In three days, I distributed flyers all over town with the sponsors who donated raffle items, at La Jolla Shores and Tourmaline beaches. Finally, what would our marketing efforts be without myspace? I not only posted the flyer as a bulletin, I posted a comment on over 100 friends’ myspace accounts. A lot of my friends who surf at Tourmo have myspace accounts, and all of a sudden the word was out. Everyone was posting and replying to the Expression Session bulletins. It was fun! Who knows how far we reached in society together. One of my neighbors works in Rancho Bernardo, and a co-worker had mentioned her son was planning to go to “some event” down at Tourmaline he had seen on Surfline. He said it was all over the internet.

Before we had even recruited surfers, I hit the ground running looking for sponsorship. All of the businesses were more than willing to donate, and no one said no. The total value of items collected for the raffle amounted to about $8,500 at retail. We had 4 custom surfboards (blanks, shaping, custom color jobs, and glass jobs) to raffle off as well as restaurant gift certificates, artwork, books, jewelry, clothing, handmade beanies, manicures, pedicures, massages, photo sessions, ding repair, Legoland passes, skateboards, tattoo time, hula lessons, gym memberships, skin care, and DVD’s. We had something for everyone, even if you don’t surf. At the bottom of the article you will find a listing of all the businesses who generously donated to our cause.

There were also a lot of individuals who donated money before and during the event. The Tailgaiters, Jacek and Caroline Minkowski, Steve Mast, Jerome Hall, JR, Ron and Cecelia Greene, Bob Peacock, Jeff Hackert and Family, Ferdie Morales, Janice Burkharch, Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association, Randy Strunk and Osi Uvni (PB Surf Shop), Carol Ann, Bobby and Erin, Shelly and Leonard Pool, Jenn James (SDSL), Lori and Michael Votrian, Charlie Cruz, Mary Helen and Dave Ish, Amfee Ames, Brenda Goerzen , Susie McGuire, Zeph Carrigg, Mike Norman & Sierra, Dave Mills, Kenny Starke, Shann and Martin Murphy, Keep Abreast-Jen Smith, Otis Sistrunk, Aquilino Soriyama, Dennis Ogden (60’s skateboard) and Cota Family. If I have missed anyone, PLEASE let me know, and I will be happy to add you to the list for Allie. We did not keep track of raffle purchases, but we would be happy to add you to the list.

On to the event! What a great day!!! The waves weren’t perfect, but there was a lot of good surfing going on, and everyone had a great time. To quote Travis accurately, “There wasn’t a judge in sight!” We didn’t seem to have any trouble at all recruiting surfers. In fact, we had so many guys (32 good looking men!), we put 4 heats together; one of which was a “Shapers’ Heat”. Jeff Hackert thought it would be a gas to make them ride each other’s boards, and they actually traded with each other. They were good sports about it, and John Slavin took some great photos.

Travis and Kathy did a great job on the mic, giving us the play-by-play on the water. Celia and I were relief announcers. Jeff, Celia and Patrick O’Connor put together the music for the event, and Masi’s friend, Chris Abbott donated the sound system and generator. We were so lucky! Nothing went wrong, and the whole day went on without a hitch. Kaleo ‘Onalani sent the girls to do a little hula for us, and everyone was stoked!

Travis was a total comedian on the microphone doing his best “golf commentator (quiet voice)” impression during the men’s heat while the girls were dancing, so he didn’t ruin the moment. As soon as the dancing was finished, he and Haley suited up, and put on a great tandem demonstration. They’re so graceful in the water, pulling off some amazing poses.

The rest of the men’s heats were phenomenal. Then we moved right in to the girls’ heats. Jessie Davis was a little late for his heat, so we let him surf with the girls. I wish we had a wig for him…would’ve been perfect. If he could only walk the nose with a wig, stogie with a long ash, and knee high socks, he would have looked like Mama from that show called Momma’s Family. What a crack up. Everyone was having so much fun; they didn’t want to get out of the water when their heat was up.

Sommer makes it look so easy; she’s an inspiration to us all. John shot some great photos, and although the day hasn’t been posted, he said he would get it posted soon (keep checking). Kaley, Gail and Rosa drove all the way down from Oxnard and Ventura. They surf so well, and it was great to see our pals. Below is a picture of Allie’s Girlfriends heat. Notice Andrea’s new do? Andrea made a promise to Allie that when Allie lost her hair, she would shave her head. All that beautiful blonde hair-gone!

Before we went out, John Slavin and a couple of other guys were taking pictures of us. We got a little crazy, and in the spirit of the moment, we gave John his “ars” shot, and then we did the other pose that Allie would have loved, and grabbed the “boo…” All in the name of breast cancer awareness, right? We were so silly.

Anyway, when the kids’ heat started, we didn’t want to get out, so we just kept surfing. By the way, our kids did an amazing job with raffle sales and donations. Patrick manned the booth for 5 hours straight with Maile’s and Dave Venagas’s kids. Patrick and Maile were responsible for all of the money raised.

Even though raffle prizes were given away all day, things really heated up after the surfing wrapped up. We started by raffling off a custom shape by Josh Hall. Dan’s wife, Kim won the board. She’s a cancer survivor! There were so many raffle items, it seems like everyone won something. JP donated and raffled off a bat tail shortboard. Our boogie boarding pal, Ken won it. Looks like Ken is going to have to start standing up. He’ll be shredding in no time!

This is where things got interesting. Bobby and Erin won the first custom Masi longboard, and Bobby turned around and put it up for auction. Shelly Pool ended up with the winning bid of $700. Shelly said her husband’s birthday is in a couple of months, and he’s been wanting to get back in to surfing.

Then, Bobby and Erin won the second Masi custom shortboard! Again, Bobby put it up for auction. Erin’s mom, Carol Ann, ended up with the winning bid of $450. She said her son, Nate is getting ready to go to Panama! What a gift! Not only did Bobby and Erin buy $250 in raffle tickets, they put their winnings back in the pot. You guys ROCK!

At the end of the day, we raised $5,284.25. We have already paid for Allie’s second week at the cottages. The rest of the money is locked away in the bank. Our goal is to build a bench at Tourmaline for Ocean Allie in the event she passes. Any remaining funds will be donated to Susan B. Komen for breast cancer research. Please feel free to ask me where we’re at in the process from time to time. I’m not sure how long it will take, but I will be happy to report on what I know as we’re going through the process. Thanks again to everyone for spending the day with us, and for your generosity! I hope you had a great time!

Mahalo,
Dawn

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