By Gregg Masters
We caught Kelly’s action at the US Open of Surfing 2011 and the Kelly Slater nails ‘sick’ backside air 360 at US Open of Surfing clip made the rounds.
Here’s one that’s even better! ‘The air’ at Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.
By Gregg A. Masters, MPH
Via SAN DIEGO (CBS 
– Hundreds of people turned out Sunday to remember a local surfing legend. A celebration of life paddle out was held at Windansea Beach in honor of 52-year-old Ted Smith. News 8′s Doug Kolk files this video report from the event that was filled with love, laughs and tears.
Editor’s note: we are compiling a series on the health and wellness of athletes in the action sports space, and will focus on surfing, particularly boomers. We’ve lost too many just in the last few months, with Sean Collins of Surfline coming to mind. What is this with active men in their 50s and 60s dropping dead in some cases ‘unexpectedly’?
We’re just back from CES (for updates, click here) having witnessed the explosion of ‘digital health monitoring‘ sensors and apps (see: Quantified Self apps from DIY Genomic Testing to Meditation Training). Health geeks and fitness data trackers including Fitbit Aria, AliveCor’s iphoneECG, a clinical grade ECG via your iphone, Body Media’s ‘Hands-On with the BodyMedia Patch‘, or an explosion of other body sensors, may find the very tools to peek inside the black box of wellness and thereby provide some comfort to the ‘worried well’. Stay tuned!
Video courtesy of RandySurfs.
By Gregg Masters
With the generous support of our friends at LovinLife MultiMedia, aka Antonio Pullano, the SurfGeek.tv team has been invited to their 3 year anniversary party in Corona Del Mar this Sunday, November 13th, 2011.
Along with the music, treats, goodies and beach vibe one of Orange county’s own top junior women surfer’s, Shelby Detmers will be in the mix and available for press interviews.
Shelby’s journey through her senior year at Newport Harbor High School while competing on the NSSA circuit, participating in the world qualifying series, and balancing her life as a student/athlete is the subject of a documentary film and book project titled ‘SurferGirl Diary: the Long Ride’. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet Shelby and view the trailer posted to Kickstarter. For more information or to pledge your support, click here.
We’ve prepared a clip that features a mashup of stills from Shelby’s recent surfing heats, and practice sessions.
Thanks to LovinLife Multimedia, we have a limited number of first come first serve invites to extend, please reply via Twitter @surfgeekTV or @SurferGirlDiary.
At the Oceanside NSSA competition last Sunday a young man started digging in the sand near the south side of the pier. He was right in front of where the surfers were competing so he was highly visible. Within an hour he had created this piece of art which would ultimately be washed away. But for a moment he had the crowd on the pier and on the beach paying more attention to him than the competition.
By Lon Levin
Yesterday morning I dragged myself out of bed at six to get ready to head out to lower Trestles where Shelby was going to practice before her NSSA competition on Sunday, October 22nd, 2011.
I fueled up with some coffee, a little hot cereal then hopped into my car and jetted down south to San Clemente. As I drove through traffic I thought about all the drama that’s played out in Shelby’s life the last two weeks. It started with an argument with her dad about curfew and staying in touch then mushroomed into Shelby staying with a friend for a few days. When dad (Brett) refused to let Shelby use her boards to surf, Shelby dug in and stayed away from him. At one point she told me she was going to emancipate herself and get a job that would buy her another board
.
This reminded me of my daughter Alexx when she was Shelby’s age and all the threats she laid on me. I quickly advised Shelby this was not not a good idea. Aside from the fact she needed to finish school, and with the type of job she could get it could take her months to buy her own equipment.
In the midst of this rather minor drama a larger unexpected tragedy was about to unfold for Shelby and her close friends and sometimes rivals, Lani and Kulia Doherty. Their dad and mentor, Mike Doherty suffered a fatal heart attack and died recently. Suddenly reality and what’s important in life in it’s most raw form took center stage in Shelby’s heart and head.
Lani, Kulia 
and the whole South Bay surfing community were hit hard by this sudden and unexpected loss. No one had a clue anything like this would happen. Mike had been a fixture at local events where his daughters often starred. He was their coach, their cheerleader, their father and their mentor. I talked to Mike a few times and he was always good for a quip about the competition. “Kulia’s on today, no one will beat her”. “Lani’s unbeatable”. “Shelby oughta stay home.” etc…. But he always said it with a little curling smile like he wanted to poke you you a bit.
My sense was the effect this close to home ‘loss’ had on Shelby was to sober her up to some of her own realities. All the father/daughter bantering notwithstanding, she needed her dad to support her effort in the surfing world both mentally and emotionally. Not only is he savvy about the players in it but he is her primary means of financial support, after some limited sponsorship. And she loves him and possibly realized how close we all are to having our lives end without warning. Within a day or so she was home and she and Brett had made a sort of peace.
When I saw her yesterday she was recovering from a recent cold. But make no mistake she was back in the water and she was absolutely awesome. She was relentless in her pursuit of waves. Among the fifty or so surfers most of them male between 15-50 no one could match Shelby’s skill or intensity. I told Brett “If she surfs like this Sunday no one can beat her, no one!” Brett smiled, he was glad she was surfing again. I asked Shelby when she was out of the water how she felt and all she could say was “tired”.
