THE VOLCOM HOUSE WEEKLY
CUIZON GONE MAD!
3/12/2007

Maybe it has something to do with Dustin just barely missing out on qualifying for the 2007 WCT at the end of '06? For one reason or another, the 21-year-old Volcom pro from Ewa Beach, Oahu, has turned up the volume on his North Shore presence the past few months, and he scored the wave of the day several times in this last half of the season. Cuizon's pissed! He now heads to Australia to get back in contest mode and begin his grueling climb back to the top of the WQS ratings. Good luck DC! Check these clips of Cuizon and a few friends surfing Backdoor, Haleiwa, and Rocky Point.

BANZAI EXTRAVAGANZA
3/6/2007

EXTRA EXTRA...
2/23/2007



PIPELINE WQS
2/17/2007

The Monster Pipeline 4 star WQS was completed last week in massive 8-12 foot conditions. The first round went down early in the waiting period in great Bonzai Pipeline conditions, but a massive swell hit later in the afternoon and with it came horrendous winds. Over the next week, the event was plagued with bad winds and surf. The event was able to resume a week later but only for a half a day, as the tricky conditions got worse when the winds came back up and made tube rides too few and far between.

Volcom riders Gavin Beschen, Raymond Reichle and young Chas Chidester made the quarterfinals, but were ousted as the swell began to get wild and out of control towards the semi's and finals. Even though Dave Wassel was beaten in the round of 64, he was able to gear back up when the swell was maxed out for a tow-in expression session. Check the photos below.

VOLCOM'S NEW HOME
2/14/2007


On Thursday February 8, 2007 Volcom purchased one of the most famous houses in surfing history. The three-story home is situated directly in front of Pipeline on Oahu's North Shore. It was once home to legendary surfers Gerry Lopez and Herbie Fletcher and has been an icon in the surfing world for close to three decades. It will now serve as Volcom's second residence in front of the world renowned surf break.

"This is an incredible opportunity for our team riders, coaches, product developers, and the entire marketing program," said Richard Woolcott, Volcom's president and chief executive officer. "It's also a great honor to carry on the legacy of the house that Gerry Lopez and Herbie Fletcher made so famous."

The new home will be headquarters for Volcom team rider Bruce Irons and other top Volcom surfing professionals during the winter months while they train for the Triple Crown of Surfing and maximize their exposure during the north shore season. In addition, the house will be used as an R&D center for product design, testing and retailer roundtables. The original Volcom House will continue to accommodate the majority of Volcom's domestic and international up-and-coming team riders.

"I can't believe that we even had the opportunity to purchase this historic house," said Volcom's vice president of marketing, Troy Eckert. "Just thinking about the legends that used to call The Pipe House home is amazing. I can't wait for our team, and especially Bruce, to enjoy the house. It's a dream come true."

"We are all so lucky to have both places and ensure our presence at Pipeline. We wanted to give Bruce and the team the best place to live in the winter," said Volcom's surf brand manager Brad Dougherty. "This is a very exciting step for our surfing program."

Volcom team rider Bruce Irons said, "Growing up as a kid we saw this place in all the videos and we could only dream about what it was like. That dream has become reality and we now get to live it for the rest of our lives!"

Volcom Hawaii sales rep, Clint Moncata said, "From the ghettos of V-land to the beachfront at Pipe, never in my wildest dreams could I have predicted we would be part of one of the most famous houses in the surfing world. The new Volcom Pipe House is a reward to our Volcom Hawaii surf team for always believing in the brand!"

"The community up-roared when we bought the first house and we proved that we fit in. We all hung out at this house when we were kids and this was the only place we knew. Now we are back and in full effect. Check mate... bring it on!" said Volcom Hawaii ambassador Kai Garcia.

"This place and this house are full of Hawaiian surfing history. I'm proud and humbled to be a part of it. Volcom will continue the history from this incredible site," said Volcom Hawaii team coach Dave Riddle.

EXTRA EXTRA...
2/9/2007
JANUARY MELLOW
1/15/2007

Tom Dosland - "%#@* bra, it's been mellow. It wasn't too good the first week of the new year, but then there's been some real fun days. Right now it's just me, Wassel, and Chava at the house."

After the December craziness in the house, only a few Volcom riders were staying at the house and enjoying the extra room. One kid enjoying the space was Bummy Koepenick from Santa Barbara. Bummy always times his Hawaii trip right through Christmas and New years and always seems to score an empty house and fun waves.

