Salt Water High by Derek Dodds

The waves are our home… and it’s in danger. Ocean plastics and unsustainable industries threaten the world we live in, not only our oceans. In this episode, we meet Kathryn Keating, the woman behind RenewBluSurf, promoting and maintaining clean ocean waters and a healthy coastal environment one surf product at a time.

Living on Long Beach Island, Kathryn Keating formed an early and deep love for the ocean and the coastal environment. From sunrise walks to waiting for the right wave, she noticed the impacts of humankind on the beaches. Following her passion, she co-founded RenewBluSurf to offer 100% eco-friendly products to surfers, teach the community on the effects they have and give back through profit-sharing with a local ocean-based foundation.

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In this episode of Saltwater High, we will introduce you to Lesley Zonnekein and let you in on a great hack, especially if you are keen on surfing trips or simply stoked about handcrafted artisan surfboards! 

Surf Neutral is a platform that lets you connect to shapers wherever they are and wherever you may be—bringing surfers closer to surfboard shapers through the boards made. The brainchild of Lesley’s love for surfing and extensive background in IT gives you access to hard-to-find and unique surfboards crafted by local shapers, aiming to keep the stoke globally on-hand, anytime and anywhere.

Surf Neutral is designed so shapers can use the Surf Neutral blueprint to get a complete shaper profile and digitize and rent out their surfboards with insurance. In addition, Surf Neutral enables surfboard craftsmen to track and keep their portfolios and the history of the boards made online. Surf Neutral introduced a unique QR code for each uploaded board. A scan of the code reveals information about the board,  the shaper, the location, and the surfer surfing it. Based on the work done over the years, Surf Neutral is in the process of making a new marketplace in 2022 for shapers and surfers, introducing surfboard NFT sales.

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Music and surfing harbor a tight bond that adds more fuel to the stoke. In this episode, get to know the Northern Californian band, The SoulShake, who spreads positivity and speaks love and life through heartfelt music inspired by Jason Mraz and the instrumental musical stylings of Sublime.

Domenic Bianco, Charlie Sisemore, John Hendricks, and Jake Stillman share how they mothered a band from scratch and helped each other hone their inner hidden musical geniuses while getting through disagreements and forming a bond more than just as band members.

Tinker Bell surfboard and shark cages? That is just bibs and bobs of the fun and wacky that is in this episode. Do not forget to stay at the end for a quick serenade.

You can listen, download, and purchase their music at:

From sustainable packaging to incredible ingredient deck, the co-founders of Nurtrium, Ryan Moore and Clayton Bried, are here as this episode's guests to share about their company and the future of hemp.

Ryan and Clayton let us in on why they chose hemp, how they manufacture their products, and all the fantastic benefits their products can give (and with live testimonials, too)!

This episode will be full of hemp stoke and vibes, which we and the planet definitely need.

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This episode features Lori Mallini, the founder of Protea Zero Waste, Hawaii's first zero-waste refill store, encouraging people worldwide to embrace the zero-waste lifestyle to lessen the need to use and produce plastic, which only ends up in landfills or in our oceans and destroys our planet, people’s health, and marine life.

Lori is an environmentalist and policy advocate with a degree in Environmental Studies from Hawaii Pacific University. Originally from Houston, TX, Lori grew up near the largest petrochemical hub in the country. This is where the beginning stages of plastic production occur and communities near her home are severely impacted by the effects of this process. 

Lori now lives across the world in Kailua, Hawaii, where beaches and wildlife are severely impacted by the end life of plastic. She has spent her time in Hawaii advocating with Sierra Club Hawaii at the state legislature and city council for waste management, plastic reduction, and recycling bills. While change at the top is important, Lori realized that it's equally important to make positive change at the community level, which is why she decided to open Protea Zero Waste Store.

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Why are trees important? How does planting a tree make a difference in the lives of people around the world?

Learn the answers to those questions and know more about the difference Community Carbon Trees is making in restoring rainforests and providing livelihood to the men and women of Costa Rica through Community Carbon Trees' founder, Jennifer Smith.

Laurelove - otherwise known, in Hawaiian, as Lahela, has been known to be called a health coach, yogini, farmer, inspirator, water woman, nutrition coach, cleansing specialist, and kid and animal Evangelista.

