Surf

The dog days of Summer have come and gone and the good ole’ N.Pacific is slowly starting to wake from its long slumber.

The first day of Fall began with overhead surf that is still hanging around here in Northern California. Lefts and rights on hand with the occasional hollow bowl to be found.

I can only recall two half way decent days this whole summer. One was the 4th of July and the other was a few weeks prior when it was really windy with only two other guys out. There were a few others, but nothing to get too excited about or blog about for that matter.

This is the best time of year as the winds tend to die down and the temperatures rise and we get that Indian Summer action. I have a few decent photos I will be posting in the gallery in the next day or so…a good sequence in particular of one lucky guy that got a nice little cover up to start the day. Until then, here is a little teaser.

SurfersVillage.com Press Release gives props to Jason Sedor and his vid Kaiwan.  We have always known Jason had skills so its cool to see him get global recognition.  Good on ya!  Check out the video here Kai Otton surfs Taiwan, dubbed ‘Kaiwan’

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 24 July, 2007 : – – Years before his WCT campaign commenced on the ASP tour and the rookie sensation began racking up semifinal finishes at Teahupoo and giving the world’s best a serious run for their money, Insight’s Kai Otton traveled to some random places like Taiwan and ripped the shit out of anything he caught.

Recently unearthed from hidden vaults, Jason Sedor’s footage of Ottz tearing apart waves in the Orient is well worth a look, and will no doubt help you appreciate why the surfing world is now taking note of the young goofy footer’s act. Go to surfingmagazine.com for the video clip, and while there be sure to check out ::Insight’s new ‘ZOUP’ campaign surf trailer a couple of links below. Sitting at your work desk was always supposed to be this fun.

www.insight51.com
www.surfingmagazine.com

Bluebird Surf started as Bluebird Boarding back in 99′ as a way to post photos of my surf adventures around the globe. Europe, Asia, and the US. It has gone through lots of developments over the years and has always been completely funded by myself and Gazza, and contributions from our friends and family in the way of server space, design help and more. Most recently we have introduced some advertising to the site to help offset some of the costs associated with keeping it up and running.

I began working with Active Athlete Media here in San Francisco in January and chose them as the partner to handle the advertising for the site. I was hesitant to introduce advertising to the site as I didn’t want to have obtrusive, flashing blinking ads that were annoying and of no value. Being that I’m personally involved in the process of providing a unique and valuable experience to the partners AAM represents I felt that my site would be a good starting point to help refine the delivery of quality relevant ads.

So…In an effort to help increase the relevancy of the ads we display and of course secure advertisers that understand the value of your attention. I have a survey that I am helping to push out to all of you and my family and friends that are passionate lifestyle athletes. Whether you surf, kayak, run, skate, kiteboard, Mtn. bike…whatever this brief survey will help us to gather information that will make the Bluebird experience that much better.

Surfing is a lifestyle, as we all know. As a surfer you live it and breath it and it affects your life decisions more than you may realize. The more I can help advertisers understand what we are all about and what kinds of interests we have the more advertising turns from being an annoyance to being of great value. Advertising is meant to bring cool products and services to you so that you don’t have to go out looking for them.

I’d appreciate your help and support in filling this out and forwarding the link on to as many of your friends and family that you think fits the bill.

Take Me To Your Survey!

Here is a link if you would like to spam your friends…it’s all good.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=jSnPB2tWQE1DW_2fpIPZuwMQ_3d_3d

Thank you for your continued support. This site was started for me and my fellow weekend warriors and globe trotters almost ten years ago, but couldn’t have continued this long without all the new friends Gazza and I have made on the way and all the people out there around the world that check in and help support us through forum posts, photo and video uploads and contributions and all those positive vibes you send.

Big Mahalos.

Stay wet and stay stoked!!

Kai Otton is the big hit on Tour jumping to #10 in the world in his first year. We all know about him through his Chinese New Year visits to Taiwan as a guest of Clayton Wholly and Jason Sedor of TheBoardWok.com.

Kai boasted the single highest heat score in day two of the Rip Curl Pro in Arica, Chile. Check out his meaty wave here courtesy of Surfline. There is no doubt we are going to see some good things from this guy in the near future.

I took my two boys to see Surf’s Up, the new CGI movie featuring the voices of Jeff Bridges, James Woods, Kelly Slater, Rob Machado, and others. I didn’t really know any of this before I took them as I figured it was a penguin surfing movie…how bad could it be. Both of my boys were born in Taiwan and grew up on Pingu and surfing…even though they are only 4-5. My oldest has been catching waves with me since he was 1 1/2 yrs. old.

