Meet the new Manta kid, Taylor Brockman. Manta’s team manager had this to say of the 17-year-old from the South Coast: "Ryan Mattick put me onto him. Mattick has been filming for his new Zion film Fever Dream The Musical and has been shooting a whole heap with Brockman. I checked out the footage and was spinning out the guy was only 17. I've wanted to sponsor a grom for a while now and I'm stoked to get Taylor on the team."

Check out the below footage of Taylor courtesy of Ryan Mattick here.

Taylor Brockman from zion on Vimeo.

Turbo Surf Designs are pleased to announce that 2 time World Champion Damian King has signed a 3 year contract to ride for Turbo's global bodyboarding team .

Turbo Surf Design's owner and Head Shaper, Glenn Taylor, stated that:

"We are stoked to have one of the icons of the sport join the Turbo team. We have known Damian for a number of years now and have great respect for him, for not only all that he has achieved in the water but also his contribution to the sport out of the water. These characteristics are closely tied to the ideals we hold here at Turbo Surf Designs and we look forward to working with Damian to develop bodyboarding further. We believe Damian has the ability and passion to rise back to the top of the sport.  

We have started working on the new Damian King range of Turbo boards for 2010 and they are looking great, maybe with some surprises to be revealed! It is a real benefit to have Damian living so close to our shaping bay, so we can perfect his template and combine it with our world class materials and construction techniques".

Commenting on the new sponsorship deal, Damian King stated that :

"What has impressed me the most about Turbo and one of the key reasons why I am excited by the change is Turbo is an ethical brand with good morals that invests back into the sport of bodyboarding. Even at a local level I have watched Turbo get behind our local club and show support to the younger generation and amateur competitors. I am a passionate bodyboarder and this now translates into the board company I ride for. 

Also Glenn Taylor, part owner and one of the best shapers in the World, is amped to work closely with me to get my boards back up to a level I need. Having the head shaper only a stones throw from my house is going to be a huge, huge advantage! On the broader scale my Turbo Damian King signature boards are going to be coming out of the best performance bodyboard factory in the World. This means my signature model will be at a quality level that I have never had in the past- Finally!!

I am focused on the 2010 IBA World Tour and now with the best equipment and Turbo's support, I am confident I can make an impact . The 2010 World Tour kicks off with the IBA Turbo Bodyboards Pipeline Grand Slam "

Turbo Surf Designs are also proud to confirm that we have once again locked in the naming sponsorship for the IBA Turbo Bodyboards Pipeline Grand Slam in Hawaii in February 2010. 

 "The IBA Turbo Bodyboards Pipeline Grand Slam sponsorship is also a very important partnership for our company", stated Glenn Taylor. "Turbo Surf Design's roots trace back to Hawaii and we are committed to re-instating the Pipe event to be the greatest showcase of the sport of bodyboarding. We hope it encourages other companies in the industry to invest money back into the sport that we are all so passionate about. It is only with this level of support that bodyboarding will reach its true potential."

please direct any enquiries to info@turbosurfdesigns.com.au or for further information go to www.turbosurfdesigns.com  

His name is Zancudo and he lives in El Zonte, the surfside village where he grew up. In between giving surf lessons, painting hats and cutting coconuts he tears the face off his local right point. He's got the full bag, throwing stand up to prone rolls and big dropknee carves. Check the vid below for proof.

Vs. shaper Jarrod Gibson has just launched his own site, jarrodgibson.com, which profiles his work and his surfing. Little bare at the moment but another one to keep your eye on.

From the files of self-promotion.

The powers that be once realised that photography, not adventure stories or profiles or matt stock, was the currency they dealt in. The oil that made them Arabs of a six-cylinder world. These ugly conduits lived by the same first year economics as oil brokers: control the flow and regulate the price. Keep the market hungry and the stock strong. For years the overlords pulled the strings and the market danced. But the flow of photos continually grew, outstripping production requirements and thus the agents could suppress them no longer. Now the wave has broken and Movement’s first annual is the photographic fire sale of the century. A book with hard covers and classic design. The stories, interviews and captions swept to the back so as not to interfere with your appreciation of the visual. Oh to the images. Pixels and pixels of surf porn. To help you find such salvation we shipped it around the country and embalmed it in a neon-orange skin. To gift you the best global surf images of the annum we priced it $12.95.

What they might have said:

“It’s almost as big as my board.”

- Thorpe Waluew

“A cover harder than my bicep. Awesome.”

- Glen Thurston

Commentary is from the 1960s scholastic files but some of the riding is next level.

We recommend waiting for the whole vid to load then skipping straight to the 5:15 mark and the introduction of flowriding “pro” Billy Tennant. This is what a job at Wavehouse Durban could do for you.

Sixty40 Flow Pro 2009 from Dustin Weber on Vimeo.

Your online Dallas fix.

The star of our latest cover has recently launched his own website. Unlike every other pro site this one was created of his own graft. Singer recently graduated his uni design course and has applied those skills to his other profession. Find it here.

A cool moment from Brendo’s publicity files.

This was part of some promo pages that BN sent through. Doesn't name the author but it's full of gravitas.

In that order: Pedestrian.tv and a trip to Japan.

First an introduction: Pedestrian.tv is a Sydney-based web-house of pop culture. Duly its major turn-ons are global music, art, movies, fashion and celeb spin, plus local profiles and party grabs, delivered with a pleasing Australian edge.

The best of the day’s reportage is collated in a daily email and delivered every afternoon around the time you start wondering if the clock is indeed broken.

By signing up to that email and selling out three friends you could win a trip to Japan for all four of you.

But don’t take this as glib promotion; we’ve all been signed up for a long time. Our only question is whether we're in with a chance if we unsubscribe and go again.

(Note from the Pedestrian curators: If you already receive your daily e-news hit all you have to do is invite three friends to go into the running.)