PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

LISA – Well hello everybody, and welcome to yet again another episode of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! I’m your host, Lisa Smith, and I have with me Allison Cohen.  How’re you doing today Allison?

ALLISON – Hey!  I’m doing good

LISA – Hey!  You just got back from the beach a little while ago didn’t you?

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – How was it?

ALLISON – Ah, it was pretty fun. I guess it’s like the remnants or the last, I don’t know, swell from Danielle.  I’m in South Florida so we’re not getting the brunt of it like further north.  But yeah, it was pretty fun today at Lake Worth– not that powerful but, it’s fun to get out in the water after a long flat spell.

LISA – Yeah! All day… Any little thing is great – especially when it’s been flat!

ALLISON – Yep!

LISA – I’ve noticed that out in the Atlantic that there’s a couple more depressions or whatever that are making their way up here.  So is that going to bring more, better waves over the course of the next few weeks?  I mean, are you expecting that?

ALLISON – Yeah, hopefully!  Yeah, have to keep an eye on it and see.

LISA – Okay!  Well, alright, I want to thank everybody for finding us here on Podcast number 85770.

If anyone’s been following me on Facebook, that’s www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV – I put a little blurb out there that we finally have been picked up by iTunes. So if you go over to iTunes and you do a search for Bodyboarder International Magazine, you’re actually going to come up with two results.  And one is the original BIM hosted by Patti Serrano – and those are our archives, we’re keeping that there.  The big distinction there will be that the name will be in all caps – “BODYBOARDER INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE – LIVE! hosted by Patti Serrano” will be all our archives.

And the new location will also come up in iTunes – and that will be “BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live!” with the distinction that it’s actually mixed-case; so capital first letter, lower case, etc…. So that’s how you can distinguish between them when you pull them up in the search.

But we are finally listed on iTunes so you can download us, you can subscribe; you can load us on to your iPod.

Anyway, so today, I know in the past couple of episodes I’ve mentioned that I really want to kind of do a little focus on health; health issues for bodyboarders.  I know that’s a pretty important issue – especially to you, Allison.  And I really kind of wanted to hand the baton over to you to kind of talk about this a little bit because I know this is sort of your, what would you call it – your specialty, I guess?

ALLISON – Yeah, it kind of goes hand in hand with surfing; you know, you’ve got to keep your body healthy and just active and everything.

LISA – Oh, right!  I don’t know if you listened to the interview that we did with Guilherme – and I know Patti and Guilherme I guess they go way back – and I’m talking about GT… I guess that’s one of his big things also; he wants to make sure he stays in good health, going to the gym when he’s not surfing, etc., to make sure that he can be bodyboarding way up there into that old age and whatever.

ALLISON – Yeah, I think I heard it but it was kind of a while ago so I don’t remember exactly what was on there.

LISA – Yeah, exactly, you’re right.  I wanted to tie that in.  One of the things that I know you and I have talked about – and I did mention it briefly before on a previous episode – was that I know that you’re really into yoga.  And I guess I wanted to give you a chance to maybe explain how yoga goes hand in hand with bodyboarding for you.  How did you come into doing yoga?

ALLISON – Well actually it started as a result of an injury that I had about seven years ago.  I was lifeguarding, doing a lot of training; a lot of swimming, and in addition to that I was riding 5’6” shortboard at the time in addition to bodyboarding.  And my shoulders, I got major rotator cuff problems in my shoulders, tendonitis and all that.  And I tried a bunch of things, and a friend of mine said I should try Bikram yoga.

And, you know, at first I was like, “This is nuts…” you know?

LISA – What is Bikram yoga?

ALLISON – Yeah, it’s 26 postures and pretty much done… each one is done twice in a heated room, usually heated to about 100 degrees.

LISA – Oh, wow!

ALLISON – So I initially was kind of, you know, wasn’t really into it.  But then I bought Bikram’s book and I read it and I thought, “Oh, I’ll try this!  There’s nothing I can lose really.” because I wasn’t really being able to surf much at that time because of my shoulder.

LISA – Oh, right!

ALLISON – So I started and within a month I was like… you know, I wasn’t like completely healed but it was an incredible difference.  And I kind of kept that up and…

LISA – Okay, I’m just trying to think – are rotator cuff injuries and joint injuries, are those common among surfers and bodyboarders?  Enlighten our new… any new bodyboarders out there – what do they have in store for them in terms of injuries when they’re doing all this extreme bodyboarding?  What are some of the risks and what are ways to alleviate some of the larger dangers of those risks?

ALLISON – Well I would say rotator cuff injuries are probably more common in stand-up surfing because you don’t have fins on your feet, so you’re paddling just with your arms, and that can really just put a lot of pressure or a lot of over-use injury of your shoulder. But certainly in bodyboarding too, you can be susceptible to that.

LISA – So what do they call it – repetitive stress injury or something like that?

ALLISON – Yeah, that’s right, something like that.

LISA – Okay, and because of your rotator cuff injury you picked up Bikram yoga.  You hadn’t done yoga or anything like that before that?

ALLISON – I’d never done any type of yoga before that.

LISA – Wow!  Now I’ve heard of different kinds of yoga but I hadn’t really heard of Bikram yoga until we met.  And I was just like, “You’re doing WHAT?”  in a hot room and… (laughter) I mean, the only hot rooms I knew of were like the little steam rooms in the gyms and stuff like that – and I wasn’t about to do any moving in those rooms!

ALLISON – Yeah (laughs)

LISA - So what is it about it that helps the injury?  I mean, how does it help you?  What do you get out of it?

ALLISON – It just kind of, well, it’s like a mental and physical thing, every joint / muscle in the body and all that; every joint and tendon and everything just gets back into alignment.  You probably have to read his book…

LISA – Bikram’s book…

ALLISON – Or the website or whatever… Yeah, I don’t actually do traditional Bikram anymore; I do what’s called “Hot yoga” which is almost the same as Bikram but it is a little bit more of a flexibility…the poses aren’t exactly… there are some poses that are added.  Bikram is kind of, as they call it, military yoga…

LISA – Like Boot Camp yoga, right?

