Helllo once again everyone and welcome to the Pacific Beach Surf Club newsletter.

First , a round of thank yous go out to Ben McCue of Wildcoast, and Andre Niemeyer of My Local Lineup.com, for speaking at our last meeting. Ben filled the club in on our charity beneficiary this year Wildcoast and their campaign for clean water. He also updated us on the ongoing fight against the 241 toll road.

Andre Niemyer runs mylocallineup.com and will be covering the competitiion (both photo and video) this year and will be posting both on his website immediately after the comp. You may download the images of yourself and others for free. Be sure to check out PBSC's own Richard Steadham's blog while you're there.

Call for Volunteers

Anyone who'd like to volunteer for duties on the day of the event (June 14th) there are many openings. Some duties include,set up the night before(Friday the 13th), set up the morning of, food runner, beach marshall, check-in, raffle, merchandise, and food service.etc. If you'd like to help out, contact janemold@earthlink.net or rlsteadham@mac.com.


Upcoming meetings

Our next contest committee members meeting will be Thursday May 22nd to discuss contest issues and anyone who wants to contribute is welcome as well. 7:00 pm At RT"s Longboard Grill in PB. (Corner of Haines and Garnet) Our next general meeting will be held back at Round Table Pizza, 1221 Garnet Avenue, Tuesday June 3rd, 6:30 pm for Board Members, and 7:00 for club members.

Upcoming Contests

Any of you pansies want to surf Malibu? The Call to the Wall is coming and rosters have to be in soon, so get your shit together, write out a check, contact the team captain, and work on your noseriding. 'Nuff said.

Now shut up and surf,.

Travis Long
President and Team Captain 2008

getting to know my local lineup and its CREATOR

By Richard Steadham

My Local Lineup is a great new Internet resource for surfers not only in San Diego County, but the larger Southern California surf scene as well. Launched just six months ago, it recently expanded it's scope of the region's various surf communities with Version 2 of the already popular website. The driving force behind this new endeavor is Andre Niemeyer, a talented surfer in his own right and equally at home on boards ranging from short to SUP.

Due to my work as editor of this newsletter, as well as editing the Coalition of Surfing Club's newsletter, Coalition Chronicles, Andre recently brought me on board the My Local Lineup Team as one of their featured bloggers and surf news contributors (note, I also sell advertising on the site). In order to introduce readers of this publication, who may not yet be aware of the abundant resources on MyLocalLineup.com, I decided an interview with its creator was in order. I sat down with Andre recently to have him explain for himself, just what all the excitement surrounding his website was about.

What does Mylocallineup.com have to offer?

Imagine a place where you have:

• a blog section to read the opinions of well-connected local surfers;
• a directory to lookup surf-related businesses;
• a comprehensive calendar of the events in your surf community;
• a photo gallery where you can find shots of your surf buddies;
• an online TV to watch surf clips; 
• a classifieds like Craig’s List dedicated for surfers;
• a review board to talk about the quality of products and services in your industry; 
• a forum to share your thoughts with friends;
• a social network to be directly connected with various other surfers;
• a news outlet to keep you informed about important events;
• a contest column to present competition coverage;
• an interview page to introduce you to iconic local surfers.

You’ve just given a picture of Mylocallineup.com. What’s the driving philosophy behind my local lineup?

The philosophy is to provide a resource to help build local surf communities. For too long, local surf communities have either been ignored or mischaracterized.

Traditionally, mainstream surf media has focused almost exclusively on professional surfing, surf forecasts, and surf reports. As a result, the people who actually make up the face of surf breaks have been left on the sidelines.

And when not ignored, surf communities have quite often been painted with a broad stroke, where local surfers become identified with a band of marginals who seek to wring havoc upon anyone who dares to venture into their territory. Although we know there are those who live up to the stereotype, this isn’t the picture that you normally find when going down to the beach.

To counter the relative indifference to the local surfer and to present a more inclusive picture of surf communities, I spearheaded the My Local Lineup Project. By providing a host of ways in which surfers can both express themselves and become involved and by presenting a more holistic media coverage, we hope to help to strengthen the social ties in surf groups and increase their dynamicism.    

Now to have a more personal understanding of the site, I’d like to learn a little history about you. What was the path that eventually led you to California?

In 1998, I was working in South America in a Resocialization Home for Street Children. There we gave them shelter, food, clothes, education, and therapy to help them deal with their traumatic past, and to enable them later to enter the job market. Also working there was my soon-to-be wife. From coworkers, we went on to date for two years and then eventually become husband and wife. In 2000, a few days after the wedding, we moved to California and settled in San Diego, which later was to become the birthplace of My Local Lineup.

