Huge congrats and thanks to Joel Tudor and all of the competitors. Here's how it turned out: 4th Harrison Roach, 3rd Christian Wach, 2nd Justin Quintal & 1st Al Knost. Along with the cash the finalists also took home some rad skateboards with art by Russ Pope & Al got a surf board made by Robbie Kegal for taking the top spot. Best shared waves also took home some cash, those winners included Dane Peterson, Kameron Brown, Jared Mell, and Chris Del Moro.

For the closing of the event and awards announcement we had a rad party at the Malibu Inn. There were tacos, music, and dancing... lots of dancing. Not even the embarrassing kind, just the 'whoaaa we're having so much fun and this band is soooo cool that it doesn't matter if i look crazy' kind of dancing. All signs of a great evening. The Allah-Las and Tijuana Panthers both played and everyone had an awesome time. Check out a few photos below by Liam Cassidy. Even more photos from the whole event on the Vans Flickr page.

Saturday we headed down to the beach around 1:00 to run the Semis and Finals of the Duct Tape Invitational. The final heat ended up being Christian Wach, Harrison Roach, Alex Knost, and Justin Quintal. Jared Mell & Kassia Meador weren't in the contest anymore but that definitely didn't keep them from having fun on the beach.

If you missed the live webcast of the contest Saturday, you can watch it below.

Video chat by Stickam.com

This time we decided to get all in tune with nature and camp during the event instead of getting hotels. We are so rustic. Look there are even photos from lots of digital cameras to prove it. Oh... Wait. Well, more on the Vans Flickr page anyways.

So here are some photos of everyone actually surfing yesterday. [Photos by Nikki Brooks]

...errr the camp site at least. After the contest yesterday the guys went to check out some other surf spots, gather groceries, and just generally cause a ruckus around Malibu. Finally we made it back up into the canyons to where we are camping and everyone got set up. Lots of food, and lots of good company... That's probably the best thing about these contests is how everyone gets to just hang out. Our photog friend Nikki Brooks even set up a little photo booth out there and took some cool portraits of everyone, can't wait to see those. Time to head to the beach. We'll be live from the contest here at 1:00pm PST. Here's a few photos below, and you can check out more on the Vans Flickr.

You'll see the top two spots from each heat surf again tomorrow. Click here to sign up for a notification of when it's live.

Heat 1 Results:
1st Chad Marshall
2nd James Parry
3rd Jared Mell
4th Kassia Meador

Heat 2 Results:
1st Christian Wach
2nd Alex Knost
3rd Yuta
4th Chris Del Moro

Heat 3 Results:
1st Justin Quintal
2nd Ryan Burch
3rd Kameron Brown
4th Robbie Kegal

Heat 4 Results:
1st Dane Peterson
2nd Harrison Roach
3rd Tyler Warren
4th Oliver Parker

Last night we got to Malibu and everyone got together at the Malibu Inn for some dinner and the webcast [which you can watch 2 posts below.] By the time we had all eaten and headed for the camp site it was pretty dark. That led to some hilarious attempts at tent building and everyone squeezing their own tents into one spot close together after being warned about rattlesnakes. The closest to the middle doesn't get eaten.... right? We all woke up super early and headed straight for the beach. Some bananas and multiple coffees later the contest got underway and everyone was stoked on the warm weather. Here's a few shots so far, many more to come. Now I'm going to go catch up with all the guys who went down to surf some other spot and work on my sun bleached hair and tan.... hey, i gotta fit in here.

Watch the first four heats today live: [This portion of the contest has now ended, watch it recorded below.]

Friday Pt. 1

Video chat by Stickam.com

Friday Pt. 2

Video chat by Stickam.com

Last night we hung out at the Malibu Inn and sat down for some Q&A with Joel Tudor, Mitch Abshere, Kassia Meador, and more. If you missed out, don't be bummed. You can watch it right below.

Video chat by Stickam.com

The Vans Joel Tudor Duct Tape Invitational is coming to Malibu, CA on September 10-11 with expected riders Tyler Warren (Winner of the Salinas Duct Tape Invitational), Alex Knost (winner of Santa Cruz Duct Tape Invitational), Justin Quintal (winner of 2010 ECSC and Montauk Duct Tape Invitationals), Dane Peterson, Kameron Brown, Robbie Kegel, Christian Wach, Ryan Burch, Chad Marshall, Kassia Meador, Chris Del Moro, Harrison Roach, James Parry, Yuta Sezutsu, Oliver Parker, Jared Mell, Scotty Stopnik (1st Alt), JJ Wessels (2nd Alt.) We'll be webcasting live as well as bringing you photos & updates all weekend right here.