ALLISON – Yeah!  Every pose is a certain order.  And the one I do kind of mixes it up a little bit.  But I would say 98% of it is the traditional Bikram sequence, with a couple of postures added.

LISA – Okay!  I know in a previous podcast I had mentioned briefly that I was aware that you did some type of sequence called “Yoga for Surfers.”  And I guess that’s not actually the Bikram.

ALLISON – Yeah, I do that as a supplement.  Well, “Yoga for Surfers” is a DVD series that was created by Peggy Hall – and by the way, I’m not sponsored by any of these people, so I’m not getting any money for this (laughs)

LISA – Yeah!  Some free advertising there!  A free plug for them – there you go (laughs)

ALLISON – Yeah!  But she has “Yoga for Surfers 1” and they have a sequence for pre-surf and a post-surf sequence as well, so I do those before and after every surf.  Like today I did the warm-up thing in the parking lot, and afterwards I did the cool-down yoga on the beach.  And it really mellows me out too after a session if I’m feeling kind of ah – not aggressive from the session, but like a high-energy…

LISA – A little aggro there, Allison? (laughs)

ALLISON – Yeah, I’m not aggro (laughs) But it really, really mellows you out and it’s kind of like it keeps… you’re less likely to sustain injuries when you do like the stretching routine and yoga.  That’s really helped me with that.

LISA – Well it doesn’t sound a lot different from anyone who does any type of running or any other strenuous exercise…

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – I know that a warm-up and a cool-down routine is usually suggested for those.  Now I know when we’ve gone out to the beach – and you and I have already talked about this but I’m kind of expounding on this so that our listeners can get a picture of this – but I know that we’ve gone out to the beach and we’ll have like our other friends there that do either stand-up or bodyboarding etc.  And it’s interesting to watch because you’re like the only one of the group that actually does, that I’ve seen, that does the warm-up and the cool-down – except when we’ve gone to a couple of contests I think I’ve seen other people do that.

But other than that, in our group you’re like the only one.  And they kind of just look at you like, “Oh, what’re you doing?”  No, I’m exaggerating a little bit – but you know!

ALLISON – No, one of my friends does it, one of my friends that I surf with does it – but not exactly the same, like the Yoga for Surfers.  But she does her own stretching before and after.

LISA – Okay, that’s a good thing!

ALLISON – But yeah, in general some people would just rather smoke a cigarette after surfing…

LISA – Oh no!

ALLISON – Everyone has their thing, you know…

LISA – What would you suggest to new bodyboarders getting into the sport, or people who want to take it, you know, to the next level?  You know, there’s the recreational rider that takes the boards out on the weekend here and there – but for someone who wants to take it to the next level, who wants to use bodyboarding as a way to get the exercise that they need and also to perhaps just be in contests.  What are some healthy lifestyle suggestions that you would give to them?

ALLISON – Well, just like any athletic endeavor, I mean, doing some kind of cross training – whether it’s yoga, which is my thing – but you know, other people have like martial arts, or skateboarding, longboard skating; I do a little bit of that too, going down hills, just carving down hills…

LISA – Oh yeah!

ALLISON – But you know, any type of cross training exercise – that would definitely help…

LISA – Oh, absolutely!  Well and I think when you’re doing like those types of, like you said, cross training exercise – that’s really planning for the long haul of being able to enjoy bodyboarding. You know, I hear so much about like former athletes, you know, people who were athletic, you know, they did their thing in the sports arena – and then the next thing you know they’re all announcers and they’re all like huge, you know?

(laughter)

LISA – They stopped exercising and they’re sitting in front of a camera and they’re not taking care of themselves!

ALLISON – Yeah

LISA – I mean, it’s impressive to me that it’s – and I’m saying this to everybody because, you know, this show is “For Bodyboarders – By Bodyboarders” – and I would say Allison…everybody, Allison is the one that goes and participates in the contests and does the free… what do you call it…

ALLISON – Yeah, a little bit.  I’m not a major contest person… yeah, I do like one or two a year probably.

LISA – Yeah, okay you do one or two contests a year and then you do the free surf…

ALLISON – Yeah

LISA – Now I’m more of the recreational bodyboarder, you know?  I’m going to get out there for the exercise and I enjoy it a great deal, I enjoy it so much!  I don’t even know where to go next, what to say – it’s just I guess what really attracted me to bodyboarding is that it is a sport that’s accessible to everybody!

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – Whether you’re, you know, an arthritic grandmother who can barely move, you know, you can get out on a board – especially down here in Florida where the water’s nice and warm, you know – get out there on a board and just paddle around a little bit, you know; it’s good for the joints, like you said, you know.  And then of course you’ve got your everyday… How many times a week would you say you go out in the ocean – on a good week?

ALLISON – Yeah, it depends – probably a few times a week. And then if it’s flat I often go snorkeling, just to get out in the water if there’s no waves.  But yeah, probably a few times a week.  And then I do yoga a few times a week as well, on off days.

LISA – Okay, so every day or every other day you’re pretty much getting a good dose of some type of physical activity.

ALLISON – Yeah. You know, what you said about how bodyboarding is accessible to everybody really reminds me of a good analogy that Jay Reale has said, comparing bodyboarding to bike riding – where you have like the beach cruisers, where you can take a quick ride just down the street; then you have the mountain bikes, you know, the guys that go mountain biking…

LISA – Alright!

ALLISON – Then you have BMX… You have all the different types. And that is kind of the way it is with bodyboarding, too…

LISA – Oh, okay!

ALLISON – All different levels, you know; drop knee, launching off the huge ramps, doing airs, backflips; and you have the recreational riders; you have the contest, free surf… all different types.

