Coast-it Notes #2

From SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Fact, foto & fun notes about surfing and the coast

Featured Fotos:

March is the windy month – the perfect time to fly a kite on the beach. These photos from Seal Beach show how much fun it is.

 

If you need a kite or kite-flying lessons, talk to Jason and Melissa at Up, Up & Away Kites in Old Town Seal Beach. Than let out some string… and see how high you can fly!

Test Your Knowledge:

 

1. A young surfer is called a:

a. tadpole   b. grom   c. munchkin

  

2. When you’re riding a wave and are enclosed inside the tube you’re in the:

a. green room   b. boardroom   c. control room

  

3. At Bogart’s coffee shop in Seal Beach a painting of what well-known surfer is on the wall?

a. Brett Simpson   b. Kelly Slater   c. Michael Pless

4. People who use lots of plastic bags or don’t recycle them are called:

a. Plasticos   b. Bag Monsters   c. Cyclotrons   

5. The non-profit Surfrider Foundation, which protects the world’s oceans, waves and beaches, was started 30 years ago at what beach?

 

a. Malibu    b. Doheny     c. Huntington

Answers: 1. b;  2. a;  3. c;  4. b;  5. a 

Featured Funnies:

Why did the surfer cross the beach?

To get to the other tide.

Featured Facts:

The sign on this early surfboard shop in Huntington Beach was spelled wrong, but the owner kept it anyway to save money on a re-do.

Every year 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. Of those, 100 billion bags are used in the United States alone.

Seabed mining – excavating the resources on the ocean floor – barely existed a decade ago. Now over 450,000 sq. mi. of sea bottom are under contract to mining operators, creating questions about the effect this will have on the ocean eco-system. 

Gidget, the “girl-midget” teenage surfer of the 1957 novel and 60s surfing movies, was based on a real person, Kathy Kohner. Author Frederick Kohner turned his daughter’s surfing adventures in Malibu into the fictionalized stories that launched the surfing craze. 

Even with the recent rains that California received, more than 98% of the state remains in a drought, making it more important than ever to emphasize water conservation.

Do you have any facts, photos or funnies to share?

Send them to SurfWriter Girls and we’ll “Coast-it.”

SurfWriter Girls

Please post your comment below. Comments will appear the next day.

“Like Us on Facebook!”

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

World Water Day 2015 Times Three

Time is Water

Written By SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

3 hours.

That’s how long it takes women and children in Africa to find and fetch water for their families’ daily needs.

Think how that time could be spent instead.

Caring for the family, going to school…

or even having fun.

To help make water available for everyone, SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel urge you to support World Water Day, March 22…

by conserving water and doing all that you can to reduce your Water Footprint – the amount of water you use each day for drinking, cooking, personal hygiene, household needs and more.

Sponsored by the United Nations, this year’s World Water Day focuses on Water and Sustainable Development.

Water is essential for all types of development – from growing food to generating electricity, creating industry and building communities.

Achieving sustainability won’t be easy, though. Currently less than 1% of the world’s water is suitable for drinking.

More than two billion people do not have access to safe drinking water or sanitation. And by 2025 more than three billion people – close to half the world’s population – could suffer from water shortages. 

Far from being a regional problem, lack of water is a global problem that requires a global solution…starting with responsible water usage management that minimizes waste and pollution.

Every drop counts.

It’s not just the big things we do that make a difference. It’s all the little things. Like something as simple as taking a shower.

According to the non-profit Surfrider Foundation, which is dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans, waves and beaches, a 10-minute shower can waste more than 40 gallons of water.

To demonstrate the value of each drop of water Surfrider is asking people to pledge to skip their shower on World Water Day. Surfrider CEO Dr. Chad Nelsen stated that the goal is to save 1 million gallons of water.

When it comes down to it, we’re all connected. The less time someone spends taking a shower, the less time someone else has to spend searching for water. 

“A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men;

 as sympathetic threads, our actions come back to us as effects.”

–  Herman Melville, author, Moby Dick.

SurfWriter Girls

Please post your comment below. Comments will appear the next day.

“Like Us on Facebook!”

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.

Finding Leprechaun Gold

Leprechaun Wisdom for a Lucky Life

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

According to Irish folklore, if you catch a leprechaun he has to give you his pot of gold.

So SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel decided to visit the Irish pubs in Seal Beach in hopes of spotting a leprechaun celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. 

And, no sooner had we walked in the door of O’Malley’s (140 Main Street) than we spied a wee person at the bar, decked out all in green – from his derby hat to his buckled shoes – drinking beer and humming an Irish tune.

Taking a stool on either side of him, we said, “Mr. Leprechaun, the jig is up! By rights, you have to give us your pot of gold.” 

He laughed, “I’ll give you more than that, ladies. I’ll give you the benefit of me leprechaun wisdom on how to make the most of life. No one knows better than a leprechaun how to turn sorrow into sunshine or troubles into trifles.” 

 

Intrigued by his offer, SurfWriter Girls settled in to hear what he had to say.

“First an’ foremost, leprechauns take the good with the bad,” our tiny friend began. “When we have a bit of a set-back we don’ fret over it because we know there’s somethin’ good aroun’ the corner…the rainbow after a storm or the money you find on the ground when a cart forces you inna a ditch.” 

 “Never borrow trouble from the future. If trouble’s a mind to find you, it’ll do sure enough without your puttin’ out the welcome mat.”

”To make your way in this world, you need a plan – figure those things what be important to you…an’ ignore the rest. Keep the wind at your back an’ your feet movin’ forward. That’s the ticket.”

“Greet everyone you meet with a smile an’ a tune an’ they’ll greet you the same.”

 “An’ for good measure, wear a hat to keep the rain off your head an’ for catchin’ any pennies that fall from above. You never know when luck is comin’ your way.”

Having dispensed his wisdom, he had this poem to say.  

A word to the wise:

prioritize an’ portion-size.

Be it work, food or drink,

stop an’ think.

What will I do?

Have one pint or two?

Then, move ahead, one foot after,

with a jolly tune an’ lots of laughter.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, the leprechaun disappeared before our very eyes, leaving behind his green derby hat and two shiny coins. 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

SurfWriter Girls

Please post your comment below. Comments will appear the next day.

“Like Us on Facebook!”

Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given.