Learn to shred with Quiksilver and Roxy top team riders in Chamonix this winter.

This time it’s for the keen skiers and snowboarders, Quiksilver and Roxy offer a unique experience with ‘The Boardriders Winter Week’. Your opportunity to shred Chamonix with quality coaching from some of the top team riders whilst staying in a luxurious guesthouse ‘The Club House’. One week of shredding in an exclusive environment; guests will hang on and off the slopes with Quiksilver and Roxy team riders such as Markku Koski and James Stentiford, plus have the use of instructors from Evolution2, experts of the mountains. It will be an unforgettable week of coaching, backcountry riding and freeride sessions in one of the best mountainous resorts in the world- in the heart of legendary Chamonix.

OUTSTANDING COACHING
6 days to perfect your technique with the Quiksilver and Roxy riders on hand to help. From Brevent to Courmayeur, the students will have access to an amazing playground of 6 areas. As well as confirmed team riders, the Charlet brothers, Chamonix locals and freestyle/freeride legends will be around to shred for the week too. Not only your company on the slope, the riders will be staying at the chalet so your chance to hang with them in the evenings as they share their experience and passion on and off the slopes.

EXTRAORDINARY SESSIONS
Two one-week courses (February 12th-19th, February 19th-26th) are open to skiers and snowboarders (male or female) over 14 years of age who are at an intermediate level. The program includes freeride, freestyle, backcountry aspects as well as educational training on security, avalanche training, crevasse rescue and glacier evaluation.

If snow conditions permit, students will be filmed and photographed by the coaches so that an evening debrief can assess progress and correct faults.

Each coaching week has 16 spaces and guests will stay in ‘The Club House’ chalet with a full package of meals, specialist instructors and tuition from the pro athletes. All for a fixed price of €1540 for under 18’s and €1830 for adults (prices exclude transport).

Week 12th-19th Feb
Hosted by Markku Kosti and James Stentiford from Quiksilver. Lena Stoffel and Basa Stevulova from Roxy.
Week 19th-26th Feb
Hosted by Markku Kosti and James Stentiford from Quiksilver. Andrea Binning and Margot Rozies from Roxy.

Reservation and information at www.boardriders-week.com

Hackey born Maverick moved to New Ross, County Wexford in Ireland as a child, returning to London in later years to pursue his musical career.

2011 saw the rise of this British/Irish singer songwriter, rapper, soul and reggae fusion artist, a year which saw an appearance on Jools Holland, collaborations with Chase & Status (featured vocalist on Fire In Your Eyes’) and Pro Green. His debut single (which to many was this year’s summer anthem) ‘Let Me Go’ charted at no.16 and his follow up single the beautiful ‘I Need’ at no. 18.

Nominated for the prestigious ‘UK Breakthrough Artist’, 2011 has seen this hugely talented artist really come into his own.

This will be Maverick’s second show in Cornwall, after a stunning main stage performance at the Relentless Boardmasters earlier this year, and is part of an extensive UK tour to promote his debut album ‘Lonely Are The Brave’, due for release in February 2012.

This will be a joint promotion with what is surely now the firm favourite for touring bands in the UK, the Princess Pavilion.  Together with SW1  they will be hosting a weekend of shows with Rizzle Kicks sell out show on Saturday 10th followed by the Maverick Sabre show on Sunday 11th – who said that big acts don’t come to Cornwall?!

Tickets are available from the venue box office 01326 211222 or from www.seetickets.com 0871 2200260 or from the Hall For Cornwall box office on 01872 262466  (all subject to booking fee).

Seriously this was just a party week for me.. we were staying in a beautiful hotel right on the beach with private swimming pool in our room! We went surfing every afternoon, and I tried longboarding for the first time there. Then we would go into the market where we found as intriguing and disgusting parts of animals and fish .. Chinese people spitting, burping, running into you and farting everywhere in public.. and weird toys and accessories just like gas masks etc..

We also all took off to a temple, where we took a chairlift up the hill. They had used a normal old chairlift and added a sun protections on them! The temple was nice and cool as everywhere else was hot and sticky with huge round rocks and big budhas everywhere. Then we took a gondola to watch monkeys bike on mini BMX, or on goats.. as well as steeling your bags and scaring the shit out of you!!