Todd Glaser coming in with the rad photos from the event yesterday. So sick! Thanks to everyone at Vans Europe for making this the best Duct Tape yet.


Joel, Al & Dane


The Salinas Longboard Festival Crowd


Pickle Wins!


Tyler Warren


Tyler Warren


Jared Mell


Tyler Warren




Alex Knost & Jared Mell


Alex Knost






Harrison Roach


The Dolphin


James Parry


Robbie Kegal


James Parry & Jared Mell


Justin Quintal


Tyler Warren

Yesterday morning when we got to the beach, Tyler & I went to grab coffee. It was overcast, and the waves weren't looking so hot. Tyler was all about being Mr. Positive, "You know what? It's probably going to clear up and be an awesome day. It's totally going to happen. It's going to be like a miracle or something." He was right. After a couple of delays, the sun came out and so did the waves. It was a really close final round, and like Joel said when giving out the prizes, "It really sucks to have to pick a winner, because everybody is so awesome..." At the end of the contest here's what went down. Pickle came in with the big check, Justin came close to winning his 3rd Duct Tape with a respectable 2nd place, Al killed it, and Jared made it into the finals for the first time at this contest. Hell yeah.

1st Tyler Warren
2nd Justin Quintal
3rd Alex Knost
4th Jared Mell

Then we all went to some crazy traditional Astur restaurant where bagpipes pumped up the jams all night. Can't wait for the next Duct Tape.

Tyler Warren won the whole shebang with Justin, Al, & Jared coming in hot after in a tight last heat. Full results, photos & recap coming soon!

We're 10 minutes into heat 2 of the final day of The Duct Tape Invitational LIVE from Salinas, Spain.

There is so much to be said about yesterday, but for the sake of all interest, let's cut right to it.

Joel let his troops loose on the shores of Salinas and the crowds began to gawk with excitement. The boys and girl, Kassia Meador of course, kicked things off proper with shuffle-free noserides and 60's-esque style. Unlike those beaches where showing up with a log gets you more dirty glares than smiles, the people of Salinas welcomed leashless singlefins to their lineups with open arms. Giving the locals a big show and advancing for their performances was Robbie Kegal, Justin Quintal, Alex Knost, Clois Donizetti, Tyler Warren,James Perry, Harrison Roach and Jared Mell. Rumored rides of the day involved the names Robbie & Harrison, but come to think of it, Knost scored a perfectly peeling right and so did Tyler Warren. With picture perfect waves and breezy offshores throughout the day, good vibes flowed smoother than the endless supply of Amstel Light until the night's end.




























Words Jenna Klein & Photos Todd Glaser

Day one was a good time. Of course it was. See you at the same time tomorrow for the webcast.

Here's who will be competing tomorrow:

Heat 1
Justin Quintal
Robbie Kegal
Best Shared Wave - Justin & Robbie

Heat 2
Al Knost
Clois Donizetti
Best Shared Wave - Al & Kassia Meador

Heat 3
Tyler Warren
James Perry
Best Shared Wave - Tyler & Oliver Parker

Heat 4
Harrison Roach
Jared Mell
Best Shared Wave - No dice in this heat.

We just got done with the rider's meeting this morning in Spain. The Duct Tape Invitational kicks of at 2pm local time Friday, 5amPST and 8amEST. We'll be doing a down-and-dirty webcast from the beach.


Adventure Drawing via Pickle

The Duct Tape Invitational starts tomorrow - er, ah, today…in a few hours! We spent the whole day driving. “Oh, Salinas? It’s ‘ah two a’ hours, my friends!” By no stretch of the imagination is it two hours. We can go ahead and round to six hours. What a drive, though. It was gorgeous.

Ok, so this morning when we were all ready to roll out - all cars were packed - I say, “Who’s driving our car?” Al looks over and says, “Me. I am totally driving. Wait. I am not. This is a stick. Ha!” We had a car full of people who couldn’t drive stick all sitting in the passenger seats with a vacant driver’s seat. Fortunately, one of the cars hadn’t left yet. Reagan popped out and saved us from ourselves.




Hey team manager, can you manage to get us there? Yuk, yuk.




Madison made sure the mini-van was totally go pro’d.


