Going Right (Without Televising the Revolution)

September South West Swell: A lot of fun :-)

Malibu First Point,  9/2011

Malibu First Point, 9/2011

Malibu First Point, 9/2011

Dynamic Duo!

Amara Green:  Varsity Water Polo, Watsonville High School

Kasem Green: Varsity Water Polo, Watsonville High School.

Amara Green: Varsity Swim Team, Watsonville High School.

ATTENTION ALL GROMS: SURF YER BRAINS OUT!

Good day all.

I hope this finds you and yours are all well. On behalf of the Malibu
Surfing Association, I want to personally invite your club's groms and
juniors to participate in our 2nd annual 'Surf Yer Brains Out'
contest, to take place Sunday, October 16th at First Point Malibu.

Last year's contest was the first event at Surfrider Beach held
*exclusively* for groms and juniors and one of our efforts to promote
the sport's next generation.

There are no date conflicts with other surfing series: Volcom, WSA, or NSSA.

Online registration is now underway for SYBO. You'll find full event
information below.

Thanks and we're looking forward to another fun, safe event. As
always, our best wishes to you, your families, and your club members.

Regards,
Michael, MSA

----------------------------------
SURF YER BRAINS OUT
----------------------------------
. a 1-day contest for groms and juniors
. Sunday, October 16th, 2011
. First Point, Surfrider Beach
. 4-person heats
. professional judges
. boys and girls; shortboarding and longboarding
. First Point's only contest exclusively for groms and juniors

== ONLINE REGISTRATION **NOW OPEN**
http://xnsinc.org/info/2011sybo/register.php
. $60 per entrant, per division
. competitors will receive: an event tshirt, a pre-contest ice cream
party, free lunch, tickets for a competitor raffle, and a cert. of
participation
. an open-entry event, contest spots will be filled on a first-come,
first-served basis
. this event SOLD OUT last year

== DIVISIONS
. BOYS U12 SHORTBOARD
. BOYS U14 SHORTBOARD
. BOYS U18 SHORTBOARD
. BOYS, OPEN LONGBOARD
. GIRLS U18 SHORTBOARD
. GIRLS, OPEN LONGBOARD

White Wash the movie West Coast Premiere Friday 9/9

Please know that the movie "White Wash", is showing Friday Sept. 9th at the Leammle Sunset 5 theater in West Hollywood and will continue to show for one week at that location. The film is a discussion about the Black Aquatic Tradition and the struggle for freedom and equality at the beach. The film makers, Ted, Orion and Dan will be at the 9:55 PM screening of the film. Some of us are planning to attend to show our support and to celebrate it's completion. If you are interested, please join us at the showing. It should be momentous occasion. peace rickb

Power to the People!

My New Pig

Oink!

Remembrance & Paddle Out for D.K. (Part II)

ALL PHOTOS BY KEN SAMUELS

DK's Paddle Out

Hello Everyone,

The Paddle-Out for "DK" is this Saturday, May 14th (see flyer)

Directions: Take the 10 freeway west , Exit 4th street and turn left, go to Pico Blvd. make a right, go 3 blocks and make a left on Ocean Bl. The entrance to the beach parking will be 2 blocks down on the right. You can drive down the hill to pay for parking or use the meters on Ocean and walk down. Look for the sign-in table on the bike path to your right.

We're asking everyone to get there about 8 o'clock so we can start promptly at 9. Afterwards we would like everyone stay and hang out for a little food, drinks(no alcohol), and music to celebrate the DK's life. Please bring a chair or two and something to contribute to the potluck.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at 323-573-6885.

Thank You,

Gregory Rachal

BSA President

Custom Wetsuit

You know, my surfing motto is: If you're going to stare, I'll give you a reason to do so.

Here is yet another reason (as if seeing a black woman with a custom board in a 1965 Ford station wagon isn't enough). I can't fit the off-the-rack suits well. They aren't made for the likes of me and my curves. So now I only buy custom. This is custom wetsuit #4. Now I'm ready for summer!

