Skateboarding is what you would call an extreme sport. Skateboarding all began in the 60s. The idea of skateboarding started from surfing. That is why surfers and skaters looks are almost the same. The surfers wanted to see if they could do the same things on the street like they did on the waves.

It all began in California in the Santa Dogtown, which is really known as the Monica/Venice Beach area. California is where skateboarding became popular, and then grew to be all over the U.S. One of the most known groups of skateboarding this toy was called The “Z-Boys”. The group began in 1973. The first Z-boy was 14-year-old Nathan Pratt. Nathan Pratt worked in a surf shop owned by Jeff Ho. The shop was called “Zephyr Productions” where Pratt worked as an apprentice surfboard … Read More »

FAST FACTS

AKA: Parko
DOB: April 10, 1981
Born: Nambour, Queensland, Australia
Resides: Coolangatta, Queensland, Australia
Hobbies: Fishing and spending time with the family
url: www.joelparko.com

VITALS

Height: 6’0′ (183 cm)
Weight: 185 lbs (84 kg)
Stance: Natural
Sponsors: Billabong wetsuits and clothing, Von Zipper eyewear, Kustom footwear and JS Industries surfboards
Shaper: Jason Stevenson
Magic Stick: 6’2″
Training Ground: Snapper and D’Bah
Favorite Wave: Long ones
Favorite Maneuver: Big ones
Inspirations: Kelly Slater, Mark Occhilupo and Matt Hoy

2010 Rating: DL
2010 Points: 10500
2010 earnings: $20,000.00
Career earnings: $1,141,226.00
Highest Rating: Runner-Up in 2009, 2004 and 2002
Elite Inception: 2001
Years on Tour: 2011 will be Joel’s 11th year on the ASP World Tour
Sabbatical: None yet

Rating by Year:
2009: 2nd
2008: 4th
2007: 4th
2006: 6th
2005: 12th
2005: 2nd
2003: 5th
2002: 2nd
2001: 21st

Filmography: Still Filthy (2009), Stranger Than Fiction (2008), Trilogy (2007), Free As A Dog (2005)

Honor Roll: Two-time ASP World Junior Champion, ASP World Runner-Up in 2009, 2004 and 2002, Perfect 20 … Read More »

Known for his distinctive designs and innovative style, Jeff Ho has been a seminal force in the surf and skateboarding worlds for more than three decades. After creating his first skateboard at age 8, he went on to craft his first surfboard at age 14 – but he perfected his design with a board he made two years later. His passion for surfing and desire to find a board that performed to his standards led to a new obsession – designing and building custom surfboards.

He began building surfboards in his garage, re-making old boards he found on the beach. But Jeff had his own theories about how a surfboard should look and perform, and his ideas were far from mainstream. In 1966, Jeff found a new home at Robert’s Surfboards in Playa Del … Read More »

Mark Richard’s Winning Smirnoff Surfboard

Smirnoff Contest, Hawaii

1st Mark Richards (Winning Board ) Featured
2nd Ian Cairns
3rd Rabbit Batholomew
Other finalists  Reno Abellira (H), Jeff Hakman (H) and Shaun Tomson (SA)

To surfers born after 1980, Mark Richards is just the old guy whose record Kelly Slater broke. But not long ago, MR had another title, that of the greatest surfer of all time. So dominant was he, that no one regarded him with anything but awe, even as he paddled out in a silver wetsuit with a Superman logo on his board. It’s doubtful that even Kelly could pull that one off.

Richards was born in Newcastle, Australia, the only child of a car salesman. He was surfing by age six at Mereweather Beach, and his dad’s car dealership eventually transformed into a surf shop. His mom and dad surfed a bit … Read More »

Original Article by Jay DiMartino of World Champions of Surfing

Peter “PT” Townend had a professional surfing career before there was such a thing.  Before MR and Curren. Before Slater and Fanning, Peter Townend was the “best in the world.” Some argue that the inaugural tour was loosely planned and the competition was quite a bit less developed than today, but his title remains. Hailing from the talent rich soil of Coolangata, Australia; PT went on to transcend competitive surfing to become an ardent supporter and organizer of modern surfing in the United States. His resume exudes commitment to the sport and art of surfing as PT has been a competitor, movie stuntman, contest organizer, writer, publisher, marketer, and coach to future superstars; serving as an embodiment of the professional career surfer he hoped to create.

