Jackie Baxter and Randy Lewis, to name a handful. One of my favorite stories Rusty shared that first day, was about ‘stealing our boards back from Camp Pendleton’ after they had been confiscated by the Military for getting a little too close to the beach. Seems like the Marines kept a chicken coop full of boards they were confiscating from the local boys. You’ll have to watch the documentary to hear that one! And, we heard some great stories about Bob ‘The Greek’ Bolan, Rusty’s first sponsor. It was a brand new Greek board that Rusty had to ‘repatriate’ from the chicken coop! Bob and Rusty are friends to this day.

Rusty’s story is set during a time when the industry we know today was growing. The innovators of the sport and the growth of competition were evolving. Rusty was an intimate part of that growth. We look forward to sharing these amazing stories with you.   

 

Selection of RW Boards

 

 

 

Matty Takes First in Division at First Stop of Cali Am Jam, 2014

 Matty Jessee, BoardWarrior team rider, took 1^st in his division of 11 and under at Mather skate park leg of the series, the first in a 5 stop series. Matty nailed the win with his huge Board Slide on the 4 rail, Front 180 down the Big 5 and his bevy of Transition Tricks.

 

CALI AM JAM

If you haven’t already watched Keith Halterman’s video of the May 31^st stop on the Cali Am Jam comp, well, you should. Keith is videoing the series for event coordinator Rob Ferguson, of 4141Corp. NorCal’s best skaters showed up for this free admission event. In keeping with the philosophy of community support behind Rob’s 4141Corp, prizes for local talent topped 7K. Spreading the love!

BEAST

Those following Matty know it's true. Matty is nothing short of a beast.   With his outstanding agility and technical skill, we can hardly wait to see what he can do on 6/28 at the St Helena competition.



Matty with Carl Watson

 

Full Part with Chris Hartkopp

Opening Shot of 'Full Part' at RW Surf Shop in Carlsbad, CA

Cory Patterson has been spending time at RW Surf Shop shooting for our upcoming documentary 50 Years of Shaping. He hooked up with Christopher Hartkkopp filming with RW team riders for the documentary. Chris is a 3 time National Danish surf champ and has traveled all over the world, including CA where  Cory P, Cory W and Christopher spent some time chasing waves up and down the southern coast of CA. Cory P got some great footage of Christopher blowing fins all over the place. Check it out at BoardWarrior.
Chris Hartkopp in Full PART
 

  Thanks. Stay stoked.

 

 

NorCal Ripper in SoCal

NorCal Ripper Shows His Style in SoCal

Matty Jessee, BW’s youngest team rider, was invited to a weekend Ramp Jam in Santa Barbara. The kids of the guy putting on the comp follow Matty on Instagram and wanted him there.  Of course, dad sent the invite, to the whole family. Hey, these kids have the whole Social Media thing covered. Matty, along with mom and dad (Stacie and Matt), sister Shay and even Trouper, the family dog, were invited to spend the weekend, while Matty competed with lots of amazing SoCal rippers.

Backyard Fun

For a backyard jam, it was amazing. Reps were there from Powell Peralta and the Arbor Team. Cash prizes were flowing. Matty was on fire. His energy, silliness and all out ripping style were crowd favorites. Dad, Matt, says ‘I was super proud of him’ and says ‘he was landing tricks he never landed before. Matty was in the zone!’  

There was a one hour jam for kids 12 and under. It was a rad format that let the kids rip it up with each other and show their style. Everyone had fun watching the kids tearing it up and just having fun rooting for each other.

Matty ended up with a ton of prizes and a $40.00 cash prize. He took 1^st place for best style and best attitude. Then he picked up best trick over the box for a kickflip and a big pop shovit, taking 2^nd overall behind Cash Money, a SoCal 11 year old, who is a sick transition skater.

Why is Skateboarding Different?

When it comes to skateboarding, kids are more interested in cheering each other on to perfect tricks. It’s not about beating the other guy. It’s about pushing each other to do a sick trick, high five’s all around.

 

Santa Barbara TV show, Life Chronicles, interviewed Matty after the comp and one of the questions was ‘why Matty thinks parents should allow and encourage kids to skate.’ He never hesitated with his answer:

‘Its super fun, you can do it with your Dad and family and anyone can do it.’ He said ‘its great exercise and better than just playing video games.’  He pointed out ‘it’s not too dangerous because you can skate at any level’. He also mentioned its fun to meet people from all over and travel to different places. His favorite tricks are rails, kick flips and skating street.

 It was a great day all around and everyone had fun watching the kids out there tearing it up and just having fun. Only in skating do we do this.  

 

A Man Walks Into a Surf Shop....



Over a year ago, I walked into this surf shop down in Carlsbad, CA, not knowing what I was in store for. My name is Cory Patterson and I’ve been surfing my whole life and I’ve been filming and photographing surfing for years. Walking into RW Surf, I was met by Cory, who I learned was the oldest son of Rusty Whitlock. I was given an introduction to the Whitlock’s by BoardWarrior, who I do some filming for.  My friends at BW thought I might enjoy getting some pics and catching some waves with their old friends at RW. It was an amazing day. We went out and shot some pics, went surfing and shared stories.

 


Keith Halterman, Cory Whitlock,
Cory Patterson, Rusty Whitlock
 


Well, mostly I just listened, absorbing story after story of all this surf history, like I was reading a book. On my surfed out drive home, back to LA, I called my friend Keith (BW’s videographer). Stoked about the day, I told him we need to start documenting this shop immediately. We need to get the history recorded before it’s lost. So, over the course of the past year, I have been shooting with the Whitlock’s, while working with BW to develop a great story we are calling 50 Years of Shaping; The Story of a Surf Family.