Later on at the bagel shack in San Clemente she almost fell asleep by the window as we ate. I marveled at how young and vulnerable she looked in her jeans and t-shirt in sharp contrast to the browling feline surfer I had just seen rip up waves at lower Trestles. Sunday cannot come too soon for me.
By Lon Levin
After a grueling day and a half of travel from the Azores back to California, Shelby had barely a day to rest before she hit the water at Trestles for an NSSA event last Saturday. Before her first heat Shelby took to the glassy water and practiced. She looked sharp and very aggressive. However the story this day would not be in the water but on the beach.
Shelby and dad Brett were at odds (again) over some travel issues and they argued between practice and the first heat. After threatening to quit the event and asking her dad to leave her alone she seemed to gather herself, slid into the wetsuit and stomped off. Steam seem to flow off her legs as she entered the the sanctuary of ‘mother ocean’.
However determined Shelby was to perform well, the bickering and arguing likely took its toll as she paddled into the lineup to compete in the semi-finals. For the first part of the heat Shelby looked to be ‘in the zone’ catching some nice rides which put her in second position with two minutes left in the heat. A four foot set rolled in and the girls jockeyed for position. Shelby didn’t take off but the other contestant in third place did and had a nice ride. Shelby dropped to third with a minute or so left to go. Unfortunately the mother ocean would not offer up the wave Shelby needed to get past her other two rivals. She caught two waves but neither nailed the 4.75 score she needed to take the heat and advance. In the end she finished third and 
was out of the competition.
When she emerged from the water and trudged up the beach you could see her disappointment. The last thing she wanted to do was engage with her father but engage they did. After a short terse exchange Shelby retreated to her iPhone and walked off to be alone. The beautiful sunny day with glassy waves curling across the horizon turned out to be gloom and doom for her. And so it goes. It’s not easy chasing a dream, but the resilient Shelby will be back in the water soon and smiling as usual.
So you think surfing around the world is all fun and games? How about being a seventeen year old girl traveling to a foreign country by yourself for the first time and being confined to an airport hotel because you are a minor and didn’t arrive at the airport three hours in advance. Thanks to TSA Surfergirl Shelby could not board her flight to Portugal last night and is now being kept at an airport hotel until eleven tonight when another flight is available. And wait, that’s not all. Let me rewind the tape a little and go back to the day Shelby left for the rest of the story.
On the way to LAX Thursday father Brett and Shelby were arguing about a money issue and Shelby decided to tell her dad she was ‘quitting surfing’. That’s where I come in. Brett called me almost laughing saying Shelby quit and she’s not competing in the upcoming competition in the Azores. I immediately thought, “Now what?” Brett wanted Shelby to talk with me but she refused. I told Brett it isn’t my place, I’m a writer and film maker. In the background I could hear angry muffled words coming from Shelby. “it’s your fault dad, you made all these promises!” “Brett,” I said, “tell her she can hate you all she wants right now but quitting will only hurt her.” “I did that!” he exclaimed. “Then drop her at the airport and tell her good luck, I love you, goodbye.” “Ok” he said.
Two hours later Brett called and said she was off and there was a fellow traveler she knew who was older and he’d watch out for her. “But, I’ll tell you something,” he continued “I miss her already.”
This morning around 10:00 I get a call from Shelby. “I’m bored, I can’t go anywhere because I’m a minor so I have to sit in this room for hours.” So, let’s talk,” I said. I felt like this may be a good time for me to use whatever I’ve learned about raising children especially a daughter and help advise Shelby. “You know Shelby I have daughter who is a little older than you and I know how you feel; dad’s overbearing, parents split up, miss school and friends and you are stuck in a motel not knowing where all your gear is. I get it”
- Shelby heading for the surf
And so we talked for twenty minutes and I really hope my words were a little help to her. I signed off by telling her to ‘have fun and kick some ass! Do it for yourself, show everyone what you’ve got! Remember how good you were in the Trestle’s video? Just do that’. She giggled said ‘yeah’ and we got off. It takes a lot, my friends for a young innocent girl to travel 5000 miles to compete against the best surfers in the world with only a day to practice. But I’m convinced,…Shelby can do it.
“People ask me what’s different about today’s pro surfing? and the first thing I always say is “MONEY”, since the US Open in August the world’s best surfer KELLY SLATER has won over $350,000 with win’s at that event, Chopes, Hurley Pro and the runner-up in New York in the Quik Pro. Not a bad way to make a living?”
The "seventies sessions"
This quote came straight off PT Townend’s Facebook page Townend is the Godfather of modern pro surfing. Before Slater and Curren PT was the best in the world. He is a living legend. Last saturday PT and friends met up for the “seventies session”, a loosely run competition which featured classic seventies boards and surfers. My buddy Brett Detmers invited me down to the event to have some fun, a few brews and to relive an era that I cherish deeply. So while Kelly Slater makes news every weekend about his incredible year long quest to be surfing’s top dog and big money winner, a few friends from days gone by gathered on the beach in front of the lifeguard station to celebrate themselves and a time that lives on in many of our minds.