LISA – Yes, there’s good parallels with that – yeah, absolutely!  And that’s Jay Reale www.eBodyboarding.com – is that right?

ALLISON – eBodyboarding, yep

LISA – Alright! So there’s a free plug for you Jay! (laughs)

So, I was just kind of going to talk a little bit about what events are coming up soon. I know you’ve got an event coming up here in a few weeks on this coast, right?

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – The Florida… what is that one?  I know it’s the Florida Bodyboarding Association, right?

ALLISON – Yeah, FBA.  The FBA is having a contest in Melbourne which is actually Indialantic/Indian Harbor Beach, right at the end…

LISA – That’s your old…

ALLISON – Yeah, Eau Gallie Boulevard, right near where I used to live, yeah.

LISA – That’s right!

ALLISON – So that’s going to be September 18^th and 19^th – they’re actually having a two-day event.  So I’m looking forward to that!

LISA – Very cool!  Now, what divisions are you going to be competing in?

ALLISON – Well, the Women’s Division if there’s any other women.  But every time I’ve gone there I’ve always been the only one

LISA – Yeah, so you always, by default, win the Women’s Division, right?

ALLISON – Well, yeah!  And then I’ll be doing the Drop Knee Division as well against the guys.

LISA – Okay, very cool!  Alright!  So you’re looking forward to that then, right?

ALLISON – Yeah, definitely!

LISA – Yeah!  Now the USBA has an event here on the East Coast as well.  So we’re finally getting some action here on the East Coast!  So you guys on the West Coast have had a lot of fun thus far.  So I forget what that one’s called…

ALLISON – Yeah, it’s the Jenks Pro.

LISA – Yeah, the Jenks Pro!

ALLISON – Yeah, they’ve actually been doing that for several years now – I don’t know how many years, but it’s at Jenkinson’s in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, which isn’t too far from where I grew up.

LISA – Wow!  So you grew up near Jenks.  And then you used to live near where they’re having the FBA Tour Tournament.

ALLISON – Yeah, true (laughs)

LISA – So your old stomping grounds!  That’s very cool!  And we’ve got the Sintra Pro, the IBA World Tour just wrapped up this past week.  I actually during the day got to watch some of the events live. I think it’s really cool – you can go to www.IBAWorldTour.com/…. And I think it’s “live” – I think it’s just “/live” but don’t quote me on that!  And they actually are hosting most of the events live – you can launch a cam.

Now the last one was really interesting because they had the announcers kept switching off between English and I guess Portuguese – they were in Portugal, right?

ALLISON – Oh, okay!

LISA – And that was really interesting.  I really enjoyed watching that – that was a lot of fun.  And I don’t know what else is going on – that’s all I can think about right now.  I think that’s all I have, unless you can remember something else.

ALLISON – Not really.  I mean, I’m sure there’s contests going on all over the world – Australia, you know, California, Hawaii, Europe… But I don’t know the names of them (laughs)

LISA – Oh I know!  You know, this is the point; they’re out there!  And you know, I have the newsfeed on www.BIMwebTV.com – if you check out the website I have the newsfeed; there’s a link to it from the top.  And basically we get all of the newsfeeds from all the different events – who’s won what, and what the standings are, that sort of thing.

So the information, even though I can’t remember it off the top of my head right now, is available on www.BIMwebTV.com. – check us out!  We had our latest interview with Lauren Fletcher just last week.  We have a couple other interviews that are lined up once we get our schedule figured out and figure out this whole time zone thing – I keep forgetting about the whole daylight savings time!

ALLISON – Hah! Yeah it’s a challenge

LISA – It’s interesting because, you know, I’ve talked to people in different places because like Japan and Hawaii both do not use the daylight savings time.  I don’t know if you knew that or not…

ALLISON – I knew Hawaii, I didn’t know about Japan.

LISA – Well I just found that one out last week myself.  It’s very interesting.  So the exact timeframe – like are they 2 hours behind / 6 hours behind / ahead, whatever… It depends on whether it’s spring or winter, or summer or winter.  So that has been a bit of a challenge for me, to make sure that I synch-up with everybody in doing the interviews.

So for anyone who we’ve crossed paths… we’ve really missed them, I really apologize! We’ll try to reschedule those interviews…

ALLISON – Yes.

LISA – And we’ll have a bunch more coming up.  I really have, I mean, I’ve got a handful of people – lots of exciting stuff coming our way!

So I really want to keep up the health discussion each week, you know, tying health topics into bodyboarding, or current events.

ALLISON – That’s great!

LISA – And I think that’s it! Unless you’ve got anything else, I’m good!

ALLISON – Yeah, that should be good for this week!

LISA – Alright!  Well everybody, I want you to make sure you check us out at www.BIMwebTV.com.

Also check out Patti Serrano’s project she’s got going on right now at www.GettingAnchored.com.  And there she is focusing on health, finances, business – and she’s got a really awesome program going and I just want to give a shout-out to her for that and thank her for all she’s done to help me get going with BIM! And I think that is all for this week!  So we will see you next time!

ALLISON – Okay, good talking to you!

LISA – And you!  Bye-bye!

Source: Bodyboarder Int’l Magazine – Live! – Weekly Update – 8/29/2010

PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

LISA – Well hello everybody and welcome to yet another episode of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! We are at our new location and call ID 85770.  And if you’re hearing this you’ve found us!  Yay!

Okay, today we have a full house!  We have Patti – hi Patti!

PATTI – Hi!

LISA – We have Allison.

ALLISON – Hello!

LISA – Hello!  And of course we have our new victim – I mean interviewee!

PATTI – Ha ha!

LISA – And that’s Lauren Fletcher.  And Lauren, I have it titled here as, “Returning Australian Women’s Professional Champion” – does that sound about right?

LAUREN – Yeah, that’s it!

LISA – That’s it!  Alright!  So we’ve got a full house today.  And I don’t even know where to go!  So we’re going to do an interview here in just a few minutes but all of a sudden I’m going like, “Okay, what do I do next…?”

