Cleaning Up the EC, GO-Bama, and Surf Update

Good morning! I am writing this after almost driving out to Long Beach this morning to volunteer. I have admittedly not been out to the beach communities since the storm hit, but I have been holding all of those affected in my heart and have been trying to think of ways that I can help AND get my work done (grading papers, preparing lectures, studying for a PhD exam in Latin, writing four other papers, running a journal, completing the research I was hired to conduct, the list goes on). Fortunately there are others in this world who dedicate themselves to finding immediate and physical solutions to problems such as those caused by Sandy and we should be grateful to them. I am sure you have all seen a number of facebook and twitter posts about ways you can help and donate. I strongly urge that you do. A program that has caught my eye as having a significant plan and ability to impact the clean up and rebuilding situation in a major way is Waves for Water's Hurricane Sandy Relief Initiative. They have a timeline and an easy way to donate/get involved right there on the site. I have decided that I am going to hold a raffle in the coming weeks to win a surfboard and a few surf lessons. I first need to get the paypal account associated with Conatus Surf Club established, but that shouldn't take too long. All proceeds from the raffle will go either to Waves for Water or to another fund which I see as having a direct impact on improving the situation affected by the storm. It is getting colder, the sewage is overflowing into the ocean, there is debris everywhere, etc., etc., etc., very bad. People aren't working and a lot of them did not have flood insurance. At the end of the day, the insurance of human community is a far better system anyhow.

In other news, there was an election and it was a big deal. Obama won. I am overjoyed at the result. I do not have the space here to elaborate on why I feel that this is so awesome as well as Rachel Maddow already has, so you can watch her break it down right HERE. So inspiring to see a politician who is willing to face facts and deal with them (not that the conservative dinosaurs still in the House and Senate aren't going to make things hard for him—oh they will—but in this case it's the statement of truth that is most important).

Last, surf lessons are pretty much done in NY for the winter 2012/13. Had Sandy not rolled through there might have been a few more weekends to eke out some quality water time. But now there is no water quality clean enough in the foreseeable future to go surfing close to Manhattan. And all gas spent on a trip out to the beach should be utilized in the clean up efforts anyhow. As much as I myself don't want to admit it, considering time constraints of city life, the sewage problem, the gas crisis and the amount of help needed in the beach communities, surfing (not just lessons) is over for NY surfers for the time being. I think it may be clean enough out east and down in North Carolina, but then you have travel and time to contend with. Trips away from the East Coast (PR, CR, DR, CA, HI, EU, UK, etc.) are probably better options if you need some quality surf time. That said, Conatus Surf Club at Rancho DiAndrew is still planning to run January 5-12; 12-19; 19-25.

Conatus Surf Club + RDA

Good morning people. First off, again, my heart goes out to all effected by Hurricane Sandy. Just found out my friend, Joe Falcone of Grey Ghost Surfboards, had his family home and shaping bay destroyed. Joe is working with others to clean up the Rockaways. I'm still in Brooklyn. Power is expected to be restored in Lower Manhattan by tomorrow night/Sunday morning at the earliest. This is a tragedy to say the least but life does go on. As soon as I regained internet I began solidifying plans with my brother, Andrew, for the Conatus Surf Club Retreat at our property in Costa Rica, Rancho DiAndrew. We've put together a comprehensive package that includes transportation while you're in CR, pickup and drop off at the San Jose Int'l Aeropuerto, meals and beverages, lodging, and lots of other radness. We aim to accommodate 4-6 guests per retreat. The first retreat is January 5-12 and the second is January 12-19. To inquire further please email conatussurfclub@gmail.com or andrew@ranchodiandrew.com. To be clear you can check out the whole package HERE. We will be taking 50% deposits via paypal.

A note on the name changing: as with any budding business I've been working hard to have my name fit my brand. As some may know from lessons and conversations with me, Conatus is Latin word that I take from the philosophy of Spinoza (especially from his major well-known work the Ethics). It denotes the force within a being that seeks to endeavor to persist in its own being. Another way of saying this for us humans is that we seek to increase our capacity to act. Our capacity to act is made greater when we share knowledge with one another. This is the underlying principle behind the name and thus the brand. I was working with some hand-drawn logos when the consultant/graphic designer suggested that 'academy' is perhaps to institutional for the vibe I am after. I immediately saw his point and decided that 'club' is much more up my alley, especially since I'm all about community and encompassing a greater sense of belonging. And so there you have it, at least now provisionally. I am not going to change the url of this blog because that is too much of a hassle at the present moment. I'm just going to wait until I have a new site. I also hope to have a few stickers, tees, and patches made sometime in the not too far off future, and will definitely have some speciality items made for those that participate in the Conatus Surf Club + RDA Retreat in January.

