Bro-Am Event at Moonlight June 27th Charity Auction Thursday 25th

The Switchfoot Bro-Am is this Saturday at Moonlight Beach. The event goes off every year and is for a good cause. The guys from Switchfoot are great and if you've ever seen them surf, you know they absolutely kill it. They all spend a good deal of time in local waters. The guys are super humble and I give them a lot of respect for being good role models and putting on an A class event for their fans.

The crew of pros that show up for the event is impressive. My favorite though is seeing Tom Curren surf our local breaks. I'm a product of the 80's and he is still one of my all time favorites.

If you want to support the charity that goes with the event you can do it tomorrow night.

Here is the blurb from the the event site: switchfoot.com/bro-am/

On Thursday, June 25, multi-platinum recording artists Switchfoot present Standing Up For Kids, an auction night soiree in conjunction with the fifth annual Switchfoot Bro-Am, set to benefit local chapters of StandUp For Kids, a national volunteer outreach nonprofit founded here in S.D. dedicated to making a difference in the lives of at-risk and homeless kids. At a beautiful La Jolla Farms home overlooking Black's Beach, guests will enjoy cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, silent and live auctions, and an acoustic performance by special guests. Tickets are limited, and there are two ticket levels — VIP tickets also include a private pre-event meet and greet and photo opportunity with Switchfoot.
 
When: Thursday, June 25, 2009           
Where: Private La Jolla Farms Home
*The address will be emailed to you closer to the event date.
5-6pm: VIP reception with Switchfoot
6-10pm: reception, program, silent & live auctions, performance
Attire: coastal chic

General Tickets: $50 per person  (click here to purchase general tickets) 
VIP Tickets: $250 per person  (click here to purchase VIP tickets)  

Bahne/Fins Unlimited Tour

The door to the wonderful world of Fins Unlimited.

Bob Bahne with the finished product. A wood fin made from a fin block Cowboy Dan made for Chris Miller.

More wood fins hanging out.

Cool fin chart that was on the wall.

A couple of old boards they had hanging around. Hey man, you gonna ride that?

From the archives, an original Bahne fiberglass skateboard. They used to make 1000 a day out of this shop.

Bob was a great tour guide. He had lots of stories.

This was cool. It was one of the original posters of the urethane wheels.

Last week I went over to Fins Unlimited with Chris Miller to pick up a few fins he had made from Cowboy Dan's wood blocks. They turned out beautifully. While we were there Bob Bahne was kind enough to take time out to show us around. If you haven't already figured out from this site, I like fins. This was heaven to me.

Not only were there alot of fins but the history of that place is unreal. I've been getting custom fins made there for years. When I used to ride thrusters I got turned on to get sets made there of fiberglass fins to replace my plastic ones. It was the best move I ever made. You get so much more drive out of them. When I switched over to twin keels, the first thing I did was get a custom set made that pushed the pivot point of the fin forward, which made the fin flex like a rutter. I did a post a while back and they are still one of my favorite fins.

Even though I would get my fins there this was the first time I got to take a look around and talk shop with Bob. It was really a highlight. He promised to let me back in the place and take some more shots. I can't wait to go back and learn more about the fin making process. Thanks Bob for the time and the stories! If you need some fins don't hesitate to go over, talk shop, and order some custom fins. The quality is second to none and stories from Bob are priceless.

Photography By Jim Volkert

I met Jim through a friend of mine. He falls into the small world category. I met him, we started chatting and it came out we live about 300 yards away from each other. Apparently for quite a while and we never ran into each other before that day. Jim is a great guy and extremely talented. He is a photographer as well as musician. He and his band play local gigs each week at La Papagallo and other spots locally. His photography is beautiful and I have to admit it looks good on the site, however full size is even better. He shoots all his work with a 4"x 5" film camera so the resolution and quality is amazing. I am hoping that Jim will do a show someday locally to show off his work at full size. Until then this will have to do. Enjoy.

A Bit More Soul

Jon Peck of Patagonia with a clean little shoulder and five piggy's headed south bound.

Jack Lohse with the soul fire burning.

Here are a few more from David to inspire you.  It's a bit smaller today so grab some extra foam and/or some length and enjoy your fathers day weekend. 

Nice Video of Del Moro

I found this video on Chris' site. He is such a prolific poster that it got buried after a few days. I found myself going back and tracking it down to take another look so I thought I'd share and give it a spot here so I could find it more easily.  The surfing is great and I love the music. Good job  Chris and Justin Krumb for a fine little video.

What I'm Watching - Musica Surfica

I got the film Musica Surfica the other day and I've already watched it 3 times. I have to admit that this film inspires me. It is shot and edited really well and the surfing and music is amazing. 

The main star of the film is Derek Hynd, who I now think is one of my top 5 favorite surfers of all time. I never knew that much about Derek. After seeing this film I realize how brilliant he is. He is so creative in his surfing he just inspires you to want to go surf. I say that any movie that can do that to me is a keeper.  There are times when we all get into a surf funk.  Having a film that gets the saltwater moving in your veins again is priceless. There is nothing more valuable to our surf souls then getting the stoke back. 

