FOLLOW THY SOUL 4-9-08
By Corky Carroll

This week I sort of stumbled into a great story. Back in January I did a column about my son Tanners’ love of skateboarding and his idol Ryan Sheckler. In tracking down the story on Ryan, Tanners’ mom, the lovely and oh so well dressed Pamela, came up with the name of the head P.R. dude at Etnies, the shoe company that sponsors Sheckler. Turns out that he surfs and is a lifelong skate dude himself. His name is Ashton Maxfield.

Going against my better judgment and actually researching a story, I talked to Ashton. I told him about the story I was doing and he gave me info on Sheckler and invited my son Tanner to tour the Sole Technology facility, which just happens to be right down the street from his house in Foothill Ranch, and get a pair of shoes. Sole Technology is the parent company of Etnies shoes.

At that time I was basically under the impression that this was just a simple shoe company. But this last week it came time for Tanner’s tour and I was free that day so I went along with him and his mother. Wow. I was in shock at what I saw. These dudes are not just making shoes. They have a whole research facility full of scientists who track and measure all sorts of data on physical pressures of all the different joints in the body while doing all sorts of skate moves. They can tell you how much pressure is put on the left heel of a right foot forward guy hitting the ground after jumping off a dozen stairs or any amount of stairs they want to put up. They have another machine that has a foot with a shoe on it that does two thousand kick flips in a row and measures the wear of a shoelace coming in contact with grip tape in the process. That is just a tiny sample of the work they are doing. I was so blown away I wanted to know how this all came about.

The following is the story of surfer/skater/total boardrider Pierre Andre Senizergues, the soul of Sole Technology. I want to start with telling you a little about his company and then starting at the beginning of how he started the whole thing. Then will work into all the cool scientific stuff at the end with the evolution of the company.

“Sole Technology Answers To A Greater Calling-The Future of Action Sports, Humanity, and Our Planet.” Pierre Andre Senizergues (Sin-e-zerg), founder and CEO of Sole Technology.

Orange County based Sole Technology, as the parent company, continues to cultivate Etnies as a global leader in footwear and apparel while providing quality, function and style for skateboarders, as well as preserving the core spirit of action sports. As the first professional skateboarder to own and operate a footwear and apparel brand, Senizergues showcases a tireless work ethic and dedication to seeing skateboarding flourish on a global level. Senizergues has guided the Etnies brand to unprecedented levels of success over the past 20 years and demonstrated an undeniable passion for the environment by staying true to its skateboarding roots while pushing the envelope as a leader of sustainability in the industry. I love the word sustainability don’t you?

O.K. to the beginning of the story. This is gonna take me more than just this week to tell. Pierre began his skateboarding at the age of 15 in his hometown of L’Hay Les Roses, France — a suburb of Paris — and spent most of his formative years skating around the City of Lights. After attending the Universitaire de Technology of Paris XI in the early 1980s, Senizergues became an engineer for IBM France before moving to the U.S. in 1985 to pursue his dream of skating in California. As one of the premier professional freestyle skateboarders of the 1980’s, Senizergues won 12 French Championships, nine European Cup Titles, five European Championships, two World Cup Event wins and one World Championship during his career.

In 1988, two years after the inception of Etnies, Senizergues began riding and designing skate shoes, including his first pro model shoe the Senix and other key styles like the Lo-Cut, Low-Top Rap, Intercity and Scam. These designs were created with skateboarders in mind, and consisted of a unique blend of fashion, durability and quality that had not been previously seen or created in the industry. A year later, Senizergues began distribution throughout the U.S. and later gained full rights to the Etnies name worldwide.

Stay tuned in as I continue this story in the coming weeks.

LEGENDARY KATIN TEAM CHALLENGE SET TO RETURN TO HUNTINGTON BEACH The Wave ~4-9-08
By Corky Carroll

I just got a press release from my long time pal Mike Kingsbury regarding the return of the Katin Team Challenge surfing contest to its home here in Surf City. It will mark the 50th anniversary of the Kanvas by Katin brand and also bring back a really interesting surf venue that has been lacking along our hallowed, or hollowed as the case may be, shores in recent years. The following is the press release and after that I have a few more words on the subject myself. He is the official release:

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – The legendary Katin Team Challenge is set to return to the Huntington Beach Pier in January 2009. Founded in 1977 by Nancy Katin, the camaraderie-driven event boasts a rich and memorable history, with a roster of winners that includes world champions Shaun Tomson, Tom Curren, Martin Potter, Sunny Garcia and Kelly Slater.

Against the backdrop of Katin’s golden anniversary, the team challenge is tentatively slated to run January 14 to 18. The format will feature 24 teams of four surfers competing in the same four-person, open-draw format that Nancy originally envisioned. Team results will be determined by the placement of individual competitors.

“We’re excited to return the Katin Team Challenge to Surf City USA,” said Robert Schmidt, Katin USA President. “The event brings an unparalleled history and tradition to the pier, and we’re looking forward to building upon that heritage.”

In its early days, the Katin Team Challenge was a specialty event that lured the world’s elite surfers—Mark Richards, Mark Occhilupo, Joey Buran, Michael Ho and Larry Bertleman among others.

But true to Nancy’s dream, the event also drew hot young kids from surf towns in California, Hawaii and Florida to compete alongside their heroes. Some of these up-and-comers – Shane Beschen, Rob Machado, Pat O’Connell, Chris Brown, Peter Mel and many more – would go on to standout careers. The Katin Team Challenge ran uninterrupted from 1977 to 1989, then from 1992 to 1999.

“The buzz is already building among the team managers, brands and surfers,” said Katin’s Scott Waring. “Our dates provide a great window before the ASR trade show and the start of the world tour, so we expect a large industry turnout.”

About Katin:
Kanvas by Katin was founded in 1959 by Nancy Katin in Surfside, Calif., when she and her husband Walter transformed a canvas boat cover business into one of the nation’s first surfwear brands, specializing in high quality surf trunks. Currently enjoying a resurgence in interest, today the Katin brand is carried in surf shops and specialty stores throughout the U.S. and worldwide. More information is available at www.katinusa.com and www.katinsurf.com.
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O.K. that was the official press release. Now a bit more from me. Kanvas by Katin was originally in business to make canvas boat covers. Then one day a very young and skinny little Corky (yes me) risked his life crossing Pacific Coast Highway behind his house and visited Walter Katin. It was at this historic meeting that he innocently asked if they could make a pair of surf trunks him. He drew out what they should look like and Walter told him to come back in a few days and they would have something ready for him to try. The rest is history. They did so well making custom surf trunks that they chucked the boat cover business all together and became probably the worlds leading custom surf trunk maker.

The original Katin surfing contest was conceived by Walters wife Nancy and was called the “Katin Underdog Contest.” Nancy was always a softie for underdogs so she came up with the idea to have a contest that only people who had never placed first, second or third in a major contest could enter. There were a lot of very famous “underdogs” who came out of the woodwork to compete in the underdog event every year. Eventually that format gave way to a professional contest and the legendary team format that they are bringing back next year. I, for one, am glad to see it. The days of surf teams and surf clubs was a lot of fun and added a different dimension to the sport. Yes, it is an individual art form. That is a fact. But surfing for competition can be done in all kinds of more interesting ways than just the one on one same ol’ way all the time.

Like maybe a handicap system where an old dude like me could get a 9-point (out of 10) handicap per wave and compete against today’s top pros and win an insane amount of money. Yeah, that’s the ticket. In the meantime I am happy to see the Katin event back in town.