Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to the following copyrighted material. For permission to reprint or excerpt it and/or link it to another website, contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com

Drive down Beach Boulevard in Westminster and you can’t miss Coral Reef – a surf and wetsuit shop that’s a tropical oasis on a busy street.

Adding a splash of vibrant color to the neighborhood, Coral Reef has been in the same location (14161 Beach Boulevard, Westminster, CA 92683) since 1979. It’s known for its custom wetsuits (“Made in the USA”), surfboards, beach clothing, island décor, and much more (www.coralreefwetsuits.com).

Owner Tony Jones, the person front and center at Coral Reef, is a legend in the wetsuit industry.

Jones’ wetsuits are custom designed and he tailors them for a perfect fit. “We build the best and fix the rest,” Jones told SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel. Coral Reef guarantees its wetsuits for a year and some have lasted as long as 10 years. The wetsuits have gained a reputation as the “Longest Lasting Wetsuits on the Planet,” a phrase Jones trademarked.

Mike Parque getting fitted for a wetsuit

Jones, a strong supporter of the Surfrider Foundation, offers discounts to Surfrider members. Just bring in your current membership card and Coral Reef will waive all custom fees on wetsuits, giving you a custom-tailored wetsuit of your choice for the standard rack price…a savings of about 50%.

Some of the surfing legends who have used Coral Reef wetsuits include Corky Carroll, Greg Noll, Rabbit Kekai, Mickey Munoz, Guy Takayama, and Eve Fletcher.

Coral Reef’s Gallery of Surfing Legends

One of the fun things about Coral Reef is checking out the gallery of autographed photos of the surfers and celebrities who swear by Jones’ wetsuits. Take a look and you’ll see Dean Torrence of singing duo Jan and Dean and Surf City fame.

A dedicated surfer with a love of tropical islands and rainforests, Jones has filled Coral Reef with island-themed products –

tikis and mirrors handmade from coconut palm…

Hawaiian furniture…

posters and framed art…

Karla Chidester drove down from Bakersfield to pick up these pictures

fabrics, T-shirts and board shorts…

Sunny couldn’t wait to try on her new Coral Reef T-shirt

surf accessories, surfboards, and skateboards.

Jones, who is also an inventor, created the first solar surfboard.

During his travels to remote surfing spots Jones had problems charging the batteries for his electronic devices. It turns out there aren’t many electrical outlets in the middle of paradise. But, then he met a scientist who made lightweight solar panels. That’s how Jones’ idea for his Outback line of solar panel-equipped surfboards began.

“The solar panel is so light that it doesn’t add extra weight to the surfboard,” Jones explained to SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti. “The Outback Surfboard charges small electric devices – cell phones, iPods, smartphones, digital cameras and flashlights – off the solar panel grid embedded in the board. And you don’t need adapters or have to worry about compatibility from country-to-country.”

Jones was so pleased with his solar surfboard creation that he added solar tables, chairs and surf bags, too.

For another project Jones teamed up with John Folliott, a surfboard shaper who owns Biohazard Custom Surfboards (www.biohazardsurfboards.com), to design and make special surfboards that are half the weight of regular surfboards.

John Folliott and Tony Jones

The Biohazard boards have 25% more buoyancy, which makes them perfect for senior surfers. The inspiration for them came from when Folliott was a medical materials manager.
Jones, who seems to spend as much time inventing as surfing or making wetsuits, even designed a motorized bicycle for those who bike long distances along the beach.

Whenever you get tired or just want a break, turn on the motor and enjoy the scenery.
Whether you’re looking for the perfect wetsuit, board or accessories or want to add some islands’ flair to your home, Tony Jones can fill the bill.

Patti,Tiki and Sunny

SurfWriter Girls discovered that getting away to a tropical oasis can be just around the corner…at Coral Reef.

www.surfwritergirls.blogspot.com

There’s a Sea Change in Gardening

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to the following copyrighted material. For permission to reprint or excerpt it and/or link it to another website, contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com

First in a series of SurfWriter Girls features on Ocean Friendly Gardens

Even if you don’t have an ocean view you can still have an ocean friendly garden. SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel have been gathering the information you need – from the Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Gardens specialists, landscaping experts, and other resources.