What else? Scott threw an orange at Dane’s car. Both cars were chased by a bunch of screaming Italians who thought they were the target of the drive-by-fruiting. Todd mooned us, then gave us a thumbs up.




We had jet-fuel coffee for lunch. Scott tried to get a sandwich with some sort of vegetables on it. Too much to ask. Dane looks at Scott’s plate and says, “Do you know what looks good? Not that.”




The point is that the ham & cheese sandwich is chucked onto the dash. That’s how you have to do it. Casual.




The bull awaits.

Today was the first of sun & good waves we've had. It was like everyone exploded. The whole crew was in the water all day. Run in. Grab food. High tide. Back in. Dude, at dinner I promise you the restaurant crew looked at us like we were animals, we ate so fast. That junk hit the table & it was gone like some mad David Blane weirdo magic. Like, straight up, Dane, did you order anything? Oh. Sorry. I didn't see it. But probably because I was face down in my plate. Big day. We're growing kids, you know? Yeah. Can't beat today with a stick.

Todd Glaser photos whooo whooo!


Al Knost


Dane Gudauskas


Joel Tudor


Tyler Warren


Harrison Roach


Alex Knost & Tyler Warren

Yesterday evening, Joel's friend Michel took us to check out the next town over from us called Guéthary. It's an old whaling village. (Don't worry, they don't do that anymore. Except on Fridays. Just kidding.) Michel told us that 500 years ago people got into the equivalent of canoes to go out on the water and hunt for Moby Dick and his bros,"That's ok, you guys go ahead without me in the canoe to get the whales with the sticks! I'll totally catch up with you guys later."

Al has actually been to Guéthary before. He says it's usually a pretty fun wave. Right next to the little harbor, it's easy to find for those of you who'll want to give it a shot in the area. After we had our fill of Basque culture, we got some lunch at a rad spot. I swear the fish I ate jumped out of the ocean and onto my plate.

One thing you'll get to know fast if you travel with us, is that we roll with 90 cameras. Japanese tour group-style. Let's see...yesterday I had mine, Nolan had two or three film cameras, Scott had one, Al had his film one, Michel was shooting film, too. Hey, we like to document.













This was the best. Someone was practicing their English cursive. I think they nailed it by the last one, don't you?





There's a shop between Biarritz and Guéthary that only sells handmade boards, Wallako Surf. We stopped in to check it out. The owner lives right next door so he came over to say what's up. Andrew was coveting this one.



The French call this, "Le Plante des Cigarette." It's a common gift in this part of the world for Bastille Day, Christmas, or simply being born.



Good news. Looks like we're leaving for Spain in the morning. Duct Tape Invitational practice starts tomorrow.

We are so pumped right now. Finally, it's clearing up & everyone is getting stoked. No more hotel captivity. No more crybaby blankets. Here are a few shots from Todd Glaser.

Andrew Doheny


Alex Knost


Dane Gudauskas


Gang!

"It is a little known fact that Joel can drive a Go-Kart as well as he can noseride. Proof attached." - Jenna Klein

Tonight 9.30PM PST / 12.30AM EST / 6.30AM (Tuesday local time in France) we're having a live webchat with Joel Tudor, Alex Knost, Andrew Doheny, Dane Gudauskas, filmmer Reagan Ritchie, and whoever else is awake (from the night before) about our new movie 'Get N' Classic.' What else? Next weekend's Duct Tape Invitational Surf Contest in Spain and go-cart racing. It's your chance to ask questions so come up with something good.

The forecast for the rest of the week is looking much better, but it's been raining the whole time we've been in France. Jenna nailed it when she looked out our window yesterday, "Holy shit. It looks like 'Victory at Sea' out there!" The waves are grey-green. There's no horizon. Yesterday after we got the boards everyone jumped in the water for about 15 minutes just to do it. Then, we cruised into down for an art show. Our friend Pandora lives in Biarritz and was with us for the Duct Tape in Montauk, she invited us. I was snapping some pics. This guy walks up to me and says, "No photos! No photos!" Maybe he's a local celebrity? He thought I was TMZ, clearly. It must have been how I was chasing him all over the gallery with my camera. Nope.



We found out how long it takes for Jared Mell to run out of steam. Four full days and nights. He was here before we got here. The guy finally hit the wall during dinner last night, walks up to our table before we eat and says, "Ok, I'm going to bed." Al & I were in shock. We didn't know it was possible. Andrew fell asleep with his face fully down on the table while we were waiting for our food. He woke up a few minutes later and said, "I just had the craziest dream...." Yeah, at the restaurant. It was a mellow night.

