Surf Wave Pool in Japan

For those landlocked surfers, there could be relief in the future. Check this wave pool out. Way cooler than what I've seen before but nothing like the real deal.

Keep Malibu Water Clean Fundraiser

Heads up to all LA based surfers and non-LA surfers who have taken advantage of the surf at Malibu over the years. Come support the Bu by attending the fundraiser this Thursday, August 28th.

LAWater at the Bu Fundraiser @ AddC

Cool Kelly Slater Article in Surfer Magazine

The ageless wonder Kelly Slater keeps killing it, even at age 36. He's going for world title #9 this year and I wonder how many more he'll win. Here's a pretty cool article about him in this month's surfer mag.

Kelly Slater in Surfer Magazine

CHAPTER 1: Meet Kelly Slater.

If I was forced to hazard an answer, I'd say "well", because he answered yes to two critical questions that I asked him: 1) Have you made enough money that you never have to work again? and 2) Is it true that you're staying in a house with your girlfriend and her seven female college roommates?

Yes to both, he told me, and that sounds like a nice eight hours and a couple of solid REM cycles to me.

Second of all, and truth be told, I don't much care how Kelly Slater sleeps. Or where, for that matter.

I'm much more interested in what Kelly Slater thinks, and if what he says he thinks is true.

Like when he perpetually tells people that he doesn�t know if he�ll continue to compete on the World Tour. Or when he tells his competitors that he loves them.

Is it true? Or is it simply what a guy who lives his life under constant scrutiny says to muddy the waters and protect himself in the process?

Those questions I don't know the answer to. What I do know is that Kelly Slater is charming, charismatic, intelligent and eminently believable, which makes him refreshingly different from many of the mouthbreathing, entitlement-minded pro surfers for whom he paved the way. It also makes him a dutifully skeptical journalist's worst nightmare. Aside from the times when he's being downright transparent in trying to plant something into a story, he is hard to read. Like when he told me about the chicken heart that scientists kept alive in a Petri dish for seven years because, you know, "What you put into something, you get out of it." That's the type of line that might put a syrupy sportswriter's pen to bubbling, but makes most people cautious.

This, of course, is because he knows the game. He's been interviewed thousands of times by now, and as a writer friend of mine who's one of the dozens of writers to have profiled Kelly once told me, "He always gives you the goods." So you can't blame Kelly Slater for sounding as refined as he does when he speaks to you. Because he just may be.

But what, exactly, does that leave you with?
"When you do something, you've got to hope that it can keep leading somewhere else." That sense of progress bleeds into many areas of Slater's life, including the golf course.

The greatest surfer ever is 36, and that's about all we know for sure. As a sportsman, he's at the top of his game, dominating the professional surfing tour at will ("I know I can go out and win a heat when I want to," he says in a way that somehow succeeds at not sounding arrogant). As a celebrity, he's found ways not just to cope with his fame, but to make it work for him. And as a person, he may just be hitting his stride.

Of course, in the end, it probably doesn't matter whether any of us choose to believe him. Because, at 36, Kelly Slater is finding new ways to make the system work for him.

X Games 14 Los Angeles

The X Games are coming this week to Staples in LA. Getting pretty psyched for the event. Here is the schedule of events that I found. It's going to be pretty hectic.

Thursday, July 31
*** STAPLES Center is not open to the public until 4 p.m. ***
1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. — Skateboard Street Men's Elimination — Event Deck at LA Live**
4:30 p.m.-5:15 p.m. — BMX Freestyle Street Final — Event Deck at LA Live **
5:45 p.m.-7 p.m. — Skateboard Big Air Final — STAPLES Center
7 p.m.-8 p.m. — Moto X Best Trick Final — STAPLES Center
9:15 p.m.-151; 9:30 p.m. — Moto X Best Whip* — STAPLES Center

Friday, August 1
*** STAPLES Center is not open to the public until 4 p.m. ***
*** The Home Depot Center is open to the public 10 a.m.-5 p.m. ***
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. — Moto X Speed & Style Elimination — The Home Depot Center
12 p.m.-1:30 p.m. — BMX Freestyle SuperPark Elimination — The Home Depot Center
2 p.m.-2:30 p.m. — Skateboard SuperPark Women's Promo — The Home Depot Center
2 p.m.-3 p.m. — Moto X Freestyle Elimination — The Home Depot Center
3 p.m.-3:45 p.m. — Skateboard Street Women's Final — Event Deck at LA Live **
3:30 p.m.-3:45 p.m. — Skateboard SuperPark Adaptive Jam — The Home Depot Center
4:15 p.m.-4:30 p.m. — Moto X Racing Adaptive Final* — The Home Depot Center
4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. — Moto X Racing Men's & Women's Seeding — The Home Depot Center
4:30 p.m.-5:15 p.m. — Skateboard Street Men's Final — Event Deck at LA Live **
5:45 p.m.-7 p.m. — BMX Freestyle Big Air Final — STAPLES Center
7 p.m.-8 p.m. — Moto X Step Up Final — STAPLES Center

Saturday, August 2
*** The Home Depot Center is open to the public 10 a.m.-8 p.m. ***
11 a.m.-12 p.m. — Skateboard Vert Women's Final — The Home Depot Center
12 p.m.-1 p.m. — Moto X Speed & Style Final — The Home Depot Center
1 p.m.-2 p.m. — BMX Freestyle SuperPark Final — The Home Depot Center
1:15 p.m.-1:30 p.m. — Moto X Racing Women's Final — The Home Depot Center
2 p.m.-3 p.m. — Moto X Racing Men's Final — The Home Depot Center
2:45 p.m.-4:15 p.m. — Skateboard SuperPark Men's Elimination — The Home Depot Center
4 p.m.-5:45 p.m. — Moto X SuperMoto Final — The Home Depot Center
4:15 p.m.-5:15 p.m. — BMX Freestyle Vert Final — The Home Depot Center
5:45 p.m.-6:30 p.m. — Skateboard Vert Men's Final — The Home Depot Center
6:30 p.m.-8 p.m. — Moto X Freestyle Final — The Home Depot Center

Sunday, August 3
*** The Home Depot Center is open to the public 10 a.m.-3 p.m. ***
11 a.m.-12 p.m. — Skateboard Vert Am Final — The Home Depot Center
12 p.m.-12:30 p.m. — Rally Car Racing Elimination — The Home Depot Center
12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. — Skateboard SuperPark Final — The Home Depot Center
1:30 p.m.-3 p.m. — Rally Car Racing Super Special Final — The Home Depot Center
2 p.m.-2:30 p.m. — Skateboard Legends of Vert Jam* — The Home Depot Center

Notes:
* Asterisked events are not medaled competitions; they are exhibition events
** The Event Deck at LA Live is located Downtown on the top level of the Olympic West Garage (Lot W)
*** Before and after hours are reserved for media planning purposes only and are not open to the public
This schedule is subject to change.