The film is an interesting mix between classical music and finless surfing. I have to admit that I never really saw myself wanting to go finless. I'm intrigued by it all and like to watch it, but I never got the bug to take off my fins and have a go at it. This movie changed that. I found myself wondering if I could ditch the fins on my fish could I pull some 360's like Derek?

When you think of finless you definitely think of Alaia's. They are featured to a degree in this film and have an influence, but it is the modern finless boards that really stole the show for me. Derek, on his experimental boards, is doing things I have never seen on the Alaia's or other finned boards for that matter. It really is amazing to watch. 

All and all it is a great film. It was shot well, has a great sound track and was most definitely inspiring. I got my copy as a download at the thesurfnetwork.com. Enjoy.

From The Archives

Every now and then David sifts through his archives and pulls out some images that he is found of. He was telling me that the 2008 winter session at Black's was one of his favorites. Here are a series from that swell. The first one is a classic. He shot that image and didn't even know the dolphin was in it until he got home. Enjoy.

Mick Pulling In

You gotta love email. One minute you're bored and the next you get photos from across the globe of your buddy getting tubed. This is one of those emails that comes out of the blue and gets you stoked in the middle of the night, making you lay awake mind surfing until the wee hours of the morning. The lucky guy in this shot is Australian filmmaker Mick Waters. I have no idea where it's of but it looks like wherever it is, it's good and uncrowded.  Enjoy.

Tak Fin

Here is a really cool fin from the same folks that made the Encinitas Environmental Day Poster. The artist's name is Seitaku "Tak" Aoyama and he and Jaime Di Dio Aoyama are a husband and wife design team here in Encinitas. Through this style, Tak depicts various elements of nature. This fin was inspired by various aspects of life in Leucadia. Their studio is called Studio Aiuto. Check out their website here. Tak and Jamie are an amazing team and produce some incredible work. I have yet to tour their studio but hope to get an invite soon. Enjoy.

Bath Tub Art

They have things for kids these days that they never had when I grew up. I had a little plastic boat that I played with in the bath. Now, they have all sorts of stuff.  My favorite new toy for kids though are the bath crayons. Now it's not just a bath it's an art project!  

The funny thing about new product design is that the person who invented this was most likely traumatized as a kid for drawing on the tub and getting punished for it. That experience inspired them to create a non-punishable version. What used to get us spanked now is legal and fun for both kids and parents! How cool is that? 

The cool thing is that my daughter loves them as well.  We draw together and have fun with it. Every now and then we start a doodle that I like and half way through she usually wipes it clean when I'm not looking. Here is one we worked on together that survived. 

More 7 Year Old Surf Art

Kids art never seems to get old.  Here is more surf art from 7 year old Austin from Japan.  His mom sent these in a while ago and I just remembered I had them.  Enjoy.

Spot Appreciation Day

A few years back I had a Christmas party and I made these logos for everyone to have stickers of their favorite spot. If you surf in Leucadia you know what these mean and where they are. If you don't... I'm not telling! The party was fun as everyone picked out their favorite spot and wore it proudly.

Your spot is an interesting thing. You hold it close to you and very rarely share its secrets with others that don't surf there. It's an interesting relationship we have with it. When it is going off we are deeply in love and when it is blown out and flat we get upset like it has done something to wrong us. All and all we go out day after day and share the magic of what we have found to be an important part of our lives, surfing. 

So, if  you have a spot that you call your own, show it some love and say a few thank you's while you are enjoying its surf, good or bad.  Unlike most things in life it is always there for you when you need it most. Showing it some gratitude goes a long way.

Lucas Foster - Longboard Grom

Lucas paying respect to his dad.

While digging through some photo archives Erik Baldwin  gave me a while back, I set these aside as I liked them and the person they are of.  The longboard loving grom in the shots is Lucas Foster, son of Grandview local Aaron Foster. I've featured Lucas for his wax art before but never his surfing. I've known Lucas for all his life and it is a great pleasure to see him in the water with so much stoke. He and his brother Logan are doing great out there and it is so much fun to watch! Lucas is also one of those young guys who takes his logging seriously. Looking to Tudor for influence, he likes his longboards old school and single. You will see a lot of Lucas at Beacons and Cardiff  this summer.

Cottonwood Creek Environmental Film Festival

Friends and EED volunteers Anne and Kurk just as excited to be there.

This evening was the Cottonwood Creek Environmental Film Festival.  It featured shorts from various filmmakers on environmental education. Surfrider was there and showed some really great films to educate people on issues such as plastic bag bans and the impact of cigarette butts on the beach. It also had a really great short of the movement to clean up the Tijuana River Mouth Basin. It was really an eye opener at how much trash is in that region. There was even a cool short of our own Rodney McCoubrey.

My favorite part of the night though was the showing of Sprout. It's no secret that Sprout is my most watched film. I've seen it at least 20 times but had never watched it on the big screen until tonight.  It was really amazing to be there with that energy and watch a move that I love. It was like meeting up with an old friend and spending time catching up again.

At the end they gave out some really cool prizes. Lots of signed Jack Johnson CD's and DVD's and some cool tees and posters.

All and all it was a great time. Good people with good films, how could you go wrong? I'll see everyone at Cottonwood Creek tomorrow.