US – Phoenix, AZ, actor Stephen Baldwin has debuted his highly anticipated AsSALT Tour, a radical extreme sports tour, at Austin’s PromiseLand Campus… the AsSALT Tour is a free, extreme sports tour that uses skateboarding, freestyle BMX and motocross to deliver a powerful message to today’s youth about living with a purpose and making the right choices. Baldwin hopes the Austin launch was is the beginning of a movement to reach today’s youth with a relevant message of the Truth about faith and making a difference. The AsSALT Tour has future events planned for Syracuse NY, Tacoma Washington, Tampa Florida, Atlanta Georgia and elsewhere. HAWAII – here’s a first in the kitesurfing world – eight kitesurfers will be in the air and on the waves for the first ever kite surfing channel crossing between the islands of Maui & Oahu on July 26th/27th. The crossing will cover over 100 miles and take two days. The non-competitive sporting event will start at Hookipa beach, Maui and head to Kaunakakai, Molokai and then finish in Kailua, Oahu… bon voyage CZECH REPUBLIC – at the end June the Watersweets Ocean Festival came to Vassiliki bringing with it skating, bmx-ing, sailing as well as freestyle and slalom windsurfing competitions. Club Vass sent in their best : Colin Whippy Dixon, Marco Wedele and Ollie Scott to dominate in the Czech Freestyle Championships. The wind played ball, the parties raged, Colin judged a bikini contest and then he went on to take the Czech freestyle title, his first… neat! FRANCE – C’EST LES SOLDES! Attention les yeux : La vente privée Mundaka optic, c’est maintenant sur Private Surfshop – Une selection de lunettes Fashion et Sport des collections 2007 et 2008 ! Private Surfshop is offering Mundaka Fashion & Sport glasses in the latest private sale: 11-17 July. Check out Private-Surfshop . DON’T forget these two events on this week in the UK and France: Cliffhanger – Sheffield UK {mosimage} Urban Plagne, La Plagne, Alpes, France {mosimage} Surfing Want to win a custom built surfboard? Get your entries in to win your brand new “Gold Coast Surfboards ” surfboard, custom made for this competition – the surfboard will be delivered to the winner, anywhere in the world. Jeffreys Bay is hosting the annual Billabong Pro, which kicked off on Thursday. The event has placed the small Eastern Cape town on the map as one of the planet‘s top surfing destinations. The Billabong Pro is the fifth of the 11 events on the 2008 ASP Men‘s World Tour, and will feature 45 of the world‘s best surfers. It only requires four full days to name a winner, but the event will use the 11 days to choose the best weather and wave conditions to run the contest.