PATTI – Well I think you should probably start by telling people that you do work the evening shift and, you know, you’re up like now at 5 o’clock and it’s kind of hard to think when you haven’t had any sleep…

LISA – Oh yeah, that’s true.  That’s true.  Yeah, and I’ve talked to some of the people in scheduling interviews – I’ve got several that are slowly getting lined up.  I’ve got another guy out in California, I’ve got someone out in Puerto Rico, I’ve got a couple more people in Australia that I’m getting lined up for interviews – and I think that the biggest challenge that I’m facing is the difference in time zones.

And the other that adds a wrench in the whole plan is the fact that I do work night shifts normally.  So, on the East Coast side I’m actually coming home and getting to bed at the time everyone’s getting up.  So in some ways my schedule isn’t all that different from the Australian time zone – but (laughs) still, just trying to coordinate it all and getting everybody… We’ve got Patti out in – what is that, is that Mountain time?

PATTI – Yeah, I’m in Mountain zone – that’s an hour ahead of Pacific zone.

LISA – That’s right, that’s right.  So trying to schedule interviews when I’ve got California and the Pacific, and I’ve got Patti on Mountain time; I’ve got me on Eastern time, and then we’ve got people like Lauren who are on – what is that, Australian Eastern time or something like that?

LAUREN – That’s right – Australian Eastern time.

LISA – Okay, somebody just messaged me.  Who was that?  That’s right – oh hi!  You know, Patti’s over here messaging me, poking me, saying, “Hey, don’t forget to tell everybody about…”  Oh, oh, I know what – is the website is www.BIMwebTV.com.  There is more and more stuff going on there.  There is a neat little plug-in that lets you see everybody else that’s checking out the site too, and you can see where everybody’s coming from.  And it’s really cool because you’ve got all the usual places, like Portugal, California, Australia – and then you have some other places like Colorado!

PATTI – Hah!

LISA – And I think we have a couple of people in China… Japan… I mean, it’s really cool so check that out on the… hold on a second – my computer’s about to die!  That’s probably not a good thing right now, is it?

So we’ve got that new tool on the website that everyone can go and see who else is looking at it. And also, on the Fan Page, which is www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV, I have… we finally reached three thousand people Patti, Allison, Lauren!

PATTI – Yay!  You’re a rock star when it comes to getting people!  My word!

LISA – Oh yeah!  I’m just out there like just posting all kinds of stuff and just really trying to recruit everybody. And I apologize – I’m like kind of rambling here behind the scenes trying to grab the…

ALLISON – Yeah, let’s start here with Lauren now (laughs). So I just want to say, Lauren, congratulations on your comeback victory a little while ago– that was what, about a month ago or so?

LAUREN – Yeah, it was around a month ago.  Thank you!  It’s been a long time in coming back to the sport but I’m loving it!

ALLISON – Cool!  What was the name of the contest that you won?  I don’t have it in my mind right now – what was that called?

LAUREN – It was called the Port Macquarie Trial.  It is part of the Australian Professional Tour.

ALLISON – Okay, that’s awesome!

PATTI – What did you do – did you retire and then come back?

LAUREN – Yeah, I retired back around 2001/2002 from competition and pretty much just went into a working life, and bought a house, and did the sort of life thing…  And I missed bodyboarding a lot and so started competing again!

PATTI – Wow!  So what division are you in?  Do they have like Women’s age divisions or… how does that work?

LAUREN – It’s actually the Open Professional Division.  They’ve got an Amateur State and Amateur National Division as well – but I’m in the Open Professional one.

PATTI – How cool!

LISA – So are you competing against guys as well, or is it just the women?

LAUREN – Just the women at the moment.  But if I go in any club events I’m sure I’ll compete against the guys again!

LISA – (laugh) Cool, cool!  Well I’m looking at your Bio that you have here, and I just want to kind of run down this for anybody who’s not familiar with your history – because I wasn’t until I read this!  But we’ve got here, “The first Australian Professional Women’s Champion in 1998; three times Queensland Open Women’s Champion ‘96/’98/2001.  And it looks like surfing 15-18 foot… whoa… And spending six weeks in Hawaii in the Winter Season ’98 and ’99…”

So you’ve already got a little bit of some of that under your belt now!  So how does it feel getting back into it?

LAUREN – I think it’s just awesome!  I’ve always missed bodyboarding when I haven’t surfed.  And I think getting back into it has brought back the hunger for competition and, yeah, I really, really, really missed it and I’m looking forward to getting back into it again.

LISA – Well that’s really cool.

PATTI – Hey Lisa, I’ve got a question for an Australian…

LISA – Sure!

PATTI – For an Aussie! Do you guys in Australia, when you go bodyboarding do you call it “going surfing”?

LAUREN – Yeah, yeah, we call it “going surfing”

PATTI – Okay!  Because my brain… when you said that, I went, “I wonder if she meant going actual surfing – or did she mean going bodyboarding?”  I was just curious.

ALLISON – I always say that too; it’s just quicker. “Surfing” is less syllables than “Bodyboarding” so it’s kind of…yeah, sometimes I say that too

LAUREN – Yeah, we get a little bit lazy in Australia!

PATTI – Well you know, my whole thing was like, when I first started like – I’m not going to tell you how many years ago! – it was like we were really trying to create this sport!  So like these young kids would come down to the beach and they’d go, you know, “Oh, surfing this / surfing that…”  And I’d go, “Now listen you guys – if you want to make this a real sport you’ve got to start calling it ‘Going bodyboarding.’ Now, when you go to the snow with your snowboards, do you say, ‘Oh, we’re going to go skiing.’?  No!  You say bodyboarding or snowboarding!”

So that’s the only reason I thought maybe you might be a surfer too – because you did say that.  So that’s cool.  So now we know you’re strictly a bodyboarder, right?

