'Sharing the Stoke Invitational' Report 
Wednesday, 09 April 2008 
 photos: set1 , set2

George Bernard Shaw once famously said, "Youth is wasted on the young." The point being that young people have everything going for them physically, but haven't lived long enough to possess the wisdom and experience which comes with age, so their efforts are somehow wasted. Whatever the reasoning one applies to such thoughts, it can't be denied the sheer exuberance exhibited by all the groms who were lucky enough to surf at the Groundswell Society's "Sharing the Stoke" team surfing invitational event held March 29 and 30 at Rincon, as this event focused not only on them, but the future of surfing as well.

Begun in 1997 and held until 2006, the Groundswell Society sponsored the "Clean Water Classic" at the same break in an effort to bring awareness to the need for addressing the pollution caused by septic tanks in use by area residents near Rincon. With the help of the Heal the Ocean organization and their septics-to-sewers project, by 2006 their combined efforts were rewarded with a complete changeover to sewers-only and their work successfully concluded.

With that milestone achieved, Glenn Hening, founder of the Groundswell Society, decided to take on a new project, changing the focus from cleaning up pollution in the ocean to preparing the next generation of surfers with the right attitude towards their fellow waveriders. "Crowding in surfing is not new," says Glenn, "and indeed it affects surfers just as much as pollution does. However, the way to combat the problem is simple: sharing waves in a true spirit of the original meaning of the word 'aloha': give away everything you don't need." With that as a starting point, the Society set out with this new event and its emphasis on young surfers and the community-based clubs and organizations who support them, and bring them together for a weekend of sharing waves together at one of the world's best surf spots.

Among the 16 organizations invited to the event, four were from San Diego: Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association, San Diego Surf Ladies, Pacific Beach Surf Club and Wildcoast. All were honored for their ongoing work with young people, as were the other organizations from up and down the California coast. The format of the "contest" was set in polar opposites from the usual surfing contest, as teams were rewarded under such criteria as most waves ridden and most waves shared by two or more surfers. In some cases this turned out to be up to as many as 10 surfers on one wave, all working towards a goal of sharing equally the energy provided by nature and having fun in the process. Suzanne Barzee of the SD Surf Ladies summed it up perfectly, "To turn my head and see nine friends lined up on a single wave, felt like something out of a cheesy Gidget movie." She went on to say, "Trying to get as many people as possible on one wave lended itself to the kind of team building that you only experience a few times in life. It was such a different mentality in the water than a normal surf session or contest." Their team place 3rd in all three categories: total waves caught, total of waves shared and total number of surfers on shared waves.
Jim Knox, surfing with the team from Wildcoast, admitted that the reason they placed first in all categories on Sunday was they had so many groms in the water at the same time, all surfing with boundless amounts of energy and catching wave after wave tirelessly. It's that kind of enthusiasm "Share the Stoke" invitational was created for in the first place and it was born out in full over the course of two days.

Sharing waves together as a family, Ken Sullivan and his son Kenny from the Sunset Cliffs Surfing Association, who traveled up to Rincon together said, "We had a great time! Small surf but solid soulful vibes!" Indeed, most on hand for the weekend's event had come as families and friends, all with a single purpose in mind of pointing the young surfers who are in our charge now, the right way forward in an ever-increasing lineup. The club's Cher Pendarvis added, "We all had fun, and it was wonderful to see our groms from 8-15 years have such a great time and experience surfing Aloha-style!" The team captured 1st place in two categories: number of waves caught and number of waves shared.

The Pacific Beach Surf Club had organized a group of eight groms to take north with them, but in the end were only able to manage just one in their team lineup, Nick Hastings, after several families pulled out at the last minute due to other obligations. "We'll just have to plan earlier for next year," said Travis Long, the club's president. "We were a late invitee and didn't have enough lead time for our families to plan properly this go around," he continued, "if we're honored to be invited back next year, we'll bring an army of groms!" With a limited team in the water during their time slot, two Rincon locals joined the club briefly, local legend Steve Bigler and none other than Glenn Hening, the event's host. P.B. earned 3rd place in number of waves caught.

At the end of each day, awards were presented to every organization, regardless of how they had surfed. Their significance however, were small compared with the experience everyone had enjoyed during their time spent at the famous break. If George Bernard Shaw could have been there himself, he would have been forced to agree, nothing had been wasted, but plenty of stoke shared.