British Airways Removes Surfboard Ban – Sorta

For the lot of us who rarely make it to Europe it may not seem a big deal, but for the thousands of international surfers -especially professional surfers- British Airways’ 2007  ban on surfboards was a nightmare. They weren’t just charging exhorbinant fees or having embargo periods, they were banning boards on all their flights. [...]

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Obama Body Surfing the Election

Hopefully Obama can maintain his integrity and smooth style as he surfs the candidacy for president. But we hope he doesn’t play it too easy! Michael Moore, in his recent rant entitled “How The Democrats Can Blow It, In Six Easy Steps” seemes to adequately point out some of the strange maneuvers as of late [...]

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Should Surfers Be Insured?

Thought this an interesting way to advertise health insurance to those who surf; direct-marketed to me on MySpace. So I curiously clicked, and found the Platinum Kaiser Plan is just $195.00 a month (!), for an average Hawaii surfer, who might like swimming with sharks (I’m assuming the sharks in the ocean, not the sharks [...]

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Surfing the Tsunami

Every so often, when a tsunami warning or incident occurs, talk ensues about the history and potential calamities of the next tsunami to hit the Hawai’i Islands. One of the quandries debated among the surfing community is what one should do if a tsunami takes place while out in the water (only people who do [...]

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Free WiFi Hawaii Island

So, Starbucks made their splashy announcement that they’re ditching T-Mobile for AT&T and by this Spring (a little later for Hawaii) will offer two hours of free internet with a purchase of $3.99 or more. As cutting edge as they were by taking that Seattle gourmet coffee habit and spreading the addiction to a world [...]

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Meet Joe Blair!

In the surfing world, specifically the surfboard manufacturing industry, there are a slew of icons who’ve maneuvered themselves front and center. Names of the players and their companies, similar to fashion designers, splayed across products, which often focus more on apparel and accessories. But there are others diligently working, seemingly behind the scenes, expending less [...]

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Save O’oma (Pine Trees) in Kona

I thought the fight was already lost, but it seems it is still up for debate whether or not the county/ state should acquire O’oma II to protect it as public, open space. Considering how important the area around Pine Trees is -how precious the waters and how vital this surf / recreational / camping [...]

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Airlines and Surfboards

I always thought the luggage handlers who so carelessly tossed your surfboard onto the plane, or piled heavy baggage atop it, were jealous because you were going on a surf trip while they had to work. But when a whole airlines sez “screw you!” to surfers – you have to wonder why?
Certainly many of us [...]

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Puna Getting Some Big Island Love

Puna had seemingly been losing the battle in terms of infrastructure and development needed to keep up with the population explosion of the past few years. While there’s been lots of debating, proposals, plans… actually action, when it occurs, is typically slow and inadequate. So it came as a surprise to many when the 5th [...]

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Skin Care: The Best Natural Sunscreen

Q: Can someone please recommend a good sunblock I can use while I surf that is waterproof and DOESN’T cause breakouts?
A: I use AcneEyeStingSlipperyHands, SPF WashStraightOff, but I’m thinking about changing.
After scanning the numerous “comments” sections of varying websites where everyone is asking everyone else what the heck is the best sunscreen out there, [...]

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Sharks, Swells and Stinky Smells

It’s kinda a thing with surfers, to recite our homogeneous oceanic factoids and universal truths, though on occasion we’re not necessarily precisely sure what we’re talking about. This seems to be the case in regards to sharks, and particularly their olfactory sensibilities and its effect upon their desire to attack.
How many times have we heard [...]

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Honu Attacks in Hawai’i!

As a magazine writer (publishing my own magazines where I could -and would- add pages and shrink type size to barely legible as needed), I’ve grown accustomed to the zealous and verbose. Hey, when we wrote freelance back then we got two dollars for every drawn-out word (ah, the good old dayz). Anyway, I like [...]

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Why Surfers Get Salt and Lemonade Cravings

Or at least why some surfers do and why many more should….
You know, though I looove Google, when it becomes your main reference library, no matter how efficient a “surfer” you are, you can’t deny your researching deficiencies. I remember when my good friend Brian Doherty used to let me sneak into Reason Magazine and [...]

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Fave Blog: Venice Surf Report

There are a few surf-oriented web sites I like to check out on a regular basis – mostly for their surf reports, a scattering of surf-related news, vids, and such. For the most part they’re informational, some kinda generic, or ultimately catering to the business/contest-driven aspects of surf culture. But every so often you stumble [...]

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Surfers vs. Hawaii’s Superferry

After much ballyhoo regarding Hawaii’s Superferry, it seems that the State (which supported the project with a little bit of government funding – $40 million, that is) is going to let the Superferry continue its operations, at least to Kauai, while it’s awaiting word on whether or not it will need an environmental impact study [...]

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