You might not realize that your garden is connected to the ocean. But, it is. Choosing what to plant and where to plant it can have a major impact on the quality of our oceans. By choosing plants and ground cover with minimal water needs and paying attention to drainage, fertilizers and pesticides, you can help to preserve our water supply and keep pollutants from contaminating the ocean.

At the Surfrider Foundation’s Huntington/Seal Beach Chapter’s January meeting on Ocean Friendly Gardens everyone learned about the dangers of water runoff.

Residential water runoff – and the pollutants that go with it – is a major threat to the environment. It eventually ends up in the ocean, damaging its beauty, making it unfit for recreation and poisoning the sea life.

As noted on the Surfrider H/SB Chapter’s website (www.hsbsurfrider.org), sediment carried in water runoff reduces the ocean’s clarity. Nutrients increase algae populations and red tides. Bacteria make it necessary to close beaches. Debris can choke and suffocate aquatic species. The pesticides can poison fish…which are later consumed by humans.

But, it doesn’t have to be like this. Ocean friendly gardens are low in water usage, low in maintenance…and, best of all, they’re beautiful – for you to enjoy and for what they do for the environment

Surfrider Member Seth Matson’s Ocean Friendly Garden

Leading the Ocean Friendly Gardens discussion were Surfrider Foundation members Greg Goran and Paul Herzog, joined by Lenica Castner, City of Huntington Beach Water Conservation Specialist, and Pamela Berstler of the Green Gardens Group (G3).

Greg Goran

To breathe new life into your garden and save the coastal environment, Greg Goran explained that it’s “important to know CPR – Conservation, Permeability and Retention – gardening methods” created by the Surfrider Foundation.

Conserving the water, fertilizer and pesticides you use keeps waste to a minimum.  Using permeable (porous) landscaping surfaces, such as gravel and biologically active soil, reduces water runoff. Focusing on retention techniques – basins, trenches and rain water barrels – enables you to collect and store water for reuse.

Paul Herzog

Paul Herzog added that you also “need to know your H20 and have an integrated water management program” in place that looks at your water usage and what happens to the water. He recommended that people check out the website www.beachapedia.com to access the Ocean Friendly Gardens Activist Tool Kit.

Your Lawn

In planning your ocean friendly garden the panelists agreed that the first place to start is by looking at your lawn. When it comes to wasting water, lawns are the biggest offenders. “The typical California lawn uses 45,000 gallons of water a year,” said Goran.

Thomas Kostigen, author of The Green Blue Book, also singles out lawns as water-wasters. He notes that of the water used in residential landscaping 70% is for our lawns. What’s more, 50% of that water is wasted due to runoff and overwatering. “Our homes may be our castles,” says Kostigan, “but we don’t need to create moats to go along with them.”

In addition to all the water we pour on our lawns each day, we use tons of fertilizers and pesticides to keep them green, said Goran, adding that “lawns take up more of this than any crop in America.” Echoing this is Stephen Kress, of the National Audubon Society, who estimates that homeowners apply 78 million pounds of pesticides a year to their lawns, much of which ends up in our waterways and oceans.

So, serious consideration should be given to reducing the size of your lawn and replacing some of the grass with other types of vegetation or permeable hardscape.

There’s help available to do this through government programs, including the Municipal Water District of Orange County’s Turf Removal Program.

Lenica Castner

Lenica Castner explained that homeowners can receive $1per square foot of turf that is removed and replaced with California friendly/native plants and other permeable materials. To find out more, check the program’s website:

www.mwdoc.com/services/turf-removal

In our research SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti learned that even the height of your grass can make a difference. “Two inches is about the best height for grass,” writes Kostigan. “Shorter grass requires more water.” Just as over watering is a problem, so is over mowing…not to mention the fuel it takes to run the mower.

