Sunny And Cool In Port Aransas, 56 Degrees...

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Help Save The Gaviota Coast! ...Buy This Fin!

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Yet another environmental message concerning important coastal conservation. This concerns the Gaviota Coast between Gaviota and Santa Barbara. This is a beautiful area and I knew it well in the years I surfed in Santa Barbara

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Email from Drew:

                                                    Rick Rietveld is one of the very finest surf artists, and this fin must be outrageous.Certainly the cause is.

                        Have fun on eBay if you feel it and have it. – drew

                           Begin forwarded message:

From: Rietveldr@aol.com
Date: February 19, 2010 3:05:09 PM PST
Subject: Rietveld's painted "Save Gaviota" Fin
Hi Friends,
I donated a custom painted surfboard fin ( I used mixed medium, acrylic and One Shot enamel ) to the Surfrider Foundation to save Gaviota from being developed by a very large housing project which would destroy this beautiful natural habitat and part of our quickly diminishing natural coastline.
They are putting the Fin up for auction on e-bay. If interested, please make a bid to get it going or think of it as a great donation for a great cause. Or if you know someone who may be interested pleas give them a heads up and forward this e-mail See their letter below mine.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200441579637

Thankyou,
Rick Rietveld
Rietveld Editions, Inc.
See my portfolio @ www.RietveldArt.com
Purchase my art @ www.McKibbenStudios.com

In a message dated 2/19/10 1:30:41 PM, nhastings@surfrider.org writes:
Hi Rick,
The surfboard fin is now for sale online at eBay! 100% of proceeds will go to Surfrider Foundation via eBay Giving Works (MissionFish) and will be directed back to the Santa Barbara Chapter once the auction is over. Please post anywhere and everywhere... Let’s get big $$$ for this beautiful piece of artwork!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200441579637

If you have any questions, problems, revisions... Whatever... Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly. I have informed Surfrider Global staff, posted it on all my personal social network sites, and posted listings on the following sites:

Surfrider_Socal MySpace - http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=230230230&blogId=529511989

Surfrider_Socal Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Rick+Rietveld&init=quick#!/pages/Surfrider_SoCal/125839473809?ref=ts

Thanks for all your help!
~ Nancy

Nancy Hastings - Southern CA Field Coordinator
(310)995-7873 cell – nhastings@surfrider.org
Follow Surfrider_SoCal on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace

The Bluesmobile At The Beach

Day before yesterday at Bob Hall Pier

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Fred Hemmings, Pipeline 1966

Today I received an email from Fred Hemmings' office thanking me for supporting the surf reserve preservation bill he sponsored as a State Senator for the State of Hawaii. The email also contained this geat pic.
Pretty cool!

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Hawaii's Surfing Reserve Bill

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I recently received an email from my friend Drew Kampion. Here it is:

This just in from Fred Hemmings.
To help frame the issue, here's a piece I recently wrote, which has been adopted as a sort of "manifesto" by the World Surfing Reserves program created by Save The Waves [www.savethewaves.org].
Fred's "Hawaii Surfing Reserve Bill" parallels the path blazed by Australia's National Surfing Reserves program, and will in turn, I hope, templates other efforts in surfing communities around the world to dedicate, enshrine, and protect our surfing beaches, everywhere.
Consider providing a few words of support to the Champ's well-crafted legislation, as directed below.
drew

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Sen. Fred Hemmings" senhemmings@capitol.hawaii.gov
Date: February 16, 2010 11:09:30 AM PST
Subject: Hawaii Surfing Reserves Testimony Needed Now
The Hawaii Surfing Reserve Bill is scheduled to be heard this Friday, February 19 at 1:15 p.m. in Conference Room 016 at the State Capitol. Following is information on submitting testimony regarding the Bill. As you know, your testimony is vitally important to the success of this initiative which establishes surfing reserves for Waikiki and parts of Oahu’s North Shore areas. Here is the link for the committee hearing which has the bill attached is http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2010/hearingnotices/HEARING_EDT-WTL_02-19-10_.HTM
Please let us know if you have any questions or need further information. Please forward and cross post as appropriate. Aloha,
Charlotte Farmer
Legislative Aide to Senator Fred Hemmings
808.587.8388

Below is my letter to the State of Hawaii:
Dear Friends,

I just received word of the effort, led by your State Senator Fred Hemmings, to preserve most of the famous surf breaks on Oahu as recognized and historical locations.
I applaud this idea and I urge you to fully support this plan.
If the wonderful state of Hawaii is known best for anything around the world it is its surf!
From the Beach Boys to Jan and Dean, Hawaiian surf has been celebrated in song, movies and on the pages of magazines for longer than I have been alive, which is now over 62 years!
I am a long time surfer, since 1965, I have done most of my surfing in my native Texas on the Gulf Coast, and I lived in California for many years. I have surfed the west coast from the far south of Mexico to Vancouver Island. Every where I surfed I have met surfers whose dream was to go to Hawaii and ride the waves of your islands. Many of my friends have made this trip which is a pilgrimage for surfers!
I am sure the lure of the surf and the sand has had a tremendous boost to your tourist business and has also influenced non surfing tourists wishing to get a look at these places and the surfers that ride the waves.
To think that some of your famous breaks such as Sunset Beach, Waimea Bay, Pipeline, Haleiwa and others could be threatened by development screams of heresy most high to surfers and tourists!
In California Dana Point stands a mute testimony to what can befall a famous surf spot which is now lost forever. There have been and still are good breaks and beaches at risk here in Texas, Florida and other mainland spots.
Don’t let such things happen in Hawaii!
Sincerely,
Dicky Neely
Corpus Christi, Tx.

361-937-3768

Sunny Today In Port Aransas!

It was sunny but cool today, all in all a gorgeous day.

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Mavericks Big Wave Contest Pics

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Beautiful Today, Horace Caldwell Pier, Port Aransas

Tony Amos, famed local oceanographer, inspects dead whale, he said was it a baleen whale  but was unsure of the exact species. Baleen whales as a class includes the great whales, such as the blue whale, finback, hump back and others..
(photo: Corpus Christi Caller/Times)
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A big story in the local news the past two days has been the forty foot plus whale which washed up dead in Port A.
It was buried in the sand dunes today.