2011 Rincon Invitational (Sister Girl Waves)

Andrea ripping with style

Mary channeling Greenough


ALL PHOTOS BY KEN SAMUELS

Black surfers Influence on Black History

I spoke with a friend a last week who suggested that I go to Borders Bookstore and take a look at the book, "AFRICAN AMERICANS IN LOS ANGELES" by Karen L. Stanford, Ph.D. I was really surprised to see that the cover was a 1950's beach photo. It made me feel proud to see that we've always had a connection with the ocean and the beach. As I thumbed through the various pages for a little dose of Black History, I came to chapter 8, "A New Generation" and there on page 116 was a 2009 photo of the BSA sharing their message at Dedon's "Pan African Beach Days" event. It really let me know that the freedom that we have and the joy that we feel is really special and it is really significant to the entire Black cultural experience. We are truly the lucky ones...

We Are Family

Sometimes, this fact is easy to forget. We're not all related by name, by bloodline or even by home break. Nevertheless, the BSA is a family of surfers. There are times when we don't act like it. Then again, this happens in real families as well. Most of the time, though, we are as one. We are a tight-knit group whose bond is strong enough to weather any storm.

As the BSA sits down to prepare to memorialize our brother on the sand and in the water, we must also bear in mind that the loved ones he left behind on land need our assistance. The family is in need of donations for DK's funeral. If you can help, this is the information you will need:

Chase Bank
Savings account number: 2984199154
Routing number: 322271627
Account name of Libby Davis (DK's wife)

Information about the funeral will be given as soon as the arrangements are made. Preparations for DK's paddle out are being finalized as we speak.

The Ranch: Thank you David Keetin

Hey David,

I remember this day clearly. You kept asking me to venture out of my comfort zone and drive North with the guys to surf the Ranch. I had heard stories of how big it could get at the Ranch from Rick (and I was not havin' it).

Everyday you would ask and everyday I resisted. Frankly, I was a big chicken. But you kept pushing and encouraging me to give it try. You told me that I had the skills to handle the Ranch (I wasn't so sure about that). Anyway, you finally managed to get me to get over my fears and come with you to surf the Ranch.

Lucky for me the surf was crappy and closed out. You were disappointed but I was secretly relieved! I was also happy to have been given that push from you to venture out of my comfort zone. You always encouraged me to travel more. You always pushed me to explore more surf destinations (you planted that seed for surf travel).

Thank you David. I will miss your generosity and your stoke.

In Memory of David Keetin

This message is to our friend that passed on this weekend. His name is David Keetin....R.I.P.- DK. Thank you for your friendship and all that you have done for me and for the development of our organization. In my mind you stand amongst our all time BSA legends in your pursuit of furthering BSA world travel and international relations. You are truly an adventurer who took us with you. I will never forget you. peace

Andrea on Liquid Salt (an Online Publication)

Liquid Salt published an interview with Andrea. It's, in a word, amazing. The entire article is reprinted below.

Andrea Kabwasa

by Mary Mills · 8 comments

Andrea Kab­wasa is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer, artist, and teacher who exudes stoke every minute of the day. The joy she feels while surf­ing is evi­dent in the style and poise she exhibits on every wave. Andrea exem­pli­fies all that is right about this thing we call “surf­ing.“

What was your life like grow­ing up?
Our fam­ily trav­eled a lot when I grew up. Every cou­ple of years, we would pick up and move to a new, and very dif­fer­ent, part of the world. It’s all kind of a blur really—except, of course, for bits and pieces that stayed lodged into my long term mem­ory… like watch­ing my par­ents danc­ing at a friends party in Ethiopia. They seemed really happy. Or drink­ing fresh spring water squirt­ing out of a cliff in a jun­gle on our way to our fam­ily clan’s main vil­lage of Aten, Congo. I remem­ber jump­ing into the Kwilu River in Kik­wit. My sis­ters and I loved rid­ing the river’s cur­rent. My aunts would always scream hys­ter­i­cally that hip­pos and alli­ga­tors would eat us. We never believed it. Our dad said it was just superstition.