Last note on water quality in NY: the water is nasty. Sewage plants cannot process and it's running out into the harbor/ocean. The best bet right now, if you have enough gasoline and gumption, is to get to the nearest community in need and help out if you can. If you cannot the best thing to do is to conserve energy and to share time with loved ones.

Hurricane Sandy Updates

First pulse of Sandy Swell on Sunday. Good fun before the beach got swallowed 24 hrs later. 

Good morning to all reading this. To those that can't because you have no power, internet, or cell service, I feel for you. I am writing from a friend's apartment in Brooklyn. Here's my Sandy story: I surfed on Sunday (see pic above) and the waves were incredibly fun. Definitely the most powerful surf I've paddled in since Hurricane Ike (which nearly or maybe did break my nose). When I pulled up to Long Beach townspeople were scrambling to get sand into bags and the parking lots were jam packed with seekers of aquatic thrills. I had been texting my surf buddies all morning. They had all got to the beach at 7am. I didn't want to mess with that bombing early am high tide and so I wasn't motivated to surf at all. But then around 8:45am my friend Tyler sent an irresistible shot of a righthand barrel and I jumped in the whip solo and sped east. I had a dream session. Caught ten waves or so in the course of an hour and a half and managed to never get worked—I did get barreled and I did get a wave the length of the beach with all of my friends watching. I had no clue when the storm was to set in and wanted to avoid trouble, so I considered that a job well done and drove back to the city. I couldn't do any philosophy work. I just followed Sandy predictions on Facebook and the Weather Channel. It clearly didn't hit Sunday night (so then kicked myself for a few hours because I probably should have surfed again). Then Monday morning I also knew there was surf, but was too worried about stranding my vehicle or getting caught in the middle of the impending doom. Plus that mega tide was messing with things early again. Knowing what I know now, I guess I could have attempted to surf Coney Island around 11am, but still maybe too sketchy. I stayed in Manhattan and once again followed the news on the net. I kept all electronic devices plugged in and downloaded three episodes of the newest season of Boardwalk Empire (ironic to say the least). My girl and I went for a walk around 5pm to get a feel for the strength of the system. We had slices at Gino's on Christopher. Never knew they made such good pizza. Then walked down in our rain boots to the see the Hudson entering the West Side Hwy. Mini waves lapped through the railings and walk bridges became submerged quickly. The storm still hadn't officially hit. After a lengthy stroll around the hood we were hit by a few big gusts. At that point we went home for the duration of the storm. The building shook at the biggest blasts. Power went out at 8pm. We got through the third episode of Bwalk and the computer died. We awoke on Tuesday to downed trees. The car was/is fine. No damage to our property unlike many others who were closer to the water. We spent Tuesday at Buvette restaurant, which is owned by our good friend, and "helped" them get rid of food that was going to go bad. After another night without power and reception, yesterday (Wednesday) we decided to take up our friend's offer to stay in Brooklyn. So we packed the car with a few things and headed over the Williamsburg Bridge. We realize now that we forgot a few things over there (my surfboards!, my girl's glasses, and some other stuff), but can't go back in the car because traffic is so gnarly. So for now we're "stuck" in Brooklyn. We may, however, try to head back in later, but still not sure if it's worth it. Just may wait for power to be restored. There are a few more things I want to update about—the surf retreat I'm planning in Costa Rica, whether it's safe for us to surf right now due to water quality, and yet another slight name change (Conatus Surf Club)—but this post is long enough for now. I'll get back about all those in a bit. Be safe everyone and say whatever kind of prayer you may say for those that have lost everything.

