Sharing the Stoke Invitational' Report
Wednesday, 09 April 2008
photos: set1 , set2
George Bernard Shaw once famously said, "Youth is wasted on the
young." The point being that young people have everything going for
them physically, but haven't lived long enough to possess the wisdom
and experience which comes with age, so their efforts are somehow
wasted. Whatever the reasoning one applies to such thoughts, it can't
be denied the sheer exuberance exhibited by all the groms who were
lucky enough to surf at the Groundswell Society's "Sharing the Stoke"
team surfing invitational event held March 29 and 30 at Rincon, as this
event focused not only on them, but the future of surfing as well.
Begun in 1997 and held until 2006, the Groundswell Society sponsored
the "Clean Water Classic" at the same break in an effort to bring
awareness to the need for addressing the pollution caused by septic
tanks in use by area residents near Rincon. With the help of the Heal
the Ocean organization and their septics-to-sewers project, by 2006
their combined efforts were rewarded with a complete changeover to
sewers-only and their work successfully concluded.
With that milestone achieved, Glenn Hening, founder of the
Groundswell Society, decided to take on a new project, changing the
focus from cleaning up pollution in the ocean to preparing the next
generation of surfers with the right attitude towards their fellow
waveriders. "Crowding in surfing is not new," says Glenn, "and indeed
it affects surfers just as much as pollution does. However, the way to
combat the problem is simple: sharing waves in a true spirit of the
original meaning of the word 'aloha': give away everything you don't
need." With that as a starting point, the Society set out with this new
event and its emphasis on young surfers and the community-based clubs
and organizations who support them, and bring them together for a
weekend of sharing waves together at one of the world's best surf spots.
Among the 16 organizations invited to the event, four were from San
Diego: Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association, San Diego Surf Ladies,
Pacific Beach Surf Club and Wildcoast. All were honored for their
ongoing work with young people, as were the other organizations from up
and down the California coast. The format of the "contest" was set in
polar opposites from the usual surfing contest, as teams were rewarded
under such criteria as most waves ridden and most waves shared by two
or more surfers. In some cases this turned out to be up to as many as
10 surfers on one wave, all working towards a goal of sharing equally
the energy provided by nature and having fun in the process. Suzanne
Barzee of the SD Surf Ladies summed it up perfectly, "To turn my head
and see nine friends lined up on a single wave, felt like something out
of a cheesy Gidget movie." She went on to say, "Trying to get as many
people as possible on one wave lended itself to the kind of team
building that you only experience a few times in life. It was such a
different mentality in the water than a normal surf session or
contest." Their team place 3rd in all three categories: total waves
caught, total of waves shared and total number of surfers on shared
waves.
Jim Knox, surfing with the team from Wildcoast, admitted
that the reason they placed first in all categories on Sunday was they
had so many groms in the water at the same time, all surfing with
boundless amounts of energy and catching wave after wave tirelessly.
It's that kind of enthusiasm "Share the Stoke" invitational was created
for in the first place and it was born out in full over the course of
two days.
Sharing waves together as a family, Ken Sullivan and his son Kenny
from the Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association, who traveled up to Rincon
together said, "We had a great time! Small surf but solid soulful
vibes!" Indeed, most on hand for the weekend's event had come as
families and friends, all with a single purpose in mind of pointing the
young surfers who are in our charge now, the right way forward in an
ever-increasing lineup. The club's Cher Pendarvis added, "We all had
fun, and it was wonderful to see our groms from 8-15 years have such a
great time and experience surfing Aloha-style!" The team captured 1st
place in two categories: number of waves caught and number of waves
shared.
The Pacific Beach Surf Club had organized a group of eight groms to
take north with them, but in the end were only able to manage just one
in their team lineup, Nick Hastings, after several families pulled out
at the last minute due to other obligations. "We'll just have to plan
earlier for next year," said Travis Long, the club's president. "We
were a late invitee and didn't have enough lead time for our families
to plan properly this go around," he continued, "if we're honored to be
invited back next year, we'll bring an army of groms!" With a limited
team in the water during their time slot, two Rincon locals joined the
club briefly, local legend Steve Bigler and none other than Glenn
Hening, the event's host. P.B. earned 3rd place in number of waves
caught.
At the end of each day, awards were presented to every organization,
regardless of how they had surfed. Their significance however, were
small compared with the experience everyone had enjoyed during their
time spent at the famous break. If George Bernard Shaw could have been
there himself, he would have been forced to agree, nothing had been
wasted, but plenty of stoke shared.
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