Sporting-Sails

Last updated
Sporting-Sails
Private Company
IndustryRetail - Action Sports
GenreAction sports and outdoor gear
Founded2006
FoundersBrothers Nick & Billy Smith
Headquarters,
Area served
Worldwide
Parent Sukrafte, LLC (Surf + Skate = Sukrafte)
Website www.sporting-sails.com

Sporting-Sails is an outdoor product company specializing in downhill and downwind innovations for skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, and surfing. The equipment lines are catered towards skateboarders, mountaineers, skiers, longboarders, snowboarders, surfers, and endurance athletes. The company sponsors professional athletes from the worlds of long distance skateboarding, surfing, skiing, snowboarding, and longboarding (including Adam Colton and Long Treks on Skate Decks).

Contents

History

Spring 2006, Mill Valley, California born brothers Nick and Billy Smith were looking for fireworks and schnapps in the attic of their grandfather's (Bill Smith Jr.) home in Vail, Colorado, when they discovered his "Ski-Klipper" invention from the late 1960s. [1] Nick and Billy Smith tested the drogue parachute/wingsuit flying-like device on skis before attempting to try on a skateboard in the hills surrounding the Marin Headlands and San Francisco, California. On a skateboard, creating drag at will by deploying the Sporting-Sail during the descent enabled Nick and Billy Smith to control their speed and stability on steeper terrain.

For many years Sporting-Sails was based in Ventura, California, close-by to Patagonia (clothing) HQ, where Billy Smith currently works full-time as their wetsuit developer. [2]

Currently, Sporting-Sails HQ's are back in the shadows of Mt. Tamalpais in Mill Valley, California.

Patents & trademarks

The Sporting-Sail logo was designed by California graphic designer, Connor Bondlow, in 2010 and resembles an image of a Flying Squirrel and the American Flag

April 6, 2010, the patent US US D613,360 S titled "Multi-Purpose Body-Sail with Swallow Tail" was issued by the USPTO to the family inventors of what is now referred to as the "Sporting-Sail," Bill Smith Jr., Billy Smith IV, and Nick Smith.

The trademarked phrase, "Reinvent the Descent" expresses the company's pursuit for inspiration and innovation. [3]

Environment

The company is a member of One Percent for the Planet international organization, founded by Yvon Chouinard. At least one percent of sales are donated to non-profit, non-governmental social welfare programs such as Surfrider Foundation and Save the Waves Coalition.

Awards

December 2010, Sporting-Sails won grand prize at the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies' New Venture Seed Competition at the USC Marshall School of Business. [4] [5] Nick Smith, USC Alumni Class of 2011, pitched the Sporting-Sail business concept to top investors in the greater Los Angeles, California area and was awarded $12,500 to fund the idea.

Press

Sporting-Sails has been featured in TIME, The New York Times, LegalZoom, Bear Naked Granola, Patagonia, San Francisco Chronicle, Patch Mill Valley, PSFK, Los Angeles Times, Fox News Los Angeles, Discovery Channel, Mercedes-Benz, Marin Independent Journal, CBS Interactive Business Network, Kairos Society & NYSE, Santa Barbara Independent, Santa Barbara News-Press.

Related Research Articles

Snowboarding Winter sport

Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered slope while standing on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games.

Boardsports are sports that are played with some sort of board as the primary equipment. These sports take place on a variety of terrain, from paved flat-ground and snow-covered hills to water and air. Most boardsports are considered action sports or extreme sports, and thus often appeal to youth. A large proportion of youth partaking in these sports, together with aesthetic damage to property from sports like skateboarding, has led to many board sports being marginalized by the greater world of sports in the past. However, many board sports are ever-more frequently gaining mainstream recognition, and with this recognition have enjoyed wider broadcast, sponsorship and inclusion in institutional sporting events, including the Olympic Games.

X Games Extreme sports tournament

The X Games is an annual extreme sports event hosted, produced, and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island. Participants compete to win bronze, silver, and gold medals, as well as prize money.

Stacy Peralta

Stacy Douglas Peralta is an American film director and entrepreneur. He was previously a professional skateboarder and surfer with the Zephyr Competition Team, also known as the Z-Boys, from Venice, California.

Flowboard

A flowboard is a variation on a skateboard, combining aspects of surfing, skating and snowboarding. There are three sizes made by the brand Flowboards: 32", for tricks and smaller riders; 36", the standard size; and 42", the large downhill bomber.

Volcom

Volcom is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes boardsports-oriented products. Volcom is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, United States (U.S.). Volcom is known for its trademark stone logo, its slogan True to This, and the Let the Kids Ride Free campaign. Todd Hymel is the CEO of Volcom.

