Boards and Breakouts

This past weekend, the executive committee for our local Surfrider Chapter descended upon Ventura CA for the annual Surfrider West Coast Summit along with chapter members from TX, CA, OR, WA and HI. It was an eventful weekend.

Initially, the the whole crew was going to carpool in the Chub Tub but the weather kicked up a south swell that sent the boys wave chasing a good deal earlier than we had planned to leave. Which left d. (Not to be confused with D. who came before and will always be capital in my book!) and I to blaze the trail in tandem. The miles and hours rolled away relatively unnoticed as pleasant conversation and much singing was had. Eventually we arrived at the Crowne Royal Plaza in Ventura just off the C street point break. From our room we had a good view of the pier but the break lay on the other side of the hotel.

Once we dropped our boards of in the board room... That's right, There is a room in the lobby fitted with racks to keep boards stored. Although the elevator cage is super tall so if you want to take you board to your room you can. It can accommodate boards as tall as 11'!.. Anyway, after dropping off our boards and settling into our room, d and I joined up with AJ and the Chief,  Our Chapter Vice Chair and Chapter Chairman. They were famished after a relatively successful day grabbing waves along Highway 1. Both are truly seasoned surfers who know how to read a break and manage a board. Anyway, once we met up, d and I learned that Brad Johnson would be joining us for Dinner.

Brad Johnson is something of a local hometown surf icon. He established the first surf shop, Sunshine Freestyle , on the peninsula. He also started the annual Surf About contest just over 30 years ago. It might be small but it is one of the longest running surf competitions in the state.  The story about its creation goes that there was a lot of .. um.. "exclusivity" going on at the two best local breaks and Brad thought that the creation of the contest lead to warmer currents between the surfers at each location. He was right and now the only real aggression we get in the water is the rare shark attack.

So, Brad joined us for dinner at the hotel restaurant  We were also out in celebration of AJ's big birthday. The olive oil poached halibut was perfection and I've been informed that anything oil poached is going to be heavenly. During dinner we were regaled with tales regarding the formation of our Surfrider Chapter. Brad started it some time ago out of the surf shop to address a break access issue. How wonderful to know our origins. We also heard about past surf adventures and a history of pristine waves. We learned of local waters and of Brads current life in Ventura.

After dinner wrapped up we got a walking tour of downtown from our imperial sporting guide.He told us of the emergence of the jalopy subculture as well as pointed out architecture and flooded  us with a welcome history lesson. We stopped along the way for drinks. It was then that I was introduced to double IPA's. *chuckle* Good stuff!

Later there was music of all kinds at this rocking place called the Tavern. It was an old victorian-ish house that had been renovated into a bar. Each area dedicated to a different musical style. In the front was a bar with a live band playing.  Brad and d. got down on the dance floor.

In the back part of the house, there was another bar and a DJ spinning a technoish mix. A porch wrapped around the entire exterior on which people milled and talked while contemporary streamed music poured through speakers. Indoors there was also an enclosed room which offered and Xbox and Guitar Hero. It was a place to suit many possible and youthful musical inclinations. After a while we determined it was time to turn in. We had all had quite a long day with travelling and we had the conference bright and early and we had all anticipated trying to get in some waves ahead of time.  At that point we left our most gracious tour guide and called it a night.

We didn't actually get in any wave time that morning. More recovery was needed before settling down in to the rather uncomfortable chairs and warm buffet style breakfast. It was a conference just like you might imagine. Presentations and slide shows followed by smaller breakout/interactive sessions.

However, I noticed something that really differentiated this summit from your typical corporate conference... many a foot were in the nude! 

So What do we talk about and cover at an event like this? The schedule went something like this:

Breakfast began at 7 and at 8:30 the trailer for "the Twenty" was presented. The Twenty is a movie being produced by our Santa Barbara chapter that focuses on Surfriders efforts to preserve the Gaviota Coast from Development.That was followed by a quick play by play of the day ahead.

At 9:00 our Keynote speaker Marcus Eriksen took the podium. Marcus Eriksen is from 5gyres. 5gyres is a group dedicated to scientific analysis and information gathering about the 5 ocean gyers and what plastics they are accumulating. Marcus presented some of his findings and his stories about crossing all 5 gyres. He then went on to discuss some research that has taken him out of the oceans and into the great lakes. Turns out that water samples of the lakes have determined that the number of plastic particles per sample is far higher than what is in the worst of the gyres. These particles are microscopic beads. Where did they come from? How did they get there?  Turns out they are a result of our cultural predisposition to being "beautiful". Facial cleansers and what not get washed down the drain and into sewage processing plants. The beads are soooo small that they transfer right through the filters and get flushed into the lakes. Of course this made me weep. Fortunately we know the source and we can and will now work to ban the use of plastics in beauty products.

