John John recently hung out at the Astrodeck office while taking a brief hiatus from the tour and nursing his Achilles tendon. So the future World Champ (Yeah, we’re calling it already), sat down for a one-on-one with Dibi Fletcher to do an interview for Dibi’s popular “D-Side” series. Amongst the list of topics that the two discussed, John John clears the air about his “relationship” with country pop sensation Taylor Swift.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0kntzEeCKY

If you haven’t heard by now, Greyson Fletcher officially rides for Hurley and Nike. Pretty sick, right?

Check out Hurley’s Athlete Profile section and you’ll find Greyson on there along with his SHOP ONLINE list of goodies.

https://shop.hurley.com/storefront.cfm?id=185

John John Florence Wins The Volcom Pipe Pro

A huge woo-hoo, atta boy, and F#CK YEAAAAAH goes out to Astrodeck team rider and Wunderkind John John Florence. His latest victory at this year’s Volcom Pipeline Pro makes it three years in a row that the 20-year-old Oahu native has been able to do repeat business at the prestigious event. We’re so stoked and proud of John John. And this is just the start of things yet to come!

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

Everything you’ve heard about John John Florence is true. Everything.

He IS that good. He IS that talented. And he IS that surfing phenom who someday will be World Champ.

Need some more convincing? Watch the clip. John John makes his presence known and he makes his statement loud and clear. How sick is this kid? No. Seriously. If there ever was a true definition for the word Wunderkind, John John Florence would be it.

“Departure Delayed” also features guest appearances by Nathan Florence, Ivan Florence, Kiron Jabour, and Greyson Fletcher, so check it out!

http://www.surfermag.com/videos/departure-delayed/

To attack fearlessly and recklessly, that’s what the Japanese word “Banzai” means. And judging from Greyson’s recent assault at the Banzai Skate Park, the boy was all about being a Kamikaze daredevil.

Check out Greyson in a couple of links. It’s good for your soul.

http://surf.transworld.net/1000155650/videos/cotes-cube-at-the-banzai-skate-park/

http://vimeo.com/56474438

Nathan was invited to surf in this season’s Eddie Aikau Invitational. Not everyone can just register their name and expect to participate in this contest. To be included in the Eddie is like some rite of passage for big wave riders. It is no easy feat, and is actually quite a big deal. So we’re more than proud and stoked to announce Nathan’s invite, and want to congratulate him as well as the other elite invitees who have the honor to surf and compete in such a prestigious event. Go guys, go! Eddie would have wanted it that way!

Nathan Fletcher Invited to the Quiksilver Eddie

We’ve just got in our Astrodeck inventory for the season. We’re fully loaded with the 123 Nathan’s, the CF grips, the 949 Kolohe Andino’s, the OG Archy…

And now we’re super excited about our new 808 John John Florence Traction Pad. We’re sure that, both the black and white (with inner red), and the multi-color John Johns are gonna sell like hotcakes. And what great timing to get them in stock as the Winter Season kicks in?! The pads are multi-grid with a 45° to vert kicktail, built-in arch, and overall lighter weight.

(808 John John Florence Astrodeck Pads)

We’re also proud to announce the arrival of the new 984 Makua Rothman Astrodeck Pad. This traction is in a solid black color with orange highlights, and also has the 45° kicktail with built-in arch, The pad is lighter in weight, and you’ll feel that on your board while you’re surfing. (By the way, have you seen Makua surf? Do you know what he’s capable of at places like Jaws? He’s so plugged in - it makes us shiver!)

(984 Makua Rothman Astrodeck Pad)

So after you’re finished reading our kick-ass and informative blog, mosey on over to Astrodeck’s online store and order yourself some killer ‘deck - maximum foot grip from the original traction company! You won’t get better traction anywhere else. That’s a given.

We’d like to give a huge shout-out of congratulations to one of our own, John John Florence.

If you haven’t heard by now, John John just snagged his first WCT contest win at the Billabong Rio Pro in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil with an impressive 16.37 tally over Joel Parkinson’s score of 11.44. To get to the victor’s podium, John John also went through a series of heats against Josh Kerr (in the semi-finals) and another one of Astrodeck’s favorites, Julian Wilson (in the quarter-finals).

This puts John John as #6 in the current ASP rankings while Parko is on top as Numero Uno.

The guys will be heading to Fiji next. And we can’t wait to see some more of the John John Florence Show. World Title this year? There’s a good chance. Future World Champ? That’s a definite.

Here are some frame grabs from the Billabong Rio Pro. Congrats again, John John!

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