SurfWriter Girls Patti and Sunny

Since tackling the subject of ocean friendly gardens we’ve found out that one of the reasons that homes have such large lawns is because they are linked to the American culture. USA Today Contributor Laura Vanderkam writes that, possibly in a nod to British country estates, large lawns came into fashion as part of the American Dream of an idealized suburban home…“and now 21 million acres of the USA are covered with grasses that wouldn’t grow well here if left to their own devices.”

Pointing out that “the fight to maintain this unnatural state (of green) exacts a toll…on the planet and our time,” Vanderkam calls on us to “change the fashion.”  SurfWriter Girls seconds the motion.

Pamela Berstler

For help in creating an ocean friendly garden check out the information and workshops available through the Green Gardens Group (www.greengardensgroup.com).

Pamela Berstler noted that the group’s goal is to “share G3’s core concepts on creating sustainable environments.” G3 is also a partner with the Surfrider Foundation in its Lawn Patrol Program in which volunteers walk in their neighborhoods to evaluate homes on the basis of their Conservation, Permeability and Retention techniques.

You Can Do it!

Creating an ocean friendly garden isn’t just something to think about; it’s something to do – for yourself and the environment.

According to landscape designer Mitch Kalamian with the Solena Landscape Co. ( www.solenalandscape.com ), “As we nurture the garden, the garden nurtures us.” Kalamian, who’s been featured on HGTV shows Landscapers’ Challenge and The Seasoned Gardener, has worked with the Surfrider Foundation on ocean friendly gardens.

Mitch Kalamian

Kalamian told SurfWriter Girls Sunny and Patti that planting an ocean friendly garden not only saves water, but does much more. ”Outside of following the principles of ‘CPR’, adding in some character; like rain chains, a dry creek bed and yard art, can make a statement that goes beyond reducing your carbon footprint and is a unique conversation piece.”

In our next feature on ocean friendly gardens SurfWriter Girls will look at ways to have a beautiful garden – minus the lawn. It’s time to get our hands dirty…and we’re ready to get started.

Pictures courtesy of the Surfrider Foundation and Chapter Members

www.surfwritergirls.blogspot.com

General Meeting – at Don the Beachcombers
Thursday, February 16th – time 6:30PM
Huntington Beach/Seal Beach Chapter
Movie Night: free entry

About the Film

An unflinching examination of the big business of bottled water.

Is access to clean drinking water a basic human right, or a commodity that should be bought and sold like any other article of commerce? From the producers of Who Killed the Electric Car? and I.O.U.S.A., this timely documentary is a behind-the-scenes look into the unregulated and unseen world of the bottled water industry — an industry that aims to privatize and sell back the one resource that ought never to become a commodity: our water.

Tapped is a film that examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution, and our reliance on oil.  The high cost — to both the environment and our health — of bottled water is the subject of this documentary that enlists activists, environmentalists, community leaders and others to expose the dark side of the bottled water industry. Americans may rethink their obsession with bottled H20 when they learn of the unregulated industry’s willingness to ignore environmental and health concerns, and the problems that arise as a result.

From the plastic production to the ocean in which so many of these bottles end up, this inspiring documentary trails the path of the bottled water industry and the communities which were the unwitting chips on the table. A powerful portrait of the lives affected by the bottled water industry, this revelatory film features those caught at the intersection of big business and the public’s right to water.

Brought to you by our chapters RAP and BWTF committees

Elections for the 2012 Surfrider Huntington/Seal Beach Executive Committee are coming soon in March!

It’s that time of year again – that’s right, Executive Committee elections are coming up! The Executive Committee is our chapter’s managers – the people who set policy, and the overall direction for the chapter. These leaders get experience organizing, fund-raising, project managing, and leading a campaigns or programs. And they also build skills like leadership and teamwork.