LAUREN – Yeah, definitely!

PATTI – Okay, cool!  Well then you’re good, you’re good!

LISA – Ha ha!  She approves!  You know, to be fair, I know Patti had a very strategic angle there with the whole marketing bodyboarding and getting it out to everybody.  I mean, look at that – it started over here, and here we’ve got Australian champions that have totally blown the US away!  So, Patti, you did your job!

PATTI – It’s so… really, you can’t even IMAGINE what it feels like to me to be… and I’m going to take a picture of me out at Cocoa Beach Pier with all the little kids around when, you know, they hadn’t even seen a Boogie Board in their life!  And now to think we have Lauren and all these champions, and women, here and there… who would have thought?  You know, it’s just like – Wow!

LISA – I mean, that’s great!  Hey Lauren, I have another question for you.  Getting back into it – how has that been like in terms of preparing for it?  I mean, like did you find that you were like out of practice, out of shape?  I mean, how difficult was it to kind of get back up to speed?

LAUREN – Well I’m a lot out of shape from back in… when I won the Australian Pro Tour – which is pretty understandable…

LISA – Of course, yeah!

LAUREN – Preparation… I surfed a few times before my first contest when I came back into it – and didn’t do too well… but I surfed a bit between the first contest and the second and, yeah, took out the second contest.  So I’m pretty happy with that!

LISA – Wow!  Yeah, that’s something to brag about, that’s pretty exciting!  I’m trying to think what else to ask…  Anyone have any questions?

ALLISON – Yeah, Lauren, you have the first distinction of being the first Aussie female to ride Waimea.  Is that true?

LAUREN – Yeah that’s true!

ALLISON – Wow!  Tell us about what that was like.

LAUREN – Oh it was just… it was massive that day!  I went down to the beach at Waimea, and Tim Jones was filming.  And I went down with Emma Roby; sat there and watched the Bay for a while…  And about half an hour before I paddled out, the Bay closed out twice.  So I thought, “Well, I’ll just paddle out.”  And I paddled out… I asked Emma if she wanted to come out with me and she refused…

LISA – Wow!

LAUREN – And I paddled out on my own and there was around maybe 30 guys out there.  And I was trying to get waves, but it was so hard to get waves so I paddled in to where it was all boiling up on the inside and got a couple of waves.  But I remember one set I just scraped under, and I looked up and the whole of my view was just blue with these waves that are huge!

LISA – Oh my God!

PATTI – How big was it?

LAUREN – They were calling it 15-18 Hawaiian.

PATTI – Wow!

ALLISON– Which is the backs of the waves – whereas over here… I don’t know about Australia – but usually they go by the face…

PATTI – Wow!  How’d it feel?

LAUREN – Oh, it’s like pretty much… describing surfing those sort of waves is like paddling onto waves as big as a three-story house and looking straight down!

LISA – Wow!  I think I’d have a heart attack!

PATTI – Ha ha! I think the drop would look like it would be kind of fun, you know, just the scope of it; but I think if one that like lands on you and closes out… Did you make it?  Or what happened?

LAUREN – Yeah, I made it.  It’s not really fun to go out on these waves because you’re pretty much in the air longer than you’re actually on the wave, because a tiny bit of chop will just throw you into the air.

PATTI – Yeah.

LISA – Wow!

PATTI – So do you paddle out or do you get pulled out?

LAUREN – I paddled out.  It’s easy to paddle out to the Bay because you just sort of paddle out on the right-hand side and then go to the left and you don’t even have to duckdive much really.

PATTI – Well that’s cool.  Awesome!

LISA – Yeah, that’s definitely a major distinction.  And I’m really glad to be starting this interview with you Lauren!  I don’t know if anyone heard any of my other podcasts, but one of the things that I am planning on doing is doing a whole segment on female bodyboarders – so thanks, Lauren, for being a guinea pig in my interview process!  I greatly appreciate it.

Is there anything else that anybody else wants to ask before I…?

PATTI – I would just… I don’t know how old you are, Lauren, but I was just curious – what do you see the future of bodyboarding in Australia, or even around the world? Do you think it’s like dead, or is it growing, or…?

LAUREN – When I first got into bodyboarding it was still run by surfing companies; everyone was buying surf brands like Rip Curl, Billabong, Quicksilver and all that.  Then, back in the late 90’s, the surf brands dropped a lot of their bodyboarders and went with just surfers, and then bodyboard brands started and bodyboarders are now supporting their own companies.  So I think that it’s really coming into its own and I think it’s only a matter of time before it burns again – where everyone buys bodyboarding brands and supports bodyboarding companies.

PATTI – Yeah, I would have to agree with you on that!  What is your favorite, of all the places you’ve travelled, what is your absolute favorite spot you’ve ever… you know, just like you were in heaven when you were out there?  Where would you say that was?

LAUREN – I’d probably have to say Western Australia, in Margaret River area.

PATTI – Really?

LAUREN – Big waves, heavy waves – it’s just everything!

LISA – Yeah, I’ve seen pictures of that and video and stuff… of course I’ve never been to Australia – not yet!  But, yeah, pretty nice out there!

PATTI – Well I just think, Lisa, this is so absolutely cool that we’ve got Australia, the United States West Coast, the United States East Coast on the line – congratulations for your diligence in putting these podcasts together!

LISA – Oh, thanks!  And thanks to Lauren for being so willing to do this.  This is like… I think she’s got to be going to work pretty soon – it’s like early, early in the morning for you right now isn’t it, Lauren?

LAUREN – Yeah, it’s nearly quarter past seven.

PATTI – Oh, wow!

LISA – Alright, well I’m going to go ahead and wrap up this interview… actually let me make sure – Allison, do you have any other questions? Or anybody else have any other questions before we wrap up?

ALLISON – Let’s see… well, Lauren, what do you think your plans are for your own bodyboarding career in the future?  To keep competing, doing photos, or just doing it more at a kind of recreational level?

