During his exploration of the UK coastline for undiscovered and unsurfed territory, Mitch Corbett finds some mighty fine views. This is what Cushe Time is all about. A time to reflect, savor a moment, and put a smile on your face thinking about the next one.
Eric McCabe has skills in both golf (or, ball golf, if you will) and disc golf. See if you can spot the very subtle Cushe shout out. Watch closely though...
We caught up with team Cushe surfer Sophie Hellyer, fresh off her 1st place finish at the Croyde leg of the Student Surf Tour in the UK. Her third 1st place finish in a row on the tour. We’re not always the best at maths, but if you carry the one, that ads up to awesome. One more good finish at Gwithian, and we’ll be talking about a champion here.
We did say Student Surf Tour, which means Sophie is rocking the waves while earning her degree in events management at the University of Plymouth. Seems like she’s managing events just fine already!
C: Tell us about how you were introduced to surfing. Was it through friends or family?
S: My older sisters and dad both surfed, so it was only natural for me to join in. Dad taught me when I was about 13, and I dreamed of being as good as my big sister!
C: What made you stick with it (surfing)?
S: I couldn’t NOT stick with it! It’s love… passion… it’s just about everything I need. It can be hard to endure sometimes in icy cold conditions when the waves suck, but I rarely have a surf that I regret getting wet!
C: What do you love about being on the water?
S: Just the way it can alter my mood. It can calm me down or excite me; make me relaxed or hyper!
C: Top three surf spots?
S: Soup Bowl, Barbados; Lakey Peak, Indonesia; Lynmouth, Devon UK.
C: OK, time for the lightning round:
Favorite movie / coast / condiment / casual adult beverage / domesticated animal / 80's song? Go.
S: Step Brothers, West, Wholegrain mustard, Wine, Dogs, Bonnie Tyler – Total Eclipse of the Heart
C: Interesting. We'll reveal your score later. What’s been the best place you’ve traveled so far?
S: Costa Rica with Cushe last year was epic! We did a nine hour road trip into the jungle in a four wheel drive, found some pumping empty waves, and stayed in a huge house right on the point.
C: Sounds pretty epic indeed! Would you live there, or is there somewhere else you’d like to call home for a bit?
S: Southwest France. Near home but better waves and climates!
C: Three things you want(ed) to be when you grow up?
S: Peter Pan, my big sister Laura, and happy!
C: Those are three great things! We always wanted to be excellent at segues. What’s rocking your iPod right now?
S: Naked and Famous
C: What big plans do you have this year… and or for dinner?
S: Graduate from uni (fingers crossed, got 10,000 words to write after this interview!), and travel, travel, travel.
Dinner, currently sat in front of an open fire in Scotland drinking a glass of red looking at the snow covered mountains and beautiful loch, and my sister is cooking us up a pasta Bolognese!
Check out another awesome GoPro video featuring Matthias Giraud and his custom Cushe boots in his latest BASE jump near Moab. Always looking for the best angle with his Hero cams, Matthias has one attached to his left shoe in this jump - giving us that signature worms-eye view of the action.
We love getting emails from Natty Perez. Not only is she an all around awesome girl who is part of the Cushe crew, Natty is a super hard worker. Since being sidelined with an injury for a solid month, she’s been back at it for the last 3 weeks with a tough schedule of 2 hours in the gym, and three hours on the surf. Every. Damn. Day.
Hard work pays off though. Natty finished the season as the #2 ranked woman surfer in PR, and she’s qualified to try out for the women’s world surfing team for 2013. Datswotsup.
She’s even featured in Mundo Rad! Magazine – check it out (Spanish skills required)
Did we mention she also sends us awesome photos like the one below? ‘Cause she does. And we like it.
When we started hanging out with Matthias Giraud at the beginning of this year, we thought to ourselves - this guy needs a custom Cushe... and another beer. We set out to design something that was both functional as a base boot, and reflected Matthias' personality (which is a secret blend of crazy, awesome, crazy-awesome, and proprietary spice).
We give you this one of a kind creation, perfect for the Super Frenchie himself. Check it out in action. You can't miss it.
Life adventurer extraordinaire Matthias Giraud, AKA Super Frenchie, is joining the Cushe team this year. We have two things to say about this:
1. Awesome. We love this guy and his attitude toward life. In so many ways, he IS Cushe.
2. We wish we could claim that we came up with the name Super Frenchie.
We're looking forward to seeing what Matthias has in store for us this year - in the meantime, check out the video below to see what he got up to in 2011.
We just had an amazing October featuring two great pro surf events the Cushe team was proud to be a part of. Let’s recap, shall we?
The ISA World Masters in El Salvador bounced back from a bout of terrible weather to deliver the goods. Team USA, who made their debut in the ISA World Masters, did it up in style and took the gold! We’d call that a pretty successful start. Not only did they win the team trophy, but the USA had some stellar individual performances by Tom Curren, Jim Hogan, Allen Sarlo and Alissa Cairns as well.
Puerto Rico and Cushe team member Gustavo Betancourt had a solid showing too, taking the copper and 4th place! All in all, a great tournament with top kick competition. Hats off to all the riders and champions from the 2011 ISA World Master Surfing Championship.
Bonus – Cushe got to leave its mark on one of the most legendary surf spots in the world, Punta Roca! Check out the amazing graffiti mural in the picture below.
After the ISA's, we dropped in on Cocoa Beach, Florida, to set up shop at the Slater Brother’s Invitational. This event doesn’t just provide some great entertainment; the proceeds benefit the World Skin Cancer Foundation, so it was awesome to be in the company of our friends at Volcom, Oakley, Quiksilver and Go Pro supporting the cause.
Mitch “All the way from the UK” Corbett and Nolan Tyler were both representing for Cushe, and both had great showings. Mitch went on to the quarters in the longboard, while Nolan matched him and made it to the quarters in the shortboard. We’re definitely looking forward to the 2012 Slater Brother’s Invitational!
October may not seem like a big surf month if you don’t live near a coast, but trust us, it is. Cushe is a proud sponsor of two events on the waves this month – the ISA World Masters and the Slater Brother’s Invitational.
The ISA World Masters Surfing Championship is scheduled to start October 18th at Punta Roca El Salvador. The start of the event was postponed from the 16th due to the monster storms that hit El Salvador with several days of torrential rain. The ISA and the teams involved are committed to helping out the town of La Libertad, as Mauricio Funes, President of El Salvador, declared a State of Emergency.
This is a seriously stacked event with talent streaming in from all over the globe. In fact, a record 124 competitors signed up before registration closed. Our own sales rep, Gustavo Bentancourt (pictured below), will be representing Team Puerto Rico! We’ll be supporting Gus, Team USA, and hoping for better weather not just for the comp, but for El Salvador as well. You can check the live stream and catch all the action as soon as the event kicks off here.
Now onto the famed Slater Brother’s Invitational. This is our second year sponsoring this great event, which takes place October 28th – 30th in sunny Cocoa Beach, Florida. The Slater Brother’s don’t just put together a kick-ass competition; they raise awareness and money for the World Skin Cancer Foundation. That’s all kinds of cool we at Cushe are proud to be a part of. We’re bringing in our very own Team Cushe rockstar Mitch Corbett for the event, so if you are anywhere near Cocoa at the end of this month, don’t miss this.
Can’t make it to Cocoa? Don’t sweat it – you can tune in to a live webcast and see Kelly, Skippy, Sean, and all the competitors once the event starts. We’ll be hanging out taking some photos for your ocular pleasure as well, so stop by and see us!
Becky Hammond
British Freestyle skier
Bonobo
British Musician and Producer
Mitch Corbett
British Surf Champion