The session was less a surfing competition and more of an excuse to relive those bygone days when shortboards were still a novelty and aerials had more to do with skydiving.
On a cold morning with dense fog blanketing the beach in front of the Waterfront Hilton in Huntington beach forty-eight participants gathered in front of to surf from 8.00a.m. until 1.00p.m. and then retire across the street to the hotel to drink a few beers and “swap stories” about the good ‘ole days.
Each participant have to bring their own boards and they must have been made under a Huntington Beach surfboard label in the time period of the Seventies.Names and surfboard brands like Chuck Dent, Randy Lewis, Greek and Robert August, Infinity and Walden, Plastic Fantastic, RC, Hawk, David Nuuhiwa/Dyno, Carl Hayward, Bronzed Aussies, Wayne Brown, Corky Carroll Spacesticks, Sunline, Creative Designs and Gordie were prevelant.
The format is much the same as the original North Shore event, with four one hour heats of twelve and one final one hour heat “Free For All” with everyone invited to participate. Unfortunately for the contestants the surf was not very good and pretty mushy, but that didn’t stop anyone from having a great time. Some rides were literally ending up on the shoreline as the high tide crept up the beach.
- Townend and Friends in front of classic seventies surfboards
In the end I had no idea who won the event and I don’t really think it mattered. For a few hours young and older surfers alike shared waves, hooted and hollered at each other on the beach and filled the air with the flavor of the seventies.
An ‘experimental video’ featuring surfer Shelby Detmers from Costa Mesa, California as she travels to and takes on a great day of wave action at the Trestles break in Southern California.
Editors note: we’ll be moving complete coverage of ‘Shelby’s Odessey: Life’s in Session’ to SurferGirlDiary.com shortly. SurfGeek will stay on top of Shelby’s progress, but all of the coverage can be found on this new blog.
Please follow us on Twitter via @SurferGirlDiary
“If you want to know what’s more important to me, my relationship with Shelby or her winning competitions it’s winning!”
This statement from Brett Detmers surprised me a little as Gregg Masters, co-founder of Xanate Media and I sat down to a barbequed salmon dinner he and his daughter were preparing for us with the greatest of care.
We were sitting in his small patio where Brett’s dog Max tethered to a wrought iron fence watched us closely, locked and loaded to take action should he sense any bad will towards the Detmer bundle. Brett held up his wine glass and tipped it towards mine. “Here’s to winning!” he stated. We touched glasses, cling.
I watched Shelby as she mechanically moved from the small kitchen to the patio setting the table, putting out some crackers and generally looking displeased at her father. “I want to provide for Shelby’s future, we need to discuss that and how your projects will help.” He continued. Before we could speak Shelby now seated next to Gregg cut in “DAD!!, stop it. They already explained that.” Brett looked at me and smiled. The tension between them had been brewing all day. Shelby was eliminated from the Open Women’s NSSA competition earlier in the day and her dad thought it was a lack of focus and effort that he would not tolerate. “I’m just trying to be clear with them Shelbs, you need the money to travel to the events so you can qualify for the QS.” “Whatever” was the response that Shelby tossed back.
- Shelby falls carving a sharp bottom turn
I thought about how many times I’d had heard that from my daughter. I wanted to referee their conversation but I knew I was here to record and reveal not to intervene. We started our meal and in the silence of the moment I drifted back to our earlier meal at Duke’s in Huntington Beach where Gregg and I sat down with Shelby and discussed our plans for the book and documentary.
Shelby was much more engaging and quite open about her feelings at our lunch. “ The dads put too much pressure on us.” She stated. It stops surfing from being fun.” “Well, Gregg queried, ”You’re going to be eighteen in March, and you’ll be able to do what you want, then what?” Shelby smiled and giggled. “I don’t know, but I need to spend more time away from my dad.” I could tell by that simple exchange that here was a young woman in turmoil, at the point when you desperately want to break away on your own but having no clue how to do it. I asked her about driving and she told me she didn’t have her license and her dad wouldn’t let her drive his car anyway. She quickly added her mother does. She felt more at ease with her mother and that seemed logical for a girl of seventeen. “I know my dad means well but he should back off a little and not talk to everyone about our lives.” She stated simply, ”No one really cares.”
I sensed the frustration in her statement and changed the direction of the conversation. I had lived this scenario myself. Sometimes the pressure of real life, jobs, paying bills, relationships and trying to support your family can be overwhelming and you tend to reach out to too many people for the assurance that all will be well. Our children can be affected by our actions without our even knowing it. And their cryptic behavior can baffle and confound us which causes tension. I shifted gears “What about the Azores competition, you’re going alone to this big event, how do you feel about that?” Her crystal blue eyes brightened and the freckles that wash across her face seem to dance with delight.”it’ll be awesome!”
More about ‘the Azores’ in the next blog post. This trip is a big deal, as Shelby tours sans her informal coach and perhaps ‘self anointed’ surfing mentor Brett aka ‘Dad’. Will this 17 year old girl and soon to be emerging emancipated woman step up and into the energy of the professional women’s surfing tour?
