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The Maiden Voyage of the Sea NymphThe Maiden Voyage of the Sea Nymph NEW VIDEO!  I know, I know.  You thought we reached episode 13 and were cursed.  Wrong, scurvy dogs.  We just got delayed by rain and holidays.  But I am happy to bring...

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Local Report from the Eddie Aikau Big Wave ContestLocal Report from the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Contest My buddy Duane, who lives on Oahu, went over to watch the In Memory of Eddie Aikau Waiamea big wave surf contest after work yesterday.  He was only able to see the last heat,...

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Cleaning My Used Wetsuit to Get That Stink OutCleaning My Used Wetsuit to Get That Stink Out Wetsuits, by their very nature, are nearly a perfect creation for growing stinky bacteria. As your mom and biology teacher always told you, bacteria love damp, dark, warm...

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My New Michel Junod Pumkin Seed SurfboardMy New Michel Junod Pumkin Seed Surfboard Seeing The Present was the first time I'd ever heard of Michel Junod or seen his surfboards in action.  In fact, Michel Junod was at the screening of the movie when I saw...

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How To Build a Vertical Surf Rack on the CheapHow To Build a Vertical Surf Rack on the Cheap My quiver grew to a half dozen this summer and storage was becoming scarce. All the nooks, crannies and corners were spoken for and by August I was actually storing a board...

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Dog Surfing CompetitionDog Surfing Competition I attended the Dog Surfing Competition I mentioned a while back.  Then my compy crashed.  But now I am back up to full speed and I can finally bring you my pictures from...

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EPF - Episode 8: Greg's CurseEPF - Episode 8: Greg's Curse The computer woes that plagued me all last week (and on into this week) are nearly all cleared up, enough to edit last week's video anyway.  So, pretend it was last week...

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El Porto Fridays Rss

By : Jeff
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On : 16 Dec 2009
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Still rising above plastics?  Good.  Here’s a new way to help (if you have an iPhone).  There’s a new app called The Extraordinaries where organizations and non-profits are able to get the public to contribute to various causes and campaigns.  For The Surfrider Foundation the Extraordinaries is being harnessed to aid in their Rise Above [...]

By : Jeff
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On : 16 Oct 2009
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With the recent rains and the obscene amount of crud washing into Southern California’s oceans, ocean pollution has been on my mind a lot lately.  I know a lot of the problems are to do with factory farming, big business and so on, but people are to blame as well.  It got me thinking as [...]

By : Jeff
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On : 12 Oct 2009
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The Curse of the Conflicting Reports:  Surf report is showing waves up to 7 feet in the coming days.  Weather report is showing rain over the next three days.  Drat!
Heading into fall SoCal surfers are faced with the great compromise – surf vs. health.  Autumn is typically one our best surf seasons, but it is [...]

By : Jeff
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On : 01 Oct 2009
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SurfAid has set up an Emergency Response Appeal to help the people of Padang who were affected by the 7.6 earthquake of September 30th. (Surfaid is a great organization set up by surfer/physician Dr. Dave Jenkins.  The aim of Surfaid is to combat deadly, preventable diseases in areas frequented by surfers.)
I’m sure you’ve seen [...]

By : Jeff
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On : 25 Jul 2009
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File this on under damned if you do, damned if you don’t – sunblock contributes to coral reef bleaching.
An Italian university study published in the April issue of Environmental Health Perspectives links sunscreen to coral bleaching. Worse still, sunscreens can accumulate while moving up the food chain (just like mercury). The Italians tested effects of [...]

By : Jeff
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On : 25 Jun 2009
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Power to the people, babies.  It’s time to harness the power of the pen (and the web).
A bill to re-authorize the BEACH Act is moving through Congress (also known as The Clean Coastal Environment & Public Health Act of 2009 – H.R. 2093 & S.R. 878). This Act will do more to protect public health [...]

Many of you may remember Tiny Dancer, our sea lion pup we befriended on June 19th at El Porto (north end of Manhattan Beach).  Well, TD was clearly not feeling well and was way too thin for his age.  The lifeguards told us it was likely that his mother may have also been ill and [...]

By : Jeff
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On : 12 Jun 2009
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When surfing, rarely is there a day when there’s not garbage out there bobbing in the water with me – sandwich bags, chip bags, water bottles, grocery bags… I’ll pick the refuse up, curse the litterer and recycle it when I return to shore. But there is a much larger problem out there, [...]

By : Jeff
In :
On : 06 Jun 2009
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Governor Schwarzenegger is proposing that California close a grip of our state parks. This concerns you fellow surfers because many of our favorite breaks are considered “state parks” – San Onofre, Huntington, Bolsa Chica, Leo Carillo, Doheny, San Clemente…  A “State Beach” is a State Park.  So, what happens if they close?  They could [...]