Colin, Kassia, and a couple of other people rented vans with bunks and are camped out in parking spots by the beach, right? So. Here's the story I got from Robin tonight over dinner...all of this is heresay, but I'm going with it.

Allegedly, at about 5am this morning Colin woke up and really had to pee. He's running, running, to the bathroom down the block. And man, was it raining this morning. That's important. We're setting the stage. Ok. Everything works out fine, Colin, gets to the bathroom, does his thing, and he's booking it back to sleep in the van when tragedy strikes. He slips and falls in dog shit. Slip, sliiiiiides in the shit, because everything is wet, and falls on his slide. Doo doo all over the place. Doo doo all over his arm, shirt, leg. He gets up and tries to figure out what's going on and slips and falls in it AGAIN. That is not the best way to start your day. Colin lived. And here's Kassia and gang being cute. Everyone's happy.

Finally! A couple of hours ago we got everyone’s boards. Tomorrow is going to be fun. Understandably, everybody has been super antsy. It rained all day today, and we got some cabin fever for real. Tomorrow = outside. No. More. Youtube.

Here's what it looks like right outside of our spot. Easy access. Joel hooked it up. I threw in a few randoms from today and yesterday. Yeah, yeah, yeah!

It's the first trip that I've spent a good bit of time with Reagan Ritchie, who is 1/2 of the Vans Surf filmmers (he's been working alongside Graham Nash) who put together our new Get N' Classic movie. This guy is awesomely talented, therefore, I am taking this time to pick on him like a mofo.

Reagan story #1: he was trying to hook Todd up with movies off his laptop. Reagan says, "Have you ever seen that movie 'Ray?' It's about this blind man..." The way he explained the plot of the film, we had no idea that he was talking about the Ray Charles film. It sounded like he was talking about a movie made about some guy down the street.

Story #2: He couldn't find his shoes this morning (our room was super-messy-explosion-town) so he walked to town barefoot & bought flip-flops. Later on, he could only find one Chukka Low and one flip-flop so he wore one of each to meet us at the restaurant.

Story #3: Half our hotel floor is blacked out right now because he's the one that blew the fuse! HA! I should not be posting any of this because he is one of my roommates this week and he's def going to pee on me in my sleep or something as revenge.

After days of wearing the same clothes, sleeping and waking in those same clothes, and sharing hotel rooms with five people at least we can take comfort in knowing that we're all the same amount of gross. It really doesn't matter. We're having a good time. Andrew and Dane both brought their guitars so it's been nice having those around. Last night around sunset, there was a gang of us hanging out on the balcony. Alex played. Jared kept yelling about who knows what. We were all supposed to be getting ready to go to a show nearby. We thought it was a jazz show in San Sebastian. Turned out it was an Alpha Blondy show in Bayonne, which, is not even close to being the same kinda thing. Raging.

The French hate black and blue. There are signs everywhere to confirm it.

No, seriously. Everything from behind our hotel on back to Paris is about a million years old. Willie Shakespeare is all hanging out the windows and junk. Mad ghosty. "Oh, cool. Look at that lamp post. It's older than our whole country." It's pretty interesting looking at a building that was built 20 years ago next to one that was built 300 years ago. We're getting an education for sure. We're learning to speak French. Nope, what we're doing is going, "Oui! Si, si! It's totally bueno," and speaking Spanglish with terrible French accents.

We've only been here for 2 days and have already consumed more bread and cheese than ever before in our entire lives. Andrew had a few things to say about the impact of such a diet on the local natives' digestive tract, "Dude! Everybody here must be so backed up." Anyway, we rolled outside of our hotel yesterday afternoon in search of something that looked like a fruit or vegetable, but ended up running into Kassia Meador, Jared Mell, and their friend Colin sitting on the wall in front of the ocean. Full picnic spread. Bread, cheese, wine, pate. I was like, "Are you guys serious right now?" Colin says, "Yeah, we're all in. We hit up the store and were like, well, fuck it. We're in France. Let's do this." Kassia was super excited, "You guys! Eat all this stuff! This is awesome!" International vegetarian mishap. I found out it was pate after I had already shoved it in my face,"This olive stuff tastes weird." C'est la vie. Meat in a jar.

