Harbour Day--2007...Giving Thanks

Pictures by Rich Harbour and Lia Johnson.

Write-up by Trevor Downs (TDRevolver)

Well, we're on the eve of Thanksgiving, and I have much to be thankful for, and as I go through the pictures to update our BLOG, I'm very thankful for those who come together on our annual Harbour Day.


This year's event was special, and unlike the years before, kicked off a week before with the arrival of Craig from Australia. What a blessing to meet someone with a stoke to surf, and to give.

Craig's trip was off to a great start, when after being shuttled by Todd from the airport, he checked into the famed Sanatra Inn, and soon had a new Quatro in his quiver. He was the first of many Harbour owners to stay there that week, and soon after his arrival, he met up with a Taxi driver, who offered to escort him about Orange County as his personal driver.

Craig spent the week shopping for his family, surfing Anderson Street, and enjoying the sites, leading up to a couple of fun surf days with Boardhound at Cardiff, and then with Boardhound, Bobby J, and Doug up North.


The boys showed Craig the breaks of Leo Carillo...


and County Line.

Friday, Craig was joined by James, who once again made the trip from Florida, for Harbour weekend.

At San O, Craig, Bobby J, and Todd were joined by myself, Nick, Mark, Ry, Richard, and his son Steven, (as well as a few others). Lia, was once again, there to capture the fun.


Do you remember when? The stoke begins, as Steven enjoys his first San O wave.

Mark, Bobby J. and ???

Craig


Mark

RY

After a fun day at San O, we all made our way to Sanatra Inn, checking in before the night's events.

Taco Surf was raging after quick check ins at Sanatra, and the band was finally enjoyable, and not too loud. Fish Tacos and beers went down smooth before we moved the festivities over to the shop for some great classic film footage from the 60's.

Rich hosted, the guys from the shop graciously served some snacks, and Rich answered questions about his classic film footage and surfboard design, then spun a tale or two before being honored by the H.O.S. with a photo, by Ron, that Todd had etched into marble.



A few of us finished up the night with some Belgium ale at the pub across the street from the shop, and for some reason the waves in the surf stories got bigger as the night wore on.

The morning would prove to be the best conditions yet for a Harbour Day. Clear skies, and chest to head high waves, made for a fantastic morning.

Lisa looks down upon the maniacal smile of her husband, wondering, once again, if it's a good thing to be married to a guy who wants to serve the world?

Good job buddy, another great event!

Boardhound (Todd)


Steve--ilparadosso, showing how it's done.

???

???

Jim



???

Bobby J. on Nadine

TDRevolver (me)

Tad

???

Ry

Scott--5over


Charles--Artgeek


Brad

Craig


Jeff and his family, for the second year in a row, served up some tasty South of the border treats, they have really stepped up the last two events, and as a family, really made the event a treat.

Job well done, a new board won, Lia powers down.

Todd, myself, and a very special guest raffled off a plethora of prizes, and it was a great ending to the event.

Once again, another fantastic day, and for me, I give thanks to where all thanks are due, to God for a wonderful day with wonderful people.

Thank you Rich, Thank you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

SACRED CRAFT - Consumer Surfboard Expo - 10/13 & 14

Some pics Rich posted on the Harbour Site, sounds like a great event, I'm sorry I missed it.

From Bobby J,
"There was a great representation of all types of surfboard stuff (I really liked the new laminate techniques using photo scans), and discussion sessions (the "Don't call me skeg" talk was pretty informative since I'm usually a single fin guy).
As for the booth I really liked the video monitor Rich set up showing photos of people riding his gear (I especially like the one in the middle), or film clips from both the early years and present day. It was more fun when the "seasoned veterans" stopped by and watched the old footage and started to talk story."

Count down to Annual Harbour Day continues...see below.

Harbour Day approaches...November 3rd!

Let's hope this year's event is warm enough, so Bobby doesn't need his hat!


Wow, some fun waves this weekend, really fun!

Time flies, and I can't believe another Harbour Day is upon us. The same great team that provided us fantastic food last year, will be back, the big white van will be home to another awesome raffle, and once again we can all, "oohhh, and ahhhh" at the plethora of Harbours that will be about. I can't wait!