The waves were not super huge, nor steep or fast but just good enough to have some fun on the side of the competition site with all the girls and watching the comp from the water. At the end Chelsea Williams won the Swatch Girls Pro China and Lindsay Steinriede was crowned world champ. The best thing of that comp day was the bus ride that go all the girls back to the hotel, we were all singing and laughing the whole way, making the Hola for the winners, and for the Kassia Gozilaa (an gigangtic advert for the comp, a picture of Kassia twice the size of a building on the side of the highway) and what not!

The thing I liked the best was the fun we all had together just being silly and enjoying the moment! I’d like to thank the whole longboard girls crew who made it a blast!!
I hope to see you soon again!

anne-flore

Thanks to Swatch for bringing me there and thanks to Dom for all these pics Also thanks to Marc, Julie and Brodie fo such a fun event!

You can find video updates about my trip in China on:

SurfGirl 35 Winter Issue

This issue it’s all about snow and surf. We look at why winter sports are good for you, and some tips on how to stay motivated and surf through the winter months, keeping the summer fash vibe in winter, plus how to keep you from hypothermia when you’re surfing and the best winter wetsuit accessories. It’s all about keeping warm now the weather’s getting chilly! With this in mind if you want to escape we suggest some great warm water boltholes from tropical paradises to short haul trips.

Plus there’s snowboarding tips from Britain’s top snowboarders – Aimee, Jenny and Jessica, plus some advice on how to work the season on a budget, exercises to strengthen your muscles for snowboarding and the latest gear to ensure you’re stylin’ on the slopes this winter.

We head to the Maldives with the Rip Curl girls team, and French surfer Lea Brassy goes on an adventurous surf trip to Iceland with some beautiful images, looking like something from the Frozen Planet!

And with the festive season approaching we’ve some fab Christmas present ideas. Looking forward to next year we’ve some achievable earth friendly resolutions and a cool SurfGirl calendar to cut out or download on 31st December.

And one of the best things about this mag is the DIY mag. 16 pages in the magazine of your contributions from art, to making tips and travel stories – good work!

The mag is out this week, or you can subscribe here, we’ve some fab subscriber deals this month!

The best European female riders appear in this fun movie about the love of snowboarding and  the challenges that come along being a pro rider. One of the film highlights is the trip to Turkey where snowboarding and cultural diversities mix up.

The fab female cast includes; Aimee Fuller, Ana Rumiha, Aline Bock, Tini Gruber, Julia Baumgartner, Margot Rozies, Urska Pribosic, Basa Stevulova, Jenny Jones, Lisa Filzmoser, Vera Janssen, Conny Bleicher, Sina Candrian, Tania Detomas and some more; take the female sport to new limits.

So sit back, enjoy and relax “5 more minutes…please?

There are 2 screenings at Freeze – both at 3pm on Friday & Saturday…And pro riders Aimee Fuller and Lisa Wiik will be there & there will be give away at both screenings.

For tickets and info click here http://www.relentlessenergy.com

The temperatures soared as our last day of filming in Asahidake was spent trying to find north-facing features where the power of the suns rays had not completely baked the snow into sticky soup. With the mission not totally successful we headed off to traverse the whole of Hokkaido driving through beautiful Japanese sunsets to New Chitose where we were going to spend the night, not before a some what impromptu dinner in the most amazing restaurant filled with dried dead freaky fish and a party until near 4 in the morning!

Hungover and still tired we managed to get to Hakodate where we caught the train to Nagano. Travelling days are what you make them, Gabby however saw flashes of the day through self-inflicted sickness and having to change seats every time the train stopped as we could not reserve the seats from the North Island. On arrival in Nagano we managed to get the 2 rooms in the last hotel available and thus celebrated our success in sushi – lots of sushi!!

Visits to the Zen Temples, monkey parks, some of the best udon in the strangest of places, and we were off to visit Sarah and Andy in Hakuba. They run Snow Season Japan organising holidays and seasons in Japan and had organised our accommodation in the 5 star Tokyu Hotel in Hakuba as well as a filming plan in secret spots around the area. A massive thanks to both Andy, Sarah and Fukushima-san for all their help as without them jibbing giant Buddas, handrail spots, visiting the most beautiful onsen in the world in the most sketchy looking ghetto hotel and the delights of 5 star breakfast to beat all breakfasts, would have never been possible.