" The trip was real good but I kinda got worked one day at the Bonzai... I got caught inside and chest butted the reef. It didn't feel good at all, and I didnt get the x-ray til I got home; bruised two ribs and broke part of my sternum. They cant do anything for it, and it takes a while to heal. Had some fun ones anyways and the house was empty, love going there." - Bummy Koepenick

Bummy will be back in no time from his sternomastoid injury, and meanwhile, several more Volcom riders will be arriving at the house and are preparing for the WQS Pipeline 4 star coming up later this month. Keep tuned in.



EXTRA EXTRA...
12/27/2006
THE PIPE MASTERS
12/19/2006

The Pipeline Masters is the most prestigious surfing event in the world. It is also the final stop on the WCT. The Volcom House's backyard becomes packed during all of the days of the event with friends gazing out and cheering on. Kaiborg and Tai fire up the BBQ and dish out food all day long. The days of the contest are an intense experience, it's the world's best surfers battling it out in the world's most intense arena.

Both Bruce and Dean have put an immense amount of time in out at Pipeline, and they were looking to finish off the season with a good result. They found themselves through to Round 3, and Dean would be first to have a crack at advancing into the Quarterfinals. From early on, he found himself out of rhythm with an inconsistent Pipeline, and was hustling to get a good second scoring ride. One closeout tube snapped his board; he swam in to Tom Rudd and Cortney Brown who awaited him on the beach with his back ups. Dean shortly after got mixed up with Darren O'Rafferty on a good one at Backdoor. Darren dropped in and was given an interference. Dean could not get a second wave and was eliminated. He was forced to sit and watch the guys behind him in the ratings try to take his overall #10 WCT rating.





THE PIPE MASTERS
12/18/2006
Bruce looked unbeatable from the early rounds. He scored a near perfect heat, a 19.9 in round 1. Bruce won his Round 3 heat over Dustin Barca, CJ Hobgood, and Hank Gaskell, and was into the Quarterfinals. He then would find himself up against Slater, Barca, and Luke Stedman. The slowest heat of the day would plague Bruce. Very few sets and scorable rides were coming through, and everyone at the house grew quiet. It was one of the lowest scoring heats of the event, and Bruce found himself with barely one keepable ride when the horn sounded signifying the heats end. A complete shock for everyone watching, Bruce was eliminated. He had to cool down the frustration of loss, come back to the yard and cheer his brother Andy on, who then won his Quarterfinal heat and was into the Semifinals.





The event came down to the finals, Andy, Slater, Lopez, and Machado. The house was in full effect, the BBQ still going strong and beers flowing. All watched on at one of the most memorable battles of Pipe Masters' finals. Bruce, Kaiborg and 50 of their close friends stood at the fence in the Volcom House yard awaiting the score on a ridiculous Andy/Backdoor tube. "10!" the announcer yelled out, and the house went berserk. The crowd on the beach erupted, hands and beers were flying in the air, and Bruce was jumping on the picnic table as he high-fived the crew. Andy took the final over Slater within the last few minutes on an insane 2-man show in the final. After the awards, the crowd on the beach fizzled out. Andy came up to get a huge congrats from all his best friends and hold up his Pipe Masters trophy in triumph. A party ensued for the next few hours until Kaiborg came in and kicked everyone out. In speaking to the Volcom grommets of the house, Kaiborg said, " This place is a wreck, I'll be back here in the morning so make sure it's clean."

The boys were up at the crack of dawn in a group effort to bring the house back to norm. By 9am the house was spotless, as if nothing ever happened. Borg was pleased. "Okay boys, good job, no workout today!" -mg

EXTRA EXTRA...
12/8/2006
WORDS FROM THE HOUSE
12/3/2006

Reporting from the house is Jack Morrissey. "It's a mellow day at the house. The waves are pretty small out front and the boys are cleaning up. Dingo came in the house around 9:00 last night, had some dinner with us and then took Gleason, Carey, and myself to Turtle Bay to play some shuffleboard and have some drinks. We had so much fun that we were asked to leave and are not allowed back for one year. There's a new swell on the way and a lot of the boys are talking about jumping on a flight over to Maui early next week to get some waves over there. Here's some what some of the dude's are saying...

Tom Rudd- "I've been staying at the Volcom House for a month and a half now and its been great. I think Dosland is the only person who's been here longer."

Tai - "Wipe the %*#@ counters after you wash your dishes Rudd, you #@$* dirtball."

Jake Kirschenbaum- "Could it get any better? Staying at Pipe with this crew is the best. Good waves and constant comedy!"

