With an injection of $1 million, the Westside’s SwellCycle aims to pivot from a focus on selling boards directly to consumers to instead working with surfboard shapers and licensing its technology to “micro-factories” to produce the surfboards.
Surfing
Posted inRecreation & Sports
The Surf Whisperer: Mark Sponsler’s forecasts have earned a devoted following among big-wave surfers
Mark Sponsler has gained cult status among big-wave surfers thanks to his ability to time a wave down to the minute and predict its height to within inches. The retired engineer’s website, Stormsurf, combines meteorological science with custom software to forecast exactly when the next monster wave will hit Steamer Lane.
Posted inLatest News
Photo gallery: See images from Monday’s damaging swells
Lookout photojournalist Kevin Painchaud captured the aftermath of Monday’s huge swells, which caused a portion of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf to collapse, damaged the city’s small craft harbor and forced the evacuation of parts of Rio Del Mar and Capitola Village. View a gallery of his photos.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
I entered a man in the Women on Waves surf event – we need to open discussion about transgender athletes competing in non-coed events
Local surf coach Calder Nold, a male, illuminated a controversy when he surfed in this year’s Women on Waves surf event. EmilyAnne Pillari, a local chiropractor and avid surfer, entered him and here, she explains why: to draw attention to the event’s vague entry rules and to open conversations about transgender athletes competing in non-coed events, which she believes is inherently unfair. She refutes points in a previous op-ed by Liza Monroy.
Posted inLatest News
Photo gallery: Surfin’ Santa returned to Capitola Village
Surfin’ Santa rode the waves into Capitola Village again this past weekend, an annual tradition that brought hundreds of spectators to the beach. Lookout photojournalist Kevin Painchaud was there to capture the holiday fun.
Posted inRecreation & Sports
Surfing Santa to hit the waves in Capitola Saturday
Surfing Santa makes his annual pilgrimage to Capitola on Saturday, Nov. 30.
Posted inRecreation & Sports
Man in surf contest lineup brings debate over transgender women in sports to Santa Cruz
An October surf event in Capitola for women only was disrupted when a man registered to compete. He did it, he said, to make a point supporting women athletes and what he says could be unfair competition from trans athletes. The organizers of the event, open to women and all those who identify as women, said the protest was an attention-getting stunt and this is a controversy without a crisis.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Why did I have to surf with a cis man at Capitola’s Women On Waves?
A mean-spirited anti-transgender action undermined my beloved local surf contest, writes local author and surfer Liza Monroy. Here, Monroy unpacks what happened on Oct. 19 and 20 at Capitola Beach when a cisgender man entered the Women On Waves contest to make a political point about perceived advantages trans women have over cisgender women. She calls the act bullying and talks to organizers about what happened and about why and how to move forward.
Posted inOpinion from Community Voices
Santa Cruz is ignoring surfers in city’s climate resilience plan – and it’s missing the top threat to West Cliff Drive
Surfers know the ocean’s tendencies and temperaments better than anyone and should be part of the city’s climate resilience planning process, argue Santa Cruz surfing legends Nat Young, Peter Mel and Anthony Ruffo, along with neighborhood organizer Deborah Maddock Elston. Instead, they are being left out – as are any mention of west swells and bomb cyclones. Here, they push to know why and say the city is not doing enough to plan for a climate-resilient future for West Cliff Drive, the Beach Flats and Santa Cruz surf culture.
Posted inRecreation & Sports
Paddlefest to return after six years
The Santa Cruz Paddlefest will return to Steamer Lane on March 28-30, for the first time in six years.