snowseasonjapan.com

We left Hakuba in the rain to drive to Nagano and catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo party time. 3 nights and nearly 3 days were condensed into madness. With a sum total of nearly 7 hours sleep we visited the sights, smells and sounds of the city. Tokyo Tuskji Fish market at 5 am, shopping, temples, mad crossings and sore feet. The boys wanted to go shopping again just so they could stare open mouthed at the most beautiful shop assistants in the world, these girls were thousands of floor levels above my own fashion capabilities and wore to work what I could only pull out the bag at a wedding, even my own. We ate merrily thanks to the best Tokyo host in the world Mari, the obligatory apres karoke session till 4am ensued, with Gaby Maiden, Alice, and the Nikita girls slaying it with the French boys, their amazing accents captured on Go Pro for all to laugh at the next day. We finished Vanessa’s birthday off in style in the Park Hyatt hotel, where they filmed Lost in Translation, watching the twinkling of red lights into the night, the end of our Japanese wonderland for this trip anyway.

FOOTNOTE:

It was shortly after our return, that we saw the shocking images of the earthquake and Tsunami in Honshu. The force of nature has devastated much of the area we visited, the resulting loss of towns, infrastructure and most of all lives has touched all of us very greatly. A week before we were sitting on a train in the warmth of the afternoon rays of sun, filming the waves as they lapped onto the shores of northern Honshu, with only the small troubles of our lives in our thoughts. This dramatic sequence of event has led to thousand of lives lost, missing and devastated. Our thoughts go out to all the people of this beautiful and peaceful country, let us help in any way to support the relief effort in Japan, and help those affected to rebuild their lives.

With the infrastructure of this area still devastated it could take five years for the region to recover. You can help the people of Japan with their recovery program, here’s some useful websites;

www.globalgiving.org

www.savethechildren.org

www.musicforrelief.org

There’s plenty of hidden surprises to uncover along the way, so remove that blindfold and explore every angle  with in these behind the scenes films…

Here’s two collection videos from behind the scenes of the shoot.

Part 1:

Part 2

For more photos and info on the new range to www.oneill.com/illusion

We will be giving you a chance to contribute to a 32 page magazine within SurfGirl, with things that you would like to see in print. The DIY magazine will be your magazine, so whether you would like to submit an article, photos or illustration about things that interest you – send it to us.

SurfGirl is about women’s surfing and beach lifestyle so it helps if your contribution fits within that theme. And anyone can get creative from young to old in any part of the world, so if you  live in the city miles from the beach that’s not a problem, just let us know what it’s like being a surfer in an urban jungle!

If you need some inspiration, here’s some themes to get you thinking.

A Day in my Life – six photos which illustrates a day in your life.

My Beach – beach pics, which show us why your beach is cool.

My Style – showcase your street/beach fashion style.

Jobs a Good Un – you work so you can surf, what job do you do, what are the hours/pay like?

In the Kitchen – great recipes for  hungry surfers.

Jackanory -  every surfer has a story, who do you know who has a tale to tell? Or let us know about a funny/inspiring/scary tale of your own!

We’ll select the contributions which we feel best fit the DIY mag, it could be for example we match up someone’s article with another person’s illustration. So send your stuff in, the more creative the better!

You have until 26th September to get it to us by email to diy@surfgirlmag.com or by post to this address; Louise Searle, SurfGirl Magazine, Berry Road Studios, Berry Road, Newquay, Cornwall, TR7 1AT, UK. PLEASE MAKE SURE ANY PHOTOS OR ILLUSTRATIONS YOU EMAIL ARE OVER 1MB IN SIZE. JPEGS OR TIFFS ONLY. Wetransfer is a good way of sending your photos, better than Skydrive so try not to use that please. Email the jpegs separately if possible.

Please let us your name, age and where you live. We will return original artwork if you include with your entry with a big enough envelope with enough postage to pay for it’s return.

Both jackets in the collection are 100% polyester with removable hoods and fur trims, zipper closed vents, removable powder skirts with lycra stretch panels and a pant to Jk snap connection system.

Each pair of ski pants is made from 97% Polyester and 3% Elastine and comes in a range of colours including black, navy, pink and beige with the liberty inspired print in the lining. They also have a zippered hem gusset, high back construction and a ‘lift up’ system.

An umbrella print sweater acts as the perfect layer under a gillet and is 90% wool, 9% cashmere and 1% for ultimate warmth.

The gloves are full leather, have 120G of brushed tricot insulation and features ergonomic construction.

The liberty-inspired print gillet is reversible, water repellent and lightweight and packable.