Dusty Payne- "I'm out there right now. I took a couple of Advils and my knee is feeling pretty good" (Dusty's coming off a good knee tweaking. He's been taking it easy while the waves aren't all that good.)

Blake Jones- "This is my first trip to Hawaii and so far it's been cool. Everyone at the Volcom House is really mellow and they made me feel right at home. I surfed Rocky Point this morning and it was super fun."

Here's the latest action and lifestyle shots from the house and surrounding waters. Enjoy. - mg
PHOTO GALLERY
11/27/2006

Decent waves and sunlight make for good photos to check out in this blog. View a few of the latest action photos of Bruce, Alex Gray, Dustin Cuizon, Jay Quinn, and Raymond Reichle.

EXTRA EXTRA...
11/22/2006
BRUCE'S BIRTHDAY AND A WEIRD SWELL
11/20/2006

Kaiborg, Tai, Dosland, Chava, and the boys went to the market to grab the supplies for Bruce’s 27th birthday on Thursday. All kinds of marinated meats and beers were bought, and the evening began. “It was a mellow night, there were a bunch of people hanging out, but it ended pretty early.” –Tai Vandyke
For Volcom Brazil’s Heitor Pereira, this is only his second season at the Volcom House. His e-mail this morning was classic. “The Bruce's party was so cool,many chick around the house, hahaha.”
Alex Gray – “The swell has picked up, but it’s a weird swell. It’s only hitting some spots. Rockpile’s 6-8 feet, but Backdoor is only about 4.” Right after that, Alex grabbed his 7’2” and headed out to Rockpile.
Meanwhile at the Triple Crown Haleiwa contest, a few heats ran at Avalanche yesterday because Haleiwa wasn’t doing it. The swell picked up today a bit so the contest is running and looking more like typical Haleiwa. Bruce just won his round of 64 heat, so he’s into the round of 32. Still yet to surf their 64 heat is Dean Morrison and Volcom Japan’s Teppei Tajima, who’s had a strong run advancing through his past few heats. -mg

MONTH LOOKING MEAGER
11/15/2006

The days of November are quickly speeding through, and with little signs of this month holding the kind of strength it normally does. The waves have been small and inconsistent as the 6 Star Haleiwa event tries to push heats into the water.

Arriving at the house recently was Rodger Eales from San Diego, young Brazil top junior Heitor Pereira, Julien Cuello from the Canary Islands, and WCT womens surfer Claire Bevilacqua.

Claire doesn’t mind the madness one bit, “…this has been one of the best Hawaii trips even though it’s been groundhogs day everyday. I like staying at the house because the boys push my surfing and all those guys are so funny.”

It seems Rocky Point has been the only place to catch a few waves and some photos is Rocky Point. Claire says, “it’s not much bigger than a couple feet, but still fun so you can’t complain.

Maybe it’s not a bad thing it’s small right now, Bruce’s birthday is tomorrow. The boys will fire up the barbeque and toast to some coldies. Bruce's birthday at the Volcom House is always fun. Stay tuned. -mg
IT HAS BEGUN
11/10/2006

The North Shore season is well under way. Swells began turning on in the very beginning of October, and with the word spreading as quickly as it does from Hawaii, the masses begin to arrive. The Volcom House is brought into shape after its 6 month hibernation from the summer months. Kai Garcia, Clint Moncata, and Dave Riddle are the first to begin the daily walks by the Volcom house just as team riders start to show. Tai Vandyke and Tom Dosland are the first residents. They make the Volcom house their home for almost 6 months, with only short visits back home to Maui. Aussies Mitch Coleborn and Tom Rudd show up soon after, and Alex Gray and 16-year old San Diego grommet Nick Suhadolnik are right behind. Nick's the youngest at the house, "I clean every morning, train with everybody, and surf all day... everybody's been real nice and said I can come back anytime, that's cool."

Tai Vandyke - "Today was a good day even though the waves were small. All the boys were up early and ready to train...the boys made sure things were tidy, then Borg came and we ran down to Logs and back. It's funny cuz' there's 10 of us now, were a full pack of troops running down the beach."

Borg has them finish with crunches, leap frogs, and some random sprints. The workouts are usually every other day, depending on the conditions.

Tai yells back to some of the boys, "Who's coming? I'm going to Foodland to grab a few things to finish this dinner...tonight's a mean pasta dish." Tai is also the house chef, and does the runs to Costco for the bulk supplies to feed the team, "the food money's going good, the fridge is loaded, but it's going quick."

The house is in full effect...Check back weekly for the latest stories, pics, and videos straight from the Volcom House. -mg