She has created Cleansing Retreats on Maui, teen and youth farm clubs, and built and ran yoga studios in a few countries. Laurelove started out as a pro windsurfer in 1980 with her 1st business in life called Malibu Windsurfing. She then joined her mates who created the 1st U.S. Windsurfing team.

Today she’s halfway to 70 and spry as a chicken with endless curiosity to learn and to make things better in the world. It’s the youth and kids that she’s all about now, (and the soils they stand on) so the future can be bright for them and their future generations.

Hence a trade school to dive into an aspect of one of 3 things in life:  food, yoga, sound.

If a kid has a curiosity to learn more about any of these subjects they start learning something that within weeks or months will be a start of their own business. They can be 6 years old or 16.

We invite you to renew yourselves and those you love.  Come join Laurelove and the 3 sisters in celebrating and awakening to our New Earth Renewal. 

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This episode is for all powerhouses in our lives—our moms!

Elizabeth Madin and Anna Shoemaker, the founder and founding member of Surfing Moms, share what their nonprofit organization is all about, their mission, and the magic and beauty that this community has created in their lives and hopes to create in the lives of other surfing moms out there.

Elizabeth Madin is a mother of three, the founder of Surfing Moms, and an Assistant Professor of marine biology in Hawaiʻi. She started surfing in her 20s - first in Hawaiʻi, then in California, and most recently in Australia. She took an unintended surfing hiatus after her first two children were born, which might have continued indefinitely had she not found Surfing Mums. Getting back into surfing - regularly, and with an amazing group of supportive and fun mothers - was such a game-changer for her that when she moved permanently to Hawai‘i, she knew she had to start a Surfing “Moms” group there. Elizabeth’s research focuses on ocean health. Likewise, she sees Surfing Moms as a way to help moms keep themselves happy and healthy (and catch some awesome waves at the same time!).

Anna Shoemaker, on the other hand, is a founding member of Surfing Moms in Hawaiʻi. Surfing Moms is a way for Anna to care for herself on a regular basis as well as provide postpartum support to like-minded moms in the community. Anna posts for the Surfing Moms' Instagram and from there does much of the organization’s community outreach. In the Summer of 2020, she learned how to pilot a drone to film their Surfing Moms Documentary. This is a new skill that she loves to work on!

From a handful of moms and keiki (Hawaiian for children) who started meeting on the beach to do ’surf-swaps’ about three years ago, they are now an established nonprofit organization that encourages moms to continue to follow their pre-motherhood passions and remember that before they were amazing moms, they were already incredible women.

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The ocean is changing. Surfers are the first in line to notice that as we spent most of our time enjoying its magnificent waves. Us surfers should also be the first ones to take action in healing it so that the next generation gets to enjoy it, too.

In this episode, we have the CEO and Founder of Reefer Wax, Marissa Gochar, tell us her journey of being an entrepreneur, her mission of choosing regenerative products, and trying to make products that will undo some of the damage due to climate change. She shares how they make their hemp-based wax and how it can help put essential minerals needed by corals and shellfish back into the ocean.

This episode is filled with lessons that both entrepreneurs and consumers need to hear.

About Reefer Wax:

Reefer Wax is a hemp-based surf wax company with a mission to regenerate our lost coral reef population. They utilize byproducts from industrial hemp production once thought to be unusable waste, revolutionizing the surf wax industry with simple and traceable organic ingredients. Their wax puts essential minerals back into our oceans to reverse coral bleaching and degeneration. As an aspiring B Corp, they are building a responsible, sustainable company alongside other forward-thinking companies and research institutions while prioritizing a thriving eco-system for future generations over profit margins and gain.

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Do you want to surf in warm waters and heal your mind, body, and soul in one life-changing trip? Room to Roam in Nicaragua is the place to be.

In this episode, Room to Roam’s CEO and co-founder Chancie Pinkerton shares with us all the wonderful things that Room to Roam offers to help you travel off the beaten path with peace of mind and enjoy the best trips of your life with no hassle.

From purchasing the right flight and getting all travel requirements met to reconnecting with yourself with their different retreats and enjoying some great waves, Room to Roam will guide you all the way and make your trip enjoyable and relaxing.

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This episode features the adventurous and exciting life of retired U.S. Army Airborne soldier Tracy Hines.

Tracy lets us in on how she got hooked into surfing, her surf therapy journey, the surf therapy camp for veterans that she joined down in South Carolina, healing from trauma, and all the activities she's been doing after she retired—paddleboarding, kayaking, skateboarding.

