Herbie’s opening for his one-man art show, WRECKTANGLES, at The Hole in New York City was a huge success!

East Coast friends and supporters subjected themselves to the freezing, harsh conditions just to partake in the event that some were calling “where the surf meets New York”. The inaugural celebration was a blast and we think it’s pretty safe to say that Herbie enjoyed the moment as well.

Here is a pictorial write-up of the event from renowned writer and collector Adam Lindemann (The New York Observer), and from Frank151 Magazine.

http://www.adamlindemann.com/the-hole-herbie-fletcher-wrecktanglesl/#1

Herbie Fletcher (Photo by Jade Katz/Frank 151)

http://www.frank151.com/news/photos-herbie-fletcher-wrecktangles-at-the-hole.html#.URmKHxzc8bo

In Part 2 of The D-Side with Makua Rothman, Oahu’s native son talks about tow in partners and bandmates, the chick conflict, how times have changed since he won the Billabong XXL back in 2002, and his opinion on women surfers. Haha, pretty good stuff. Check back for Part 3 soon.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the music you hear throughout the interview is Makua’s. Kid’s got some mean talent!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL4R0y3W0nQ&feature=youtu.be

The D-Side with Makua Rothman: Part II

Here’s the final installment of “Cote’s Cube” when Chris came by to spend a day at Astrodeck with the Fletchers.

http://surf.transworld.net/1000151838/videos/cote%E2%80%99s-cube-with-the-fletcher%E2%80%99s-part-2/

Makua Rothman has always been full of aloha charm, and now it’s resonating into a growing musical career. Taking a cue from the old sounds of Hawaii and blending it with his own modern twist, Makua is making music - and he’s making it sound good as is evident in our D-Side clip here with his song “Sweet Sunshine” playing in the background. Not only can this guy ride the biggest, gnarliest waves, but he can wail on the ukulele, too! Part I of Makua’s interview with Dibi Fletcher for The D-Side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIOyKC6tCsI&list=UU0Wv9LTgYUpG-p-fpSpscvg&index=1&feature=plcp

The D-Side With Makua Rothman: Part I

In Part 2 of his D-Side Interview with Dibi Fletcher, Kolohe “Brother” Andino discusses fair treatment in contests, experimenting with board design, Dancing with the Stars, fashion trends, and big wave riding… among other things. So check it out, and if you missed out on Part 1 of Kolohe’s D-Side Interview with Dibi, find it somewhere here on www.astrodeck.com to view it. So do that. Do that now. Well, we mean after you watch this first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDmgQCYO4Ic

Kolohe Andino on The D-Side

Just uploaded. The D-Side Interview with Kolohe Andino.

Oh, girls can you just imagine??? SQUEAL!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3VL5Ph1mUg

The D-Side with Kolohe Andino: Part I

Well, by now you’ve all heard that Nathan killed it during the Billabong XXL Awards. The event took place at the Grove in Anaheim this past May 4th, and all eyes were on shy, unassuming Nathan.

Nathan was nominated for three categories: “Ride of the Year”,  ”Men’s Performance” and “Monster Tube Champion”, and true to Nathan’s fashion, when Dave Grohl and his fellow bandmates (of Chevy Metal fame) announced the “Monster Tube Champion” as none other than Nathan Fletcher, homeboy was nowhere to be found.

Heads were turning, eyes straining, the attending spectators both hooting and whispering in hushed tones; everyone wondering where the (unofficial) Surfer of the Year was. For a second there, we at Astrodeck even thought that maybe Nathan ducked out of the whole scene and just decided to go back home to hang with his dogs Mr. Buzz and Boopers. Sometimes it seems like surfing death-defying beastly waves comes easier for Nate rather than being publically acknowledged by his friends, peers and fans.

As Chevy Metal heckled Nathan for missing out on receiving the award - funny and awkward - and Herbie got up on stage as a last-ditch effort to buy some time (”Where are you, Nathan?”), the audience erupted into cheers as Nathan finally made his way through the congratulatory crowd and all their pats on the back.

Up on deck, in front of the masses, as he hugged his proud pops, Nathan was at a loss for words, but still in his typical humble mode as he rattled off his genuine gratefulness to those who mattered.

And thus kicked-off the Billabong XXL Awards…

A big round of applause to everyone who was nominated and to everyone who won. And, of course, we’re especially proud of Nathan. Way to go, Nate!!!

SONY XPERIA “RIDE OF THE YEAR”

WINNER: NATHAN FLETCHER/$50,000 (San Juan Capistrano, CA, USA) at Teahupoo, Tahiti on August 27, 2011. Video by Simon Saffigna/$5,000)

SECOND PLACE: RYAN HIPWOOD/$5,000 (Gold Coast, Australia) at Cloudbreak, Fiji on July 12, 2011.

THIRD PLACE: GREG LONG/$1,500 (San Clemente, CA, USA) at Puerto Escondido, Mexico on May 19, 2011.

FOURTH PLACE: JEFF ROWLEY/$1,500 (Torquay, Victoria, Australia) at Jaws, Maui, Hawaii on January 30, 2012.

FIFTH PLACE: GARRETT MCNAMARA/$1,500 (Haleiwa, Hawaii, USA) at Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal on November 1, 2011.

Billabong XXL 2012: The start of the night.

Sunny Garcia

Makua Rothman and Mickey Nielsen

Nathan on the big screen.

Chevy Metal (or Foo Fighters. Kinda.)

Greg "Da Bull" Noll and a couple of Playboy Playmates.

The always charming Greg Long.

Not sure who the lady is. But that's Tony Hawk... as if you didn't know.

