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

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

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

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?

Look, we can barely read English here, so don’t expect us to translate this French stuff. But, nevertheless, here’s a link from Beach Brother Magazine. They wrote up a nice little article (we think) and posted up some pics of Greyson cruising at the One Distribution skate bowl during his recent trip to France, and they’ve also got it covered in video. You like? Oui, oui!

http://www.beachbrother.com/2011/09/greyson-fletcher-session-bowl-eclair/

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

“We’re so young and pretty, we’re so young and clean,

so many things that we have never seen…

Big Apple dreamin’ on a wooden floor

Skyscrapers and subways and stations

Staring up at the United Nations

New York is waiting for you and me, baby

Waiting to swallow us down

New York, we’re coming to see what you’re made of

Are you as great as you sound?”

- “Big Apple Dreamin’” by Alice Cooper

Herbie, Christian and Greyson Fletcher recently came back home to San Clemente after a jam-packed stay in New York. There, they checked out the art and surf scenes in Montauk, the skate scenes of Manhattan, and everything else in-between, all the while hanging out with some pretty colorful characters.

We’ll get to Herbie’s Tripoli Art Gallery showcase and Christian’s Hamptons International Film Festival presentation of his movies “Savage Beast” and “Supernatural” next week. There’s so much to report about those things. But right now, we’re just way too impatient and wanna hurry up and upload these sick photos of Astrodeck’s very own Astroboy, Greyson, taking a bite out of the Big Apple… Fletcher style!

Here’s a sequence shot of the kid at the Chelsea Piers Skate Park. He’s pretty impressive, isn’t he?

All photos by Herbie Fletcher.

1:13 Frontside ollie at the Chelsea Piers Skate Park.

2:13 Was it New York or Hell? Couldn't tell with the blistering heat.

3:13 When Greyson skates, people watch.

4:13 Grant Monahan taking a shot of Greyson.

5:13 When you look at the first photo and this photo, grasp how much pop and air he got.

6:13 Ready to land.

7:13 And...

8:13 He makes it.

9:13 Check out those raspberries.

10:13

11:13

12:13

13:13

According to Greyson, he had a great time in New York despite the sweltering heat. He made a lot of good friends and New York made a lasting impression on him, and he can’t wait to go back.

We’re really stoked here at Astrodeck that we actually have a relationship and rapport with all of our team riders. In fact, we consider them friends first and foremost. How many companies can claim that their riders come to their offices to just hang out and get caught up and shoot the breeze? Not a whole lot.

As is often the case, we’ll get weekly visitors. You’ll never know who will pop up. We’ll have Reef Macintosh come over and get some sandals for his size 13 feet. Or Nathan will drop by with best buddies Mr. Buzz and Bruce Irons, or maybe Shane Beschen might bring his little groms and chat skate with Greyson. It’s like a constant who’s who of popular surf culture at Astrodeck.

In fact, Danny Fuller just swung by yesterday. He picked up some of our sandals; his favorites are the MG1 and the ML3, as well as some of his traction pads, the 405 Danny Fuller pads, both in black and white and black and green. He talked some art with Herbie and also told the A-deck crew about SUP guys doing tow-ins at Puerto Escondido. Haha, what a trip that is!

Danny likes the MG1 Sandal.

He also picked up some ML3s.

The 405 Danny Fuller Pad in Black & White

The 405 Danny Fuller Pad in Green & Black

Anyway, it was great seeing Danny - one of the nicest guys ever, and one of our favorite surfers of all time.

Danny Fuller gettin' some.

Christian & Greyson Fletcher in Japan with a buddy.

Just as we were going to write up a piece on the Japanese promo tour that Christian and Greyson recently got back from, the devastating and horrific earthquake and tsunami that took place in that nation blindsided the country and shocked the rest of us in the world. And though we didn’t feel it appropriate (at this time) to post up the photos from their trip, we do want to take this opportunity to express our deepest sorrow and condolences to this nation of people we consider friends.

The Japanese are in our thoughts and prayers, and we here at Astrodeck won’t pretend to know of the many struggles and trials they will go through in order to get their lives back in order. Many will question, “Why?!?” along this harrowing time, but we truly hope that they know we extend our friendship with gratitude, solace, and support.

With love,

Team Astrodeck

Herbie Fletcher's "Wrecktangle" at the Waikiki Edition Hotel

Herbie will be in Oahu this week to promote his “Wrecktangle” board sculpture that’s being featured in the lobby of The Waikiki Edition.

Coming from the mastermind of Ian Schrager, The Waikiki Edition is a new type of hotel - kind of like an entity of its own - that’s being introduced by the Marriott International. In collaboration with interior designers George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg and landscape designer Deborah Nevins, the Waikiki Edition resides as its own sanctuary on the sand; smack dab near the beaches and Marina shopping districts in a coastal urban sprawl. Truly, a visiting surfer’s paradise.

When you walk into the lobby, the first thing that captures your eye is the wall-to-wall “Wrecktangle” pieced together by Surfer/Artist Herbie Fletcher. Emphasizing the impact of just how powerful Hawaii’s Pipeline is, Herbie collected over 100 surfboards that have been ridden (and broken) at this notorious spot by some of the surfing world’s mighty elite: Kelly Slater, Bruce Irons, Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, Christian Fletcher, Nathan Fletcher, and the late Andy Irons to name just a few.

Many never think to realize the impact and sheer bravado it takes to ride waves such as the Banzai Pipeline, and for those visitors to the North Shore who are lucky enough to stay at The Waikiki Edition, the “Wrecktangle” will perhaps give them a small idea of how intense that ride was.