LAUREN – I’d like to get more photos and maybe some video as well – and keep competing and bodyboarding because I love it so much!  And I want to see more girls get out there!  I get stoked on seeing girls doing airs, getting barrels and drop knee and everything – so that pushes me to keep going as well.

LISA – Oh that’s great!  Because that really… that makes you a real – I think I had mentioned this to you before – that you are like a leader or a model for the younger women that are wanting to get into bodyboarding or want to pursue a professional career.  I want to thank you for being that example!  Yay!

PATTI – Yay!

LISA – I know that sounds cheesy – but yay!

(laughter)

ALLISON – The queen of cheese!

LISA- I am the queen of cheese, that’s right!  But thank you so much for your example!

I guess the only other question that I would have is, you know, is there anything that you’d want to say to anybody out there, just in terms of is there a theme or an idea or a message that you’d like…?  Okay, you’ve got one chance to say something to that new bodyboarder out there – what would you say to them?  How’s that for putting you on the spot?

LAUREN – (laughs) I think probably the best thing I can say is just do what you love doing and have fun with it and really don’t take it as seriously as… well, don’t take it too seriously – just have fun with it and enjoy it!  Enjoy life!

LISA – Oh, very cool.  Thank you so much.  Alright, well we are going to wrap this one up now. Thank you so much, Lauren, for putting up with all the “20 questions”, and definitely good luck with your comeback!

LAUREN – Thank you!

LISA – So everybody check out the website – that’s www.BIMwebTV.com.  The interview will be up.  Lauren also submitted a Bio which we’re going to have posted shortly here too.  So we’ll have pictures, the video will be going up soon, the podcast – and again, that’s www.BIMwebTV.com.

And of course check out the Fan Page at www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV.

And I’m going to wrap up for today – and we will see you guys next time.  And of course I gotta fall off the page…  Oh no!  Alright, you guys – I’ll talk to you all soon!  Bye-bye.

Source: Bodyboarder Int’l Magazine – Live! – Meet Lauren Fletcher – Returning Australian Women’s Professional Champion

Meet Lauren Fletcher Former Aussie Champ

Length: 12:05
Views: 42

Source: BIMwebTV’s Videos on Ustream – Meet Lauren Fletcher Former Aussie Champ

PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

LISA – Well hello everybody, and welcome to yet another episode of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! You’ve found us again here at Podcast 85770! I am Lisa Smith, your “Hostess with the Mostest” – or whatever that cheesy phrase is! And I have Patti here with me because I just couldn’t go on without her! Patti, how’re you doing?

PATTI – Ha ha! Oh, I miss you too Lisa!

LISA – Oh! How’re you doing?

PATTI – I’m doing great! Gosh, there’s so many things I’m seeing about the bodyboarding world out there lately. I’m sure you’re going to give a rundown on your updates and stuff…

LISA – Oh that’s right!

PATTI – But just for my own thing, I did see… well, the girls over in Australia are just… I mean, they rock! They really give the Brazilian girls a run for their money! They’ve just really got a lot going… And of course Lilly Pollard and her Milkshake Designs, and Emily… Emmy – and just… I don’t know, it just seems that the girls are doing really good.

And then of course Surge Bodyboarding came out with their online magazine which looks awesome!

So to me – I don’t know about you – but does it seem like the sport is just kind of getting like this little resurgence?

LISA – I think so! I really, really feel that way. And, hey, that’s Surge Magazine – it’s a new surge, right? So they’re right on the money with that one! It IS a resurgence I think.

And I think… oh my gosh! You know, one of the things I’ve been working on and doing behind the scenes is I’ve been working on getting a handful of different interviews scheduled and lined up. That’s been fun! Just the whole process of lining up the interviews… but I’m going to do a couple of different series; and I’ve got a list of probably like about five or six people who are set to go, and then I’ve got a list of a whole bunch more to bring on. So we’ve got a lot of interviews coming up.

I was going to do a series on, like you said, the Australian and Brazilian bodyboarders – I’m going to do like a “Women in Bodyboarding” series. So I’ve got that in the works…

PATTI – Wow!

LISA – So it’s there, it’s just behind the scenes! So I just want to let everyone know, “Hey, we’re still here! We’re working!”

PATTI – Yeah! Well I think one of the things that probably you just made me think about something for a minute, because I know for me, Lisa – and I think that the listeners should, you know, as you start building your listenership here – that these interviews, number one, are very hard to line up…

LISA – They are.

PATTI – They say things like, “Why don’t you have more…?” I mean, in this day and age, with people in different time zones, and miscommunication and, you know, I just personally think, Lisa, that if a bodyboarder’s listening right now and they want to buff-out their sponsor, what better way than to have a little podcast or videocast that we can do for you, that can go up on YouTube and have some nice graphics with the… I mean, to me it’s like a no-brainer!

LISA – Oh, absolutely!

PATTI – But for some reason – because I guess water people aren’t as like, you know, up to snuff or something, I don’t know what it is! – they don’t jump on this opportunity! But Lisa, you know, Lisa’s got the ability to do all this – and I say get hold of her!

LISA – Well you know, one thing that I have learned – and I’m not directing this towards any of the business people in the sport of course – but… and this is cool – you know, I have a handful of bodyboarding friends and stuff, and it’s sort of they’ll “fly by the seat of their pants;” it’s like, “Oh, let’s make some plans for next weekend.” “Oh, well I can’t because I don’t know what the surf’s going to be like yet.” And it’s like, “Oh…”

So it’s like you can’t really plan anything because you don’t know from moment to moment or from day to day what the Break… what’s going to happen out there. So if you plan something and the waves are great that day – forget it!

PATTI – Uh-huh.

LISA – And that’s great, that’s alright! I love that…freespirited!

PATTI – You know, really that’s the basis of the sport. I can remember like working with Tom Morey, if there was a swell, he knew that there would be less people willing to work knowing there was a swell going on, so he would just like close down the plant! It was like so cool!