Tracy is undoubtedly someone who always has an exciting story to tell.

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Sixteen years ago, Daniel George moved to Malibu from Gainesville, Florida. He graduated with MA in Ceramics 10 years ago and has been working as an artist since then.

Describing himself as a batch artist, Daniel is a ceramic artist, a surfboard shaper, glasser, surfer, all rolled up into one incredible human being with so much artistic creativity and love for the environment.

Daniel shapes surfboards out of old foams giving them a new life by turning them from trash into something beautiful. As a ceramic artist, Daniel puts his creativity in creating beautiful, functional ceramics that can touch people’s lives and become part of their daily existence.

In this episode, Prue Jeffries shares her pro surfing career with us and how water & nature support life, our health, and our well-being.

Prue Jeffries of Body of Wonder and Surf the Flow is a Craniosacral Teacher and Therapist, Continuum Teacher, Certified Massage Therapist, Registered Somatic Movement Educator, and founder of Vital Dynamics®.

Prue has always been a water person and explorer. She is a pioneer of women's surfing with 15 years on the ASP World Championship Tour, now known as WSL, co-founded a women's clothing line, was a writer and editorial consultant, and is now an avid nature photographer. She is also Creative Director for Watermark Arts, a somatic informed artistic endeavor.

Water, waveforms, and movement have been her life. Surfing is a spiritual, natural, and artistic endeavor that informs her deeply. She weaves experiential learning from nature and her body with the study of well-being, spiritual and somatic approaches for wholeness.

Right now, her focus is on the embodied knowing of ourselves as water and as nature—how that translates into the water being not only a metaphor but a conveyer for interconnection—shifting people's capacity to be more humane towards life and nature and protect and regenerate our planet.

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Ilaria is an architect who escaped the 9 to 5 to pursue her deepest passions: traveling and surfing. A few months ago, she arrived in Costa Rica and headed north in Central America, looking for the best waves.

Ilaria is also on a journey to inspire other digital nomads who love to surf to pursue their passions and create sustainable designs.

This podcast with Reefscapers' resident Marine biologist, Amélie Carraut, celebrates Reefscapers' mission to protect the ocean with their coral reef restoration projects in the Maldives and raise awareness about the importance of coral reefs.

As surfers, we all have a relationship with the reef. And in this episode, Amélie shares interesting details about them, their process of restoring corals, and how we can help their cause by adopting a coral frame. These coral frames are built & monitored by their team of marine biologists to follow the corals’ growth online, thanks to underwater photos taken every six months.

Amélie also shares her love for the ocean and how’s it like being and surfing in the Maldives.

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Reefscapers:

Different things in our daily life instill in us that our body should be perfect—thin, bikini-worthy, flawless. But truth be told, the perfect body does not exist.

In this episode, the amazing woman behind Hakuna Wear, Jessica Boynton, will teach us that every body is a bikini body and to just be free to be you.

Hakuna Wear is more than just your ordinary swimwear brand. Not only do they make functional and sexy swimsuits from plant-based fabrics, made to fit all body types, and do not fall off as your surf, but they also empower women and men to be true to themselves.

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In this episode, get to know the man behind the world's best surfing helmets—Terry Simms, the founder of Simba Surf, where he shares what inspired him to create the helmet, how he made it, and the many benefits it gives to all surfers of any age.

Some of the helmet’s benefits include fostering long and healthy surfing lives for everyone and protect us from the damaging effects of long-term exposure to sun, wind, and water.

Terry also takes us back to the 60s and 70s by sharing the start of his surfing journey until he became a pro longboarder and his experience being with some of the legendary surfers during that time.

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Next to having a big affinity for cultural anthropology, Kyra also has a love for making art and design. She aims to explore the junction between academia, research, and multimedia technology in order to communicate complex topics through creative narratives. She aspires to work in academia or an NGO environment that supports research and the translation of social issues through creative storytelling.

She is currently on a book tour along the European coast and will visit at least 10 surf camps to exhibit her work, Sea-ing the Land—a photo and video installation, accompanied by a photobook, based on the anthropological research she conducted in Australia that explored the interplay between the land and the sea.

Last March, I was honored to become a guest on Naomi Olson's The Sea of Medicine Podcast, where she interviews sea-lovers from all walks of life and share with everyone the ocean’s power to heal, inspire and transform our lives. Naomi is also the creator of Boundless Waves offering daily seaspiration, sea ceremonies, retreats, courses, and many more.

