Rookies USA

Yes that’s right, we’re locked and loaded with 3 new features this week. First off we’ve got a pair of travel recaps from Adam Terpening and James Murdock. Terps got a little cultural on his Spanish adventure and sent us all the goods. The thin mustache and unibrow is already starting to fill in as he prepares for an autumn return. Murdo got paid a visit on Oahu by some dirty Pismo kids with a host of nicknames too lengthy to mention here. Their story with accompanying framegrabs from Ryan Hoover is linked here.

Speaking of Hawaii, the best waves of the season went down last week as chronicled by Mr. McFly. Hopefully this is a sign for a promising late season as the Pipeline Pro has now gone official for February 17th-24th with entry forms now available from the IBA site. Rookies will be on hand for the duration of the event with daily updates of all the latest dirt so stay tuned right here for all the contest hoopla.

Can’t get enough Only Child? Our final feature is another guest edition of etcetera with some of Adam’s behind-the-lens pursuits. He’s been filling our inbox with a steady stream of photos since his move up to the Bay Area and, at only 19 years of age, the kids got some serious talent. Upon arrival back into the States from Euroland he was greeted with some goodies as well. Camel unleashed a mini NorCal vault of his own recently in the gallery with photos of the recent swell here, here, here, and here.

And yet some more Linkage…
Get your ASR on this weekend
Smokey to X, Lester to Morey
Stalk 2 Teaser
This site’s crawling with content

Link of the Week: 5-South remixes the BITW comp with some De La…

The results are in from the 2008 Best in the West competition and the Rookies have retained their spot on top of Cali’s dk food chain for yet another year. Thanks to sponsors Surfride, Custom-X, Morey, Toobs, Esteem and 5-South for making this event happen. Overall it was a great event with fun waves, quality riding, and a chill vibe. We’ve got some pictures and a write-up posted in our newest version of etcetera.

Here are some recent links worth mentioning:
The Pipe contest is slated for Feb. 17-24th. View past results here.
The tour is on hold, but the production keeps coming from Asthmatic
Grant Malony takes home the DKS world title
5-South kicks in with a groovy new site
Dr. Pezman invades Hawaii
Chargers are killing it brah

Link of the Week: Chad Stickney’s Wedge ‘07 edit has all the right angles. PS if you haven’t seen it yet, pick up the new Transworld and check out our boy Chad Jackson’s macking Central spread.

In an age of drones, clones, and overproduced prone, we can finally breathe a breath of fresh air. With all the attention down under and across the pond of late, something got lost along the way: the Hawaiian roots of our sport. Enter Timmy Hamilton, the man behind that shroud of BOOGIE NATION mystery. What exactly did he do? He picked up a camera and started filming his friends just like any other stoked grom would do. The difference is that his friends got good, really good. These are the same friends that are now pushing Hawaii back into the limelight again with a new underground twist. Timmy was kind enough to answer a few questions and to show off some of his framegrabs from his upcoming release Boogie Nation 9 in our newest brimming Etcetera feature.

Speaking of Hawaii, The Rock is heating up with the arrival of the Pismo groms. Murdock is claiming prime conditions and solid swell on the way. He is also claiming Sandy Sphinx’s peach ’stache. Keep checking his blog here as stories arise. Ross McBride is on his way back for Round 2 as well this coming weekend. Substituting a strict El Pollo Loco diet for plate lunches should be a stretch, but he’s obviously thinking of other things with recent NF posts like these.

The Best in the West contest is on for this Saturday! We called the troops and got the confirmation on the incoming from Brett, Willie, and Cale. I’m sure there will be plenty of open-faced sandwiches ready to be smacked in t-minus 3 days with a solid NW on the way and good conditions in the forecast. Rookies will be upping the purse with an ice cold 30 rack of Buddy Love to the winning team. Here’s Chanus’ outlook for the event:

The Pismo Rookies Crew has been assembled again and was seen training on the south side of the Pismo pier this past month. They have been on a maple syrup garlic detox that ended about 3 weeks ago and since have been on a strict regimen of 1 hr of yoga, 3 hour surf sessions, followed by a 30 min. warm-down stretch session, and 58 minute meditation, all organic meals of fresh vegetables, fruit, complex carbohydrates and only water and grape Pedialyte to drink. Brett had some especially shocking defensive tactics - his defense against the Tongan-foot-in-the-ass was flawless. They are in shape, getting shacked and throwing tail, they will win.

Big Bird strikes again. An email from the man himself:

Well, Mini Stoker #2 is here.
Mason Patrick Stokes
Born January 3, 2008
8 lbs 2 oz
21 in
8:22 AM

Link of the Week: Contrast Mag Issue 3. Speaking of cyber dot zines, we recently got a sneak peek of the upcoming A-Frame and GUHHHHH is all we gotta say.

We’re starting the new year off with a little etcetera present from Ted Slaughter. Ted’s been kept busy mixing classes at UCLA with south swells at the Wedge for the past 3 years. At only 21 years old, the kid’s got a bright future in front of him. Check his newly revised site at Invertbb.com.

Back on the homefront we’ve got a lot of people on the move with the arrival of the new year. Delmore’s moved back to his beloved lamb country to oversee things with Cruella de Del, hunt for some anonymous SLO County myspace cougs, and hammer down some fresh new Asthmatic cuts. Terpening’s off to Spain to spaid some ET’s, get his 5-o’clock shadow rubbed down by some looney photog, and check out the local school and surf scene. Pismo wall rats Frank Robles and Sandy Sphinctor are off to Hawaii with hopes of losing their virginity at Backpacker’s, dawning some semi-empty Pipe, and getting the hell out of the freezing inside left doldrums of Pismo. They’ll probably encounter The Weimann, who just left today straight off a Yogi’s Long Island Ice Tea New Year’s binge. There’s also rumors of Richerson making the move to Central America for a couple months. Surely his stay will somehow involve a rodeo, multiple Modello tall cans, and an odd caress with an underage local.

5-South is bringing back the popular Best in the West dropknee competition. Willie, Brett, and Cale will be the three headed monster repping Rookies at this sunuvabich. Will Darren, Chanus, and Whitaker be making it down for a second Pizzy team? We’re not sure, but we’ll definitely be on hand to get some coverage for this event.

A couple random links worth mentioning…
Jeff Hubbard wins the USBA Ledges Pro in Maui
Turbo is back
Lore Decays Beautifully
Riptide Desktop Wallpapers Ugh
Ventura stocking stuffers by Chris Allen
Warthen’s run ends in finals against Kontak
and finally some shots from the recent Nazare contest in Portugal here and here

Link of the Week: Pure Wizardry