Following that moving presentation, Jim Moriarty, the CEO of the organization gave us an update on the state of the organization. How much growth we have had and some of our major victories were addressed such as Hawaii's State wide ban on plastic bags (Woo Hoo!) and our general numbers were looked at.

After that our top advocacy issues were discussed individually and with some depth. First up we discussed some Coastal Conservation issues. These deal with the creation and problems associated with sea walls,  the fact that our ocean levels are on the rise which is going to greatly impact places that have been built right on the beach. We discussed managed retreat to deal eroding coasts and the loss of sand we see happening in areas in Southern Ca.

This was followed up with a discussion of Ocean Ecosystems. This topic covers areas such as Marine Protected Areas, Offshore Drilling, Renewable Ocean Energy and Marine Spatial Planning. We were presented with some possible plans that are in the works to open our oceans to new oil drilling and the use of seismic surveys which are truly destructive and severely disheartening. http://www.nottheanswer.org/


We then got out for lunch. Whew! I needed the break. My heart aching from the knowledge and understanding of just how well we have fucked up our world.  What a mess! But this sorrow is buoyed by the knowledge that I am in a room surrounded by many people who each represents others in their communities who are trying to make a dent in problem and are finding effective ways to do just that. In these folks in hope. I have to cling to that or sink. I slipped away briefly during the break to get a breath of fresh air and check out the break. This is what is important to me. This is what I fight for. This is what we all fight for.

After returning from lunch, the rise above plastics program was discussed. Here we learned more about Hawaiis state wide bag ban and the details that lead up to that huge victory. and afterwards we broke out into workshops and tours. One was a walking tour of the restoration that has taken place nearby at Surfers Point. I had the opportunity to take this particular tour last year and found it quite fascinating. It deals with the removal of a dam and the return of the natural creek bed and marshland.

The second tour was for Ocean Friendly Gardens. OFG's are gardens that utilize native plants and minimize water usage as well as cut out the need for fertilizers. http://www.surfrider.org/programs/entry/ocean-friendly-gardens d. went and got completely stoked on the idea of building up this program in our local chapter.

Next there was a workshop on ways to assist with the Tsunami Debris that has begun to and will continue to impact our coasts. Chief attended this session and determined that one way that the average beach cleanup volunteer can assist is through using the Marine Debris Tracker Ap http://www.marinedebris.engr.uga.edu/

Last up was a workshop on the Blue Ocean Task Force. This is the one I had the pleasure of attending. Blue water task force is a program run by chapters to test the water quality in their areas. The idea with the project  is determine and address chronically toxic waters and alert the beach users.  http://www.surfrider.org/blue-water-task-force I was in touch with a teacher last year who wanted to try and partner with us at the HS level. I am afraid, that that has been a slow going project as it was unfamiliar terrain. However, a teacher from SoCal has implemented such a program and we will be utilizing him as a serious resource to get our program.  Another thing that came from this meeting was the knowledge that all the chapters testing and the most resent water testing results are posted on the website in a simple interactive format... including Kaua'i. Excuse me a moment while I momentarily dreams of beaches on Hawaii.

End Day 1!


Surf!

The promise of a south swell didn't quite manifest perfect conditions. The currents was extraordinarily strong as the tide was coming in which made for hard paddling, not to mention a strong off shore breeze which made things a bit choppy. But Damn it was great to be in the water!! The other surfers were particularly friendly. d got some super instructions from a charming father named Duke, who was out with his young son. Turns out he knew what his was talking about. Later we would learn that his is the the son of legendary board shaper, Ben Aipa. and has truely grown up in the water.  It was a fine time.

Then we cleaned up and headed out to a social which was hosted by the Ventura chapter and held at the Bombay Grill. (also within walking distance from the hotel). The chapter mates and I found entertainment in the big wave surf spank vids that lit up the tvs as well as people watching and debating who we considered the top 5 vocalists of all time... or at least those whose voice we would want to possess. And then... we ate. We ate meat! Even the vegetarian had bacon on her veggie burger. She said to give it flavor. I, with once in a life time gusto, indulged in the Chuck Wagon Burger.  It was very meaty, super greasy and just to damn big to completely devour.

