Winter X Twelve

Brace yourselves folks, Winter X Twelve is under way. I just had a quick nose around the site (http://www.expn.com/) and thought I'd share this with you: a sweet 'little' feature on the Slopestyle course

photo: Dave Lehl

Heads up to all KAOS' extended family who are competing and watching out in Aspen. Also, don't forget that http://www.freecaster.com/ will have plenty of coverage for European audiences.

Enjoy

KAOS Birthday Party

KAOS celebrated their 5^th Birthday in style towards the end of December upstairs at the Old Queens Head in London attended by a lot of people that have helped us grow over the years and friends and family.

The party had a ROCK and ROLL theme – ‘Rock’ being covered with three great bands playing through the evening and ‘Roll’ with a selection of classic skateboarding films being shown on the big screen. People dressed according to Rock Memorabilia or Rollerama.

We started with a 70’s theme and Matt Quinn and the Darth Vader’s rocked out with killer cover versions of 70’s rock classics. Whilst our 80’s band, Caimbo are actually one of the best up and coming young bands around, we reckon they look a little bit like the boys from Poison and that’s good enough for us to claim them as our 80’s representatives. Check out Caimbohttp://www.myspace.com/caimbo. They have an upcoming gig at the Barfly and for £6 you won’t go wrong. Creating Kaos. Creative Director Andy Hunns has agreed to run down Oxford Street naked if Caimbo aren’t topping the charts very soon…is there a time limit on that Andy?

The final band, Feral Sun came courtesy of our man Jay Stephenson and rocked out with acoustic versions of classic 90’s grunge tracks.

Thanks to all the bands and people that came along to help us celebrate the evening and to all the current and past KAOS staff, clients and suppliers that have helped us get to where we are in our first five years.

Jenny Jones gets top in the BEO Slopestyle Semis

Britain’s Jenny Jones won today’s Burton’s European Open 2008 Slopestyle semi-finals in Laax.

With her flawless performace on the slopes, she beat 21 riders, including Jamie Anderson (US). Jones is now ranked number 2 in the TTR rankings. She, and seven others, made it into the finals, which will take place tomorrow. ...In the men’s competition, Shaun White (US) won again. The men’s final will have 16 competitors in all.

Today's Women’s Slopestyle Semi-Finals Results:

1 Jenny Jones UK BILLABONG 66.33
2 Jamie Anderson USA SALOMON 61.50

3 Silvia Mittermueller GER OAKLEY 61.33

4 Sina Candrian SUI BURTON 57.17

5 Meri Peltonen FIN PROTEST 56.00

6 Lisa Filzmoser AUT ELAN 54.67

7 Kjersti Buaas Oestgaard NOR ROXY 54.00

8 Margot Rozies FRA ROXY 52.67

Breaking Industry news: Volcom gets Electric

as reported by EXPN

Volcom today announced it has reached an agreement on an all-cash offer to acquire privately held Electric Visual Evolution, one of the most recognized and respected eyewear brands in action sports.

Under the terms of the agreement, Volcom shall pay to Electric shareholders $25.25 million in cash upon the closing of the transaction. Electric will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Volcom and will be maintained as a stand-alone brand.

Electric was founded in 2000 by industry veterans Kip Arnette and Bruce Beach and is headquartered in Orange County, California. "We are very excited about this partnership," said Richard Woolcott, Volcom's president and chief executive officer. "Electric is a powerful brand with a lot of potential, and together, we look forward to leveraging each other's strengths and expertise.

"Culturally, Electric is a perfect fit for our company," Woolcott continued. "We've known the Electric team for a long time, and we recognize they share the same passion and love for action sports as we do here at Volcom. Our companies are very much on the same wavelength, sharing similarities in product distribution, marketing efforts and a strong commitment to quality and innovation. Everyone here is stoked to welcome Electric into the Volcom family."

"Volcom has an amazing team and an incredible heritage in the action sports industry," said Kip Arnette, co-president and chief design officer of Electric Visual. "We could not have hoped to partner with anyone more capable on an operational level and more in-line with us culturally, than Volcom."

Surf's Up in London

Great news for surf enthusiasts!!

As of 2011, surfing lovers will be able to get a taste of the waves at London’s first year-round surf beach. The project builds a part of the massive £ 1.5bn regeneration project of the Silverton Quays, adjacent to the Royal Victoria Deck. The 100m wide sandy beach will accommodate more than 200 swimmers, sunbathers and surfers at the same time; the surf centre will include a wave making- machine. The project is the brainchild of Steve Jones, and adventure sport enthusiast who believes in “urban surfing” as an after work activity instead of going to the gym.

Surfers can expect to pay £30 for an hour of wave action that will offer at least ten waves per rider. The venue will also have a 100sq metre screen and the UK’s largest climbing wall for people not into water sports.