Friday, August 13th, 2010
I get this in an email today, “PS, don’t get the Angry Birds game. It will suck your life away.”
So, I am beginning to see a trend. A friend gets an iPhone and they disappear.
Surf sessions are missed because they stay up late uploading apps. They spend hours playing ‘angry birds.’ At a dinner party with cool music they keep on yelling out the band, song and album name because they are obsessed with ‘shazam.’ I get it. Technology has captured us. And I kind of dig it.
Think of it this way. The next time you paddle out at trestles it might be empty. Because everyone is playing with their iPad. You are out for a trail run and the single track is in great shape because no one biked it during the rain tearing it apart. They weren’t biking in the rain because they were playing with their new apple product.
What do you think?
Last mental picture, you train for months to prepare for a half-marathon. On race day you find yourself passing dozens of people on a small climb. As you pass them you look over and see that everyone is playing with their iPhone. They didn’t do the training because they were playing with their iPhone4 32G. So now they are hunting for a song to pump them up and get them over the hill.
Tell your friends about the new phone and then join a club to keep yourself motivated so you can beat said friend at the next 10K.
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
The below story is up on WSJ. Check it out.
By Steve Walters
WSJ
It’s February 2001, and 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I’m at the beach listening to crashing waves, and watching surfers. The weather is cool, and the sky is blue. It looks to be a great day. Just three months prior, former Internet darling Pets.com shut its doors with less than two years as a public company. This was one of the final casualties of the dot-com bubble.
Many hoped that the year 2000 was just a market correction. As co-founder of a venture-capital-backed Internet company with two months of cash remaining, I knew better. Times had changed, and my dream was crashing along with the market.
So, I find myself watching surfers, wondering what happened and thinking about what next. I listened and learned from parents, college and talking heads, but they did not prepare me for this. I set specific goals. I got an engineering degree. I built a solid consulting career. I started a promising venture with a 50-page business plan, and worked even harder. Wasn’t that the formula? I had believed success to be a straight line from Point A to Point B. I studied this formula from those who were supposed to know. I understood the inputs and therefore, the outcome should have been the same every time. It had always worked before, but not this time.
I don’t surf, but have always appreciated watching people who are good at what they do, such as Laird Hamilton, who rides 50-foot giant waves. Yet, surfing didn’t make a lot of sense to me. You get up at 6 a.m., drive miles to the beach and then spend much of your time sitting or falling in cold water.
I notice one surfer catch a small wave that takes him half way to shore before he falls off. He looks disappointed, but paddles back out again. There is always another wave.
In school, I didn’t fall down very often since your grades were generally proportional to your level of effort. But there are no A’s, B’s or C’s in the real world. I found that hard work and desire are minimum requirements without any guarantees of results, and success is some combination of your happiness and the size of your bank account. These fluctuate day-to-day depending on various circumstances, some of which you can control, most of which you can’t. As an engineer, not knowing the outcomes of my efforts was difficult to grasp, which probably explained why I didn’t fully appreciate the ebb and flow of surfing.
Saturday, August 7th, 2010
Just a quick reminder the 2010 Catalina Classic will be run on Sunday, August 29 from the Isthmus to Manhattan Beach.
Friday, July 16th, 2010
By Jeff Mull, SurferMag
In a recent online video posted by the Surfrider Foundation, Laird Hamilton is urging the Obama Administration to reinstate a federal moratorium on off shore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. In the weeks following the spill, the administration issued a six-month hold on drilling in the Gulf, hoping to prevent another explosion and subsequent leak as a result of faulty equipment. The moratorium was subsequently blocked with an injunction by a federal judge in New Orleans, citing the potential economic pitfalls of instilling a hold on drilling.
According to a press release from the Surfrider Foundation, the goal of the video was “to increase awareness about the situation in the Gulf of Mexico and encourage people to take action by writing the President and other elected officials asking them to reinstate the moratorium on offshore oil drilling.”
Hamilton, who has been to the Gulf and seen the disaster first-hand, added that “…this tragic and devastating spill in the Gulf of Mexico is sickening proof that off shore drilling is not the answer.”
Although the prospect of another spill is downright nauseating, cutting jobs in the already hard-hit region as a result of the moratorium is equally painful, giving this issue all of the attributes of a conundrum.