Executive Committee Member (“EC Member”) Position Description:
Reports to Chapter Chair. Click Here for an overview of the chapter officers from our HQ

Functions (not limited to)
* Grow your competency as an EC Member through immersion yourself in the role
* Organize and implement campaigns or shadow Program Manager/EC Member in such capacity
* Help organize, plan, and delegate specific tasks to Core Volunteers for fundraising and awareness events such as Beach Clean Ups and Ohana Day
* Once competent develop and mentor volunteers. Develop a “staff” of Core Volunteers to assist with work
* Coordinate Volunteers in your particular

Time Required: 2 -10 hours per week (depending on the season, and the business of the Chapter.)

Qualifications:
* be personable and a “people person”
* bring objectivity to the proceedings
* work well with fellow EC Members and Core Volunteers
* have knowledge or experience of managing or being part of a team

Skills/Education:
* be articulate with an eye for strategy
* be able to keep the big picture in mind at all times
* a solid understanding of Surfrider’s missions and principals
* a solid understanding of the chapter’s strengths and challenges

Benefits to the Position
* Become a leader in the SoCal environmental Community
* Interact with various high-level Surfrider contacts, including Global HQ
* Building experience in the environmental arena

Timeline:
Surfrider Foundation Huntington/Seal Beach Chapter – Executive Committee Election Procedures for 2012 Term

• Executive Committee (EC) term is 2 years and runs on a calendar year. EC members are limited to TWO consecutive 2-year terms. An EC member that has termed out my run for election again after sitting out for at least one year.

• EC elections are held every year to create a “staggering” of terms.

• Total EC membership is limited to 9 members.

• At the January 2012 HSB-Surfrider regularly scheduled chapter general meeting, the election date and process will be announced as a scheduled agenda item. This includes information about the nomination process as described below. A written copy of “EC Expectations/Requirements” will be provided to any interested parties at this meeting.

• Beginning 1/19/2012 nominations will be accepted via e-mail (mebabh2o@msn.com) or to any current EC member, via Facebook or mail to our Chapter PO Box to be received by 03/14/12 EOD.

• At the March 15, 2012 HSB-Surfrider regularly scheduled chapter general meeting, the elections will commence. At the meeting this will be by written ballot of all nominated members in good standing for the open EC positions. After the meeting, an email will be sent to membership with the candidates’ statements and request for a vote. Email voting will end on March 14, 2012.

• Once the votes have been tallied, the candidates and the chapter will be notified within one week via e-mail.

By SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to the following copyrighted material. For permission to reprint or excerpt it and/or link it to another website, contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com

The Japanese haiku is a three-line poem consisting of 17 syllables – 5 on the first line, 7 on the second line and 5 on the third line – that conveys vivid imagery, emotion or a sense of nature.

A perfect wave break.
Sand and sea in harmony
in Huntington Beach.

Harmony

At dawn the seagulls
fly past the sun’s horizon.
The new day is here.

Walking on the pier
early in the morning mist
just the seagulls watch.

Saturday at eight
a Surfrider beach cleanup
transforms the shoreline.

Blue Water Task Force
keeping the ocean clean for
all of us on earth.

Surfboards and paddleboards
race along shining waters,
highways in the sea.

Meeting at Java
Point on Main and PCH
to drink good coffee.

Flip flops moving us
on a carefree day of sun
and balmy breezes.

Sunny and Patti
are off on new adventures,
having lots of fun.

Friends

Fish tacos at Duke’s
with cool Happy Hour drinks
and Aloha smiles.

Bonfire, s’mores,
playing the guitar with friends,
all happy singing.

Sunset orange skies
bring tranquility in night
time over the waves.

The SurfWriter Girls
Sunny and Patti wish you
Happiness and Hope.

Happiness

What’s Your Haiku?

Write your own three-line poem and email it to us at:  Surfwriter.girls@gmail.com
In our next Surfwriter Girls Haiku to You blog we will include readers’ poems.

Blog link: www.surfwritergirls.blogspot.com