Wave Warriors (Photo by Tom Servais)

To put it succinctly, perhaps Kelly Slater summed it up best when he recently wrote on his Instagram:

“#herbiefletcher pulled together another sick #wavewarriors group shot the other day. Hope he does it for another 20+ years. Good seeing the old guard and the new crew together in one place. Not many people could pull this shot off. Herbie sponsored my brother and I when I was 10yrs old. #legend”

Kelly Slater's Instagram of the Wave Warriors 2012

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

So if you haven’t heard about it by now, you will be soon enough. Yesterday Herbie gathered together some of surfing’s brightest surfers to start production on his new and upcoming Wave Warriors film that will be released in late 2012.

This happened once before with the original Wave Warriors photo shoot back in the mid-80s, but since then nowhere in the history of surfing will you ever see these cast of characters together for a group pic. Everyone from Rob Machado, Danny Fuller, John John Florence, Bruce Irons, Christian Fletcher, Nathan Fletcher, Julian Wilson, Kolohe Andino, Buttons, Rory Russell, Makua Rothman, Alex Knoxt, the Gudauskas Brothers, and a slew of others got in on the act. Oh, yeah, and some guy named Kelly Slater - whoever he is, he was there, too, as was reknowned artist Julian Schnabel.

If you couldn’t tell by the elite list, this was an invite-only shoot of the best surfers on the planet, with loving acknowledgement and memory going out to Marvin Foster, Andy Irons, and Sion Milosky as well.

Past, present, future… we are the Wave Warriors!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se-kjVywe4I

December 12, 2011: Off-The-Wall, Oahu, Hawaii. Photo by Jim Russi

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

Now, we wouldn’t take ALL the credit, but it’s pretty cool that a week before the US Open, Kolohe Andino stopped by the Astrodeck Office to pick up some of our traction pads for the contest. Heat after heat, he became the giant killer, and found himself in the semi-finals where he was eventually taken down by overall 2nd place finisher, Yadin Nicol.

Kolohe Andino with some sweet Adeck on his board.

Kolohe again. All grip, no slip. That's Astrodeck for ya!

And speaking of Yadin, check out the pic below as he prepares to leave the competitor’s area and hit the water. Looks like the Aussie contender jumped on the Astrodeck bandwagon. Yeah, you like that, just as much as we do, dontcha? That board looks really solid with the Adeck.

Congrats on placing 2nd, Yadin! And a bigger congrats for using the best surf traction in the world!

In fact, we’re stoked that a lot of guys who were riding Astrodeck did pretty well overall: Ian Crane, Shane Beschen, Timmy Reyes, the Gudauskas trio, etc.

Pretty good representing Astrodeck, guys. Pretty damn good.

PRESS RELEASE

On Wednesday, June 29th, 21 new banners will be hung along the light poles of South El Camino Real. The series, titled “Surfer’s Row” is a tribute to San Clemente’s surfing heritage. The honorees will have their images and names placed on the six foot tall banners between the freeway crossing and Cristianitos. Obviously there were hundreds of worthy candidates from the city’s deep and historically-rich surf community, and not just surfers, but surf-writers, surf-artists, surf-photographers, surf-filmmakers, shapers, retailers and industry leaders.

The project is sponsored by San Clemente Chamber of Commerce and the  City of San Clemente. The names we’re selected from an on-line poll  the Chamber posted at surfersrow.com. Helping advise with the project was Jim Kempton, Steve Pezman and Ross Garrett from Surfer’s Journal, Barry Huan and Steve Wilkins from the Surfing Heritage Foundation, Fred Swegles from the Sun Post News, and Grant Ross from Surfer magazine.

OC Tavern from 5:00 - to 7:00 on the evening of the 29th, where Surfer’s Journal publisher Steve Pezmen will announce the honorees and Mayor Lori Donchak will present a plaque of the replicated banners to the San Clemente’s Surfing Heritage Foundation. The event is open to the public.

The 2011 Honorees are (Alphabetically):

• Dino & Kolohe Andino
• Matt Archbold
• Josh Baxter
• Shane & Gavin Beschen
• Corky Carroll
• Rich Chew
• Mary Lou Drummy
• Phil Edwards
• Herbie, Christian & Nathan Fletcher
• Dane, Patrick & Tanner Gudauskas
• Joyce Hoffman
• Jimmy Hogan
• Colin McPhillips
• Greg & Rusty Long
• The Paskowitz Family
• Mike Parsons

Yup. The Astrodeck Nathan camo pad that cemented Kolohe Andino's stance during his first heat win at the 2011 Nike 6.0 Trestles Pro.

Kolohe Andino came by Astrodeck this morning with his pops, Dino, and bought some of our traction pads.

Yeah, you read that right. Bought.

Hey, our products - traction pads, sandals and t-shirts - are in high demand and sometimes we just run out. It’s like we have to hide and put away a secret stash somewhere in case of emergency and just so we have enough to distribute to our own team riders. So it’s no surprise to us when other pro surfers (and those aspiring to be) swing by and ask if they can buy some directly from our warehouse.

Because, you know, if you’re gonna surf in a highly anticipated contest, you know your odds at winning are always gonna be better with some Astrodeck traction pads on your board.