Pioneers has NH's Biggest Selection of Vans Skate Shoes!!!

Pacific wave heights...

Well gang our World is ALIVE!!! LAst week a major quake hit NZ and an 8.9 magnitude quake struck just off the coast of Japan sending tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean. The majority of the West Coast of North America is under a tsunami watch/warning or has already been affected by the waves in some way. Steve spoke with one of our distributers just a few moments ago and he said things are pretty nuts on the left coast right now. Surfline has some INSANE photos that I think are worth a look. Luckily the devastation is nothing like the Indian Ocean tsunami from 2004 but many lives where still lost today.

Well by now you know Zoltan made it happen, he was the first person to officially stick the surfing KICKFLIP. VOLCOM answered with a "we're stoked Zoltan but if you want the money you got to kickflip above the lip". I thought that was a fair response as the criteria for the "$10,000 kickflip" were clearly outlined. Then in an interesting turn of event Volcom changed their mind, they gave Zoltan the 10Gs and re-upped the kickflip contest! "It's gone every which way, we've circled around the world five times trying to figure out the dynamics of the kickflip," says Gaurino. "But what it boils down to is this: what Zoltan did meets with the vision of what the contest was in the first place. It's the closest thing we've ever seen, and it is a make. We want to celebrate it." The new kickflip contest will have stricter rules but the prize purse is now $20,000. The bar has been set, who will take the kickflip to new heights!!!

Let's stick to the surf topic for a minute... Waves!!! They're back, been back, and been fun! I haven't been spending as much time in the water as usual but I've still been getting mine! I'll be getting more this weekend too!!! Waves tomorrow, waves Sunday, and it keeps going! This is the type of surf forecast I've grown accustomed too, and I'm very happy to have it back!

To celebrate the surf PIONEERS is hooking you up! O'neill winter wetsuits are 20% OFF. That includes 6/5/4 heats for $280 and 5.5/4.5 Psychofreaks $465 . The water is still in the 30s, why be cold? Get a new suit, get your stoke back, and SURF ALL WEEKEND LONG!

So what do you think, Slater 11 in 11??? We all know once he gets the lead he doesn't give it up, so it would only make sense that 11 in 11 could be a reality. He looked a little shaky in his first few heats but not in the last couple. I can't wait to see what the future holds for Slater and the ASP in 2011. Check out the highlight clip below of the final day of men's competition at Snappers on the Goldy!!!

New Shoes in today! These are just a few of what came in and there's still more coming

Vans Rowley 99s

Vans AVE 6

ES Square ones

Emerica HSU low

The Year of the ROOKIE

It may be a little early for this claim but these two could potentially be the title race for 2011.

I've been following the ASP World tour for a while now but in the past 3 years it's become my religion here at the shop. Steve and I never miss a contest and we are well versed in the who's who and the what's what of competitive surfing. If the boys or girls are in the water our computers are no doubt feeding the live web cast from some exotic destination straight to us. The men's tour last year was the best yet and this year is shaping up to be even better with more events and new qualification criteria. They boys are surfing LIVE, right now, right HERE. But as exciting as the men are in the water it is the women of the World Tour that are absolutely blowing my mind!!!

It's been a long time coming now and I think it's safe to say that the women are truly ready to compete! Last year's women's tour saw some fresh faces and a new level of surfing. For the fourth year in a row Steph Gilmore ruled. Last year however, Steph had some true competition for the first time in a while. She spent most of her year battling the likes of tour rookies Coco and Carissa. Well I'm here to tell you that Steph, the reigning world champ, is going to have her work cut out for her this year.

The big story at the Roxy Pro, the first stop of the women's tour, is again the rookies. Tyler Wright and Carrisa Moore ABSOLUTELY OWNED IT. It was a big day for the ladies and a huge day for the rookies. The level that these girls are at is absolutely amazing and it's progressing SO FAST!!! Every time I see these girls in the water they are better than they were last week. They're all progressing at a level that video just can't keep up with it. The only way to have a handle on it, is to watch the live webcasts.

The other awesome thing about yesterday is that the rookies and young guns effectively drew a line in the sand and said "we are the new standard". If you're not blowing your tail, going for airs, and spinning you are not going to be a champion!!! The Roxy Pro was Tyler's first event as a full time professional and she placed second! Laura Enever also earned an equal third in her big debut!!! Carrisa earned the victory as a second year tour veteran. These girls are young, they're beautiful, they are going to propel women's surfing to the next level and the bikinis are phenomenal!!!

When ever I get going on this topic I get a lot of people who look at me funny. They give me the "it's only surfing, don't take it so serious" or "how can you really care that much about surfing". What always cracks me up is that the people that give me shit are the same ones who would die for there favorite football team, LAME!!! I'll take cute girls in bikinis over fat dudes in spandex and pads ANY DAY OF THE WEEK!!! You can have your Bo Sox, I'm sticking with the ladies of ASP.