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
If you have a sweatshirt or fleece from Volcom, Quiksilver, Element, Oakley, DC Shoes, NHS, Monster, Hurley, Fox then chances are it was made by Independent Trading Co. Independent Trading Co. has made custom fleece for the top companies in the apparel industry since 1996 so they know the drill.
Two weeks back our friend Will over at Independent and also of The Surf Gallery fame sent over three products for Outside All Day to review. We are going to do a series of reviews on these to give you a good idea of the product quality of these items but wanted to start you off with some initial comments.
Sherpa Fleece Hooded Sweatshirt
Think lambs wool inside a sweatshirt. The fog is up and you are still heading down to check the surf. You are heading out to pack up the car to make it to the trail head before the sun comes up and it is dark and cold. Bingo. The Sherpa Fleece Hooded Sweatshirt is the call. I have a few pet peeves about sweatshirts that go way back to AYSO. One is a cheap string that breaks on first use when sinching up the hoody. Second is a string that needs to be knotted up because the manufacturer didn’t plan for it to ever make it to the washer and drier. The good news is the Sherpa comes ready to be worn. With an outside pocket that has a inner pocket ready to accept your phone or iPod complete with an opening to run the headphone cord up to your ears this sweatshirt rocks. Fit is narrow/slender and has standard issue cuffs. The zipper is metal and slightly vintage. Not plastic and not wimpy so it gets a thumbs up.
French Terry Zip Hooded Sweatshirt
Love this light little sweatshirt. Our house has a raised foundation and has a slight chill in the evening hours. This sweatshirt is perfect. Comfy fit and ready to rock when you want to kick back watch some surf vids or read the newest issue of surfer. This is a standard issue item and everyone should have one of these. Light, perfect and has a iPod player holder and eyelet in front pocket and those super sweet probably fadish thumbholes on the cuffs. Kinda makes your hands look like they have a cast but sure love’em.
Hi-Tech Zip Hooded Sweatshirt
The first two are new takes on the old school sweatshirt the Hi-Tech sweatshirt is all new. Primarily a polyester threaded piece this has a zip-off hood, iPod holder with eyelet and thumbholes on the cuffs. This is for going out. Coffee run into town on Saturday morning. Meeting up for friends for the movies. Catching a plane up to San Francisco to see some shows. This is your go to.
After a few washes and scuffs we will report back.
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
The Jimmy Miller Memorial Foundation is having a cool and unique surfing and volleyball event on May 2nd at the Manhattan Beach Pier in conjunction with Dig 4 Kids. Tag team surfing event and 4 person volley tourney. Check the Facebook page for more info and sign up online at active.com.
Facebook Event Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=104916846216843
Online Sign Up: http://www.active.com/surfing-tournament/manhattan-beach-ca/1st-annual-dig-4-jimmy-surf-n-turf-invitational-2010
There are very few spaces for this one of a kind event so please sign up using the online form ASAP and be a part of the first ever surfing and volleyball event.
Hope to see you on May 2nd
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
Our friends over at Spyder are hosting Surf Fest 3. Come on down and join us next Saturday, April 17th on Hermosa Pier Plaza at Spyder on Pier Ave for more surfing fun and games than you can handle. Adult and kid friendly.
For more info www.spydersurf.com/news.asp
Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Patagonia and Swell catalogs arrived on the same day this week. The designers must be cringing. Though the Patagonia book smokes the Swell book the design similarities for the layout are remarkable. White space anyone? Naturally, Patagonia continues their tradition of stories, action photos and strong writeups on products but there was one standup paddleboard shot that veers them from their past approaches. It shows a woman paddling in front of a waterfall. I can just see the game plan. Hike three miles up a trail with a SUP and take this photo. The shot is all about the gear for sale and nothing about it actually being used. Staging photos is status quo for Swell along with ad space for brands inside so it makes it to the recycle bin on day one. The Patagonia catalog will be consumed slowly over the coming weeks as I rest up on the couch after a day outside. But Patagonia, let’s go easy on the staging. Obviously the gear is for sale and everything is photographed with end use in mind but entertain us with depth of use. No lights and tripods allowed.