The D. Hynd NY Sessions

As promised, I put together a little iPhone flick of the Derek Hynd talk with Jamie Brisick at Pilgrim Surf + Supply. Dane Reynolds and Marine Layer watch out! this is way jankier than your productions. Ha. And a bit longer. I know 14 minutes is an ask for an online short, but there's just way too many good nuggets in Derek's talk to have cut it shorter. Here he addresses his own career, Occy's rise, the founding of the Search and Tom Curren's role, and gives a hilarious anecdote about Damien Hardman. With a guest appearance by Nick Carroll on airs. Enjoy! -D

Epic Week and Plans for a Surf Camp in CR

Saturday was perfect. 

Things are finally settling back down, but only slightly, just enough to speed up again. The whirlwind week of surfing with Derek Hynd ended with a trip back out to Long Island, another to New Jersey and the last was for a lesson in the Rockaways. The highly successful surf meetup happened in the in-between. And this reminds me that I still owe you all that write up on the importance of surf buddies. I can only promise it will come as soon as I've nailed about 60 other pages of writing. I mentioned at the meet up that I will be running a camp in Costa Rica in January. I am now working on the details of cost, accommodations, capacity, and dates. I can assure you it will be after January 4th. It's a plan I've hatched up with my brother who has also been teaching lessons using my method for the past six years. As some of you know, he and I own a nice piece of land in Uvita, Costa Rica called Rancho DiAndrew. We have cabins on the land and a main house. There is tons of wildlife and waterfalls in walking distance to the property. He cooks up some amazing grub, some of the produce for which is grown directly on the property. We're working on rounding up a bevvy of boards right now. This camp is not going to be one of those identical softtop and rashguard affairs. We are going to have a variety of boards so that people can figure out what suits them best. We might even be selling some back to students if they just happen to click with one (this is a plan I am also hatching here in New York—I want to start getting different lesson boards and selling to students). We will also continue developing ocean knowledge and lineup awareness. So yeah Conatus Surf Academy at Rancho DiAndrew is in the works! Warm water and an authentic surf trip vibe. Stay tuned.

Whirlwind Week and Meet Up Tomorrow

Juan and Derek post surf. 

Hey world. A little brain dead over here after surfing for four days in a row. The first two days I arguably could have done without surf-wise, but a strange turn of events had Derek Hynd on board for a few surf missions. The first two days, Monday and Tuesday, were not that great. The muck before the real swell arrived, but he was supposed to head to Chile on Monday night, so at that point it was then or never for a surf in NY. I knew the waves were going to be terrible everywhere with a howling SE wind, gusting to about 30 knots, and this filled me with a bit of that "damn this a bummer" sense, but then I picked myself up and thought, "well dammit you get to surf with one of your surf style heroes and that doesn't happen every day so just figure out the best place to go." I picked Juan up at 8th Ave and 14th St and we discussed the surf on the way up to 27th to scoop Derek and a fellow named  Murray. Juan is a very keen observer of wind and swell conditions and made the call for a spot out in the Hamptons. If we bee-lined it would could get there in 1.5 hours and it was just 6am. So we scooped Murray—who turns out is both a surfer and a photographer that runs a site called The Sprout Daily— and Derek on gritty Fashion Ave. and headed straight out there. We ran into a bit of road flooding trouble with the high tide on the sound—but thankfully my car is amphibious and we survived. We arrived at the destination and it looked like absolute hell, but a walk up the beach revealed a decent enough right hander. For this trip you can visit Murray's site where he posted a few pics. There's one of me on a bomb (probably the best wave I caught that day) exhibiting a somewhat suspect safety style. My back knee is not dropped nearly enough, but it's a nice wave, so I'll take it. At any rate, even (and especially) surf instructors need to check themselves. I promise to lean back and tuck that knee in next time. So I'm not going to tell the next two days worth of stories, because that would take up far too much time that I've already lost on my coursework. Let's just say the next day wasn't that great either, but yesterday was superlative.

In closing, I am hosting a meet and greet for surf students tomorrow at Spain Bar and Restaurant on 13th St. between 6th and 7th Aves (closer to 6th). Would love to see you there!

Jamie Brisick on Derek Hynd

Well I trolled the net for not too long to find you some surf footage of Jamie Brisick, but I couldn't find anything because he stopped doing that whole thing (pro surfing) well before the age of youtube. But there's a lot of great writing out there. Here's a piece from his blog that he did on D. Hynd to give a bit of back story: http://jamiebrisick.com/article/the_long_twirl_three_decades_of_derek_hynd_in_the_surfers_journal