Bruce Irons, Keala Kennelly, and Christian Fletcher

And the winner is...

All these guys had a spectacular year!

Father and son: A proud moment.

Well, well, well… it’s been awhile, stranger.  What’s new with you? Yeah? Really? You don’t say! That’s great. Anyway, back to me…

As is always the case, Astrodeck’s been on another trek of progression and everyone has been going at it nonstop. It’s hard to catch one’s breath and be able to just sit back when the revolving door of projects and cast of characters come passing through here on a daily basis. There’s never a dull moment. I swear, one of these days I’ll come into the office and find Oprah Winfrey sitting on a box of traction pads, fingers entwined over each other, begging Greyson to show her how to do a mean ole stalefish over at the San Clemente skate park. Don’t scoff. Seriously, these kinds of casual encounters happen here at the ‘deck.

Anyway, it’s been kinda like that lately. So excuse us if you feel like you’ve been neglected lately. It wasn’t intentional. It was life.

But we’re making it up to you now. We’re not ones to leave you in the dark when it comes to all the latest happenings. We appreciate the fact that you guys come back to check up on us, and we dig it even more when you write and verbally abuse us to post up more content. Ah, you volatile gluttons. You’re lucky we aim to please.

So where did we last leave off? Or better question, where do we even start?

Oh, I know. How about with Nathan?

Don’t play dumb. You’ve all seen and heard about Nathan’s two waves at Teahupo’o by now. In fact, the words “Nathan”, “Teahupo’o”, “insane”, “gnarliest barrel” and “balls the size of an abnormally large elephant with even bigger hints of gigantism” are now part of every day American lexicon. Five, count ‘em, FIVE covers (so far) of that Teahupo’o she-devil with Nathan trying to tame the bitch. Nathan is also being recognized for his remarkable feat with multiple nominations (for the “Monster Tube” and “Ride of the Year”) for the Billabong XXL Awards. Every time I see yet another photo of Nathan’s ride, I scream, pull out tufts of my hair, and run out of the room. It’s so intense. So surreal. Damn, Nathan, thanks for making the rest of us feel so human, and thanks for making me have bald spots on my head now.

(Nathan Fletcher covers. All photos were taken at Teahupo’o except for the bottom right Wavelength Cover - that front shot was taken at Cloudbreak, Fiji this past summer.)

In other Fletcher news, look for an upcoming pictorial blog by Herbie. Herb, Christian and Greyson spent a good portion of their Summer in France and Spain, traveling with Julian Schnabel, checking out the art scene, soaking in some Basque culture, skating the local parks. Christian and Greyson even scored some near-perfect days surfing Hossegor. Christian reported that the weather was warm and the swell was up. Even Julian found himself paddling out. More of this to follow at www.herbiefletcher.com

Dibi Fletcher is back with The D-Side. Back by popular demand! Her D-Side collection of interviews has taken us into the candid, poignant minds of people such as surf industry pioneers Grubby Clark and Walter Hoffman to Andy Irons (in one of his last interviews). There have also been anecdotes with the quirky, wild, vivid characters such as NFL great Kyle Turley, John John Florence, Bruce Irons, Eddie Rothman and a slew of others. So it’s only proper that Dibi include Jason Jessee into this mix of people. Jason is a complete classic. Check out his D-Side interview that’ll be posted up on Christian’s website within the next few days. www.christianfletchersurf.com

(The D-Side with Jason Jessee)

Kolohe Andino recently won the 2011 ASP SuperSurf International in Brazil. This was a coveted 6-Star event and Kolohe just killed it! He beat out fellow San Clementian Tanner Gudauskas. Looks like the SC boys were dominating the field. Kolohe pocketed $20,000 and jumped with 3,500 points in ranking. The kid is only 17! If he were in school, taking the SAT test, his score would be, like… well, we don’t know what the actual high score would be for the SAT, but you get the idea. He’d be valedictorian and nerd clinger for life! We’re so stoked that Kolohe is on the Astrodeck honor society.

Keep checking back here, within the next few weeks, Astrodeck will have a whole new inventory; with more stocked products and more NEW products. Traction pads, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. Just in time for Christmas! We’ve got some new Wave Warriors t-shirts featuring Nathan, and those will surely sell-out as soon as we get ‘em in. You guys can be so demanding! And we’re gonna also have a new line of Christian Fletcher t-shirts. Just wait ’til you guys see these new designs and graphics. You’re gonna go nutballs. We’ll keep you posted on when we have all our new stuff online.

Winter Season on the North Shore is coming up. We can’t wait. We’re looking forward to seeing the rest of the Astrodeck team dominating the scene. Just like they always do. Danny Fuller, Makua Rothman, Reef Macintosh, Archy, Kalani Chapman, Jamie Sterling, Gavin and Shane Beschen, Timmy Reyes, Nathan, and Christian, etc. The boys are gonna represent. Oh, it’s gonna be such an epic winter. I can feel it. Can you?

Here’s the lastest D-Side interview with surf/skate photographer Steve Sherman.

You can check out more of Sherm’s interview with Dibi Fletcher in an upcoming issue of Juice Magazine. But, for now, here’s a little teaser piece we’ve posted up on YouTube. In fact, check out all of our YouTube clips and videos under the name Zryder1.

Click link or cut/paste into your browser.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VibBqLmECs4

The Fletchers and Astrodeck are featured in the September 11th issue of The New York Times Style Magazine. If you happen to have an extra copy around, send it over to us!

In the meantime, here’s the online version of that article, as well as a video piece on the family made by the guys at NY Times.

Click on the link below or copy and paste it to your browser. You know the drill by now!

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/family-values/#more-175333