LISA – Yeah!

PATTI – What plant do you know, that is a manufacturing plant, closes down when the surf’s up? I mean, maybe probably some of like Quicksilver and some of these other ones do – but it was really cool!

LISA – Sure! Yeah!

PATTI – So it is hard to find people to interview. But I guess what I’m saying is, “Folks – guys, girls from around the world – buff-out your sponsors! Or just buff-out yourself and your portfolio and get a little interview on a podcast or video… I’m doing the video for Lisa right now until she moves into that area, and she’s doing the podcast. So it’s like, “Why not?”

LISA – That’s right, that’s right. Yeah, well I’ve got… I’ve got three video interviews that I know that I’m slowly getting lined up.

PATTI – Cool!

LISA –I think one person got sick, and another person… you know, it’s just to get it going…

PATTI – Life got in the way… yeah.

LISA – Life got in the way, yeah.

PATTI – Well I guess I probably should get on my “Old School rant” on that because I know that all the ones that I interviewed on the original podcast, you know, I knew most of the people: Jay Reale, and Pat Caldwell, and Tom Morey and, you know, Vicki Reale and Debbie Colwell and all these people – so they knew that I pretty much was going to… if I said 9 o’clock I was going to start the podcast then – but, you know, if Lisa DOES set something up with you, gosh, you know, honor her time!

LISA – That’s right, that’s right.

PATTI – You know, honor her time. Because she’s waiting for you; you know, we wait for you to… And you know, with us going live now I think – or with you going live maybe that might put a little bit more push on people showing up on time, you know, by just having the live project.

LISA – That’s right, that’s right.

PATTI – That’s my other little thought…

LISA – No, that’s a good thought! I’m just… I don’t know, I’m… you know, it’s been raining here the last couple of days so it’s been just raining.

PATTI – Oh, yeah.

LISA – And so, you know, it’s like when it rains it’s like, “Oh… I don’t want to do anything!” When it’s nice and sunny, and the waves are good, it’s like, “Let’s go out – let’s go to the beach!” So the last few days it’s been raining, so of course what have I been doing? I’ve been working on the website. And I’ve got more… the tabs are organized a little bit differently; I’ve got some short Bios of Allison and myself; and I think that Patti I have a link to your site as well.

PATTI – Oh, cool!

LISA – Yeah, so I’m busy working on the website and stuff, and of course posting things on Facebook. But Patti, oh yeah! I just remembered! We’ve got a great… Patti has a great program everybody – and I’ve been so psyched about it; I’ve been getting involved with it bit by bit, and I think that this is a program that has incredible potential – and I just wanted to give you a chance to talk about it if you’d like…

PATTI – Well, you know, the thing of it is, we were going to take the end of the year – and I know a lot of the bodyboarders are already in just like great shape, so, you know, this is a program that I came up with. It doesn’t cost anything, it’s all free – and don’t let that turn you off because it’s free! But we are going to start paying attention more to our health.

And you’re young; most of the people that listen to this are young. And even if you’re forty you’re young, okay!

LISA – Hah!

PATTI – In my book! But I just thought we would kind of focus more and narrow in on various different ways that we can work on our health. So I did put up on the program, on our calendars, on www.GettingAnchored.com – if you go over there you can put on the weekly schedule… And a lot of us are running… you know, Guilherme and I, Lisa, for years ran together – I mean, we even ran in races together, you know…

LISA – Oh yeah! That’s awesome!

PATTI – And also he uses running as a big part of his cardio workout. Because when you’re trying to plug through waves or punch out through waves, you know, what better way than have a good cardio base? Running really does that.

So anyway, part of the program is running – and you will see there over on www.GettingAnchored.com – just as it’s spelled: www.GettingAnchored.com – there’s a weekly schedule. I did put the weekly podcast for Bodyboarding in there under “Health…”

LISA – Okay!

PATTI – Because I think those that… I mean, to be honest with you Lisa, even out in California, there’s a little women’s bodyboarding team that meets in Encinitas every morning and they go out bodyboarding…

LISA – Oh that’s cool!

PATTI – Oh, it’s so cool! Because we think of bodyboarders as these hotshots that ride big waves – but there are actually other people that are actually bodyboarding for health and exercise reasons too. So I think, you know, I like the idea that that will be on there, on the schedule; and then of course you helping me spread the word is always good…

LISA – Right. That’s right.

PATTI – So in the “Health” part of the Getting Anchored we’re going to take on bodyboarding, and the podcasts, and try to promote it as much as we can there, too. So thanks for giving me that opportunity! I hope you go over there and… Oh, and by the way, we do have a Fan Page too!

LISA – Oh, that’s right!

PATTI – It’s called Getting Anchored!. Go over there and join Getting Anchored! Get anchored with us!

LISA – Oh yeah, that’s right! Yeah, you know, I just… check it out – I’ve been really psyched about it. I know you have the “Couch to 5k…” which I’ve really been more focusing on doing stuff in the water rather than the actual running and stuff. I started with the running – but I’m like, “It’s way too hot! I would rather be out in the ocean!”

PATTI – Well that I totally understand, you know, totally understand. Florida, like the girl that was over here today, she was talking about, like, “When DO you run?” you know; “Is it during the day? At night? Inside? Treadmill?” – because it IS hot out there. But I think the main thing is once you get into like any kind of like groove, and you become aware that if you want to, let’s say, if you are a competitor, you want to reach the highest level of competition, you’ve got to be in pretty good doggone shape! I think Guilherme at, what, 37, is a perfect testament to that.

LISA – Absolutely!

PATTI – Mike Stewart, at 43 – perfect testament to staying in shape. Yeah, yeah, I know you want to go out and have beers and all that – but, you know, hey! Well, health is our focus, you know… I don’t want to go on too much more because you get me on that health rampage and – eugh!

