OVERSIZED FOR YOUR PLEASURE. Enjoy this oversized break from your work day brought to you by your friends at SPY. Watch these dudes get heavy as they bring the rad.
Shaper Tim Stamps provided the weird boards challenging the competitor’s versatility for Nixon’s inaugural Weird Surf Contest held at 9th St. Huntington Beach. No strangers to “getting weird” the SPY + Active Ride Shop team easily adapted to win the team division and sweep the podium with SPY’s Torrey Meister and SPY’s surf ambassador Chris “Cha Cha” Abad winning the individual and expression session respectively.
The winning SPY + Active team went home with weird boards, a weird trophy and their weird selves.
(L to R) Jay “Bottle” Thompson, Leigh Sedley, Chris “Cha Cha” Abad, and Torrey Meister
Torrey’s explosive surfing and calm demeanor was a perfect match for the weird board contest.
BK, the man behind the contest, congratulates Weird Expression Session winner Chris “Cha Cha” Abad.
Cha Cha consoles Torrey after beating him in the expression session.
The 7th Annual Active Willabong Surf Team Challenge went off in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif. with nine talented teams battling it out in clean, rippable 3-foot surf.
The Willabong is a group format surf competition that puts 2 company employees, 2 team riders and 2 Active employees in team heats. Each rider’s top score goes into the cumulative team point total.
SPY guys Mike Losness, Chris Abad, Andrew Valentine, and stand-in Ryan Burch paired up with Active’s Brent Fudagaki and Bill “BK” Keller to round out the lethal SPY + Active team.
Team SPY was pitted against 3-time defending champions Chemistry Surfboards, Brixton, Dragon, Filtrate and other standouts. It was never a question of “who’ll stop the Raen” en route to the finals. As the final seconds of the contest ticked into the history books, the flaring SPY crew proudly paddled in and claimed the coveted Willabong trophy and 365 days of bragging rights.
Despite the irony of the white elephant trophy the victorious SPY + Active team stands proud.
(left to right) Ryan Burch, Chris Abad, Mike Losness, Brent Fudagaki, BK, Andrew Valentine.
Ryan Burch’s self-shaped assymetrical surfboard integrates intricate design elements essential to the SPY team’s victory. It doesn’t hurt that he can surf switch-stance also.
You don’t have to be a mathematician to figure this one out: SPY + Active = winning.
Bear Mtn.’s annual Hot Dawgz & Handrails contest is touted as the biggest summertime snowboard event in the world and the perfect kickoff to get the masses hyped on the upcoming winter. While most of you were on the beach bronzing, surfing in red tide or sleeping off your hang over, the base of Bear Mtn. was transformed into a jib rider’s wonderland.
With countless wienies in attendance and 130 tons of ice trucked in, chopped, screwed, and spread, spectators from all over Southern California were treated to handrail destruction, discounted season passes, SPY’s version of Duck Hunt, hand-drawn mustaches and product tosses.
SPY’s Japanese ambassador Uma Abe thought he was here for a hot dog eating contest, but had no problem devouring the rails instead. Uma may have fallen short of getting a piece of the $15,000 prize purse, but he attacked the course with style and a smile and most importantly kept his buns off the handrails.
SPY’s Japanese connection Uma Abe slapsa little mustard on the handrail
