Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Tag: Surfrider Foundation (Page 2 of 2)

Surfrider Foundation Benefit: ‘Art for the Oceans’

I’d like to take a little break in my tech blog here to put in a plug for an art auction benefit coming up September 17 in NYC, for one of my favorite organizations: The Surfrider Foundation. I’ve been a member since inception (1984), and one of my best friends has been executive Director for the past couple of years — Jim Moriarty, whom I met through our common involvement in the tech startup community. But that was before the Surfrider Foundation was lucky enough to snag him. Jim’s really been doing great things to grow the Foundation and increase its impact, worldwide. And I think this art benefit is an insanely great idea. Kudos to you, Jim!

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Any of you lucky enough to be in the Big Apple on September 17 should get yourselves over there, have a good time, and bid on some surfboard art!. It’s at the XChange, a cool, new event space you you can read more about here. I hope some people upload Flickr pix of the event — and I’d love to see some blog reports, too! (Because, unfortunately, I’ll be getting ready to leave for San Clemente right about then, which is ironically the Surfrider Foundation’s home base — so I’ll be rooting from the other coast.)

Again, this is the second annual “Art for the Oceans.” The first event was a big success, as Surfline reported here: Surfrider’s Art for the Oceans raises over $300,000 in NYC. And here’s how Surfrider’s annual report summed up that original event:

Nearly 700 people, including celebrities, New York socialites, and a host of East Coast surfers descended upon Milk Studios in New York City’s Meat Packing District for the Surfrider Foundation’s first-ever “Art for the Oceans” Auction. Master shaper Al Merrick created a whole school of 6’2” fishes, then gave them to artists to have their way with them. Some of the work was done by surfing artists and some was handled by artist surfers. Among the contributors were Thomas Campbell, Raymond Pettibon, John Van Hamersveld, Drew Brophy and Gus Van Sant. In addition, Herbie Fletcher and Gene Cooper each shaped 10-foot plus Hawaiian guns for the auction. Herbie’s was adorned by Julian Schnabel with his much heralded “Blind Girl Surf Club” motif, and the board took the honor of the highest bid, raising $75,000 from an anonymous donor. Following the auction, the crowd was entertained with an hour-long musical set by Citizen Cope.

I’m sure Surfrider is expecting even bigger attendance and attention this year. Right on, guys! I hope you raise tons more than $300k this time — gazillions! Because you’re doing great work, and surfers and beach lovers everywhere support you….

By the way, for more on the Surfrider Foundation, in addition to their great web site, also see their YouTube page.

A Day at the Coldwater Surf Fest – Duluth, MN

Well, it’s been a while since I did a post on surfing — way too long. But all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. So, I decided I had to get up to the annual gathering of the Superior Surf Club this year, something I’ve been wanting to do for a few years, and I was finally able to break loose this time. Coldwatersign_3 So, early Saturday morning, I pointed the Passat wagon north for Duluth — board strapped on top. [That was for looks only — I’m a warm water surfer only! 🙂 …and just in case someone wanted to try my vintage 6-ft singlefin stick.] I’d been praying for both good surf and good weather for a couple of days, really hoping the event could get a big turnout. Sadly, neither happened — well, not much in the way of surf, anyway. The weather? It was downright horrible. But nothing stops these guys, so I didn’t let it get to me, either! Actually it started out sunny as I left the Twin Cities, and the forecast there was for 75 F. Lukeboard_2 But I knew a nasty low system was just to the north of us, and rain was in the forecast for Duluth — a 70% chance. The forecast high in Duluth had been trending down for a few days and was now only 59 F. Well, it never even came close to that! My car thermometer was at 46 when I pulled into Duluth, and I doubt it got much over 50 before I left. But it was fun, anyway, and I’m really glad I went. I wanted to meet these guys, shoot some pix, and blog about the event, which is officially called the Coldwater Surf Fest — this year’s was about the seventh or eighth annual. Lukeleft_2 It was held at Park Point beach park, a very cool place out on a long, thin sandy penisula stretching straight south from the Canal Park bridge, lined with beach houses and, yes, even some new condo developments cropping up. The road dead-ends at a small airport, and the beach park is just before that. It has a gorgeous, wide sandy beach, lined with birch and pine forest, and lots of park area, with barbeques, and a big log-cabin type public beach building with concessions inside. Boardlineup

