Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Outdoor Retailer - Salt Lake City Utah - Open Air Demo

Back in August two of our sponsors, Ocean Minded and Hobie, invited us to join them at the Open Air Demo of the August Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. We got to to catch up with friends while demoing some of Hobie's newest SUP's and shooting a few pictures for Ocean Minded's future catalog. We've been team riders for both companies since we were about 17 years old and we are grateful to be with two great companies. Ocean Minded has always been committed to designing shoes using recycled materials and promoting the importance of keeping our beaches clean. Hobie has been an awesome supporter of Women's surfing and Women's SUP. Here are a few pictures from the demo,



With fellow Ocean Minded and Hobie Team Rider, Chuck Patterson







Monday, September 6, 2010

Delphinidae


Sierra's Betty B Cause Design

On a trip to Bali in August 2009 with the rest of the Betty Belts team, I was lucky enough to design a piece of jewelry for the collection of Betty B, my longtime sponsor and supporter. The whole process that goes into a Betty B piece is incredible. First of all Betty Belts is a very socially and environmentally responsible company, and I was able to see first hand the very ethical way that Donna von Hosselin creates her jewelry.

After much help from Donna and Joanna at Studio Perak, Delphinidae was created. Dolphins will always have a special place in my heart and my story about them is below. Also this piece is part of the Cause Collection for Betty Belts, so 10% of it's profits is donated to my choice of charity which for my piece is Project Kaisei. Project Kaisei is an organization dedicated to creating an ocean clean up initiative and capturing the plastic vortex in the north pacific ocean. Project Kaisei not only is going to spare us from this "monster" that we created, they are going to save the lives of many ocean creatures, including our beloved dolphins.



My Story

Dolphins as animals, as a symbol and as an omen have been and always will be a part of my life and my family's lives.

My mom told this story to me, and it explained to me why dolphins have always been so important to me. My parents had always wanted children, but having children seemed unattainable, until one day when my mom finally found out that she was pregnant. They happened to be in Fiji at the time, and as they were leaving the island on the ferry, a pair of dolphins accompanied their boat jumping together in unison. My parents joked around that the two dolphins were an omen that they would have twins. They didn't think too much of that day until the day they found out that they were indeed having twins.

When my parents first introduced me to the ocean, they reminded me to never be scared. I should never be scared because I was a visitor in the dolphin's and many other creature's oceans. If I wanted to be safe I needed to learn from the dolphins by never resisting the ocean and to always respect it. Now whenever I'm out in the ocean and I'm lucky enough to see dolphins I always feel safe and I know that I'm never alone.




You can view and purchase my design at Betty Belts

And a very big thank you to Donna von Hosselin, David Pu'u and Joanna at Studio Perak for sharing your creativity and insight with me to make this design everything and more than I could have ever hoped for

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

O'Neil Surf Academy & Out of bounds - July 2010

For the fourth year in a row we went to Europe to be surf instructors and teach hundreds of eager groms how to surf with the O’neill Surf Academy. This year the schedule included four stops in Holland starting with Zandvoort, then Scheveningen, Domburg and Bergen aan Zee and then Biarritz, France.

Once again for the third year, the Out of Bounds program was included in our Surf Academy stops in Holland and France. In Scheveningen, Holland we taught a group of students with varying degrees of visual impairment. In Biarritz, France we taught students with autism. The days of the Out of Bounds program are really so special, it is almost hard to put into words all the feelings, fun and emotions felt by everyone. As surf instructors we are the ones passing on the gift of surfing to someone else, but it is actually the other way around. The kids taught us much more than we ever bargained for. From the Out of Bounds program we have learned that anything is possible, to never take no for an answer, to really experience the world in all that it has to offer, and how the ocean can connect us all. We truly hope that all the kids we taught on these days will remember their first surfing experience, because we will never forget what a great time we had teaching and learning from these extraordinary kids.

Surfing is a gift and we feel so lucky to have had the opportunity pass it forward to so many kids over these past years. Our Mom and Dad were our surf instructors back when we were little and now we can appreciate all the work that goes into teaching kids to surf as well as how much gratification there is in it. The one moment in surfing that is universal in all languages and countries is that stoked smile that everyone gets after their first wave. Every time we see that smile on a child’s face, it reminds us of our first waves and how that child will now be hooked to surfing for life.





And here is a video of the Surf Academy Out of Bounds program from last year in Belgium where we got to teach a very sweet girl and now friend named Mei Lan



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About Me

Santa Cruz, California, United States
We were born and raised in Santa Cruz, California where we currently reside. We get to travel and model for some of my surfing sponsors including O'neill Clothing, Ocean Minded Footwear, Hobie Surfboards and Betty Belts Jewelry. We attend UC Santa Barbara and are both Communication majors. We hope you all enjoy our blog!