The winner of this years SIMA awards Xcel Wetsuits launches an all-new Web site. The site is redesigned for Surf, Wake, Paddle, Dive, and Sun. So if you like XCEL wetsuits, check them out.

Billabong jumped on the project BLUE train and joined other companies thet give part of their earnings to support ocean and beach protection. They actually developed a fabric called Eco-Suede, a recycled and recyclable pure polyester fiber material made from recycled textiles and plastic soda bottles. Now you can save all your empty plastic bottles, go to your tailor and order a pair of boardshorts.

If you really like your electronic gadgets Quiksilvers new bags are just for you. Apart from the usual quality material and blah blah you get integrated gadgets and technology built specifically for boardriders. Do things like built-in speakers, temperature regulated back panel, shoulder strap suspension system, integrated audio controls for mp3, internal and external LED lighting systems make you reach for your wallet? Then look for new bag models like Surf Pack, Day Pack and Snow Pack, Large Wheelie and Carry On.

The paper will still be white more or less but Surfing magazine will try to eliminate their carbon footprint. What is a carbon footprint? I allready mentioned a surf shop from Great Britain that plants a tree for every surfboard they sell so you might want to read that and find out how many trees do you have to plant to eliminate your carbon footprint. In short carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide that you are responsible for releasing into the atmosphere every year. By driving your car, by heating your house, by flying a plane, by buying things that put CO2 in the air while they are beeing made (thats pretty much everything). So how do you get rid of this? You plant trees to absorb your CO2 or you get someone to plant them for you. This is what Surfing Magazine is doing. “The first Green Issue focused on global warming and what that will mean for surfers,” says Evan Slater, Editor of Surfing Magazine. “This year, in addition to expanding our coverage of ocean-awareness-related issues, we wanted to make the magazine itself more accountable.”

It looks like four fins are the new three fins and golf is the new bowling. Quad fin setup was invented soon after the thruster but with the success of thruster and how good it felt to ride a three fin nobody really "noticed" that a four fin setup came out. With the latest surfboard industry flip to new technologies and new ideas the overlooked ugly duck is becoming more popular. Future Fins just produced a Quadalog - a quad catalog.

Once upon a time people put their wet wetsuits in the back of their car. Then there came plastic boxes meant for storing all sorts of crap in your home and someone thought that they would also be a gool place to store your wetsuit when you come out of the water. The word spread and now I can not imagine how I could live without one. Now the Trunq company came out with a box that is not meant to store all sorts of crap in your home but is built to store wet wetsuits.

The big guns of the surf industry get together for their SIMA (Surf Industry Manufacturers Association) meeting in SIMA Surf Summit 10 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Probably played some golf, talked business and decided which brands, companies & products deserve to win their Image award. And the winners are...

FireWire Surfboards are known for their stringer-railed shortboards, but this summer they are releasing a FireWire Longboard range. Whats the deal with FireWire surfboards? Read on.

The Rip Curl Pro Search Somewhere in Chile is getting closer and the guys at Rip Curl made a press release. This will be the first ASP event in Chile and it is coming quickly as it is the foruth event of the year. In six weeks from June 20th to July 1st best world surfers will gather in Chile Arica region towards to the north of the country.

If you do not already know, Al Merricks Channel Islands were bought by Burton Snowboards a while ago (last year). Jake Burton and Al Merrick talked it out over the surf session of powder session or whatever these guys do when they talk bussines. Or maybe it was even a golf game. Whatever. The result is the inflow of new technology from Burton to Channel Islands surfboards. Trying new things, getting hands on some new tools... and who is the best man to test all the new stuff when it starts to roll out?