Peter Townend … Read More »

Kelly Slater’s impact on surfing mirrors the 90s Internet revolution. A piece of new technology originally dismissed as a cute, space-age toy that ended up changing the world in every conceivable way — from performance to money to records to design to longevity. Before Kelly, surf stars were just that: surf stars. After? They were highly paid, professional athletes with international appeal and limitless possibilities. The scariest fact? He’s still not finished.

Slater got his feet wet on the bunny slopes of Cocoa Beach, a sleepy Central Florida town made famous by a sexy, prime-time genie in the ’60s. Cocoa Beach, in Slater’s estimation, is as good a place as any to inherit a solid foundation as a surfer. “It breaks farther out,” he says, “so it’s easier to learn. If I had the choice of learning in Florida … Read More »

The surf world is full of specialists. There are aerial wizards, tow-in nuts, contest machines and freesurfing free spirits. Longboarders, long-johners,watermen and hellmen. Many surfers can claim knighthood in one or two disciplines, but few, if any, have the broad spectrum of skills that enables them to wear any hat they choose.

And then there’s Shane Dorian.

Since turning up on the surf media map in the late ’80s, the once-tiny kid from the Big Island has won a Hawaiian state title, pushed the paddle-in limits on the North Shore’s outer reefs, redefined deep tuberiding at spots like Backdoor, helped spearhead the “New School” of surfing, won WCT events, contended for a world title, towed in at spots like Jaws and continues to be on the frontier of cutting-edge, high-performance surfing on flawless canvasses like the Mentawais. And if that’s not … Read More »

Tom Blake One of the Most Important Watermen of this Century

Thomas Edward Blake was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 8, 1902. Eleven months later, his mother Blanche Wooliver Blake, died from tuberculosis. Devastated by his wife’s death. Tom Blake, Sr. gave young Tom to family members to be raised for the next seventeen years. In 1919, Tom Blake headed west facing many lonely, hungry years ahead, riding freight trains and taking various jobs in New York, Florida and California.

In 1922, Tom became a vegetarian and a pioneer of the health food movement. He has stuck to a philosophy of exercise and strict dietary habits. His understanding and perception of nature has become an inspiration to many.
Tom adapted to life on the California beaches easily. Blake was a “natural” waterman and with less … Read More »

One of the most stylish and successful American goofyfoots of all time was almost an Australian. That’s right: Rob Machado, Cardiff’s humble, smooth-flowing prodigal son, former world runner-up and 2000 Pipe Master could have easily been a cocky, animal-nicknamed ocker who had a single purpose in life: stop those American wankers. And the scary thing is, he just might have done it.

Machado was born in a Sydney hospital to Jim and Chris Machado, a California surfer and British student who had met at an Australian ski lodge in the mid ’60s. Rob’s father, Jim, who had grown up surfing under Ricky Grigg’s tutelage, decided to hit the road after a short stint in the military and a couple of years of community college. Australia was the highlight of his travels, and with the escalating war in … Read More »

In the mid-’70s, surfing was wild — long hair was paramount, contest conformity was bogus and feral quests for mystical waves were the road to nirvana. The last thing the sport wanted was a professional, well-spoken figure at the helm, but that’s what it got in Shaun Tomson. Years ahead of his contemporaries, he stood alone with articulate grace and redefined tuberiding in the process.

Tomson was born in Durban, South Africa, where he picked up his first longboard at age 10. He made the transition to shortboards as the revolution encompassed the world in years to follow. By the time the ’60s were out, Tomson had won the South African Boys’ title, attended his Bar Mitzvah and had his first experience in Hawaiian surf.

In 1973, Tomson performed his civic duty by serving 18 months in … Read More »