The above video is the shape of things to come... Check it!

We're in the shop everyday and the new gear is POURING in!!! After a long flat spell the waves are back and the forecast looks solid. Spring is on the way and we're as STOKED as ever!!! Swing by the shop and share the day!!!!

ZOLTAN HAS LANDED.........

Skateboarders have been doing them for more than 30yrs. What am I talking about?? I'm talking about surf history being written, I'm talking about the first ever surf KICKFLIP. Yes, a kickflip and it's just the beginning of the many flip tricks that will be stolen from the skate world. It took surfers years to get the skate grabs down, but now Mutes, Liens, and Stale Fishes along w/ pop shove- its are standard moves. The kickflip opens the door to a whole new world of surf progression. Soon we will start seeing heel flips, frontside flips,etc. Don't expect it to happen over night, but it will happen and when it does, you can say I told you so.

I spent two years trying kickflips and I never rode away from one. I made the decision early on to stick to my regular short board which makes it much harder than doing it on a board that's a little bigger, but I felt if I couldn't do it on my everyday board what good was it.

As you can see Zoltan and I have the same approach when it comes to attempting kickflips. We both cruise down the line and as we come out of the pocket we pop and kick. This type of kick flip is the same as riding down the street on a skateboard and doing a kickflip. Our approach is a natural transition from pavement to water.

If you look at this video of Josh Sleigh you can see he is turning his board up the face of the wave and launching above the lip before kicking. I feel it would help getting used to landing kickflips like the one Zoltan did before starting to do them above the lip like Josh.

It's only a matter of time until kids will be able to bottom turn on a big day come up mid face, stall, and as they start to accelerate bust a kickflip as the lip pitches over and they get shacked and spit out. It sounds crazy but after trying thousands of kickflips I understand how it works and it's just a matter of time till kids can do kickflips as easy as they do them on a skateboard. Doing them above the lip will always be a struggle due to wind but they will go down.

Congratulations to Zotlan for pioneering the first kickflip.

PROGRESSION.. You can't stop it

Were in the shop till 5:00pm today. Surf is waist high and junky but I still found some fun ones this morning. Should be surf all week so keep an eye on it.... Steve

NH TRIATHLON

p. Nevins

A couple times every year I become a triathlete and as Kenny Powers would put it I'm not talking about being the best at exercising either. I'm talking about being a Pioneer and taking our "SURF, SKATE, SNOW" motto for real and having a day of epic proportions. This past Saturday was one of those epic days. With my co-pilot Nate riding shotgun our day began before the sun broke the horizon.

Stop one included foam and rubber along with a 6am paddle out into fun waist plus surf! It felt so incredibly good to be back in the water! With out of shape arms we traded the surfboards in for snowboards and pointed the Subaru straight North. Our destination was the Pinkham Notch parking lot and we were there before we knew it. Suited and booted we were climbing in no time. When we hit Hojo's it was -47 degrees with the wind chill and pretty much everything in sight was under considerable avalanche danger. Getting colder by the second we changed from hike mode into shred mode and pointed it back to the car. We were rewarded with knee deep pow and close to 3000 ft of vertical on our way down.

Back to the car and back to being able to use our fingers we knew there was only one more stop to make to complete the day. We traded the hiking gear and boots in for some skate shoes and four wheel. We skated Rye well past dark and it's safe to say our legs were "feeling it" in no time.

Long story short, Nate and I took full advantage of NH, we surfed, snowboarded, and skated all in one day. I also had one of the best nights of sleep I've had in a while, thanks NH.

The first stop of the ASP tour is underway and I'm here to tell you that my fantasy team is KILLING IT!!!! 7 out of my 8 guys won their first heat and advanced straight into round 3. I holding out hope that Dusty is gonna win his heat and advance to round 3 making my picks a winning team! And I don't mean to brag but my ladies team is crushing it too. Tyler Wright is the future of women's surfing mark my words she will be World Champ very very soon!

The Goldy is currently dealing with a string of flatness much like our own. The two week waiting period isn't showing a ton of promise but we still got hope. As soon as the boys and girls hit the water we'll be sure to let you know.

Fresh in today.... VOLCOM.

We got the new Mitch Coleburn Annilator in stock, these babies are LOUD!!!!!!!

So much awesome stuff I don't know where to start. From the feet up we got new socks, pants, jeans, shorts, trunks, belts, tanks, tees, button downs, hoodies, hats, BBQ kits, and tons of rad little accessories. I've only made it about half way through the shipment so look for some photos coming once everything gets unpacked! If you can't wait then swing by the shop. It's getting put on the racks as you read this. And ladies while it's pretty much as far from bikini weather as it gets well we've got them if you need them.

