A-Frames and Ice Cream Headaches

March 10, 2011 by 1 Comment

My Imperial Beach Patch column of March 9th.

Like most of you I haven’t been able to keep track of the the non-stop weekend rain storms followed by Santa Ana conditions with good clean surf.

IB in the winter. Photo: Rob Hurlbut, Theworldisraw.com

“After such a great January and first half of February, the rest of 2011 thus far wasn’t quite so epic,” said Wildcoaster, IB surfer, and Matuse team member Zach Plopper. “Nonetheless, on Tuesday, the south side of the pier finally lit up providing tube time and ice-cream headaches all around.”

I dawn patrolled with the groms on Tuesday morning at 5:50. Alex Yepis soon followed. I scored a few hollow rights and a cool barrel. Dave Thomas was of course ripping. I caught a wave in at about 7:30. It was cold and I was cold. Later I watched Zach and Kyle Knox rip it up when the tide got higher and the offshore wind cleaned it up.

By the way check out Zach’s cool new video with Matuse family members Chris Del Moro and Luke Rife ripping it up in North County.

Despite the odd conditions, IB locals are keeping fit and preparing for the OAKLEY Surf Shop Team Challenge on Friday March 11th at Seaside Reef in Solana Beach.

“I have been training for the Challenge,” said Sean Malabanan. “I will represent The SurfHut and surf with Sean Fowler, Matt Field, Keith McCloskey who will represent our hometown shop.”

On Tuesday Sean and Matt Field were getting familiar with Seaside.  Friday’s event is the Southwest Regional Qualifier, winning team to compete at H.B. for $10,000 purse.

“Wish us luck,” said Sean.

Luckily a few surfers are traveling and meeting up with their IB bretheren around the globe. “Mercedes and I had a wonderful time on the North Shore last month visiting IBer’s Kim and Lynn Dodds at their Sunset Beach home,” recounted Jeff. “They are the most incredible hosts. The surfing highlight of our trip was a go-out at Leftovers with Terry Gillard Kim, A.J. Hubbard, Javier Mata, and Kristyan Stjerne. We spent another week on Kauai at Abram and Jenine’s coffee farm in Kona, helping out with coffee production from picking to roasting. I caught some classic overhead waves at Lymans, a great left in Kailua.”

Terry Gillard, Kim Dodds and Jeff Knox on the North Shore. Photo: Jeff Knox

When you stop by Katy’s Café ask Katy about her epic trip to surf the secret spots of Guerrero, Mexico with Cat and Kristy of Siren Surf Adventures.

“I had one of the best days  in my life surfing a left until I couldn’t surf anymore,” said Katy. “I saw whales, watched sea turtles swim under me, and even saw a shark. The wildlife was abundant, and the water was about 90 degrees in the shallows.”

Ben McCue and I will be hosted by Cat Slatinsky and Kristy Murphy next week as we tour the coast of Guerrero with the WiLDCOAST team that is based out of Acapulco. Lots of swell is on the way and according to Cat, “The surf is firing right now.”

I can’t wait to surf and hang out with two of my favorite and most stoked and positive IB locals. Cat and Kristy never seem to tire of doing good things and connecting people to look on the bright side of life.

I’ll be at Coronado’s Bay Books on Thursday March 10th from 6:30-8:00 PM talking about my book, Wild Sea: Eco-Wars and Surf Stories from the Coast of the Californias. Hope to see you there.

And thanks to all the IB locals and good friends who lent their support at my mother’s wonderful and laughter filled memorial service at the Dempsey Center last Sunday.

See you in the water.

Filed Under: Imperial Beach, Mexico, Surfing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Underwater Parks and the Tijuana Sloughs

December 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Surfing the Sloughs 1967. Photo: Bill Gove

Underwater Parks Approved for Southern California Coast

Back in 1980 when I was 16 I sat in front of bulldozers and was beat up by thugs  to stop them from damming up the Tijuana river mouth and build a marina in the Tijuana Estuary.

But we won and 30 years later I surf the offshore reefs of the now Federally protected Estuary that are an MPA with my sons –and you can see waves breaking on cobble reefs that are now protected.

Serge Dedina and his son Israel surfing the Tijuana Sloughs, now protected as a Marine Protected Area.

It was only until the MPA process that this amazing reef—home to our resident pod of bottlenose dolphins and probably the most important leopard shark spawning site in So Cal– were officially recognized as a real ecosystem.

More recently we stopped a $75 million Army corps dredging project that would have destroyed the reef—and used its nomination as an MPA to justify our efforts.

Doing the right thing for the Ocean is always the right thing!!!

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Public News Service


Underwater Parks Created for Southern California

December 16, 2010
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The southern California coastline is getting some underwater protection. The state Fish and Game Commission voted late Wednesday to approve a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that will stretch from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border.