I also have mem­o­ries of always want­ing to be close to my sis­ters, Celine and Flo­rence. Celine gave me back­bone and exuded fun. Flo­rence always let me sleep in her bed when I was afraid at night. I remem­ber mak­ing my first free throw shot at a local park in Hawthorne, Cal­i­for­nia. It sur­prised me so much I lost my breath. There are so many ran­dom, and not so ran­dom, mem­o­ries scat­tered through­out my life grow­ing up.

When did you get your first surf­board?
Age 32. That was the year of major epipha­nies for me.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I can’t remem­ber really. I do, how­ever, remem­ber how I felt afterwards—happy. I had for­got­ten what that felt like, to be truly happy with­out a care in the world (even if it was only for an hour). Need­less to say, I was hooked.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young woman?
What is young? I feel younger now than ever before. When I was 12 and under, I looked up to my sis­ter Flo­rence. At around 13 to 20 years of age, I looked up to my sis­ter Celine and my mom. Between 20 and 30, I fell in love with artists. Charles White? His fig­ures felt mon­u­men­tal to me. Jusepe de Rib­era? His intense sub­ject mat­ter and mas­ter­ful fig­ure paint­ing blows my mind. Basquiat? His paint­ings speak to me for their child­like style. Yet, at the same time, the paint­ings are com­plex and lay­ered, like jazz music. Basquiat cracked that secret “kid” code. I envy that.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
France, South­ern Baja and South­ern Cal­i­for­nia are all impor­tant to me for dif­fer­ent rea­sons. France stands out because of the trau­matic board­ing school expe­ri­ence. It haunted me all my life. Surf­ing and coun­sel­ing was the cure. South­ern Cal­i­for­nia is the only loca­tion that has truly felt like home to me.

South­ern Baja stands out as my place of rebirth. I had the longest noseride in my life in Baja. It lasted so long that I closed my eyes, looked up to the sky with my hands raised to the sky and said “Thank you.” This ride changed me inter­nally, com­pletely and for­ever. I found my heaven here on Earth while surf­ing. I feel so blessed, hum­bled and grate­ful for this oppor­tu­nity to feel pure hap­pi­ness in the midst of all the trou­bles that are occur­ring in our society.

Who or what inspires you?
Cre­ativ­ity, music, the ocean and wave riding.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
That is a tough ques­tion for me… I tend to look at life lessons in non-hierarchical terms. In my view, the act of learn­ing is organic. I know that all lessons learned, lead to a health­ier and hap­pier me. If I had to choose a con­sis­tent theme in most of my life lessons, then it would to value “change”. Surf­ing is all based on move­ment and learn­ing how to adjust/adapted to change suc­cess­fully (with­out fight­ing it).

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
Stu­dent loans. Oooooh, I regret them so much!

What are you most proud of?
Another tough ques­tion … I guess the moments in life that show me that any­thing is pos­si­ble. I feel hap­pier within myself these days. I’m proud of that.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Short ver­sion? Surf­ing saved my life. Long ver­sion? When I dis­cov­ered surf­ing, I was try­ing to recover from the psy­cho­log­i­cal effects and residue of an abu­sive rela­tion­ship. Surf­ing gave me joy and hap­pi­ness when I hadn’t felt hap­pi­ness in years. I will never for­get my drive home after my first surf­ing lessons. I was filled with a pure hap­pi­ness, the kind of hap­pi­ness that wasn’t con­nected to any­thing or any­one. I was sim­ply happy.

So, for me, surf­ing is hap­pi­ness, love and self-empowerment. The act of inter­act­ing with water cleansed my inner spirit. Before surf­ing, the lens from which I viewed life was pretty dirty. I was filled with low self-worth and, at times, I made some pretty self-destructive choices. Surf­ing redi­rected that energy in a pos­i­tive direc­tion. When I surf, I feel beau­ti­ful. I’m a start­ing to feel beau­ti­ful on dry land too now.