PHOTOS BY RON GREENE

Who were your early surfing influences?

Having grown up in South America, I was highly influenced by Brazilian surfers. Brazil’s beach breaks and their powerful waves set a very conducive stage for progressive surfing, even among longboarders.

Iconic surfers like Marcelo Freitas (ISA Longboard World Champion 2000, 2002, and 2004) and Phil Rajzman (Longboard World Champion 2007) were two of the faces that I saw almost daily, if not on the lineup training, then in a heat in some longboard contest. One of my few bragging rights is to have placed 3rd in the 1997 Rio de Janeiro State Circuit, while Phil placed 4th. Having said that, I must confess that today he’s become undoubtedly a much better surfer than me.

Now putting surf style aside, my most important early surfing influences were both my dad and my brother. One of the first experiences that I can recall as a conscious person is on my father’s back diving through waves – I was probably 2 to 3 years old at the time. As one of the surf pioneers in Brazil, my dad naturally instilled in us the waterman orientation and surfing became a natural part of life.

Picking up on my dad’s surf influence and revitalizing our family’s passion for riding waves, my brother was key to increasing our commitment to the surfing lifestyle. His devotion to sharpening his waterman skills was always admirable and inspiring. Unfortunately, he passed away a few years ago in a similar fashion to Maverick’s local Jay Moriarity, while training under water. Ironically, my brother and I were getting ready to head up to Jay’s break, Maverick’s.

What are some of your more recent surfing influences?

After moving to California, my surfing underwent a radical change. All of the sudden, it didn’t seem to make sense to be characterized by one single type of equipment. The completely diversified surf conditions and the abundance of surfboard design in California paved the way for me to adopt almost every single type of surfboard available. From fish and thruster to longboard and SUP, I now ride a variety of different board designs. I like to make my equipment choice based on what best fits the conditions of the day, rather than work the other way around, from the equipment to the conditions. Of the more recent surfing influences, California’s diversified surf and board industry have been certainly the most important ones.

And on reflection, it is arguably the case that Mylocallineup.com is trying to help build each one of these vastly different, but equally important, facets of the surf life.

Thank you Andre! It's been great learning about the benefits offered to the local surf community through this new Internet resource, and getting to know you a little better too. I hope readers of this newsletter will take advantage of all there is to offer on your website.

May 28: Big Worm’s Big Give; RT’s Longboard Bar and Grill (Garnet Ave at Haines Street) from 7pm to midnight. 

The San Diego surfing community lost a dear friend and hero recently, Matt “Worm” Joyce, at the young age of 24.  Matt battled Cystic Fibrosis for many years.   Among his many accomplishments, he established a foundation with the aim of helping others with this disease.  That foundation is called, “Big Worm’s CF Life Foundation.” 

Matt was a remarkable young man who celebrated every day of life for the gift that it was.  Matt (pictured) loved surfing, traveling, playing his guitar and hanging out with his friends.  Not only was Matt a friend to many, he never complained and was a model of courage, strength and compassion.  We’ll never forget his humor, style, contagious smile and, of course, his surfing.  His was an inspiration to all of us.

Matt’s mission for his Foundation must not end with his passing.   His friends from the surfing community, taking the lead from the recent “Big Give” TV program on ABC, are going to ensure his mission continues.  We are planning a special fundraising event in Pacific Beach in his honor to benefit the foundation.  We’re calling it “Big Worm’s Big Give!”

We’re asking individuals and businesses alike for donations to make this event a success.   We’re requesting financial donations to Worm’s CF Life Foundation and/or service/product offerings if you represent a Company/Product.   Donated services and products will be raffled/auctioned off during the event.   100% of your tax deductible donation will go directly to the Foundation (a receipt with the Tax ID # is available upon request).

We are committed to raising $10,000 to support this worthy and important cause.  We would sincerely appreciate your donation and spreading the message for the event.  Your donation will help the Big Worm’s CF’s Life Foundation provide gifts for children and teens hospitalized due to CF. 

The fundraising event will be held at RT’s Longboard Bar and Grill (Garnet Ave at Haines Street) on May 28, 2008 from 7pm to midnight. 

Thank you in advance for your support and being part of “Big Worm’s Big Give.” On behalf of Matt’s family, friends and the surfing community – we thank you very much.

Jun 14: The PB Surf Club's 10 Annual Summer Longboard Classic; Tourmaline Surfing Park. Don't miss the club's biggest event of the year! Click on blue link above for more.

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