Nov. 3rd.
Dawn Patrol till whenever.
Bolsa Chica State Beach
Tower 20 (Just North of the RV Park).

I thought I'd post a little flash back for the newbies, here is a link to a background story I wrote a few years back, it'll give you a little history, and a few picks from past Harbour days.
Harbour Day History

See you all there! Remember, Harbour Day is an open house (meaning, you don't need to own a Harbour, or even surf to participate) to share with others the stoke we have for surfing and Harbour surfboards.

Remember, we are overloading that spot, so smile and show respect on the waves.

Pray for good weather and better waves!

Fun times in August for Harbour Owners!

August Events
By John (Srf4life)

Harbour Owners’ Society members were busy this August, despite the small-ish surf that we had. In addition to our regular Saturday HOS crew at Bolsa Tower 23, we enjoyed a Thursday afternoon cookout at San-O organized by Melissa Harbour on Aug 9, and the premier of a new surf movie, “Faces of Honolua,” two days later, featuring a special guest commentary by Rich Harbour, held at the Surf Heritage Foundation in San Clemente.


The San-O Harbour cookout took place on a warm, sunny summer day with a 2-4 foot peaky swell and semi-clean conditions.



Harbour team rider Tony Bell and Harbour shop owner Robert both showed they have skills in the water. Those of us who have seen Robert almost always ride a shortboard or fish were surprised at how good he is on a longboard.

He put on a display of classic drop-knee turns and effortless cross-stepping particularly suited to the wave at Old Man’s. We hope to see him on his longboard at Bolsa from time to time.

After our surf session, we all retired to the tables under the shady bamboo grove near Old Man’s and had a barbecue in laid back Aloha style. At the end of the day we all agreed it was a classic San-O day.

The premier of “Faces of Honolua” was a real treat. For many of us it was our first time visiting the Surf Heritage Foundation in San Clemente. In addition to their film series, the foundation boasts what has to be one of the finest collections of surfboards and surf history in the world. There are hundreds of rare and classic boards on display, dating back to the turn of the (20th) century, lots of cool photos and artwork, and in one corner a replica of Dale Velzy’s shaping room that includes his original tools. It is a real surfing history lesson, and definitely worth visiting.

The film itself was a montage of surf footage from the last 40 years at Honolua Bay. Since Rich Harbour was one of the first, if not the first surf photographer to film the classic Maui pointbreak, much of his rare early film of the bay was used in the movie. It was great to hear Rich, along with Herbie Fletcher, reminisce about the early days at Honolua Bay. It was a special evening and a wonderful opportunity to see Rich receive some recognition from the Surf Heritage Foundation for his pioneering board building and surf photography.

Tim's Wave Wanderings in France...

France 2007 – for those who may never get the opportunity…



The plan was to take the camper van to France and cruise gently down the left LH side
visiting some old haunts, find some new spots, surf a bit, sample the excellent food and wine along the way, to Biarritz, just by the border with Spain.


Board choice – hmmn…. I would love to say that I took one of the Harbours, the Wingpin is my usual travel board, but it was not to be. I was very concerned about the temperatures inside the van, as the green house effect of all that glass generates a lot of heat (especially parked up in the sun) and a delam would be very bad news. Thus it was that the DT2 9.2 made the trip with the 9” HP fin, also the surf forecast was not that good and this board (with flattish rocker) was a good choice for the expected conditions. Just about half the Atlantic coast is one big beach break.


We sailed Plymouth to Roscoff in Brittany, first stop Pointe de la Torche which is almost the most westerly point in France. Lovely beach break in a curving bay with the point itself working sometimes. I’d last surfed here about 15 years ago and it was just as I remembered.

Two good days of chest to shoulder high clean waves with a few nose rides (but the cross stepping is not the best you ever saw!) A fun weekend.
Next stop Carnac, with the Neolithic dolmens, menhirs and rows of standing stones.
What an awesome sight to see them marching for miles across the country side.
On again through Lorient past the WW2 U Boat pens to the Isle de Re (sorry no accents on this key board). Very pretty Island but no surf. On to Les Sable d’Olonne and a campsite next to the beach, excellent spot.


