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surfing Media

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Country: Worldwide 

 

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Description: The Surfing, Kiteboarding, Windsurfing and Bodyboarding News Center.

 

Founded: 2007

 

Category: surfing

 

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How KASSO Is Turning Skateboarding Into a Game Show Format Game shows are entering a new era, and action sports are driving the change. As entertainment producers move beyond traditional quiz formats and high-stakes competitions, they are turning to real athletes and unscripted performance to deliver the spectacle and drama audiences crave. Skateboarding is the latest discipline to enter that arena with the KASSO Skate & Sound Fest. Making its United States debut in Long Beach, California, on March 21-22, the two-day festival combines high-level skateboarding, obstacle-course challenges, community events, and live music. At the centre of the action is KASSO, a street culture brand that began as a Japanese television program inspired by the creators behind SASUKE (Ninja Warrior) and Takeshi’s Castle, which transforms skateboarding into a thrilling challenge show. Across four courses, 28 skaters from around the world will race through obstacle stages designed to test speed, creativity, and adaptability. Among those competing are Red Bull athletes Jamie Foy (USA), Cordano Russell (USA), Jiro Platt (Japan), CJ Collins (USA), Torey Pudwill (USA), and Gavin Bottger (USA), who headline an international lineup of riders taking on the course. Unlike traditional skate contests judged on style, KASSO is structured as a race against time - a course-versus-skater format where riders must adapt to each obstacle as they go. Competitors must navigate technical obstacles with speed and precision to stay in the game - missing an obstacle or posting the slowest time means elimination. The result is a format that combines the creativity of skateboarding with the tension and unpredictability of a challenge show. Described as “the anti-contest contest,” KASSO reimagines skate competition by shifting the focus away from competing for the sake of winning, judging panels, and podium finishes, and toward creativity, flow, fun, and problem-solving across dynamic obstacle courses - mirroring the escalating drama typical of modern game shows.

3/24/2026   |   video icon

"The Long Goodbye": A Short Film About a Surfer and His Wax As the famous Billabong slogan once declared, "Only a surfer knows the feeling." These words couldn't ring truer in this charming short film by Patrick Tom, a commercial film director and lifelong surfer from Redondo Beach. The film titled "The Long Goodbye" is a sentimental story that depicts one surfer's journey of how dewaxing a surfboard explores themes of memory, personal reflection, and letting go. The story follows a lone surfer in a tranquil, mid-day, sunlit setting as he struggles to come to terms with saying goodbye to the wax on his surfboard. Before he meticulously scrapes the old wax from his surfboard, the names of the many breaks he has ridden around the world flash across the screen, serving as visual touchstones of a beloved surf history and past - capturing the emotion of a profound long goodbye. The vintage melody "The Japanese Farewell Song" serves as the film's emotional musical anchor, with lyrics that echo the theme of departure while promising an enduring connection. A final symbolic moment arrives when the surfer compresses the scraped wax into a ball, marking it with the date and adding it to a jar with wax collected from only a handful of key moments. This reflective scene beautifully encapsulates the film's essence about beautiful memories and the passage of time. "This story is definitely me," said director Patrick Tom. "I connect with my wax. I've lived in four countries and surfed all over the world, so every layer, grain of sand, and fingernail mark triggers great memories of sessions I've had." "The Long Goodbye" is a tribute to memories we hold dear, offering surfers and non-surfers an introspective experience that transcends the sport of surfing, as well as revel in it. Production Company: ‪@liberum13‬ Director: Patrick Tom DOP / Cinematographer: Rene Von Gunten 1st Asst. Camera: Jimmy Gilgen Editor: Fatmackajoe Music: "The Japanese Farewell Song" Written by Freddy Morgan, Hasegawa Yoshida Performed by Kay Cee Jones Orchestrated by Lou Raderman

9/30/2025   |   video icon

Zoltan Torkos: The Kickflip Surfing Magician Zoltan Torkos - the surfer who treats a wave like a skateboard ramp - is a known name in Santa Cruz and on the internet. People call him "The Magician." He mixes skate tricks, showmanship, and a long local history on the water. He grew up in Santa Cruz, California. His family story is a patchwork: a father who came from Hungary, and a mother from an Italian-Scotch-Irish line of magicians. Zoltan says he learned to surf, skate, and perform at a very young age. His older brother pushed him into surfing, and the two brothers shaped his early days in the lineup. What makes Zoltan stand out is a simple idea: try skate tricks on a surfboard. He trained the same moves you see on a skateboard - kickflips, darkslides, finger flips - and adapted them to waves. Torkos is widely credited as the first surfer to land a true kickflip on a wave and to film it for public view. That effort drew big attention in the surf world and beyond. The kickflip moment became a small drama. In 2011, a contest bounty for the first kickflip on a wave led to debate about whether Zoltan's clip met the contest rules. Fans and critics argued online, and the contest sponsor eventually paid him. The episode helped burn his name into surf lore. Zoltan didn't stop at one trick. He brought the "darkslide" - a skateboard move where the board rides upside down - into surfing, and he kept inventing or adapting unusual moves. Publications often describe him as experimental and a little mysterious. He gives lessons in Santa Cruz and still rides the local breaks. His style is playful and deliberate. Torkos names new moves in ways that sound like stage acts. He likes to push the limits of what a surfboard can do in the pocket of a wave. That attitude attracted attention from surf media, from online outlets to TV series. Red Bull's "In Plain Sight" profiled him, and several surf magazines and websites have run features and clips on his work. Zoltan's self-presentation blends surf culture with performance. He embraces the nickname "The Magician," a nod to his family history of stage magic and to the theatrical side of his surfing. On his personal website and social channels, he posts videos of trick attempts, lessons, and short films. His footage is often the evidence people point to when they talk about who did what first in trick surfing. People who know him or who study the small currents of surf history see him as ahead of his time. For some, he is a local character who never chased mainstream fame. For others, he is an innovator who quietly changed the trick vocabulary for a generation of aerial and technical surfers. Articles that revisit his work often note the stubborn, patient grind behind each trick - hundreds of attempts, odd bruises, and a long stretch of experimentation. Quick facts you can check fast: Nickname: "The Magician"; Hometown: Santa Cruz, California; Notable firsts attributed to him: first recorded surfing kickflip on a wave, first darkslide on a wave, early wake-surf kickflip, and other flipped tricks; Media: featured on Red Bull's "In Plain Sight"; Zoltan's approach matters to surfers because he asks a basic question: what else can a surfboard do when a rider brings skateboard thinking to the ocean? The answer has rippled through trick surfers, aerial specialists, and filmmakers who chase new images on waves. Visit ‪@ZoltanTorkosOfficial‬ channel on YouTube.

9/30/2025   |   video icon
 
 

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