Let's start at the end and work backward. We're at an amazing little surf spot int the south of France, Biarritz. This is straight up Disney. I'm looking at a castle hanging off a cliff over the ocean. It's gorgeous. Nice waves. Hit me in the face with a baguette. The getting here has been tough going, though. Let me set the stage for you. About 48 hours ago we all woke up before sunrise to get to LAX and get this circus on the road. Joel, Scott & his son Julian, Nolan, Al, Tod & Jenna, Pickle, Dane G., Andrew, and I were all traveling together. Two flights, a bomb scare in Paris, a missed flight, a bus trip, another delay, another flight. As of right now, all of us smell like hot trash. All luggage and boards are lost. Oh, hell yeah. Joel Tudor Duct Tape Body Surfing Invitational.





Other notable notes? There were about 50 high schoolers from Mexico on one of our flights. The girls were totally trying to kick it,"We're 16, but 18." Bad kids. I'm telling their moms.

Everything's going to work out. I'm having cafe au lait and croissants with Harrison and Pickle. It's breakfast. Jared Mell just walked by with a cheetah printed raft screaming,"i almost just got a ticket here! They came up and said, 'You have to have a leash! You have to have to respect the rules in France!', so I was like, 'Shaka!!!!! Whooooo!"

Yep, we're all heading to Spain and duct taping everything to everything else as soon as we get there. We're not confirming a lot yet, but it is part of the Salinas Longboard Festival. Too right. We have some webcasts planned for those of you who won't be able to meet us there. Details will be coming soon. For now, we're keeping the mystery alive.

Sadly, everyone packed up & headed home today. (Going home is sooooo alternative.) Nolan got some sick photos this weekend, especially the one of Alex below, so I figured you'd want to check out a few more. Until next time, kooks. More photos after the jump.


Alex Knost ...

Here you go. The big breakdown. Alex totally killed it. During the final heat the guy caught about 1,500 waves. We thought Ratboy was going to get the board sacrifice prize after his board smashed into the cliffs on Friday. He threw a fit like a crazy dude. However, in a last minute upset yesterday Chad threw his board down into the rocks (also like a crazy person). That pretty much did it. Ratboy got a little redemption though since he & Troy ended up getting the top spot for best shared wave. Full results after the jump. ...

HEY! AL WON! WHOOOOOO! Official Results coming soon.

After a day full of contest stuff, Scott had the best idea. Pizza & beers & the skatepark. More photos after the jump.

...

Don't forget. Tonight at 9pm PST Dirt Dress will be playing live from our closing party. Watch them on Vans Stickam.

The surf contest has wrapped for today & we're heading to the skatepark. You'll have to wait until after the awards ceremony tonight to see who won. Make sure to watch it happening live tonight on Vans' Stickam page.

Semi-Finals went off without too much of a hitch. A little drama hit when someone paddled out & said he'd kill Ratboy. "Sure. You're going to kill him. Ok." They weren't with us. Anyway, here's the list of who made it to the finals. Oh, haaaaaay.

Ryan Burtch
Harrison Roach
Chad Marshall
Alex Knost



Photos after the jump. ...

The finals are kicking off right now so I'm about to go watch, but here are a few shots from practice this morning. More photos after the jump.

...

Last night after dinner, about a dozen of us packed into the team van to head to a show. The Crocodiles were playing with Magic Bullets and The Fresh and Onlys somewhere out in the woods. We drove off down the darkest, most sketchball road ever. photos after the jump.

...

Meet Jared Mell. You know those t-shirts that say 'party animal' and there's an image of a cat on a surf board with a hawaiian print shirt on with sunglasses? That's pretty much him. More photos after the jump.

...

Day one's competition is a wrap. We're packing up & heading back to the hotel. Hey, we have some skateboards to put together this afternoon. Here is the list of semi-finalists for tomorrow in no particular order.

Heat 1
Christian Wach
Ryan Burtch
Dane Peterson
Harrison Roach

Heat 2
Troy Elmore
Tyler Warren
Chad Marshall
Alex Knost

We're having a little break for lunch, but we're going to keep going for a while after. The waves have been good today, and everyone's having an awesome time. Why stop? Photos & first four heat results after the jump.

...

Here's your video postcard. Wish you were here!

We're getting ready to start the first heat of the contest. Alex Knost says hi.

Los Angeles' Dirt Dress are the newest addition to the weekend plans at the Duct Tape Invitational. They'll be playing at the Dream Inn, Santa Cruz. Here's your trivia: they're label mates with Alex Knost's band, Tomorrow's Tulips. More after the jump.

...