The stories this family shares, about living and growing up on the North Shore, pro surfing careers, tragedy and rebuilding, injury and unbelievable comebacks, both inspire and amaze. Through it all, never forgetting that Rusty keeps shaping one of the best surfboards out there. He has been innovating and creating boards, with his own hands, since 1963. Not in a big production factory, but in a one man shop. A shop that has surfing in the corrugated tin walls, shavings on the floor and the smell of resin and fresh salt water in the air.

Rusty and Cory working in the shop.

Through a lifetime staying true to the soul of surfing, Rusty is, to this day, one of the nicest most stoked out dudes I have ever come across. The whole family lives for surfing, doing what they can to keep themselves surrounded by surf culture and the ocean, no matter what life throws at them. But never losing the kindness and the ability to be a real human being in and out of the water. You won’t find flash or trendy here. They are just who they are and that is it.

With Hollywood and corporate surfing trying to sell an image of what a surfer should look like and surf like, Rusty and RW Surf live their own truth. Surfing is freedom. A way to express yourself as a person, as an artist and not giving a flying fuck about what the next 30 dudes in the lineup think of you. Remember earlier on I said "They are just who they are and that is it". Cory said in one of the 50 Years interviews….’we live a million dollar lifestyle, without the million dollars.’ That, my friends, is the soul of surfing. Well, at least in our eyes.

Rusty has been shaping boards for 50 years!

 Documentary in Development

The Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds to complete this documentary will be live in late May. Watch for it. You’ll be able to see a short trailer of the documentary that we hope to release by early next year. We’ve said from the beginning that this is story that needs telling, and we are going to tell it!, So, keep your eyes peeled and keep your stoke.  

  

RW Surf Board

Cory Patterson filmed the 2014 Mavericks Invitational for BoardWarrior. This is his account of  the day. See the video at  BoardWarrior.com

 

Mavericks Invitational, keeping his eye on a building WNW swell. With it peaking on January 24th, Mavericks was called, running at 12 ft at 19 sec, and wave faces running between 25 and 30 ft. It was on. Loaded up all my gear and jumped in the car and ran up the coast. I hopped on a boat at 6:00am, on Friday morning, the 24th, taking off out of San Francisco Bay. The boat was running with energy. Rollers so big we had to hook out over 5 miles just to get around them. As we wrapped around Pillar Point around 7:30am there was Mavericks in all its glory, pumping with rocks, great whites and peaks pitching so hard. 24 of the best big wave surfers were called and put on one amazing show.

Lets pause here and tell a little back story for those of you who don’t know about the history of Mavericks. Mavericks is located at Half Moon Bay a half mile out off of Pillar Point. It has the potential of reaching heights of 60 ft. In 1975, Clark was the first person to ever paddle out to Pillar Point and ride Mavericks. The Mavericks Invitational was founded in 1999.

The contest was stacked with some of the best big wave surfers in the world, with names like Greg Long, Peter Mel, Shane Dorian and Grant “Twiggy” Baker. In the end Twiggy dominated the final heat to pull off the win. Mavericks is a one-of-a-kind place and when it’s pumping there’s no place gnarlier than that. To witness that first hand was incredible. Thanks mother nature for an amazing show. See you next year. Mavericks 2014

Cory Patterson

http://www.corypphotography.com/
    

 

Feb6

- See more at: http://www.boardwarrior.com/blog/#sthash.VLjQDwOE.dpuf



Introducing BoardWarrior Spain

 

We’ve been dropping some teaser clips for the last few months of the BoardWarrior Spain team. Now we’re stoked to finally give you a good long look at these hard riding boarders. Team manager Alejandro Cejas has put together a great edit that shows some gnarly talent coming from Spain.

Did you know?

David Fernandez

I don’t know which is better, watching technically accomplished and fearless BW boarders or watching the amazing spots they are skating! While boarders here in the USA keep one eye out for cops who would end a good sesh, boarders in Spain don’t have that worry. Spain is boarder friendly! Yea, that’s right, boarder friendly. So keep an eye on the amazing spots these guys are riding. You may want to hit them up yourself. These clips were filmed in Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.


 Meet the Team
Benjamin Bremejo is the youngest Team Spain rider at 21, skates Gran Canaria, a great place for interesting spots. He is also an accomplished ramp, street and rail skater. His other sponsors are AJ Proyect Skate Shop, Dirty Clothing and DC Shoes.

 

 

David Fernandez, at 25, is a ‘to hell with everything’ skater. From Santa Cruz de Tenerife, David’s favorites are ‘unskateable’ spots. His other sponsors include Shut Up and Skate, Imagine Skateboards and Bones Wheels Spain.

 

 

Juan Mendez

 

Juan Mendez a killer downhill and transition skater at 33 years old. From La Orotave Tenerife,  Spain his other sponsors are FANFI and OV. 

 

 

 

 

Alexis Samper

Alexis Samper is 36 years old and he does it all, street, terrain, ramps, verts, rails…you name it and he’ll skate it! From Santa Cruz de Tenerife, his other sponsors include The Barrios Skateboards.com,  Zona Skate Shop, Rockstar and Dragon Clothing.

 

Rubén González born 30 years ago in Realejos, Tenerife Spain, hits ledges and gaps hard with amazing skill that you can check out for yourself in the new video. Don’t forget to pay attention to the paradise he skates in the Canary Islands. His other sponsors include Kinetic Supply and our good friends at Northwest Skate Shop, who are busy promoting skateboard culture in Spain.

 

BW is stoked on what these guys are doing and think you will be too. Check them out at BoardWarrior.com and check out the awesome sites in Spain that they are skating.