News

Van Camping in Hawaii

February 23, 2016Stay Wild

With Local Fun-Tographer John Hook

Obviously the biggest perk is the year-round good weather. In Hawaii, you never have to line the inside of your Westy camper with foil to keep warm in the middle of a January night.

Even on Oahu, the most populated of the islands, there are still miles of coastline where you can find a spot to park your bed. There is a law in Hawaii that loosely states: If you are fishing at the beach (a pole in the sand, with fishing line cast into the ocean), you are legally allowed to stay at any public beach overnight any day of the week. So pull up in your van, cast a line, and hang out until the sun comes up.

There are a few city and county beach parks that sell weekend permits for beach park camping. Usually those official parks are in nice areas, and they provide bathrooms and public showers. I recommend doing this if you plan on camping in a big group.

In the summer, beach camping provides radical views of stars and the Milky Way, as long as you are far, far away from the city lights of Honolulu.

In the winter, if you are on Oahu, you can park near the beach and wake up to goliath surf right outside your sliding door. If you don’t already own a Vanagon or some type of imaginative Astrovan, no worries—most times, you can find a rental on Craigslist throughout the islands.

More John Hook

Strange Vacation

February 19, 2016Stay Wild

A Brand that Supports Adventurous Women

by Marjorie Skinner

“I can do this. I need my own bike.” Around four years ago, Jenny Czinder had this thought while riding on the back of her boyfriend’s motorcycle. Soon after, she became one of an increasing legion of women who are dismantling the image of riding as a manly pursuit—but the world’s still trying to catch up.

Czinder grew up with Harley-Davidson in the periphery. Her stepdad had one, as did her boyfriend, and now she has one of her own. It made sense that a vintage Harley jacket would become her gear of choice, but despite its iconic power… it kind of sucked.

Riding gear in general tends to excel in fashion or performance—rarely both. For women, it’s even more limited. “A lot of the fashion-oriented jackets are shorter in the waist and sleeves,” Czinder notes. “It’s a classic look… maybe because [when it was established] girls were wearing higher-waisted pants.” It looks good, but in practice the cut exposes midriffs and wrists to cold, sun, and added risk of road rash. Frustrated with the lack of options, Czinder rallied friend and fellow rider Kelly Wehner, a designer with years of experience balancing style and performance in apparel while working for Nike.

The two went in together on Strange Vacation, a newly launched riding brand explicitly for women. The branded tees and “shitty” trucker hats appeal to the rowdier end of the female spectrum, and the hero pieces—a quintessential riding jacket and thick rugby top—bear the hallmarks of quality and street cred that savvy apparel collectors value. Both are produced in collaboration with respected brands and manufactured stateside: Vanson Leathers, one of the most trusted brands in the motorcycle world, produces the jacket, while Columbiaknit partnered on the rugby.

As the products roll out, Czinder and Wehner find themselves part of a wave of new efforts to meet increasing demand. “It’s great that people are realizing women want to be spoken to,” Czinder says, noting the potential for Strange Vacation to evolve out of a motorcycle-specific niche, tossing out swimsuits and leather tube tops by way of example. “We want to be a brand that supports adventurous women. It’s unpretentious.”

Learn more about Strange Vacation // @StrangeVacation

The One Moto Show

February 14, 2016Stay Wild

In the face of pissing rain and cold knuckles the neighborhoodly city of Portland has been raging with an infestation of motorcycles roaring up and down it's streets. The One Moto Show is the only show that makes Portland a motorcycle city. People come from all over the place to celebrate new and old bike culture and to gaze at the one-of-a-kind motorcycles on display.

If you didn't get a chance to go, feel free to glaze your eye balls with this slide show of our favorite bikes.

The brands who get behind the show are pretty sweet too!

The show get better every year and it's all because the founder Thor Drake, of See See, asks his awesome friends to make it happen with him.

Spring Break Forever

February 08, 2016Stay Wild

Getting Weird with your new favorite snowboards

Interview by Annie Andrews // Photos by Kealan Shilling

Did you see that Harmony Korine movie Spring Breakers? It might be his best one (sorry, Gummo). It’s about a group of girlfriends who go to the party of their lives and never go back to their boring lives. They hook up with Riff Raff (the James Franco version), machine gun down Gucci Mane (trap music king), and wear neon ski masks and bikinis. They party so fawking hard that they can no longer live by the old rules. I’m trying really hard to compare that movie to the group of friends who make beautifully weird Spring Break snowboards.

Did it work? Let's ask Maxwell Carl Scott from Spring Break snowboards and see what he thinks.

How do you guys like the movie Spring Breakers?

Not as much as Trash Humpers.

What’s Spring Break about? How did it start?

Spring Break began in 2010 as an experimental art project by founder Corey Smith and friends. The aim of the project was to deconstruct modern snowboarding and reimagine the sport through its surf-style roots—to find beauty in simply turning and exploring the mountain from an entirely different perspective.

How do you guys come up with such weird snowboard shapes?

We take inspiration for our shapes from all over. Sometimes a shape can be catered to a specific rider’s preference or style. Some shapes are inspired by vintage surf or skate shapes. Some are just crazy ideas we want to try out. It’s amazing how much the shape can change the way you ride. It may be even more apparent in a sport like snowboarding where turning is greatly emphasized.

Why does that one board have all those holes drilled into the tail?

Ha, I like to say they are for speed. But actually they help your tail sink into the snow, which allows the rider to sit back and relax in the deepest pow.

The handmade wooden boards seem kind of surfy. Where’s that come from?

Our board shapes are definitely surfy. A lot of the pioneers of the sport had roots in surfing, and one of the aims of the Spring Break project is to reconnect snowboarding with the style that it’s since deviated from.

What’s up with the Capita line?

Capita has taken some of our favorite and best-performing conceptual shapes over the years and, with our direction, we developed them into state-of-the-art shred machines built for the resorts. The boards are produced at their new factory in Austria, one of the best snowboard manufacturing facilities in the world.

Are you on spring break forever?

Fully.

Drinking a piña colada, even.