Chief - yeah he always looks eager like that.

d and AJ

After our meal we wandered into the festivities and got to hear Todd Hannigan playing. If you don't know him check him out http://toddhannigan.com/about/ and then go listen to some of his music on I-tunes. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/id520872832 unfortunately I can not critique his music (or praise it as I think the case may end up being) because the room was so extraordinarily loud. These socials are like reunions for many and had X. been with us, I know we would have been more conversational with our fellow summit attendees. Not that it matters much as I got to know my existing chapter members much better which will improve our overall functioning and afterall isn't that what we want to get out of these little rendezvous'  Anyway.. what I did hear of Todd Hannigan was melodious and nice for waltzing your way through the crowd. Isn't that right AJ? ;) Eventually we wandered back to the hotel and deposited Ron to retire to his room and we then returned to the streets. We made sure avoid Palm court .. as that place just looked plain shady!

Anyway...AJ, d and I went in search of dancing. We came to a rockin little joint  with a  band doing the cure and others '80's covers and it sounded up our collective alleys but the line was out the door so we decided to circle the block and see if anything else might also appeal..We came to the last place Brad had pointed out to us on our previous nights tour and decided to check it out.  Wow! It was a tribute band to the 70's just as the bar we had passed up was a tribute band to the 80's. And they were well put together. The place was packed with my mothers age range boogying to Car Wash and Santana and other jive classics. Some were totally getting their freak on. Its good to see that there are happy horny people at every age.. but its also sort of disturbing. This is what the dating scene looks like for my mother. No wonder shes not interested in looking. haha. After getting down with our bads selves a bit on the dance floor, we eventually turned in.

Cock a doodle doo! Dawn Patrol! (Is 8:00 early enough to be considered dawn patrol?) We once again hit the waves outside the hotel. The wind was down and we went fighting an incoming high tide so the waves were smoother and larger but still some work to contend with.  I was a bit stiff from the previous evenings session and that coupled with the fighting of a cold,  I admit I was far more content just straddling my stick while enjoying the water and the sun. d. was, however, far more gong ho.to catch a wave. She threw herself at wave after wave but her timing is a little off. She needs someone to tell her when to start paddling. Not that Im any better, so I couldn't really help but let her have at em. So anyway, its wrapping up time to go and this bigger wave.. 7-8 starts building up behind her. Shes golden! She goes for it..  Shes right there.. just about to smack the lip and ... AAAAARRGGGHH!!! she just missed it. but from where I was sitting it really was not a bad thing as the wave closed out.

So then it was back again to the conference and  our breakout sessions. We rotated through various topics which included 1. Volunteer Recruiting, and Retention Best Practices. 2. Increase Membership 3. Run an effective chapter 4. Fundraising effectively 5. Starting SF Quad Clubs at local schools and Finally 6. Garnering Media Attention.. These classes were a serious reminder of what all needs to be done in order to grow and sustain our chapter and those tools will start being put to use  once I finish up this summary of events. We have a lot of work to do. But I think we can have some fun together doing it as well.  Putting together next years calendar of events and planning out our volunteer needs and also planning a party for November .. there is a lot on my plate and after this I may not have much to report until after our Return of the Waves party. Stay tuned for details! Which reminds me that I need to ask my Cuz if I can use one of his  doodles for the chapter. Id have to run it by the committee to see how it might be used exactly but .. eh?

So yes.. work can wait just a moment longer .. enough for me to finish this tale.. an invasion of thoughts and a list of to dos  is momentarily subdued.. After going through the various workshops AJ d and I set off. but out leaving was far from smooth or timely. First off I had parked in the hotel parking garage and arrived with only two boards. I was well within the height clearance. Leaving I had 4 boards. Thump....ummm...Thump... ooops! We solved the crisis with minimal damage but it put us on delay and then d was hungry when we were leaving so we stopped early on and at the height of lunch in a lively little downtown which just added some lengthy minutes to the clock. However the Grilled Veggy sandwich d picked up for me was damn near worth the wait. Once again my appreciation goes out to Tour Master Brad ! Also, always remember to add on a few extra hours of time when taking hwy 1 as opposed to the 101. However, I could not not have asked for a more beautiful or pleasant drive. We stopped along the way to view the Elephant seals who beach relatively near Hearst Castle. AJ was a wonderful trip home tour guide.Thanks for being our wheel man and know that the drive and the lessons and stories along the way were well worth the extra few hours it took. Plus who could account for the fire?  Dont worry about it!

Finally...
If things had been any different I would not had any idea what I will be aiming to paint next. But now I know.. This is the Chub Tub Speeding along Highway 1 through Big Sur at the height of Sunset.   And that concludes my coverage of the conference. I expect I will remain relatively quiet for a while but will be back by the first week in November with an update if not sooner with various little  "snippets"

Aloha!
Mamaskylark

Sharing Air

Hello and good morning Mom!