Through La Rochhelle to Royan and the ferry over the Gironde. Chanced upon a couple riding 70’s Honda and Yamaha with CA plates – a long way from home!
Off the ferry and down the coast to a premier spot – Lacanau. What a dump! Weather awful, wet and very windy. The storm blew for 2 days as we drove on down the coast. Messanges, another beach break and some mighty barrels after the storm. Paddled out through the most vicious rip in almost flat water with overhead waves either side. Took a well overhead, clean, glassy barrel here, took off, just made the turn, tucked in and got well and truly hammered. What a beasting that was! Waited till the next day when things were more manageable and had a great session.

On towards Hossegor. Ah Hossegor! The river at Hossegor was diverted by Napolean to provide a better harbour further along the coast. The channel scoured out by the river enables big Atlantic swells to hit the coast without slowing down and produces some truly huge barrels. There was a claim last year, for the largest wave ever ridden anywhere – about 90ft!. Don’t know if it made the record book, though.
And so to Anglet where the European Surf Championships were being held.

Saw some great surfers struggling in pretty flat conditions. I had to chuckle over the Swiss Surf Team though – I mean where do they practice?
Finally, Biarritz. A very elegant town with some handsome beaches and various breaks.
Cotes des Basques was a great bit of theatre, with the poseurs performing for the crowd.
High tide meant a take off very close to the rocks, a short ride closely followed by a stylish kick out.


Time to head for home. We had a really good trip. France is a great country with some superp surf spots and wonderful wine. Oh, and some of the cheese is really quite good too!

Harbour Tin-Can Beach clean and surf day

Surf photos by Lia
Gathering Photos by John

Great Job! Click on pics for larger view.











Harbour Owners’ Society Gives Back
By John (Srf4life)

This Fourth of July weekend, members of the Harbour Owners’ Society got together to give back a little something to the ocean that gives us so much. Todd (Boardhound), had the idea one morning while picking up trash near tower 23 at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Why not get the HOS together for a little beach clean-up and make it a fun occasion while we are at it? Thus was born the first (annual?) HOS “Beach clean-up, surf, and grub.”

The weekend after the 4th of July seemed as good a time as any to hold the event, since there figured to be plenty of trash left behind by the masses who would flock to the beach on the 4th. The call went out on the Harbour website, and about a dozen members, as well as several guys from the shop, pitched in. (Of course, these members were undoubtedly motivated only by their desire to keep the beach clean. The surf and grub was probably no more than an afterthought to these selfless souls.)


The beach clean-up started bright and early, about 6:20 am on Saturday July 7th.


Todd supplied the trash bags and disposable gloves. After about 30 minutes, we had the parking lot and beach north and south of tower 23 picked clean. Jeff S. and Bobby J. both commented on how plastic water bottles and especially those plastic water bottle caps have become the most common form of trash left on the beach. “Maybe we should call it water bottle beach instead of tin can beach,” Bobby said. All in all, the State Parks Department does a pretty good job keeping the facilities at Bolsa and other state beaches clean, but it is still astounding how many people will carelessly leave their trash on the sand when there are literally hundreds of trash cans up and down the beach, some just a few steps away. It is an indication that, in our consumer culture, people all too often think only about consuming, not what they leave behind.

After the beach clean-up, the morning was capped off by a fun surf session in 2-4 foot clean, peaky conditions, with the occasional head high set. The crowd situation was fairly typical for a summer weekend, but we all got some good waves. Everyone was in good spirits and there were plenty of hoots for good rides. After our session, we gathered at Todd’s white box van where he cooked up some awesome breakfast burritos.


Some might say that our beach clean-up is a drop in the bucket along a stretch of beach that gets millions of visitors annually (in fact, Bolsa had the fourth highest attendance of all California state parks last year). But it still sets a positive example, and if more people followed that example it would go a long way toward healing our fragile planet. Perhaps it is best to see it as an exercise that does a little something good for the beach we enjoy and perhaps more importantly, raises our own consciousness about the need to take care of the planet and its oceans. After all, we know that whatever gets dumped upstream eventually makes its way to the lineup.




And who knows, maybe all the fun waves we had that morning and the good vibe we shared was Bolsa’s way of saying thanks.