BEST father's DAY

This past Sunday we had the chance to participate in an adaptive surfing program called Best Day.

It was awesome to be back at Huntington Beach and back in the water helping out 40+ young extraordinary surfers.

At the end there was an awards ceremony and each of the kiddos got a T-shirt, a goody bag, a medal and about 100 high-fives from the crowd.

As usual I was astounded by the strength, dedication and courage of everyone there - the organizers, the volunteers, the families and the surfers.

Check it out and volunteer. If you can't volunteer your time, that's GREAT because it means you can volunteer some coinage instead. This is a seriously great group of extraordinary people and they helped to make this Father's Day one I won't soon forget!

Best AWESOME Day!

Happy Summer Holidays!

http://youtu.be/-DAT234I_BA

Fix Your Stick!

I got to talking with a friend last week about how I wanted to get Annie a surfboard. He said he had an old foam board in his garage I could have and so we headed on over the next day. The board he had was a little too short but his neighbors were having a garage sale and there was a beasty 9-footer for sale.

My friend asked his neighbor how much he wanted for it and his neighbor asked, "Who is it for?" I pointed to Annie (who was doing doughnuts in her wheelchair) and the neighbor said "Take it. Its free."

As it turns out, the neighbor works for 9fish and once-upon-a-time volunteered to take some athletes from the Special Olympics out surfing. This board was from that event and now is coming full circle. It's a little worse for wear so yesterday I picked up some epoxy from Home Depot and did the dad-thing.

I have vague plans to add a seat and/or handles for Annie so this is the perfect (free) first-time experimental board. But before I modify it for the wee one, I am actually excited to take it out and try it myself!

This Photo is Worth 1000 "Happy"s

Cancel My Order

Via the Conservative Grapevine:

This is why you never buy the first generation of any gizmo that hits the market - let the other guys work out the kinks first . . .

Anti-Shark Device Eaten By Great White Shark (with photo):

This is awkward…during the testing phase for the Shark Shield, an electronic device that is designed to go on the back of surfboards to keep sharks away, one of the devices was actually eaten by a shark.

Walking On Water

My friend, Wendy, saw this movie and highly recommends it. Looks like good stuff.

Gift Idea #3

This looks like a great idea for someone who surfs or just doesn't like to carry their keys (while running, perhaps?)

Shalom Brah

This may be one of the only things left that hasn’t been tried: Middle-East Peace by way of a drop-in, face carve and a gnarly floater:

“Dorian Paskowitz, a retired doctor who has
been surfing for 75 years, donated 12 surfboards to Gaza's small
surfing community on Tuesday in a novel gesture to promote peace between
Israelis and Palestinians.”

"God will surf with the
devil if the waves are good," Paskowitz said.”

Well maybe not, but it’s a nice gesture anyway.

Weekend Adventures 08/04/07

I packed the car with the surf gear Friday night so I wouldn't have to stagger around in the dark as much the next morning while my wife was sleeping.

Early Saturday morning, I strapped the board to the roof rack, loaded up the Dawg and headed out.

We arrived at my favorite surf spot about 30 minutes before sunrise. I walked out on the sand and peered into the semi-darkness to try and make out the surf conditions.

Could that be right? It looked like perfect 3-4 footers were rolling in one after another. I looked again - it was true!

I got the wetsuit on and paddled out. The grey sky reflected in the water and made it hard to determine where the sky ended and the water began. 100 feet out, a seal loped along just outside the break. He didn't seem to know I was there. Oh, and by-the-way, I WAS THE ONLY PERSON THERE.

I had the whole place to myself!

For about ten minutes.

Another guy paddled out, we said good morning and took turns catching waves.

30 minutes later, there were about ten guys in the line up but everyone was well-behaved. We were all just happy that the water was warm there were pleanty of waves for everyone.

Contrary to popular belief,in my experience, most surfers are fairly polite when surfing. So long as you follow the rules. There are a handful of cardinal rules in surfing that you simply have to follow or else things can potentially get pretty difficult fairly quickly.

I had such a great time that I began to feel a little guilty about the dawg back in the car. It was his turn to have some fun.

Headed back to the car, changed into some dry clothes and spent an hour at Dawg beach watching him romp with the other dogs.

After that, the Dawg and I walked a few blocks toward the pier to one of our favorite dawg-friendly breakfast spots.

I had the usual; Beach Benedict (biscuts, topped with a sausage patty, fried egg and smothered in sausage gravy) and a beer (I am trying to cut down on the coffee).

All that, and were were home by 10am.

San Diego Surfing History

"In this 1920s photo, surfing pioneer Charlie Wright and Faye Baird Fraser, San Diego's first female surfer, gave a New Year's Eve performance in San Diego."

This looks great.

Happy Birthday Holly!

I couldn't think up a clever way to surprise you with your birthday gift since it isn't something you can hold in your hand. So here it is!:

Wednesday the 18th we are going to get up at o-dark-thirty and drive here.

But Wednesday night we have 6:30 reservations to meet up with people here!

Thursday the 19th, we are going HERE!

And Friday the 20th we are going HERE!

And Saturday the 21st we are going HERE!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights we are staying HERE!

Some people wanted to donate to the cause so now you will know why people may be gifting you $$ for your birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!

Love,

m