My photos, a selection of which you see here, are now up on this Flickr set. Warning: these are not great shots, to say the least! Far from my best surfing photography…. Headingout_2 But the weather and surfing conditions were hardly ideal! With temps in the mid-40s, and winds straight onshore from the East at 15 mph+, the wind chill had to be 30 F. Fog was blowing in onto the beach, and I didn’t even realize for a while that it was fogging my lens pretty badly! My exposed hands were freezing — I needed gloves! Very soon after I arrived, I had to ditch the shorts and Rainbows for long pants, socks and shoes, a hooded sweat and jacket — just to survive the hour or so at water’s edge shooting. Nohoodleft The surfers, however, had all the right equipment (6-mil wet suits) and seemed comfortable in the 45-degree water — where hood, gloves, and booties are mandatory, or you will go numb, guaranteed!

Anyway, even though my photos aren’t the greatest, I still thought you like to see the event documented. But, hey, if you really want to see some great Lake Superior surf photography, get this little book called Lake Superior Surf Guide. At only $8.50, it’s a steal. You will be freakin’ AMAZED! It’s by two of the Lake Superior North Shore surfing pioneers — Bob Tema and Brian Stabinger — who were both at the event. These guys are somethin’ else. Both residents of the Twin Cities, they often head out at 3:00 am just to make dawn patrol at their favorite breaks on Superior. I also got to meet Greg Isaacson, another, more senior pioneer of surfing Superior, whom I’d been wanting to meet for a long time — ever since I read this great article he wrote a while back. Greg was also raising money at the event for the Tom Blake memorial just across the MN-Wisconsin border, to honor one of the fathers of modern surfing.

That’s right, all you surfers out there — we’re talking the Tom Blake, who is more famously associated with surfing in Hawaii and California. He grew up right here on Lake Superior, on what’s called the South Shore in Wisconsin. According to Greg, Blake was undoubtedly the first person to ever take a board out onto the Big Lake. Brianbottomturn The sport of surfing owes this man a lot, this pioneering waterman from the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. The big hardcover biography published on him a few years ago is a classic in many surfers’ libraries. And I was stoked to see Greg honoring the memory of this great man with a fundraising effort at the Coldwater Surf Fest. He even had some cool Tom Blake t-shirts made up, and I just had to have one…

By the way, here’s my previous blog post on Lake Superior surfing, called Gitchigumi Surf, which I wrote way back when I first launched this blog. That’s how I ended up hooking up with some of these guys by email, when they found my story — including Bob Tema. Bob was one of the featured surfers in the great documentary of a couple years about Great Lakes surfing called Unsalted. Do yourself a favor: go buy the DVD at that link on Amazon — you’ll be amazed at the sub-culture of surfing all over the Great Lakes.

But none of that Great Lakes surf culture can be any better than this group of dedicated coldwater guys on Lake Superior’s North Shore! We also talked about the interest building here to form a Lake Superior chapter of The Surfrider Foundation. I’m really stoked about that! A couple of guys are coming forward to help make my dream of getting a chapter going here a reality — Stefan Ronchetti, a surfer and professional inline skater based in the Twin Cities, and James Perry, a surfing physician about to move here from Connecticut, who was instrumental in getting a chapter of the Surfrider Foundation founded there recently.

It seems only fitting to me that the birthplace of one of the real fathers of modern surfing, Tom Blake — second only to Duke Kahanamoku himself as a surfing icon — should be the home of a chapter of the premier membership organization in all of surfing. Hey, we may not have an ocean, but we have great water, great beaches, and great surf breaks to protect, too! As my friend Jim Moriarty says (he’s Executive Director of The Surfrider Foundation), surfers are truly a global tribe. And I’m here to testify that the stoke definitely lives here in Minnesota….

