March 19, 2008 - Halema'uma'u Crater in Kilauea Iki
I did not race 2006-07 season.
A view of ski racing: it is a humbling discipline...no matter how good you may think you are,
there are a ton of people that can beatthehelloutofya. Like tennis....
you do not improve unless you're competing against someone infinitely better than you.
Dual courses are great for pairing up with a competitor you KNOW will beat yoU...
"Spike" at Winter Park Nastar gives a great critique of whatever you're doing wrOng.
I finally broke the platinum barrier with a 13.32 HCP - 2.29.2008
That's my ONLY platinum so far...slipped back to gold next race day.
Then slipped back to silver on the following race day....ouch...
A Nastar handicap is a fairly exact measure of ability.
I'm disturbed that the real purse money doesn't exist for surfing.
A.S.P. athletes are as impressive as any on eArth.
Wheretheheck is the $1.2 mil. purse? (as in tennis, golf, and certain team sports)...
Lives are on the line at Teahupoo and Pipeline.
A contest at either of these 2 places should have a $1.2 million purse.
World Premier April 5th, 2006 at the Buell Theatre in Denver, CO
DVD released 9.21.2007 in USA & Canada
www.bethanyhamilton.com
| It
began for me in late summer of 1962...A handful of grommets at Churchland
High School (Class of '66) would embrace the sport as nothing else before.
Every Spring my grades would drop...Surfing had an effect on my academic
discipline. Wayne Clark, Les Brinkley, Lynn Usher, Randy Carter, myself...
Rob Beedie and his bunch were just across the Elizabeth River at Woodrow
Wilson High doing the same thing. Note: m51.com digital media supplied 120+ minutes of Oahu footage without soundtrack
as a backdrop for the GSN Surf Film Festival at Old Dominion U.'s University Theatre in Norfolk, Va. on July 14th, 2007.
Now back to the history: This was the Vietnam era...our response to this war was the same as on the west coast. See John Milius's film Big Wednesday depicting life and times in the 60's and 70's for surfers in California. We emulated the guys at the coastline who could get more time in the water. Bruce Brown's Epic, "The Endless Summer", was a major influence to say the least... I lived 26 miles inland from the Atlantic....just far enough from the coast to really enjoy the thrill of approaching hurricanes. Late August, September, and early Nov.....change of seasons...water still warm...what a wonderful time of year at the coastline. I'd follow the storms on TV, and zip to the coast when Virginia was in the "wave window". Hurricanes are like celebrations...holidays....when a storm was coming, it was time to celebrate this force of nature. Note: I was arrested on October 5th, 1993 for "celebrating" hurricane Emily as she passed by Va. A teen drowned, and the idiot VaB 2nd precinct police CLOSED the SEA to humans..... ....and guess who was out surfing...... I finally came in......police bullhorns and whistles...we could barely hear them being 300+ meters offshore....the sound of the surf muted the dumbAss horns and whistles. When the surf is good, things like that on the beach are very easy to ignore. I remember walking up the beach to the police jeeps... they put all the boards in a pile as the "arrests" proceeded and the number of spectators and surfing criminals on the beach grew..... Plenty of news cameras from all over the country...anchor persons sticking microphones up to my face..... Questions like "Is it dangerous out there?" or "Do you know someone drowned?" About 30 or so were arrested that day. I'm sorry the little guy drowned....but, ya know....it's that kind of sport. If you're in surf beyond your ability....what in the hell are you doing out there?... If you don't have the stamina to get through the impact zone, you don't ride waves that day. If you make it out by luck, not stamina...and you only have a couple years (or less) experience...you can get in trouble. In Hawaii, and many tropical locales....the deeper water in the coral channels allow almost anyone to paddle out.... you can paddle out in 15 ft surf and not get your hair wet........ Of course, I appealed the court case, and it wound up costing $100. They deemed it illegal to surf that day and I was guilty. The Virginia Beach city legislature does not behave as if there is a body of water several thousand miles wide and a few miles deep in their back yard.... ....they just think of it as a tourist attraction....they didn't even have a longboard at each lifeguard stand in and before 1993....... I wonder if it is still like that?! |
Now,
in Colorado, I'm landlocked....I must travel for surf. I don't care for this inland culture.
I see a fair number of surfing related t-shirts here.........many here don't know the history of the companies represented on their clothing. I
worked for a short time at Blockbuster, and tried to divert those wearing surfing logos to "Riding Giants", "Step into Liquid", and "the Endless Summer 2".
Most of them didn't have a clue.....I would get wisecracks from resenting parents or young s%#ts...trying to be cool and impress their grrrlfriends.........
Anywayyy.....Some of the
best skiing on Earth is within a couple hours drive. Ski movie maker Warren
Miller is located in Boulder. I did qualify for the 2008 nationals NASTAR again (this year at Steamboat, CO). |
 Photo from 1966 Churchland High yearbook "The Trucker". On the left is Dewey Weber Team member - Wayne Clark.
|
 Back to the history....Those were the days of Western Auto at 17th Street (Dewey Weber Retailer at that time - NOW selling modern day Webers AND Hobies!, Surfboards by Don, Smith and Holland Surf Shop, Pete Smith's Surf Shop, Butch's Surf Shop, Al's Surf Shop, Harris Surf Shop, and of course, Bob White Surfboards and the origins of WaveRidingVehicles. My very first job (in late 60's) was with Bob White Surfboards...starting as a rail grinder...some glassing...buffing...a little bit of end stage shaping (just before glassing)...you know the entry level routine. Years later, upon seeing Bob White surfing at first street in Va. Beach, I gave a retrospective apology for ruining the rails on several thousand dollars worth of surfboards... |
| Va.