Enjoy the day and think about pulling off your own triathlon some time soon, it's EPIC!!!

Snowy Sunday....

Yesterdays fun waist plus sets finally ended our flat spell in the North East and I'm sure the surfers over in the Great Lakes wouldn't of called that a flat spell. But today we wake up with another three inches of the white stuff reminding us winter isn't over yet. The surf is in the knee high range today w/ a NNE wind making it look pretty junky so here's a recap of Slater's 2010 run to help you get thru your Sunday morning.

Speaking of Slater he won his heat along w/ all the heavy hitters on Saturday in the first rounds of the QuikPro/RoxyPro at Snappers. Couple of the stand outs were Wilko,Taj,and Tyler Wright so check out the hightlights and tune in today at 4:oopm and check out all the live action. Yesterday was a lay day.

Gold Coast, Queensland; - The ASP World Surfing Awards were staged at a gala black tie dinner at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on Thurday night (24/02/2011 here's what went down

ASP WORLD SURFERS AWARDS from McKinnon Media Productions on Vimeo.

Swing by the shop for your Molly tickets were in at 10 and out at 5 and tell us about the session or sessions you got yesterday.. Enjoy the day

It's Back

It's looking like winter is back! And it should be. There's still a month till spring. So if you haven't been to the mountains. This weekend is shaping up to be a great one with snow fall over a foot in the White Mountains out of this system. On the seacoast were looking at a mix of rain/snow and we'll end up w/ a inch or two of slush. In the surf department we could see some clean windy knee high surf for Saturday morning but another chance for surf Tuesday.

This has to be the worst flat spell in three years and hopefully things will turn around for spring. So keep those fingers crossed and in the mean time you can watch Snapper Rocks fire w/ the best surfers in the world all weekend.

ROXY PRO

QUIK PRO

Official Press Launch w/ Steph and Kelly

Quik & Roxy Pro Gold Coast 2011- Starts today and Thursday night the ASP World Surfing Awards were held in Queensland where Slater accepted his tenth ASP World Title and dedicated it to Andy Irons. Steph collected her fourth consecutive ASP Women's World Title. This should a exciting year w/ lots of competition in the women's department and we predicted at the end of last season that Owen Wrights sister Tyler is going to come out on top at the end of her rookie year. GO TYLER !

Awards Recipient List:

2010 ASP World Champion: Kelly Slater (USA)
2010 ASP Women’s World Champion: Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)

2010 ASP World Tour Runner-Up: Jordy Smith (ZAF)
2010 ASP Women’s World Tour Runner-Up: Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS)

2010 ASP World Tour Rookie of the Year: Owen Wright (AUS)
2010 ASP Women’s World Tour Rookie of the Year: Carissa Moore (HAW)

2010 ASP World Tour ‘Breakthrough Performer’: Alejo Muniz (BRA)
2010 ASP Women’s World Tour ‘Breakthrough Performer’: Laura Enever (AUS)

2010 ASP World Longboard Champion: Duane DeSoto (HAW)
2010 ASP Women’s World Longboard Champion: Cori Schumacher (HAW)

2010 ASP World Junior Champion: Jack Freestone (AUS)
2010 ASP Women’s World Junior Champion: Alizee Arnaud (FRA)

Peter Whittaker Award: Carissa Moore (HAW)

In shop news we are stocked w/ trunks, tees, tanks, shorts, tropical wax, board bags, rash guards, sandals, everything to need to run from winter. But if your looking to get ready for spring we just received a shipment of Loaded Longboards and Orangatang wheels along w/ new shoes from Supra.




Stop by if you need tickets to the Molly Hockey games were here to 6:00pm...

New Vans Apparel

Morning Coffee from the VAN, p. LaVecchia

Another chilly morning here on the seacoast with slightly better than lake like conditions down at the beach. The tide is pretty high right now but if you need to get wet there is a little shin high wave that could be ridable with the correct equipment (ie. log). I've also got some good news as far as the surf forecast is concerned... possible waves for Saturday. Right now it's looking to be in the waist high range. I really hope it comes true, I'm thinking Saturday could be a great day for a NH triathlon.

New Vans gear just showed up. How about these first 3 tees. Cab, Alva, and Cardiel, three of the radest dudes ever. Get them while they last!!!

The 2011 ASP World Title Race season is nearly upon us as the Quiksilver Pro and the Roxy Pro at Snapper Rocks are scheduled to start this Saturday. As always, it’s a clean slate, a new year, a chance for disappointed dreams of last year to become realized actualities this year. A crop of new rookies will have a chance to make a name for themselves, with veterans looking to break them into the big leagues.

Dane Reynolds will most likely be watching from the sidelines, still recuperating from knee surgery. From all accounts we’ve heard Kelly Slater will be surfing the event. If he’s in that ferocious mindset from last year it’s going to another year of the King in 2011. But watch out for Parko, who was on a tear in Hawaii after coming back from a devastating foot injury.

