The Asian Princess Is Sailing In The Mentawais Now. Image: www.surfchartersindonesia.com

Aussie Pro Snowboarder Andrew Burton Opens New Affordable Mentawais Surf Charter [...]

Aussie pro snowboarder Andrew Burton is a busy man and seemingly has his finger on the pulse.  One week he is over in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics as the Australian Half-Pipe Snowboard Coach and the next he is sailing through the Mentawais in Indonesia on his surf charter boat, The Asian Princess.  

Here is a few words from Burto on the idea behind his new surf charter venture: 

What we aim to do at Surf Charters Indonesia is offer a realistically priced surf charter to some of the most exotic parts of the world making it accessible to almost every surfer anywhere in the world.  There are some hefty prices associated with surf charters and we want to break that stereotype and offer a world class product for our guests at an affordable price.  Our boat can accommodate a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 11 guests at this time and she is specifically designed for long haul surf charters.  We can stay at sea without re-supply for about 3 weeks.  We have found this allows us the freedom to go wherever we want and get our guests into the best waves on the planet.  There are no other boats in the area that offer what we for the price.  So far we haven’t had any complaints and it’s all looking good for 2010. 

Last time I talked with Burto (which was about a week ago), the Mentawais was pumping. 

If you want to get shacked in the Mentawais ASAP, check out The Asian Princess’s Website

WWW.SURFCHARTERSINDONESIA.COM

Keep an eye out for an interview with Burto on his Vancover Winter Olympc experience, his new surf charter venture, his ABC snowboard camps in NZ and anything else I can think to ask him.  Interview will be published on www.AnarchistAthlete.com in the coming couple of weeks.

Ben Mates In Training. Perisher Blue. Australia 2009. Image © Andrew Fawcett.

Interview With Australian Olympic Half-Pipe Snowboarder Ben Mates Is Available Now [...]

When February 2010 rolls around, Ben Mates will be the first Australian male half-pipe snowboarder to have qualified for two Winter Olympic Games.  And this time round he did it on his own terms and with his own green. Put that in ya crack pipe and smoke it.  He has spent the past four years free of any restrictions, focusing on hunting down the Olympic standard 22ft pipes and elite-level competition that would provide him the means to qualify for Vancouver 2010.  In doing so the south coast local has succeeded whilst flipping the bird at the sports establishment that seemingly did not want anything to do with him. There is no doubt Mates is antiauthoritarian. A ‘fuck em if they can’t take a joke’ kind of guy.  It is a refreshing attitude.    Anarchist Athlete founder Jason Harding caught up with Ben via email just before he drops in and throws down at the 2010 O-Show. 

Words: Jason Harding.  Images: Andrew Fawcett, Mike Weyerhaeuser, C laurila

 CLICK HERE TO BE REDIRECTED STRAIGHT TO THE INTERVIEW

Article Title

The Ben Mates Interview.

Click Here to read the abstract associated with this article.

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Article Abstract

1.  THE BEN MATES INTERVIEW

Harding JW.  2010.  Published 10th February . 

When February 2010 rolls around, Ben Mates will be the first Australian male half-pipe snowboarder to have qualified for two Winter Olympic Games.  And this time round he did it on his own terms and with his own green. Put that in ya crack pipe and smoke it.  He has spent the past four years free of any restrictions, focusing on hunting down the Olympic standard 22ft pipes and elite-level competition that would provide him the means to qualify for Vancouver 2010.  In doing so the south coast local has succeeded whilst flipping the bird at the sports establishment that seemingly did not want anything to do with him. There is no doubt Mates is antiauthoritarian. A ‘fuck em if they can’t take a joke’ kind of guy.  It is a refreshing attitude.    Anarchist Athlete founder Jason Harding caught up with Ben via email just before he drops in and throws down at the 2010 O-Show.  Words: Jason Harding.  Images: Andrew Fawcett, Mike Weyerhaeuser, C laurila. Read Full Paper

Ben Wordsworth (Australian national snowboard coach) left and Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin (Australian professional snowboarder) right hang at the top of the boardercross course at Mt Hotham. Image © www.AnarchistAthlete.com 2008

Documents insights from an elite coach on tech based concept and its role in snowboarding [...]  

This interview documents insights from an elite-level snowboard coach on technologically based, automated performance assessment and its role in enhancing snowboarding performance and snowboard competition judging.  The article is available now.  This article has been recently published by a new journal titled ‘Sports Technology’.  You can therefore access the article on the Sports Technology Website or alternatively you can read, download the PDF version of this article and listen to the unedited audio file of the interview at www.AnarchistAthlete.com

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to download the PDF version of this article.

Click here to listen to the unedited audio file of the interview.

Article Title

Harding et al (2009b) Fusion of Technological Objectivity into the Underlying Anarchy of Elite Snowboarding – Insights from the Australian National Snowboard Coach. Sports Technology 2008; 1 (6), 239 – 248.

Article Abstract

This interview was focussed upon gaining practice community insight into the potential of micro-technology and subsequent automated objectivity to assist coaches and competition judges with performance assessment during elite half-pipe snowboarding. The sport of half-pipe snowboarding has however traditionally assessed performance during training, free riding and competition by purely subjective measures and until recently has had very little to do with sport science and the focus of objectifying performance parameters associated with rigorous scientific inquiry.  The authors have previously shown there is a strong relationship between objective key performance variables such as air-time and degree of rotation (assessed using video based analysis) and an athletes’ subjectively judged score during elite half-pipe snowboarding competitions. Video based analysis however requires labour intensive manual post processing of data and is associated with a large time delay in information feedback.  As such it is theorised to have limited potential for the feedback of objective information to snowboard athletes, coaches, and judges.  The authors have therefore worked alongside numerous collaborators from the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA), Griffith University (GU) and Catapult Innovations to develop a system of automated objectivity based on tri-axial accelerometers and tri-axial rate gyroscopes that can calculate air-time and degree of rotation during half-pipe snowboard runs.  The concept was originally focussed on enhancing current training protocols but has also shown potential to support judges in assessing athletic performance during elite half-pipe snowboard competition.  Although there is a potential benefit to using systems of automated objectivity within the sport of snowboarding there are also potential drawbacks associated with objectifying a sport that prides itself on providing a platform that allows freedom of expression and the capacity to showcase athletic individuality.  It is believed that the integration of any form of objectivity into a sport such as half-pipe snowboarding should be conducted whilst allowing key practice community members control over the overall direction.  This 45-minute interview was conducted by Jason Harding (AIS sport scientist) with Ben Wordsworth (the Australian national snowboard coach currently affiliated with the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia) in between surfs at Manly Beach NSW Australia on Wednesday 1st October 2008.  Read Full Article