Marcela Gutierrez with Wildcoast says a variety of groups and the public have been working for two years on plans to create the underwater parks.

“This is a trailblazing effort. It’s one of the first of its kind in the world. The whole conservation community is watching, and it’s great for our coastal oceans going forward.”

Gutierrez says the MPAs ultimately will become fish nurseries that will benefit fishermen.

“They basically spill over, and then you have this phenomenon, which we’ve had already in the Channel Islands. People are already fishing the line because they know these are the areas where fish are more abundant.”

The compromise plan approved by the Fish and Game Commission will protect sea life and habitats at biodiversity hot spots, Gutierrez says, while leaving nearly 90 percent of the coast open for fishing.

Gutierrez points out that a healthy ocean and the recreational uses it supports are a major economic engine for California. According to a recent study, more than 90 percent of coastal recreation in southern California is non-consumptive, and the area generates $22 billion in revenue and more than 350,000 jobs each year.

Filed Under: Imperial Beach, Surfing, U.S.-Mexico Border, WiLDCOAST Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brett Bender’s Shaping Life

December 15, 2010 by 1 Comment

Brett Bender at work at the TNT factory in Imperial Beach.

From my Imperial Beach and Coronado Patch surfing column of Nov 15.

Brett Bender can be found most mornings surfing his modern longboard south of the Imperial Beach Pier. Brett’s son Noah is one the key members of the Imperial Beach Grom Squad, most of whom surf Brett’s ultra-modern and progressive Natural Selection custom shortboards.

Q: Why did you start shaping surfboards and when

A: I started shaping surfboards at the age of 14 in my mom’s garage, because the whole process fascinated me and I thought it would be fun to make money at something you love to do. At 19 I got a job airbrushing and shaping for Mitch’s in La Jolla, manufacturing them at Star Glassing at Brown Field.

I shaped for labels like Iron Cross, Dove, Airwaves and World Motion, Ezera, Marbella, Tony Staples, Bear, Gordon and Smith, Blue Water and others. The whole time I evolved my own Natural Selection Surfboards designs. I am also airbrushing at TNT and creating retro and 60’s style longboards in Japan. I airbrushed for shapers such as Rusty, Mike Hynson, Skip Frye, Nev Hyman and too many more to mention.

The heyday of surfboards for me was in the late 80s, early 90s when it seemed like everyone had lots of work before cheap imports from China and elsewhere and computer shaping machines.

Q: What shapers influenced you starting out and today?

A: When I started shaping I was interested in Ben Aipa’s shapes until Simon Anderson’s three-fin thruster came out. Simon was the man. I had the opportunity to work and learn from international shapers in the 80s and 90s including Almir Salazar, Paulo Cabral and Geraldo Rinaldi in Brazil, Grant Miller from Australia, Kim Purington and Steve Elliot from Hawaii. I learned their techniques and tricks of the trade.

Most of all, David Craig has influenced me the most because I have been watching him shape since I was a teenager and he is a true master of his craft.

Q: Where are you favorite places to surf?

A: I love surfing here at home in Imperial Beach. My favorite spots are point breaks like Byron Bay and Noosa Heads in Australia or Scorpion Bay, Mexico.

Q: What designs that you are working on?

A: Currently the boards I have been working on that have received excellent feedback have been shorter, wider and thicker using a modern version of the old fish blanks allowing for the extra volume with dialed-in modern rocker.

Q: What is happening with surfboard materials that are new and exciting?

A: All different board designs are being ordered in the epoxy medium, since they are lighter and more buoyant. Epoxy seems to be what a lot of people need because they love them. My favorite boards to make are actually 60s style with resin tints, traditional outlines and rails with modern high performance hidden in with lightness, bottom contours, step decks and a really good fin.

Q: Where did the collapse of Clark Foam leave the surfboard industry?

A: The collapse of Clark foam was devastating. Almost 50 years of experience gone, 100’s of rocker combinations, the special stringers, the famous molds all gone which were irreplaceable. Personally it was difficult because I do mostly handshapes. Dozens of blank companies popped-up only to quickly go out of business. A few good companies remain over five years later already.

Q: Is there a future for the small “handcrafted” surfboard shaper/manufacturer?

A: There is always a place for handshaped boards, the personalized custom board. But there will always be a place for the computer board, the highly evolved high performance shape that takes hours to achieve by hand and only takes minutes by computer.

Q: What it is about shaping that keeps you motivated?

A: The most rewarding thing about making surfboards is creating and surfing them with my son Noah whose love for the sport and interest in surfboard design has inspired me.

Serge Dedina is the Executive Director of WiLDCOAST and the author of Wild Sea: Eco-Wars and Surf Stories from the Coast of the Californias.

Filed Under: Imperial Beach, Surfing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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