In this episode, we talked about the greatest love of my life—the ocean.

Links:

The beautiful thing about being in business is meeting someone who is aligned with your ideals and how you look at the world, and fortunately, I was able to find someone like that in Christian, the founder of Poseidon Paddle and Surf.

From having a business relationship to becoming one of my great friends, the episode this week highlights Christian's journey as the founder of Poseidon Paddle and Surf, as a great musician, brother, son, and friend.

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Are you planning to travel the world solo once the pandemic is over? What's it like traveling solo if you're a woman? 

In this episode, Gabi Brody, an experienced traveler, and travel coach shared her adventures traveling alone in today's world. She shared some tips on the beautiful places to go, beaches to surf, couch surfing, saving a ton of money during the trip, and so many essential information that will help anyone interested in traveling solo.

Dive deeper into the power of the ocean and the specifics of surf therapy for trauma healing with the founder of Groundswell Community, Natalie Small LMFT, the founder of Hakuna Wear, Jessica Boynton, and Jackie. 

Groundswell offers different surf therapy programs to help and give women a safe community to overcome various forms of trauma and mental health effects, heal, learn from them, and become their truest selves.

These 3 amazing women share their sisterhood and their experiences with the healing powers of the ocean.

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In this episode, I got to talk to an amazing big wave surfer from Torquay, Australia—Jeff Rowley.

Jeff has been surfing big waves for 23 years, including paddling on the biggest days at Peahi on Maui and Cloudbreak in Fiji.

Jeff started the website paddleinmastery.com, an online learning platform dedicated to helping surfers of all skill levels take their big wave surfing to the next level.

His first online course, The Breath Hold Blueprint, teaches surfers of any level how to safely increase their breath hold, giving them the freedom to ride any wave they want to. It’s an online breath hold training system where surfers can learn to hold their breath for up to 5-minutes in 27 days.

In this episode, I had the chance to talk to a #1 bestseller author from Pensacola, Florida—Nic Schuck.  

Native Moments is Nic's debut novel. It's a coming-of-age surf adventure novel set in Costa Rica. 2.5 years after it was published, it reached #1 bestseller status in the Central and South American Travel and Tourism category on Amazon, which lets him know that it survives in an era of easily disposable fads.

In this episode, he lets us in on what the book is all about, his inspiration in writing it, what his process is like, and so much more.

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Dom Taylor is the founder of Shaka Surf, an eco surf product marketplace established in 2018. He is a surfer, environmentalist, keen traveler, and entrepreneur. He currently splits his time between Portugal and the UK, loves learning new languages and meeting people from all walks of life!

He started Shaka Surf because he wanted to "be the change" rather than passively watch our oceans and beaches get progressively worse with rubbish. He came up with the idea of creating eco surf fins from recycled waste materials and plastics after coming in from a surf and seeing so much waste on the beach. He pledged to put this rubbish to good use. As well as recycling waste materials and plastics to make the recycled fins, he wanted to create a standout design. So he enlisted the help of a street artist to come up with a unique aesthetic. This led to the development of the Swell lines, paying homage to surf culture and oceanography.

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Have you been wanting to surf the cool and awesome waves in Alaska? Same here, bro!

 In this episode, I got the chance to talk to Scott Reierson, the owner and operator of Alaska Surf Guides, and he's here to let you know of the amazing surf adventures that are waiting for all of us in Alaska and his journey on how he was able to make his passion and dream become a reality.

Alaska Surf Guides focuses on remote surf trips exploring Alaska’s waves. Based out of Seward, Alaska, they use helicopters (heli surfing) & boats (boat surfing) to access remote surf breaks in Alaska for half-day adventures and multi-day expeditions.

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"My philosophy is pretty simple: to take every surfer, of every ability, to the next level of their surfing life." - Joel Zemenick, JZ Surfboards.

Joel and Andi went on a surf/dive trip in Maui last year before COVID hit, where they fell in love with each other and decided to build a surfboard factory—JZ Surfboards.

JZ Surfboards specialize in building high-performance boards with an artistic appeal tailor-made for each surfer and every wave. Andi is a divemaster and runs all business operations and marketing, while Joel, with 29 years of experience shaping and glassing boards, oversees the crew, manufacturing, and the factory. With their individual styles and backgrounds, they are committed to running a safe and fun business where both experienced and junior board builders can craft the highest quality boards in the NorCal market.

