RPP (Racing & Protection Products) was established in 2003 as an engineering company that specializes in composite materials and engineering Solutions. In addition to designing and manufacturing engineering & aviation projects (mostly confidential) another division was established in the company that specializes in developing & manufacturing motorcycles parts. The director of our company was one of the country's champions in off road Enduro motorcycle races, so this seemed natural.
Projects such as working on development of an innovative and advanced Helicopter (an article was published in Popular Science magazine under the title, Hopping Out of Hot Zones), development of special carbon fiber boxes for special electronics (military applications), manufacturing carbon fiber containers for fuel cells (examined by ‘DARPA’- the USA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and many more, had made us a reputations of a company that can build everything.
Whew! We've been waiting 3 months for these to clear Customs, but we are Stoked! We hooked up with Old Man Army to design a skatebag with all the features we love in OMA's bags, a few new ones we cooked up and a killer price for you. Here it is...
Silverfish Longboarding, Decent Hardware and Old Man Army are proud to present the very first board bag designed especially for the traveling racer. Built off the same concept as the excellent heavy duty bags by Old Man Army, the Silverfish Board Bag has the length of OMA's "longboard/park bag" that's been so popular in reviews here on the 'fish, plus some new features we've designed into it. "The Fish" accomodates a 48" speedboard (or more) with plenty of storage, or you can stash your slalom and park longboards in it, flip up our new partition and stash your helmet in a padded compartment large enough to handle a full-face! There's plenty of room for pads and a backpack feature that you can unclip and conceal to prevent snaggage when you check it as luggage or just carry it like a machine-gun bag with the side handle.
This bag is quality you can count on and also supports all the resources that the 'fish provides you. There's more, and a limited edition price, too. Click on through for more photos and details!
There is so much that is contrary to writing coverage of an event in the safety of one’s own space. No more the whistle of mortars singing earthbound the buzz and twang of shots fired, scrambling for safety as you hurriedly load another clip. No instead, it’s a quick walk to the coffeemaker, a glance out the office window at the blowing leaves. The time and place so calm and so devoid of stressors or catalysts that it's hard to even imagine a pointed write-up could be made about a hectic event from the seat of a serene one. Or, maybe it's the chaos and bedlam that blur the perceptions and mar the recollection of the day’s event. Either way, coverage needs to be done. This is the recap of Surf Expo 2009 .
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
Surf Expo 2009
This is a general rundown of the most notable, interesting and unique things that were run across at the convention. We're not going to go into specifics about the show itself, as we are planning to run a comparison article outlining the primary differences between Surf Expo and Action Sports Retailer. We want to make sure you are informed about where your money is best spent in regards to convention attendance and displaying.
In all honesty, our resident hater really didn’t find much he fully loathed, true there was still a great deal of faceless softgoods shops, the same weird collection of cheesy beach decorations and gift shop crap. These however don’t arise ire, or fury. No in this case they are just looked down on with contempt and generally ignored. Is it unusual that he didn’t find anything that boiled him to rage; yes, are we gunna keep poking him with a stick till he freaks out and flips over a table covered with 1,000 hermit crabs; no. With that, please enjoy the conclusion to our coverage of Surf Expo 2009.
The coverage continues. Unbroken for three days straight, our intrepid reporter has combed Surf Expo from corner to corner, brought to our attention some things worth checking out, a few things worth avoiding, and at least one or two things we really just wish he had kept to his sleep-deprived, neurotic self. All things considered, the coverage seems comprehensive. He called in this morning on his satellite phone asking if we felt covering the last day, "was really essential?" We flicked open a zippo and let the silence answer that question. He really wanted his ticket home and we really wanted him to do his job. He agreed as but told us that day 3 coverage may come up lacking; he couldn’t believe he could find anything new. Apparently, we know him better than he knows himself, because against all odds. Surf Expo Day 3.
Surf Expo Day 3
Beating The Bushes
This lucky lady; a delightful rep from Puerto Rico made out like a bandit, and she knows it.
Orlando, Jan 17th. Not much to say about the dawn of the day, fell asleep to 300 and dreamt of slaughtering Persian hoards. Dreams like that usually leave me happy, this one did too. With the wretched editors of the ‘fish forcing me to cull coverage from Surf Expo like trying to chew moisture out of tin foil, I was more or less dropping my typical literal standards from highly informative straight to quasi-comprehendible. I would be fretting my situation more expect that after sleeping in this hotel bed; I now have scabies. Nothing puts misery in perspective like scabies, am I right or am I right?
Before I get into the pictorial coverage I want to talk a little about the actual act of searching a convention for what your readership wants to see. As a retailer, attending is a much more simple process. For we journalists however, if you think you know what you will cover before you get there you might as well be trying to read the VIN number on a passing Bugatti Veyron because the reality is, journalists think they know what people want of them and on the average they are sorely mistaken.
Have you seen the movie "The Day After Tomorrow", a sortof climatology armageddon story where the world freezes over? Well, it's happening in Orlando, Florida, right now: ice dripping off oranges, freezing weather, cold stares... and crampin' our style at what is traditionally the first party of the skateshow season: Surf Expo. Normally dripping with scantily-clad bikini models and European hipsters, this surf/skate/lifestyle trade show is the biggun for the East Coast and the place where some companies roll out new ideas and products. Our longboad literati, the dreadly Malakai Kingston is there to send us back coverage. He tells us the photos may be blurry, because the whole town is shivering like a freezing chihuahua dog...
Surf Expo Reports: Day One
Welcome to Sunny Orlando!
Orlando, Jan.15th. This is supposed to be a big show, and I'm already seeing people from FlexDex, Never Summer, Honey Skateboards and Concrete Wave floating around, but this first day of the Surf Expo is supposed to be just "resort, boutique, coastal home, swim, souvenir & gift only"... the skate and surf show starts tomorrow. So, why the hell am I in this frozen wasiteland today?? Note the term "frozen" because it's not Florida. This morning, I scraped ice off of things that should never be icy and the hoards of bikini models I should be dutifully recording for 'fishheads back on the site are covered in long coats and huddled together around cups of decaf, nonfat latte'. What did I do to deserve this?
Anyway, my report from Day One follows, and I'll update it as I take more pictures and see more things.
Press Releases 