It was actually a really well done movie. The waves were pretty incredible and I’m almost embarrassed to say that I felt like a little kid again seeing this remote paradise that the character played by Jeff Bridges had all to himself. Perfect A-Frame peaks right off the beach….reminded me of the old days out at Paishawan when nobody had really gotten into looking for surf past Nanwan or Jialoshui.

Actually the parallels to Taiwan were pretty interesting. They ate squid on a stick and the island that they were on was called Pen Gu. I can’t count how many sessions were finished with a pint and a squid on a stick.

My boys were standing up in the theatre and giggling, pointing and mocking the characters. It was classic! I highly recommend checking it out…even if you are single. Although if you are single, you might wait till it comes out on video…unless of course you are Taiwanese. 🙂

According to the Associated Press, a powerful undersea earthquake and a series of aftershocks rattled eastern Indonesia, damaging buildings and causing panicked residents to flee their homes. Completely unrelated, was the large swell that hit Indonesia a few days prior and created some of the biggest and cleanest waves the Bukit has seen in years. Check out UluwatuPhoto.com, BaliWaves.com and Surfline.com for the goods. In remembrance of Kyle Z; He would have gone.

Dawn (my wife) shares this note with everyone who knew our son Kyle.

Kyle was killed as most of you know, by a boy who was out with his friends. A lot of information has been out there but not all of the information has been correct. This is what I can tell you I hope it gives some closure to some of the people who knew and loved Kyle.

Mr. Yu is a 20 year old boy who was in college at the time of the accident, after he hit and killed Kyle he fled and then later turned himself into the police. Since that time Mr. Yu has taken full responsibility of his actions and has never denied the fact that he was at fault.

I was in Taiwan last month for the guilty verdict and I can tell you it was a painful experience. Gary and I had to do a lot of soul searching to get over the anger that goes along with this kind of nightmare. We are forever changed as a family and as people. I was not sure what I was gonna do when I saw Mr. Yu again. It had been about 18 months since I last saw him. I had no idea on what I was gonna do in that courtroom, what was the right thing; what would Kyle want me to do? I always wanted to believe that I was a kind and fair person but was I able to get past my own anger and do what my children and Kyle wanted me to do? Did I have the guts? Grief is a funny thing once you get past the anger you have to deal with the loss and then the day to day living without the person who so much was your life. Time is a great healer and with that Gary, Aeric , Jacob and myself believed in our hearts that no one was gonna make this out without a lot of scars. We felt that Mr. Yu took full responsibility and was in truth very sorry for what he had done. You look at someone and have to decide if the person you are looking at is indeed sorry. I believed that in my heart he was.

Gary and I asked the court not to send Mr. Yu to jail that it would serve no real purpose, and truth be told I didn’t want to be responsible for another life. This decision was not popular for some and others wanted something more, but I can tell you we did not come to this decision lightly. I have cried many nights and in the end it came down to what Kyle would have wanted. I have to conduct myself in the manner in which I raised him to be and I saw him saying to me mom let it go it was an accident. With that in mind that is how we came to the decision we did.

Mr. Yu could of gotten 6- 10 years in prison but the court ruling is as such Mr. Yu will serve 1 year in prison and 5 years probation. He has to pay Gary and I a sum of money that will take him some time. Even though we asked the judge for no jail time she felt that carelessness of the crime some time had to be served. Due to the fact that Mr. Yu has taken responsibility from the beginning he was given a lighter sentence. I am relieved that I didn’t have to make that decision and the court has done that for us. We are at peace with the verdict and hope this answer’s the so many questions to a long nightmare.

When I left Taiwan with the boys I could not get out fast enough all that I felt was that this country has taken the best part of our lives. I had to return for court and I cried when I left the states and I cried when I arrived, but through the fear and pain came back all the great memories and the so many people who loved us and Kyle Chechen treated me like a returning queen. Seeing all the people who where so much a part of our lives was good for my soul. It made me remember why Kyle loved this place so much.

As Gary gets ready to finish his 91/2 years in Taiwan and move home to me and the boys, I know one day we will return because Kyle’s spirit is their. To all of you who help support us and loved Kyle keep surfing cause he is watching…

Dawn

Dawn and I miss Kyle everyday and thank all of our friends who supported us during this very difficult time. We where able to get some closure with the court’s decision but as any parent who loses a child, the pain of that loss never goes away.