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With the unrest that happened in summer 2020, more and more surfers of color are emerging and finding a space in the lineup. And yet, there is still resistance from other people of color and certain disbelief from others.

In this podcast episode, I got the chance to talk to Kwame LaBassiere about diversity in the lineup, Tribe of Zen, being an activist and ocean conservationist, how's it like surfing in Rockaway, and many more.

More About Kwame LaBassiere:

• He has been surfing for 19 years.
• He is the Head Surf Instructor for New York Surf School and also a yoga instructor.
• He participated in the Black Surfing Association East Coast Chapter paddle out for racial injustice last June in the wake of George Floyd’s murder as the Kahuna Nui or ocean priest. 
• He is an activist and ocean conservationist.

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Sherry and Briana Tautiva are a mother-daughter team who sought out to reject traditional industry norms and invite athletes to be rebels for the Wild. Their company, Wild Habitat, is bringing together brands that are proving that animal rights, environmental concerns, and giving back are their first priority. Wild Habitat aspires to bring together communities of caring human beings, willing to take a stand and eradicate the damage done to our planet. They are proud to create a platform to unite inspiring companies and conscientious adventurers who are shaping the future together.

Briana left the fast-paced, profit-driven corporate lifestyle to start a family company that put passion before profit. Together, Sherry and Briana have searched high and low to bring together the brands that commit to doing the right thing. They truly believe that sustainability is the only business plan: From the clothes we wear to the boards we ride, they are banning together with the tribes of adventurists and outdoor enthusiasts who shape the future together.

Topics Discussed:

• What is Wild Habitat?
• How did you get the idea for Wild Habitat?
• Why is ecology important for you?
• How do you find businesses to work with?
• How will you market Wild Habitat?
• How will you attract athletes to be part of the business model?
• What’s it like working as partners?
• How do you split roles?
• For Briana: What skills did you bring over from corporate and which did you leave behind?
• For Sherry: Share a little of your journey and why you decided to launch this company.
• Did we miss anything?

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Wild Habitat

Love to surf but living far from the coast? 

In this episode, I got the chance to talk to Leo Rossini, who is a surfer living in Texas. Leo was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and surfing has been a very important and huge part of his life.

But currently living in Texas, Leo shared how he has to drive 4 hours to reach and surf in Galveston and how he continues to find alternatives to continue surfing and get stoked. 

Listen to Leo's journey and learn that if you have the stoke and the kind of fortitude to get out there and surf, you can always find ways.

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Entrepreneurship: Building a brand that has a positive impact on people

Steve runs the podcast Trust The Grind, where he explores how creatives, athletes, and business owners discovered their path to a more authentic and meaningful life. Each interview takes a close look into how these leaders overcame obstacles to pursue their calling, manage the daily grind, and make the most out of every day.

He also created Plan Dope Shit, a planner that helps him have a clearer mind and know exactly what to focus on for the day. His mission is to create work that helps people get their sh*t together while giving back. 

This podcast celebrates Julie Brondeel's journey as a videographer and content creator. She is from Belgium—currently working as a Brand and Content Coordinator for Jack Black Brewing Company in Cape Town. 

I came across Julie's video of Hold Your Own by Kate Tempest, winner of the Ted Hughes Award for Brand New Ancients and widely regarded as the UK's leading spoken word poet. Hold Your Own is a riveting tale of youth and experience, sex and love, wealth and poverty, community and alienation. 

The result is a rhythmically hypnotic tour de force—and a hugely ambitious leap forward for one of the most broadly talented and compelling young writers today.

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This week, we launch my conversation with Natalie Small & Javier Larco straight from Peru. Peru has a rich culture in surfing and a connection to Mama Cocha and Madre Tierra as healing sources.

The surf industry and surf tourism have introduced another side of surfing; a darker side is driven by consumerism and competition. Natalie and Javier are on a mission to realign the local surf culture with its roots. Their intention has deep roots in healing and connecting humanity by caring for all members of the community.

About Natalie:

• Founder and executive director of Groundswell Community Project. Groundswell Community Project offers various surf therapy programs for self-identifying women overcoming various forms of trauma and its effects. They are a transformational community of surf sisters who provide intersectional, brave, and safe spaces for all self-identifying women to find their unique healing, community, and power in the waves of Mother Ocean.
• Also, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California.