Did your art­work change when you started surf­ing? If so, in what way(s)?
My art work is a reflec­tion of how I feel emo­tion­ally. Before surf­ing, my art­work had a sad, emo­tional under­tone to it. Then, surf­ing allowed me to expe­ri­ence hap­pi­ness on a daily basis. As I began to heal within myself, so too did my art­work. Lately, I mind surf on can­vas. I paint my ver­sions of what I believe Par­adise would look and feel like. It’s fun to paint my surf dreams. The icing on the cake is when my surf dreams come true. That’s a total trip!

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Hap­pi­ness is those rare moments when you are so com­pletely locked in, that you feel like you are danc­ing in har­mony with life itself. Each wave has a dif­fer­ent rhythm and a dif­fer­ent dance. I like wave-dancing. It makes me happy.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Cyrus Sut­ton is impor­tant. I love the “Surf Suf­fi­cient” posts on his web­site, Korduroy.tv. The site is all about help­ing you learn how to do-it-yourself. Learn­ing to surf suf­fi­ciently is a con­cept that I hope will help shape the path for surf­ing today and in the future. I also think style will always shape the path of surf­ing. Surfers that styl­is­ti­cally excite me are Derek Hynd, Tyler War­ren, Jimmy Gam­boa, Julie Cox, Joel Tudor and Kevin Connelly.

What is your favorite board?
I have three boards on rota­tion. My Tim Phares Fluid Drive (Com­bat Model) is my favorite. Thank you, Tim!! I am more of a fin addict than a quiver junkie. My fins allow me to breathe new life into my old surf­boards. I love fig­ur­ing out how a fin’s design, and/or place­ment, changes the feel of my ride. I have fun explor­ing how fins enhance my slid­ing options.

Your favorite surf spot?
To date, Scor­pion Bay, Surfrider Beach and Saladitas.

What’s your favorite meal?
My favorite meal is an Ethiopian meal eaten with friends and fam­ily. Ethiopian food is served in a huge round plat­ter and you eat with your hands. You grab the food with a sour, doughy, flat, pancake-like bread called injera. For the appe­tizer, veg­e­tar­ian samosas. For the main course, dorot wot, kitfu, awaze tibs, yel­low and red lentils, cooked cab­bage with pota­toes and car­rots along with fried trout.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
My sum­mer down­loads included Lau­ryn Hill’s “I Gotta Find Peace of Mind,” Xavier Rudd’s “No Woman No Cry,” Sublime’s “Doin’ Time (Uptown Dub),” Indigo Swing’s “My Baby Just Cares for Me,” Sade’s “Baby­fa­ther” and Kate Nash’s “Nicest Thing”.

What are you most grate­ful for?
I am grate­ful for my family’s love. I am grate­ful for the oceans and surf­ing. I am grate­ful for my drink­ing water. I am grate­ful for cre­ativ­ity. I am grate­ful for the stu­dents that I love to teach. I am grate­ful for South­ern Cal­i­for­nia weather. I am grate­ful for my friends. I am grate­ful for my planet. This list could go on and on. There is so much for me to be thank­ful and grate­ful for. Life is beau­ti­ful and I am thank­ful I have the oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence it.

What’s next for Andrea Kab­wasa?
Some sort of change.

Pho­tog­ra­phy cred­its: Ken Samuels (top photo, surf­board art, por­trait). Bar­rel photo by Jack Hud­kins and soul arch photo by JD Massey.

RB Paddle Out Reflections

I'm so proud to be a part of a community, our Black surfing community that displays love compassion and respect for the many others who walk this similar journey on the planet. We are the lucky one's who have gotten the chance to be free and to live our dreams. Those dreams do come with risks, but life has always been risky. Together we gathered to celebrate Zama's life and to acknowledge his peaceful transition. And together there we dipped into our Mother Ocean. Once again I felt the warm connection deep inside that only sharing service with other surfers seems to bring. Thanks to Andrea for organizing and Mary, Ken, Rusty, Sharon, Marie, Donna, Dave and Will for their participation.

Panel Discussion at the CAAM

All photos by Ken Samuels

BSA Paddle Out for South African Surfer

All photos by Ken Samuels.