Surf on, Minnesota North Shore brothers!! And the rest of you: bookmark that great Superior Surf Club web site…and come up to the Big Lake soon to hang out and see the action for yourselves.

Surf Break: Weekend in San Clemente

Well, hello again. Yes, I’ve been busy for a while! Hey, I knew this blog was going to be a major time commitment, and unfortunately I’ve had *zero* to devote to it for a while. It’s not that I haven’t had good intentions, trust me! But the last couple months have been a blur (a long story, but all good). And I was too busy to report from another conference, as I did earlier this year from Demo and PC Forum. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I was in Southern California again for a quick business trip, but I of course stayed in my favorite beach city for the weekend prior… 🙂

Had some beautiful weather, great waves, warm water, and had a chance to shoot some fun pix — which I thought I’d share with you here. Also got to hook up with my good friend Jim Moriarty, executive director of The Surfrider Foundation, who offices in San Clemente. He’d just returned from a nine-day surf vacation in El Salvador with some buddies. Very fun waves, he told me — though he dinged up one board, and gave the other one he brought to a local kid. (That’s their tradition when they travel to these special surf spots of theirs.) I met up with him a few days later at his office, and he said he was still tired after three surf sessions a day down there! Here’s a shot of Jim in his office.
JimmoriartyofficeSforggoodiesroom Pretty cool, huh? He has a view right out to the blue Pacific (of course) and is just a few blocks to a couple of great breaks: the SC pier and T-Street. Tough duty for the office staff, huh? 🙂 The other shot is their goodies room. [Full disclosure: thanks for the hat and t-shirt, Jim!] Part of the way they make money for the cause is selling this great stuff at their online store.

By the way, don’t try to find a sign for the Surfrider Foundation’s offices — it’s purposely very low key. (I had a hard time finding it!) I guess they’d never get any work done at all if surfers and people in general just kept dropping in all day long. And they do a lot of very great work! I’m continually amazed at all their initiatives and programs. But Jim will always tell you that’s the power of volunteers — fifty-some thousand members worldwide. Don’t think the efforts of Jim and his staff aren’t part of it, though! They are amazing. Just take a breeze through their site. These folks have been pretty savvy about the power of online communication and community for a long time….

And it all emanates out of this non-descript office in San Clemente. Here’s a shot of the door, and another shot outside to give you a hint of where it’s located. Sforgofficedoor Studcuts But they may be moving shortly, anyway, so even if you found it, they’d probably not be there anymore! Lease rates in the heart of San Clemente are going through the roof lately. Rocky’s Surf Shop just shut down, I guess, when their rate tripled. Alas, our quiet little beach town is being discovered…. 🙁

After Jim and I took a break at the local Starbuck’s, he pointed out a great new surf shop in San Clemente, called Icons of Surf. He said they have the coolest boards. So I had to wander in and take a few shots. Whoa, how about these colors, huh?

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Anyone who appreciates art, especially surf art (and Jim certainly does), should definitely check this place out in person, or go to their web site — boards for sale there, too!


Earlier that day, on the beach, I had the good fortune to meet a new friend, Mitch Colapinto, who runs Cola’s Surf Camp during the summer on Poche Beach (my stomping grounds just north of the pier a mile or so). Mitch is a teacher in SC the rest of the year. Later on, via email, I also met his wife Camille. They run a great operation, really amazingly efficient, with a good-sized staff of very competent assistants. And what a fun time those kids have learning to surf! Here are a few shots, which I took as a strolled over to check it all out. (I threw another shot in at the end of a local surfer dropping in on a nice little section right about that time.) Reminded me of when I learned at age 13….at Waikiki (but I digress).


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As evening approached on this, the last day of my three-day weekend, I grabbed a great surf sequence from across the coast highway, standing on the brick fence in front of my place. Guess I was lucky — I just kept firing. Another great stay at Poche Beach! And sunset soon followed…

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(A bunch of my other shots taken here over the last few years are on this little web site I created for the fun of it: PocheBeach.com.)

Till my next surf break….see ya online.

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