About Javier:

• Professional surfer and surf coach
• Has explored and surfed up and down the Peru coast, Ecuador, Mexico, California, Indonesia, and river surfed in Germany.
• He started his first surf school in 2003 in Las Delicias, was the surf coach for the Junior Pro Peru team 2016-2018, is the official Peru surf coach for Unleashed (Canada), Safari Surf  Adventures (US), and Surf Adventures (Brazil), and now provides free coaching and adaptive surf therapy for local kids in Huanchaco.
• President of the Asociacion de Talentos Libertenos Del Surf and founded Surf Habilitados, a surf project providing surf therapy for local kids living with mental and physical disabilities and their families.

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Groundswell Community Project:

Greg is the owner of CR Surf Travel Company. Greg grew up surfing the East Coast of the United States. He's lived in New York, Virginia Beach, Cocoa Beach, and Miami Beach Florida, and so understands the value of having good, clean waves since they didn't come that often. He has also lived close to Swami's and Santa Cruz in California so he understands the value of having uncrowded waves and warm water.

Greg made his first trip to Costa Rica in 1996, has lived there for more than 5 years, and has made over 40 trips back and forth in between. He has surfed both coastlines extensively, planned hundreds of trips for clients and friends over the last 23 years, and has written surf travel articles for Surfline, The Inertia, and the Tico Times. When he is not surfing, writing, or helping clients, he is helping out at beach cleanups, playing guitar, and just enjoying and appreciating the natural beauty around him.

Topics of Podcast

• Why Costa Rica?
• What do you love about Costa Rica?
• Favorite part of Costa Rica?
• What are the top 3 things people should not miss?
• Community Carbon Trees
• Where can you find uncrowded surf these days?
• How different is the East to the West?
• What are some things you don’t like about CR?
• What about Panama, any tips?
• Have you ever thought about living there full time?
• What services do you provide?
• Describe your first surfboard?
• What is the best wave you have surfed?
• Your favorite surf trip?
• Did we miss anything?

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Have you ever thought about starting over?

Here is an idea: quit everything and move to Bali to restart your life as a surf photographer.

Originally a Russian police officer, Sasha started her new life in 2014 on the island of Bali. Swimming skills and passion for photography have defined her current occupation. She learned to surf and never looked back.

She said in an interview for Saltwater Magazine, 

"Water photography is a long journey . . . It pushes me from my comfort zone . . . and forces to keep on moving."

I think we can all relate to that.

Some of the topics we cover include the following:

• How did you go from working as a police officer in Russia to a surf photographer?
• Why photography?
• How did you start—did you enjoy photography when you were younger?
• I see you have some great water shots, what is it like shooting in the water?
• What do you shot with—what equipment do you travel with?
• What is your favorite lens? (45mm - AP - Speed Auto - 2.2 - 1.8 - recommend 5.6 for beginners)
• Post-production? Color correction, Adobe Lightroom 100:1 Marc 3 - full-frame
• What is your process—many of your photos have people in them, do you like capturing humans in action?
• You were in Bali, then Brazil, and now Mexico—can you tell us a little about your journey this past year.
• Does photography lead you or do you lead it?
• How does social media influence your photography?
• What’s next on your horizon?
• Who are some photographers that you admire?

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We are launching a new series called Backstage Pass. These episodes are a backstage pass into running and building a surf brand. I am pulling back the kimono and giving everyone a peek at what it takes to run an eCommerce brand. 

In this episode we talk about the following: 

• The new business model that is emerging in today’s world—brands are selling directly to customers.
• COVID is accelerating the online shopping trend away from brick and mortar retail.
• Amazon has changed the way we think about buying products—but you are always an Amazon customer when you buy from that platform.
• Why Wave Tribe cares for you more deeply if you buy directly from us.
• Relationships with customers and factories are the key to growing a successful business.
• Have a business idea? Keep it simple.
• Why surfing is a spiritual experience.
• Any product ideas for Wave Tribe out there?

Resources mentioned

Today, I speak with my friend Mark about his journey with lifelong depression and feelings of suicide. Mark's father committed suicide at 50 and Mark didn't think he was going to make it past this anniversary without taking his own life. 

He was introduced to plant medicine at just the right moment and this podcast conicals his journey from the dark side of depression to a totally new outlook on life and what it has to offer.