(and all)

October!  Fall! The Return of the Waves and… wow.. Morning S(u/o)n!

So what to cover?  Quite a bit actually.  First off lets address the question on everyone’s mind.. or at least on Auntie S’s:   "How is school going?"

School is moving along perfectly.. well maybe not perfectly.  My additional student, Hummingbird ,

(so named because her little heart  beats a million miles a minute) has been stumbling a little under the HS load but she keeps plowing through and with a little dedication will soon catch up.. if she stays focused.  She is a love lorn teen who is easily wrapped up in daydreams and musical schemes and so her attention needs the occasional refocus but she managed to stay on task most of the time. Shes a good kid.

 I expect her to return to the public school system next year and Im certain she will be ready.  Which is good.  Ive been watching and debating my choices when my two get to the HS level.  I know I want them to have that experience. Being at home really is isolating to a degree and the lack of extra curricular (although I have to say we are doing well to try and fill in those gaps) not to mention the need to learn social and working interactions.. mine are certainly HS bound.

Little Tree Climber (so named because she is my monkey) is doing well. She is keeping up and is fairly self sufficient in the classroom.  Here is a self portrait she drew in art class.  Her teacher found it interesting because of all the self portraits, hers was the only one that had the student looking off.

Chicken Little ( whatever else would I call him?) has taken to the homeschooling well. We are reading Robinson Caruso at the moment and he is managing his coursework easily (well not spelling.. but holy cow! Some of his words I can’t spell!) He is keeping a steady pace and enjoying it. No complaints from him! When he is not sitting with me and working he is often drawing. He leans towards more abstract and fiction pieces.

Our days typically begin between 8:30 and 9:00 and we work fairly steadily until about 3. Some days are a little longer and we have playtime with others and field-trips sprinkled in.

   

Halloween is coming up. So what do the kids want to be? Connor wants to be Steve from minecraft wearing a creeper mask. If you know the game you will understand why this I find this funny. Yes we have been struck by the minecraft bug. Chicken Little has always loved rocks and video games. A game that combines the two in a lego like world setting... He is in heaven. Its not a game I can complain much about in regards to the content however I am always watching to make sure it doesn't become a time sink or to something to fight over.

Little Tree Climber on the other hand has picked something far more… ummm… disturbing and hilarious … for her costume.  She wants to be cuddles from happy tree friends. These fuzzy furry cute happy animals get slaughtered episode after episode in gruesome bloody ways.  Papa  just finds it disturbing and can’t stomach much but Ive never heard my girl laugh so hard in all her life.. at least at the one episode she has seen.  Anyway..

Papa had his annual employee appreciation picnic last month. There were water balloons, bounce houses, food and family fun. Hes plant was selected as one of the top 5 places to work in the county. It was a wonderful beautiful day inland where the picnic was held.  I spent a good chuck of it talking to one employee .. an older gentleman sporting a shirt which said “Got Radiance”. He had grown up in Peru and so I learned of History and food and culture.  We talked about global concerns. It was pleasant and delightful. (Mom.. click on the following to play it!) 

(you may be asking why Zep? Because  at the last minute papa asked me to bring my Ipod  for background music at the event but given the make up of the group I didn't have any really applicable music so... we listened to Zep and CCR and other classic rock.) 

What else? Duck Hunting season is just about upon us so I have been working on a commemorative poem..

Duck on the water, paddling around

Up I come sneaking, without any sound

See you I do, as you swim about

If I had a gun, Id shoot you.. No Doubt!

Ok so its not a great poem. If I had more wordsmithing time Im sure I could spin quiet a tale.

Speaking of stories.. this past weekend I went to the Annual West Coast summit for Surfrider . It was super fun. That story to come shortly. I am still digesting the information from that and will be pulling together a summary blog of what I absorbed from the event soon as far as content. In the mean time the social aspect was a blast, I learned a lot and I got in the water as well! A busy productive and enjoyable weekend. (except for the whole being sick part)  Papa and the kiddies had themselves an equally eventful weekend filled with play-dates, parties, Mucking horse stalls, Blue Ocean film festival attending, and a friends school pageant. Once I arrived home i after exchanging brief hellos and goodbyes with Papa just in time to release him so he could head to Canada for his own work conference.  

My birthday is coming up this weekend. Fun stuff. I had planned to just take the family to see Frankenweiny but now I think I might actually take some time to celebrate over drinks and desert with friends.. in addition to the movie that is. We will see what pans out. 