It's official (because the official press release went out and that sh*t is gold). Joel & company are road tripping up to Santa Cruz, CA for the next contest on January 14th & 15th. We'll be at Steamer Lane Beach if you want to come & hang out with us. Before the contest starts, we'll have a special legends round where Joel Tudor, Herbie Fletcher, Nat Young, Michael Junod and Tyler Hatzikian are doing their thing. Competitors in this invite-only contest include the following dudes and chica:

Harrison Roach, Chris Del Moro , Jared Mell, Ratboy, Alex Knost, Justin Quintal (winner of 2010 ECSC and Montauk Duct Tape Invitational), Christian Wach, Dane Peterson, Chad Marshall, Jen Smith, Tyler Warren, Mikey DeTemple, CJ Nelson, Robbie Kegel, JJ Wassels, Ryan Burtch, Troy Elmore (1st Alternate) Nathan Adams (2nd Alt) and Scotty Stopnik (3rd Alt).

Graham found all this great footage from the last contest in Montauk we'd somehow misplaced. We lucked out.



Event poster after the jump. ...

The day before the contest started, all the guys (and gal) headed over to the Montauk Skatepark. Gnar factor was exceeded.

It's a wrap! The winners were named at Surf Lodge late last night. After whittling the initial 16 down to the four finalists, Jacksonville, Florida native Justin Quintal took home $4,000 for first place, Aussie Harrison Roach $3,000 for second, Long Island rider Mike Detemple $2,000 for third and SoCal longboarder Tyler Warren pocketed $1,000 for fourth spot. ...

Hey guys,
You'll be able to watch The Growlers play a live set from our closing party at Surf Lodge tonight at 11pm ET/8pm PT. Watch it at www.stickam.com/vans1966.

Here's a quick clip from early this morning. Settle down. You're not finding out who won until tonight. Results for heat 2 & more pics after the jump.



...

We were all down at the beach ready to go at 8am - about 30 minutes ago. Big clouds. Nice waves. Strong wind. Photos & heat one results after the jump. ...

If the photos aren't enough for you here are some quick clips from the day. It's basically movie making history. I'm basically Michael Bay & Fellini wrapped up in one. Thanks to Islands for the awesome jam.

I think my favorite moment of the contest today was watching Kassia & Troy in doubles - cruising along to high five. All the competitors were having a great time goofing off. Of course, that translates to those of us on the beach. It was a fantastic day. Eh, yo, eh. Results & photos after the jump. ...

After waiting around all day, we'd almost given up on the waves. The wind kicked up about 45 minutes ago! Everyone jumped into the nearest vehicle & drove to Ditch Plains Beach like we were running for our lives. Photos after the jump. ...

So. Not so good news right now. Weatherman Scott Sisamis says there's a bad kinda storm coming on Friday that will blow our minds off our faces (and not in a good way). We might have to do the whole contest tomorrow. The call will be at 7.30am. Deadly smiley face after the jump. ...

Here's what to look out for at the airport: a guy nonchalantly standing on top of a vehicle. Photos after the jump. ...

We flew across the country. We got in our rental cars & a couple of 15 passenger vans with piles of surf boards on top. After two days of traveling, everyone is here ready to do the damn thang. Wildly important highlights & a bunch of photos after the jump. ...

Only the most epic of bands are suited to play the most epic events. Obviously. Gah. Here's my not-so-subtle hint about the band we have playing at the Duct Tape Invitational. Watch their just born brand spankin' new video for Sea Lion Goth Blues after the jump. It's the coolest. Seriously. It's a good ass video. ...

It will be my first time visiting The Surf Lodge, our partner on this event. The more I read about them, the more I'm getting pumped. All kinds of rad bands play there (Local Natives played recently), they are all artsy & making stuff, and they help out in their community. Warm fuzzies. Check out this tee pee building fundraiser they did to benefit the Montauk Skatepark last summer. By the way, I haven't been able to find a site for the skatepark itself, but here's the basic info along with a

The first Duct Tape invitational took place many moons ago (late August) in Virginia Beach at ECSC. Memory Lane after the jump. ...

Join Vans on Thursday October 14 and Friday October 15 at legendary Ditch Plains in Montauk, NY to see 16 of the best longboarders in the world compete in the highly anticipated Joel Tudor Duct Tape Invitational. Hosted by The Surf Lodge, the unique, specialized event will require surfers to ride 12-lb, single fin leashless boards along with some serious style and nose riding all for a $10,000 purse. More after the jump. ...