Please note we are not giving any advice in this podcast, we are telling the story of a personal journey where plant medicine changed Mark's life and that story is worth telling and listening too.

If you are interested in more information on how plant medicine can also help you, I recommend the following resources:

Books:

Tyler Farnham is a world traveler, international lifeguard, and public speaker. In 2009, Tyler suffered a horrendous accident, which changed his overall perspectives as well as his life decisions. 

As an EMT Ocean Rescue Captain, the physical rehab meant not only walking again but getting back in shape to pass the extremely rigorous physical tests to regain his active duty status. In one year, he achieved that goal.

Still learning and still growing, Tyler shares the stories of his own personal development through visualization and motivation using surfing, yoga, meditation as tools for happiness, self-discipline, and emotional growth. 

In this episode, we meet Sanny and Iñaki from Spain.

She left a successful career in acting and he left the world of stock markets to live a different kind of life.

Located in Haiku, Hawaii, the eco couple talks about how they both left successful careers to live a deeper and more fulfilling life in Hawaii.

Sanny and Iñaki run a blog called the Eco Couple blog with eco-friendly articles and products. They talk about how they overcame their illness and other challenges along the journey from Spain to Hawaii. They each found a new light inside themselves that pushed them toward a new life surrounded by nature, new friendships, ecology, and the ocean

Some issues covered:

• How did you get where you are?
• Do you love living in Hawaii?
• Why is ecology important for you?
• You bringing awareness about other brands, have you thought about creating your own eco brand?
• Did having a child change the way think about the world?
• Describe your first surfboard?
• Your favorite surf trip?
• Did we miss anything?

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Inclusivity, history of surfing, inequalities in surfing, localism, and why mostly white men are the grumpiest in the line-up. 

Manav and I dive into some of the current hot issues in today's world and look at them from within surfing.

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Passion truly drives Radbeh Ravaz as he chases his dream to bring a product to life.

Radbeh invented the next generation beach chair, it passed the 1st SharkTank audition but he was never called back this season. His invention is not anything close to the traditional beach chair that we see on the market. It's something from nature and for nature. 

You can wear it like a shield or you can ride it like a bodyboard. He took it to the former bodyboarding world champion and got tons of great feedback and stoke.

We talk about manufacturing challenges and domestic production. He laments about why we cannot have a sustainable business if we want to keep the production in the US. He suggests that we are outsourcing our economy and we are shutting down innovation and innovative thinking in an industry that belongs to us and Pacific beach.

We review his challenges from the very first stage: insurance, fulfillment, manufacturing, R&D, investors, and basically anything that you can think of when bringing a product to market.

Starting out as a bodyboarder, turned SUPer, and got spit out as a surfer. 

Evolution's finest dance.

Kane and I talk about professional bodyboarding and growing up in the 90s as a surf rat. How is moved up to a SUP and how he always felt like an outsider.

He eventually found his way to a surfboard but continues to enjoy all the water activities—a true waterman.

We talk about being a fireman during COVID and how he started getting his art on this year during the pandemic.

He gives some great advice about being in the ocean air and offers some solid perspectives from a first responder point of view.

Link & Connect

In this episode, we talk to Mark about traveling to Cabo Mexico during the current pandemic. He walks us through getting to Cabo by air via Tiajuana and tells us what the experience is like being in Mexico during his pandemic surf trip.

He reviews his first surf sessions at The Rock, Zippers, and Shipwrecks on a solid south swell.

His stoke comes through strong as he unravels his first trip to the Cabo region.

In this episode, I caught up with Melodie Meyer from Mermaid Wavewear.

Mermaid Wave Wear makes a sexy and sustainable wetsuit line for women.  They use Yulux glue which is a solvent-free and sustainable material in the construction of the suits.

Check them out here . . . 

The reason I love traveling is that the people you meet while on the road tend to impact your life in more ways than can be imagined. 

Looking for something to do during quarantine? Why not shape your first surfboard. 

We go through the tools and software you need and also I walk you through each step of the process.

If you love surfboards as much as I do then you'll love shaping them even more.

Have fun.

SKU Shaper, Shaping Software

In this first episode, we talk about how the surf company Wave Tribe started and we explore the details of some of the eco-friendly products created by Wave Tribe. Wave Tribe was created over a decade ago and is the world's first eco surf company. 

Wave Tribe designs eco-products like hemp board bags, recycled surfboard leashes, and cork deck pads—a trifecta of eco surfing accessories.