Beach Surf Stars/Celebrities/Dignitaries: Bob White, WRV CEO Les Shaw, Bill Frierson, Ronnie Mellott, Chip McQuilkin, Jimbo Brothers, Fred Grosskreutz, Jimmy Parnell, Pete Smith, Bob Holland, Sr. (and 3 offspring Honey, Johnny, and Bobby...competitive/accomplished surfers all), Marty Keesecker....I'll think of more eventually. The most famous surfer ever to come from the Beach is, of course, Wes Laine....once 4th(?) in the world in the A.S.P. ratings! Wayne Clark was the first in our group to master the sport and do well in competition - on the Dewey Weber team. The Weber Team Jacket was toooo cool!!! I was envious... |
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I later made the Jacobs team...but never placed in a contest while on the team - Usually always advanced from the initial/second round of heats. |
It was the start of the Surfrider Foundation on the east coast. GSN's Rob Beedie set it all up and made the arrangements. |
Surfing
is completely a "freestyle" discipline...the exactness of winning
(as in Ski Racing, Sailboard
Racing, or Motorsports) doesn't
exist... they just don't race surfboards, though some may choose to differ
with that statement. My best result was a 2nd in the East Coast Surfing Championships - 1973. It was/is too much fun just being a threat.... ...haven't been in a competition since 1988. Just a thought about the Summer Olympic Games in Athens: Synchronized Swimming? Water Polo? Diving? Rowing? Sailing? Someone help me to understand..... Why isn't one of the world's ultimate summer sports - Surfing - in the summer games? Hawaii visit - 5.2004: On Oahu's North Shore in springtime to find out if I can improve my surfing while living in Colorado. This visit I had chest to waayy overhead surf...perfect to take it up a notch. It took just an hour or 2 to warm up. It was my second surfing in about 9 months. Not too bad...felt like I was maintaining ability. Surfed at Ehukai Beach Park just a couple hundred meters north of Pipeline. Also surfed Laniakea, Kammy's, paddled out at Sunset a few times and was blown away watching triple overhead sets. Laniakea is always a good bet for surf in the "off season"....I love Chun's, but didn't make the stop there this visit. |
| Today
I ride a prototype 8' Tim Nolte epoXy hYbrid board that is the best in
all these years. The shape/weight distribution enable it to turn almost
too easily. The latest refinement is still not perfect, but it's very
close. The Merrick Epoxys I saw at the North Shore Surf.n.Sea
are my first choice for lightness construction, though I didn't like the
shapes available. Talk this spring out in the water and in shops: Epoxy yes/no? It's been yes for me for last 20 yrs....but that was on the east coast. Evaluation: the board rocks. m51.com wrote the code and rendered graphics for Wave Riding Vehicle's first few years on the Web. |
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m51.com surf culture acknowledgement: For many, Surfing is Earth's most fun / most intense mating display. Just a few notes on entering the food chain in the sea as a surfer...I do not ride waves alone... sometimes even if 2 others are out, I won't go surfing at that spot. Call me a whimp, whatever...I want several more buffet items on the menu for predators, thank you. Here's the latest headline relative to coastal Virginia / North Carolina shark attacks: Weekend's 2nd fatal shark attack leaves 1 dead, 1 hurt in N.C. Here's a Fox News article dating these 2 attacks. My feelings about the shark buffet: These are truly Earth's wildest creatures. Keeping a fleet of helicopters in the air, or implementing shark nets may help a bit. Overfishing offshore could be a factor. My old friend Les at Sunset Beach, Oahu states that when there is an attack/death, the community comes out with a barrage of hundreds of baited hooks, and they usually always come up with something. Wvec's footage of a shark from the chopper was impressive....as was the family home video footage of the dorsal fin approaching the young grrrls frolicking in the shorebreak! This home video footage does not exist on the wvec.tv website today - these extinct links may indicate it is in their archives. Theatrics from the media/city legislatures does help ease the stress a bit, I guess.  If you can handle it....this is video of an actual attack by TWO Great Whites in South Africa.....compliments of Surfer Magazine. This is as scary as it gets, folks... ....of course....they had to add dramatic music. One last comment on these creepy cartilaginous cruisers....there are NO rules... The ONLY thing you can "assume" about them is.....they may, or may not, be hungry.... Many will tell you that when you see dolphins, then there aren't sharks. NOT true....there are NO standards of behavior....they wander anywhere...there are sharks in Washington DC in the Potomac River. Any body of water attached to the sea will have sharks. Here's some recent shark attack news...San Diego vicinity.  
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Hawaii 04 visit (con't): 
After hearing about the movie and website on a local news broadcast,
I e.Mailed thesurferking.com in hopes of getting an opportunity to work
with a movie production company.  It's
a teen comedy with a great cast.  Surfboards provided by HawaiianSleds.net........huh? |