With Quik adding some more excitement to the webcast via clocking the surfer’s speeds live, it could help curtail those wordless lulls that bore people so. Snapper is the perfect proving ground for something like this, providing some of the best speed pockets the world around.

“The first thing that comes to mind regarding Snapper is that it’s one of the best rip, tear and slash waves around,” Jordy recently said. “This wave offers so many ways that one can surf it. In the past three years, I have seen so many different versions of surfing, all surfers taking a different approach to Snapper. I feel one has to surf it tight in the pocket and look for the tube. As the wave draws off and runs down the sand bar, it offers a big range of huge maneuvers to be had. There are so many talented surfers, wildcards and new guys from the World Rankings who will be all showcasing themselves in this event."

The ASP has made some serious changes over the past year and this year is shaping up to be better than ever. A more talented field, new stops, better webcasts, and Alana Blanchard is back on tour!!! Get your fantasy team in order and gear up for a good year.

Lnks worth checking Surfer, ASP, Quiksilver.

Skate grom Eamon just kickin' it!

The Update

Well gang it's still flat and there isn't much on the horizon. The above photo is from our buddy Chris who winters in Costa Rica. He's been hooking up with some of the locals and they've been sharing secret spots him. He is looking pretty solid on the Lost RNFQ and I bet he returns this year a better surfer than I. If I didn't know better I would say Chris is trying to rub the fact that he's surfing head plus waves in trunks while we ship hot cocoa next to lake Atlantic...

Pioneers groms Gavin and David headed up to Wildcat yesterday. The boys scored a cold blue bird day with plenty of views. Word on the hill was they were both ripping!

Nolan Monroe made it happen. He just got back from New Zealand and Australia where he competed in the Bowl-A-Rama contest series. Nolan took the 6th place finish a both events ripping along side guys like Bucky, Burnquist, and Pedro Barros. Nolan was unleashing the biggest, meanest McTwist at the event. Young buck also managed to put a little bit of coin in his pocket.

Newest Issue of Juice just in. I bet you'll never guess what this dude is skating....

Plenty of new gear came in this past week including some Lost trunks, tees, tanks, and hats as well as some some rad Matix gear. If you can't tell we're getting ready for spring! We're also expecting lots of shoes this week so be on the look out for e's, emerica, and vans really soon.

And last but not least it's that time of year again where the Surfers square off against the Bruins. Last years game sold out so get your tickets NOW either at the shop or direct from MollyRowlee.org. Tickets are just $ 15 and all the proceeds goes to the Molly fund!

Product Drop Tuesday

Plenty of Think Decks

New Lakai. Three new colors in the Guy and one in the Mike Mo

Tons of wheels from Bones. Skate Park Formulas, Street Tech Formulas, All Terrain Formulas, and Bones 100s O.G.s.

Found this video on Tardzinger's Blog today and it's almost like someone recorded the same snowboard dream I have over and over and mixed it with some reggae. In my head I shred to silence... Watch this quick 10 minute clip and get stoked!

No waves or snow in the forecast... I'm starting to get antsy, anyone else?

Going For It

Earning the turns, step by step p. GITV

Yesterday was a good day... Up and on the road long before sunrise, the compass in the VAN pointing straight north the whole way. 8:30 found Brian and I meeting the other half of our hiking crew, Nate and Jenny, in the Pinkham Notch Parking lot. With our destination agreed upon and our gear packed and stowed we began the hike. The dogs led the way and within a few hours we were there, staring at it. 1000 plus vertical feet of open snow stared back at us. We pounded protein and guzzled water before lapping the steeps a few times. With our whole crew tired, stoked, and safe we strapped in on last time, pointed it toward the parking lot and went. Feeling triumphant we celebrated with dollar coffees from the lodge and began to plan our adventure for the following weekend and speculate about the possibilities...

Pure Awesome... p. Nick Gee

The Pioneers skate team is up to the usual, absolutly shredding anything in front of them. Eamon, Max, and Zac are back from Cali where they skated the famed "Combi Bowl" all the boys crushed it and when the coping cooled down Zac had secured a 3rd place finish! Fresh back Eamon jumped into a contest at Frozen Waves and battled it out with Josh Littlefield. Eamon took first and Josh took second. Last, but certainly not least, NOLAN MONROE is crushing it in NZ. He just placed 6th at the Bowl-A-Rama event in Wellington and he'll be heading to Sydney, Australia to compete at the Bondi Bowl next weekend. Like I said they're all absolutely shredding!

If you feel like you got what it takes to skate with the Pioneers gang then here's your chance. Saturday Feb 26 head to RI for the Element "Make it Count" skate contest. All the info you need is right HERE. If you own it you could end up skating the Berrics with the Element team.