thank God we're loggers

Sharin a 1 footer with the birthday boy Jeff @msandsw.

Taken and uploaded in the water on our iphone. Free wifi from kahuna resort. 

mission clean water 2012

article from http://www.liquidsaltmag.com/2012/10/mission-clean-water-2012/

For the second year in a row, Carla Rowland of The Surf Institute and Ian Zamora of Zamora Surf will make the journey to the Philippines to bring clean water filters to rustic communities who need it most, on the main island of Luzon in the Philippines.

This December, Project Save Our Surf (PSOS) will be assisting The Surf Institute, Zamora Surf, and Coast Thru Life in the distribution of these drinking water filters. Together they will travel across the island visiting areas like Baler, La Union, and Pagudpud. “No one should go without suitable drinking water in 2012,” says Rowland, who is calling upon interested volunteers to join in the unforgettable trip.

The team will be a leader in an important movement to educate and encourage the Filipino people to maintain adequate, clean drinking water. Each person on this trip will empower multiple Filipino communities by passing on the tools to live easier with an independent and cost-effective source of drinking water.

“We really take for granted the most basic of needs here in the U.S. With nearly 16 million Filipinos living WITHOUT clean drinking water, it’s my hope that we can affect the lives of many who struggle in procuring this most fundamental life-sustaining requirement.”

All who are interested, please consider donating to this worthy cause or joining the team to volunteer. Contact Carla Rowland at TheSurfInstitute@gmail.com or visit The Surf Institute to learn more.

logging in biarritz

Logging in gorgeous Biarritz.

from Smog Films

http://jeanpenninck.tumblr.com/

JOEL TUDOR INVITATIONAL - Biarritz from Smog Films on Vimeo.

Cut me some slacks!

Buji's been a busy bee lately. Juggling time between architectural design, client meetings, trips to the beach for surf get aways, and recently with his new found passiion--designing simple clothes. He's been spending late nights drawing plans, not for houses, but for clothes he can use the new fabrics, buttons, zippers, and what ever he was able to get his hands onto to try and create some articles of clothing that he's thought of or dreamt about the night before.

Here's me asking him about why his desk is turning into some sort of makeshift haberdashery. 

Me: Are you turning into a tailor Buji Brownlegs?

(Note: Buji's answers are translated in English)

Buji: Haha! I wish! I'm just really having so much fun designing clothes for you and me Niks! Maybe I'l take up tailoring classes in the future? 

Me: What got you into this exactly?

Buji: I guess I've always been fascinated with design, style, and fashion. Yes…fashion! Back in the 90's when I was in high school, I'd sometimes save my lunch money to have my own clothes tailor made. I'd show up of for school walking around in my custom denim bell bottoms and other blast from the past trousers or jackets.  I couldn't find these in stores so I'd just have them custom made. Of course I'd always get picked on for being the guy with weird clothes who looked like he just came from a 60's flick. But I didn't care. Those were the kind of clothes I wanted to wear and if I couldn't find them, I'd find a way to make them.

I've been surfing for quite some time and I've always found it really difficult to find the perfect fitting board shorts for myself. I'd find a pair that looks really cool and all but it'll end up being too long or too loose so I'd always have to make alterations. Perhaps because I've always been fond of the way they dressed during the good ol days, I really like the classic fitting shorts. Since I'm a long boarder,  I really want my shorts above the knee so they don't get in the way. 

So I decided to try and design my own shorts from scratch, with the style and fit I've always looked for in a pair of boardshorts.

Me: Do you find the same satisfaction in designing houses and in designing clothes?

Buji:  When I draw up the plans for a house based on what the client wants and then see the structure being completed, up to the point when the family moves in and enjoys each and every space in their new home is one of the most satisfying feelings for me. It's funny because similarly, I sort of get the same feeling when I get to try the pair of shorts that I had drawn on paper just a few days ago and actually go for a surf in it, knowing that along with the piece of foam beneath my feet, the piece of cloth, thread, and buttons that I put together allow me to be in the ocean, to glide on water, and to enjoy what I love to do the most.

