Celebrating the 25 Year Journey

From dream to business plan and then execution, the journey for us and Surf Connection began 25 years ago.  During this time we have traveled many different roads, made new friends and discovered so many remarkable things about our community.  The blessings have been bountiful, the challenges abundant, but we are very grateful for all that we have experienced and learned. 

Most notably it is the day to day experiences and interactions with our customers that have touched our lives in many surprising ways.  We have watched new generations of youths discover the joys of surfing and skateboarding.  We have celebrated birthdays, graduations, engagements, weddings and births.  We have had the opportunity to keep in touch with customers over the years as they come back to Lompoc for a visit, hear from them via Facebook or Instagram and have even reconnected for a few moments with shared memories at the skate comp.  It has truly been a journey and a very joyous one, filled with blessings and treasured memories.

We are inviting you to celebrate our 25 year journey with us on Saturday, September 10th, 9AM until 3PM at the store and create more memories on this journey.  We will have vintage surfboards on display from local collectors, our prize wheel will be out, there will be sales throughout the day as well as some special visitors.  Don’t miss the fun and remember to enjoy the journey!

Best Run~Best Trick~College Park Style

Lompoc Parks and Rec Annual Skateboard Competition is a community event and fun for all ages!   We have been partnering with Lompoc Parks and Rec since 2000 on this competition featuring Best Run (skate jam format) and Best Trick in six different age groups.  Registration starts at 10AM with competition to begin shortly afterwards by age group, youngest to oldest.  Prizes will be awarded for first through third place in all categories and there will also be opportunities to win some great raffle prizes throughout the competition.  Lompoc Foursquare Church will be joining the fun again with popcorn, snow cones and water!   

So bring your skate, helmet and pads or perhaps your lawn chair and some sunscreen this Saturday and we’ll see you at College Park for some fun!

Stay Sane & Save Your Brain

Skateboarding is a personal choice, an expression of freedom, art through skilled and choreographed movements.  Wearing protective gear is perceived to restrict the skateboarder’s freedom and impede the natural flow of movement, so despite city ordinances or any governing laws, most skateboarders choose not wear any protective gear.  While we concede that elbow and knee pads as well as wrist guards may protect from injuries the body can heal from, it is the wearing of helmets that is our biggest concern.  

In a simple split second a life can be changed forever from head trauma and it is the use of helmets that protect against this type of injury when worn correctly.  Falling from just 2 feet can cause a traumatic brain injury and in 2009 over 23,000 traumatic brain injuries were reported due to skateboarding or riding scooters. It is estimated that 85% of these injuries could have been prevented by wearing a helmet.  

Unfortunately we have had first hand experience of friends riding a skateboard, falling and experiencing head trauma because no helmet was worn.  One of them has lost his peripheral vision in one eye for life, another was in a medically induced coma for several months and has cognitive as well as short term memory issues he has to deal with for the rest of his life.  The latest was in the hospital for a couple of days and released with a severe concussion which on the surface may seem inconsequential but may have more severe long term consequences.  Only time will tell.  The best thing about all of these outcomes is that each one is still alive; that is not always the case with traumatic brain injury.

Statistics, threats and the possibility of negative consequences haven’t change the ingrained, cultural behavior of not wearing a helmet, so after consulting with Healthy Lompoc Coalition, we are starting our own effort- Stay Sane & Save Your Brain.  We will be visiting the skate park on random days at random times and anyone wearing a helmet correctly will receive either a $10 SC Gift Certificate or some other reward as acknowledgement for protecting their brain.  If you are in need of a helmet and can’t afford one, let us know and we can get you one.  We would also ask everyone, regardless of age and skateboarding ability to wear a helmet while surfing the concrete, no matter where you are.  If not for yourself, please consider your friends and family and the consequences they may pay for your choices.  

http://www.healthylompoc.org

http://www.aans.org/patient%20information/conditions%20and%20treatments/sports-related%20head%20injury.aspx

http://skateboardsafety.org

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jan/24/teen-readjusts-after-brain-injury-from-skateboard-/

http://www.kcci.com/news/injured-skater-warns-against-skateboarding-without-helmet/32313434

Fun in the Sun and All That Jazz!

A window contest?  Really?  We are a surf shop so this may not seem to align with our mission or goals but the reality is this annual ‘competition’ is so much more than just a contest.  For us it is about community, about our love for our wonderful town and about a celebration steeped in tradition.

The Lompoc Flower Festival traces its roots back to the 1950’s when an annual parade and two day rodeo was held during the summer in Lompoc.  George Miller, a prominent citizen, began advocating changing the celebration from a rodeo, arguing rodeos were common and rather mundane, to something more unique and aligned with what Lompoc had to offer.  The Alpha Club Flower Show had been established in 1922 and it was decided to develop the Festival around this key event.  Since those early days the Lompoc Flower Festival has grown to a 5 day event with local entertainment on stage at Ryon Park, food booths run by community organizations and nonprofits, a parade on Saturday which includes floats and marching bands and of course the opportunity to visit and catch up with all your friends that you haven’t seen for a day or maybe a year.  

And so, it is important to us to play what small part we can in this event, a chance to show our community spirit and proclaim our love for our city.  Help us spread some Lompoc Love by voting online at http://www.lompoc.com/shop-lompoc-shop-small.html for your favorite windows (please remember us!) this year and remember to have some Fun in the Sun and All That Jazz this summer!

Soul Surfer or Pure Sport

We just read an article about a new surfboard being released by Samsung called the Galaxy Surfboard.  It caught our attention as Samsung was synonymous to us with smart phones, not the ocean, so we were intrigued.  Would this be for surfing the web or is it truly a surfboard as we understand it?  To our surprise it is a surfboard for use in the ocean but has the communication capabilities of a smart phone.  Quite a combination.   Or is it?

This ‘smart’ surfboard purports to enhance the surfing experience of the individual with the addition of technology predicated on the following.  It allows the surfer to obtain real time information regarding the weather, swell and wave conditions.  It allows for communication with a coach or other party to improve surfing skills.  It allows for support and encouragement from fans, friends and family through social media channels.  All of this is possible through a screen on the board’s deck connecting a surfer with individuals not only on shore but miles, even continents away.   

On the surface these communications seem innocuous but for the surfers we know this is contradictory to why they surf.  Surfing is a chance to unplug from the day to day rat race of technology.  It is a chance to commune with nature, to face the elements of the ocean and make decisions based on knowledge acquired through practice, to conquer the force of the wave.  And while there is a camaraderie that is enjoyed with friends in the water, cheering and joking with each other in turn, it is still primarily an individual activity in which your competition, if you will, is yourself and the experience of the activity is primary to the performance.  

Perhaps though, this distinction is the difference between the serious athlete or professional surfer and those individuals that surf for the pure enjoyment of spending time in the ocean, feeling the board beneath their feet as they ride a wave…for us, soul surfers.  We are not trying to say professional surfers don’t enjoy surfing, that it is not their passion, but that perhaps there is a different motivation and with that the need for more progressive equipment.  For the professional surfer the Galaxy board does have advantages a traditional surfboard does not but it also changes at a fundamental level the experience while in the water.  Is one experience better than the other?  That is not for us to decide but rather for the individual.  However, if the ‘smart’ board becomes the norm we do believe something precious in the art of surfing will be lost.