Happy Birthday to Us!

HSD is celebrating their 5 year anniversary and hosted a raging party in downtown San Diego to celebrate. We invited out loyal customers, without whom we could not do what we do, and offered everyone in attendance a coveted Golden Ticket! We raffled off a beautiful triple stringer gun, perfect for gracing huge walls, of water or your home. Jimmy Greer of Surfrider took home the board, giving back to the community sure can pay off. We had fabulous prize packages thanks to our friends at OSIRIS, SRH, and HSD! My brother was the big winner of the evening, next time, get him to buy your wingspan.

Thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting local shapers and brands like HSD! A big thanks to Marion Covic for the fabulous photos and Chris and Greg from Bar 923 for hooking up the spot and free beer from Firehouse Brewing!!

Congrats are in order again for Nathan Carvalho, who flew to California on Thursday, picked up his new hand shaped 5'8 Sniper and surfed amazingly well at Salt Creek this weekend to place second. Way to go Nathan!

OFFICIAL RESULTS OF THE 2009 RIP CURL GROMSEARCH NATIONAL FINAL FUELED BY H20 OVERDRIVE

Boys 16/U:
1. Kolohe Andino (CA)- $500
2. Nathan Carvalho (HI)- $100
3. Taylor Thorne (CA)
4. Koa Smith (HI)

Groms Win at Pinetrees

HSD groms killed it at the Volcom "Youth Against Establishment" event held last weekend at Pinetrees in Kauai. HSD had 3 teamriders competing in the Juniors division, and we won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Nathan Carvalho came in first, his little brother came in 2nd, and young Jesse Gugleilmana came in third! Way to got boys! Thats what we like to see in the standings. Learn more about the event here.

Happy Halloween

Thanks Cody and Keith for making this happen!!

Magical Land of Oz

Andrea was lucky enough to spend 31 days in Byron Bay, near the most Easterly Point of Australia. They were just going into springtime, so the wind was fairly cold and strong, but there were still a few days of solid swell. Broken Head was junky but fun, head high a few days. Lennox was good twice, once was a good session, once she wound up with stitches. That's Lennox for you, everyone has their Lennox story. The other spots on the surf tour- Cozy Corners, Tallows, Dolphins, The Pass, Clark's and South Wall. There is no denying that Byron Main Beach was positively off the hook one day, the locals say it only gets like that 3 days a year. Long rides, just overhead, offshore,barrelling, not too crowded, super consistant. If it was like that all the time, Andrea may never have left, but alas work calls and now she's back.

There were other fun activities to do like feed kangaroos, hike to the lighthouse, witness the start of the Transparentsea Voyage, and visit Crystal Castle. Byron is big on yoga and meditation, the best yoga class was above the Surf Club at Main Beach. Mel is an awesome yogi, there were usually only 2 students, and the sea breeze and view was amazing.

The Future of Surfing

Join JP Holeman at the 3rd Annual "Future of Surfing" event held by ReRip.com Oct 17, 2009 from 11-3 at Fletcher Cove. The event is designed to intorduce surfers to eco-minded shapers and provide a venue to recycle surfboards. ReRip.com has been working on recycling old surfboards into concrete to use in building materials. Support their awesome working by bringing and old board to event, trading it in for a blank, and geting JP to shape you a new eco-board. Learn more.

Transparentsea

On the first day of Spring, October 1st in Australia, surfer Dave Rastovich and fellow whale-loving activists left for a month long journey to raise awareness about the plight of whales and Astralia's beaches. They took to the sea from Byron's main beach and are headed to Sydney, they should land November 5th. They are following the migrating humpback whales, stopping at beaches along the way to clean up trash, monitor rivers, and of course, surf. I was there to see them off and cheer them on. This is walking the talk, way to go!