Brother Billy Goat! I have not forgotten you. I plan to start offering a commentary on each of your favorite movies.. one at a time Starting with Tommy Boy. I don't know it and will have to watch it and comment next time. Just a little more patience! 

Also coming up soon.. a book review of the 5th Sacred Thing which was recommended to me by a long time friend and which Im just about done with. :) 

A shout out to Megs and Lisa! Miss you guys as well! Next time we are up that way we will work in a visit!

Charlie.. I miss you too!

That about does it for the moment. Time to get back to it! Hugs and Love! 

Mamaskylark

For the love of Mom..

How often do I talk to my mom? Honestly, living at a distance has limited our communications to a quick note to arrange visits and then a chat when we see each other.. perhaps 4 times a year. It just doesn't seem enough. And if Im not talking to mom much.. who the hell am I talking to?  Save myself and the 6 people I have in my my immediate daily life... survey says.. No One! Not even my brother. Not even my closest peeps! Not even my grandparents!  And that just sucks!  Despite living in the digital age where the world is rendered smaller by the flick of a switch. Im still worlds apart from my loved ones.

Here it is a turning of the seasons.. the vernal equinox.. a time to moving into introspective space and already I have been doing just that. Taking stock of where and how my energy flows. Thinking of vehicles of communication, my personality and my existing relationships. How can I best utilize the tools at my disposal?? Where do I fall short?? What is missing?? How can I improve??  Time is sparse and I am motivated by a fierce need to streamline and communicate more depth effectively.

You ask what about quick phone calls? Anxiety.. a laugh or chuckle from me (they come easily) and the words coming through from the other side are lost. What did you say? What was that? Confusion ensues and the interruption to the natural flow of the conversation is  disconcerting. Stressful. And don't begin to ask me how well conversations go with someone hard of hearing..  and so I go running away from the phone. Its not the tool for me.

Facebook?? haha!! You can't truely understand someone off facebook. That is not to say that it doesn't create some sense of connection. It does but, like the phone, it is only partially effective in creating deep connections. Facebook scratches the surface of a persons personality (assuming facebook is not filtering who and what you see.. but we all know it plays censor and manipulates your view ) but it doesn't offer much in the way of depth. Plus mom is not on there nor is brother. It has its place but it is one of play and leisure and advertisement but not of true communication. Ill keep it around as it is sometimes handy but its not the tool Im looking for.. not for this.

twitter? 50 letters doesn't really make for a conversation. Twitter for me is a place to make note of mood or "in the moment" music as the case may be but I find no real use in it for communicating like I would like to do. I have however adjusted this blog to stream my twitter feed. Just for the hell of it.

Letter Writing?? Back in the day when loved ones found their way out into the world all they had to do was send one letter home and mom or lover would read the words and spread the news of events. My mind specifically thinks of  soldiers prior to the electronic revolution. They were busy fighting or surviving and didn't have much time to write everyone individually. Im not going to draw the parallel to me and a guy in a trench. My life is no where near that horror but the fact remains that I am busy... extremely busy and dedicated to a cause: the raising of my children right and in doing so I don't have the time to send out personal correspondence to all those I hold dear... and there are quite a few of those as my heart is large and roomy! And sending a letter soley to mom wont spread the word as so many of those that are dear are spread far and wide.

So here I am... A new blog with the express purpose of sharing my life and occasionally twisted sense of humor directly with my family and friends far and wide. I intend to create a substantial "communication -home" at least once a month. There may be other news briefs sprinkled in between the larger efforts... As time and energy dictate. I will be sending emails out those who wish to hear when I post that way I know they can be listening if they want. Through-out I will be using pseudonyms for those who work their way into my stories... you will be introduced to those as they come up. And I will be attempting to keep personal markers to a minimum.  The internet is not always a safe place and its good to practice caution (Mom this is especially for you who I know you are prone to great concern about internet safety) however one can also not hide from the world completely either and in this as in most everything I have nothing to hide. So, while I will be wise with what I share, I will not be obsessed with creating a complete sense of anonymity. Doing so would only render my fingers and tongue mute and haven't I been quiet too long already?

What topics will I avoid? I plan to keep this space respectable. I may rant about political or social issues that are of a volitile nature but I don't expect it to be doing so often. Id rather live in opposition to the infections that plague our world by making choices that hinder their progress and then share those victories here in celebration rather then feed into the decay with my anger and fear.  OH.. and not that it needs stating but I plan to keep most of my clothes on as well. At least I will try.

Those are the ground rules. I think I can stick to them.

Welcome to my new blog.
 Love you Mom!