Me: Senti mode Buj? Just cut me some slacks! Kidding! But seriously, what can we expect from your new collection?

Buji: Nothing hi-tech. We won't be having any space-age 10-way stretch micro fiber boardies and stuff like that. I really don't know how a 4 way stretch boardshort that looks more like a space suit or a tire interior can be more utilitarian than a pair of simply cut, above the knee cotton shorts. What we'll be having are just basic fabrics and local materials hand crafted and tailored to a classic fit. Old school trunks the way they used to wear them. Like a pair of trousers they chopped up and surfed in.

I don't mind hanging out at the beach in a pair of wet shorts during a quick lunch break or something. However, I'd like to be comfortable during the 5 hour car ride to the beach. I'd like to be sitting on that vinyl car seat in a pair of cotton shorts and with all the pockets I could stick my wallet, my 2 phones, my ipod, my handkerchief, and toll change in. 

That's why I thought of designing tailored walk shorts that are also sea worthy enough for me to surf in. I'd like to be able to get off the car, check the surf, grab my board, and run straight to the beach with out having to towel change anymore.

I also did a few pairs of boardshorts in quick dry fabrics. Basic surf trunks cut above the knee, stylish enough to wear even with your favorite boat shoe and with enough pockets for a bar of wax, a fin key, a wax comb, some candy, and that GoPro. (I think a fresh green Mango to munch on would fit too.)

Me: Cool...Thanks for my new shorts by the way! I see you've also made some pairs of pants and jackets?

Buji:  Of course I made some for you too.  Then I went on to design some chinos and jackets for us to wear during our frigid bus rides to the beach. 

Me: When can our friends expect these to be out? 

Buji : Soon! These are clothes I designed according to what we like and to our needs as city dwellers who travel to the coast ever so often.This is a collection of garments that make you look sharp enough for that casual client meeting yet comfy and snug for that long commute to the beach. I hope our friends also like what we've made.

On the bright side, in case they don't, we'll have a bunch of new custom clothes to wear or give away this holiday season :)

Coast Thru Life Limited-Edition Back to Basics Collection.
 Coming soon.

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follow Coast Thru Life on twitter & instagram (username @coastthrulife)

and Like us on Facebook

lines

photo from CTL's instagram feed (@coastthrulife)

Nikki and Nina (matching again).

Here with a pretty awesome actress and surfergirl Mylene Dizon.

baler x waves for water

Waves for Water is a non-profit organization that aims to provide clean drinking water to places that are in dire need of it. Through small, portable, easy to install water filter kits, traveling surfers can very easily bring these filters to areas they visit during surf trips, helping the community in a simple way they can while enjoying waves too.

During their Philippine trip last year, Ian Zamora and Carla Rowland, of Zamora Surf and The Surf Institute, brought over some Waves for Water filters and distributed them to some coastal barrangays in La Union and Baler.

We went back to Baler last September to check on the filtartion kit that Carla and Ian donated to the P.Zubia Elementary School. The crew of Ako and Simula (lit. I Am the Beginning), a public service show broadcast on ABS-CBN, was there to film the CTL gang.

Ako ang Simula host, Poch taking a gulp of filtered water. Thank God the filter does its work!

Echo spreading some good vibes to a sea of wonderful school kids.
photo from Kim Jones' instagram feed (@kimcamjones)

A trip to Baler would't be complete with out surf.

Nikki couldn't wait to get in the water.

Echo doing an inventory of the toys we brought.



Buji having fun in the river mouth.




And the next day, God blessed us with surf…big surf…( for us loggers)

Echo sliding on his single fin scooter.

Surfing makes us all children again blessed to share one amazing 

ocean playground. 

visit the Waves for Water website for more info

check out Ako Ang Simula on the web too

The Surf Institute is accepting donations for their upcoming trip to the Philippines to bring more Waves for Water Kits.