Warren Miller (director) American film director

Warren A. Miller was an American ski and snowboarding filmmaker. He was the founder of Warren Miller Entertainment and produced, directed and narrated films until 1988. His published works include over 750 sports films, several books and hundreds of non-fiction articles. Miller was inducted into the U.S. Ski Hall of Fame (1978), the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame (1995), and was awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards from the International Skiing History Association (2004) and the California Ski Industry Association (2008).

K2 Sports

K2 Sports, LLC is an American company founded in 1962 by brothers Bill and Don Kirschner on Vashon Island, near Seattle, Washington in the United States. K2 is known for pioneering fiberglass ski technology, which made skis significantly lighter and more lively than their wood and metal contemporaries. Famous users of K2 skis include pro champion Spider Sabich, World Cup and Olympic champion Phil Mahre, and his twin brother Steve Mahre, World Champion and Olympic silver medalist and Laurent Donato, great Belgo-Italian amateur skier.

Gerry Lopez, aka Mr. Pipeline, is an American surfer, shaper, journalist, and film actor.

United States Ski Team

The U.S. Ski Team, operated under the auspices of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA), develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and association have been headquartered in Park City, Utah.

Dakine is an American outdoor clothing company specializing in sportswear and sports equipment for alternative sports based in Hood River Oregon. Founded in Hawaii, the name comes from the Hawaiian Pidgin word "da kine". Now based in Hood River, Oregon, the company also sponsors athletes from the lifestyle and sporting fields of skiing, biking, windsurfing, kiting, snowboarding, surfing, and skateboarding.

Badger Pass Ski Area

Badger Pass Ski Area is a small ski area located within Yosemite National Park. Badger Pass is one of only three lift serviced ski areas operating in a US National Park. It is situated five miles (8 km) south-southeast of the Chinquapin intersection of Wawona Road with Glacier Point Road in the southern area of Yosemite National Park. Glacier Point Road provides the access to this ski area. During high snow level and/or ski season, Glacier Point road terminates at Badger Pass Ski Resort. Under these conditions, the remainder of Glacier Point Road is used for cross-country skiing access to Glacier Point and other destinations in the high country.

Skurfing is a towed water sport similar to waterskiing, in that an individual is pulled behind a boat on a tow rope. However, instead of water skis, the sport uses a skurfboard—a floating platform the user balances on, similar to a surfboard, but typically much shorter, with two footstraps to prevent falling off the board and three fins positioned on the bottom that make it easier to maneuver when the board is being towed. The word itself is a portmanteau of skiing and surfing. Skurfing is often considered the precursor to wakeboarding.

Tom Sims was an American athlete, inventor, and entrepreneur. Sims was World Snowboarding Champion (1983), World Champion Skateboarder (1975), and founder of SIMS Snowboards and SIMS Skateboards. He lived in Santa Barbara, California from 1971 until his death.

Norman Ollestad is an American author. At the age of eleven, he was the only survivor of a plane crash that claimed the life of his father. He wrote about it in his 2009 bestseller Crazy For The Storm: A Memoir Of Survival. His subsequent book, French Girl with Mother, a novel, came out in October 2016.

Norrøna is a Norwegian brand of outdoor clothing and sports gear. The company was founded in 1929 by Jørgen Jørgensen and is run by his great-grandson, also named Jørgen Jørgensen.

NHS, Inc. is a United States skateboard distribution company based in Santa Cruz, California. The company distributes the following brands: Santa Cruz Skateboards, Creature Skateboards, Independent Truck Company, Bronson Speed Co., Krux Trucks, Ricta Wheels, Mob Grip, OJ Wheels, Road Rider, Slimeballs, Bullet and Nor Cal Clothing Co.

Gilson Snow is an American snowboard and ski manufacturer based in Winfield, Pennsylvania. Gilson is the largest producer of custom snowboards and skis.

References

  1. Wallace, Amy (May 14, 2011). "Innovation Gliding Across Generations". The New York Times .
  2. "Sporting-Sails: A Downhill Family Tradition". The Cleanest Line (Patagonia Inc.). Archived from the original on 2011-03-26. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
  3. Donnelly, Sean. "The Sporting-Sail: Speed, Wind and Skateboards". TIME Magazine .
  4. "Los Angeles Times: Contests are a springboard for student entrepreneurs". University of Southern California . December 27, 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-02-26. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
  5. "Contests are a springboard for student entrepreneurs". Los Angeles Times . Dec 27, 2010. Retrieved 2019-09-20.