LISA – Oh, I know!

PATTI – So tell us a bit more about the bodyboarding world…

LISA – I’m sorry, I’m jumping right in there because I want to hang on to this line of thought for just a second longer before we switch gears.

PATTI – Okay!

LISA – I know that, you know, for everybody that listened to last week’s podcast, the previous podcast, we interviewed Allison Cohen who is my co-owner… what is it – cohort in crime, or whatever! But she has a really big… she is really into yoga, and she does a whole thing – well, it’s called “Yoga for Surfers” but I guess it could be “Yoga for Bodyboarders” as well. And so that is sort of her big thing. And I’m going to get her on again here soon to talk a little bit about that.

But I think the thing that I just wanted to drill in is that people like Guilherme, people like Allison, you know, one of the things that they embrace with their bodyboarding is, you know, keeping themselves in shape; doing a yoga routine before surf and after surf, you know – it helps with the joints… it is just keeping yourself… the idea being these people want to bodyboard when they’re eighty or ninety – which to me is just completely awesome!

PATTI – I know! Isn’t that cool?

LISA – Yeah, I think so! And I was actually – I haven’t posted on Facebook yet but I am going to – is I found a handful of videos of some pretty old people out there… everybody wants the big shots, you know? So I am going to post it; it’s like, you know, “Get out there and think about it!” We’re not always going to be twenty, twenty-one, nineteen, whatever – and I want to be, you know, I want to be able to be out in the water enjoying myself for a very long time to come. And I think what is VERY important about that is staying healthy and taking care of yourself, and, you know, what goes into the body is what comes out of it! So putting good stuff in; good stuff comes out…

PATTI – Yeah, there you go! That’s a good way to put it!

LISA – Yeah, absolutely! Well I know… ha! I get so excited, my brain goes faster than my mouth! I’ve got to slow down here! Yeah, one of the things that we’re going to be focusing on with the bodyboarding podcast also is that we’re going to do interviews; we are also going to do a whole Health series, like, you know, “How can you improve your game out in the water? Here are some ways to do that…”

PATTI – Wow, that’s awesome!

LISA – I mean, like I said, I’ve got lots of stuff planned, there’s lots of stuff. So I had to throw that out there – to make a short story long.

PATTI – Sweet! Well I think that’s going to be great! And like I said, to me it just seems like there’s all kind of new excitement going on. I think – correct me if I’m wrong – but does it seem to you like Facebook is just going off with bodyboarding?

LISA – I think so!

PATTI – I mean, I’m over there right now scrolling through; I mean, there must be like five places I could go look at bodyboarding footage right now, just on my one top news page. It’s just awesome!

LISA – It is great! I mean, it’s been… I was like really shocked. When I first got on there and was starting, you know, I had a few people here and there – but it’s like I’m seeing more and more people coming on line, making friends, “Hey, I’m a bodyboarder from Portugal,” “I’m a bodyboarder from Spain;” you know, and a handful of other places. It’s like they’re connecting; they’re sharing their shots, they’re… you know? It is GREAT how Facebook can act as a platform for connecting everybody out there.

PATTI – It is. It really does bring the world together – it’s awesome.

LISA – So everybody check it out, www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV – I know, I had to plug that, right?

PATTI – Oh yeah! Segue to that, absolutely!

LISA – So, I’m just sort of rambling at the moment! What else do we have? I just want to let everybody know that we’re here and that we’ve got a lot of stuff lined up – and I can’t think of what else to say, Patti!

PATTI – Well, I think you did a pretty doggone good job if you ask me!

LISA – Well thanks very much! And thank you guys all for listening. And this has been another episode of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! brought to you at Podcast number 85770. We’ll see you next time!
Source: Bodyboarder Int’l Magazine – Live! – Weekly Update – 8/9/2010

PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

LISA – Well hello everybody and welcome to yet another episode of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! You’ve found us again in our new location, and that is Podcast 85770. And today I’m almost solo! I’m trying to do this without Patti – so, you know, we’ll see how it goes! Anyway, I have some interesting stuff going on, and I actually have a guest on today – and today we’re going to be interviewing our up-until-recently-silent partner in BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! – and we have Allison Cohen here. How’re you doing Allison?

ALLISON – Hey Lisa, how’re you doing?

LISA – I’m great! I’m always great! I’m always nervous when I’m doing this – I think I said in one of the previous podcasts that when I hear that announcement it’s like this huge rush – because I know I’m getting ready to have a great conversation, and it’s just… it’s always so thrilling; it’s almost like being out in the water… well, maybe not quite, right?

ALLISON – Yeah, I know what you mean! That Talk Shoe little jingle or whatever it is that comes on.

LISA – I know, I know! And you know what some people do? I’ve been listening to some of the other podcasts; they have their own like little music or intro that happens like right after that. Maybe we could do something like that in the future? I don’t know – we’ll see, we’ll see.

ALLISON – That would be good!

LISA – Yeah! Anyway, I just wanted to jump right in here and start with the interview. I’ll do a little bit of a spiel about BIM in a few minutes – but I just want to jump right on in.

Allison, number one, I want to thank you because without you I wouldn’t be here doing BIM! And the reason that I’m saying this is because actually I went on the E-Bodyboarding website just a few weeks ago and I was taking a look through some of the posts they had there and I found the original post that Patti Serrano had done, talking about, “Hey, here’s an opportunity for someone who loves the sport and wants to do Internet media, to…” you know, it was a great opportunity…

ALLISON – Yeah, I remember that.

LISA – And you were the one that pointed that out to me to begin with. And without you pointing that out to me, it’s like I wouldn’t even be here. So thank you!

ALLISON – No problem!

LISA – No problem, alright! So, I’m just going to jump in here and ask you a few questions – are you ready?

ALLISON – Sure!

LISA – Alright! Okay, the first thing is – and I think these are the questions that a lot of people ask, or want to hear – when did you get started in bodyboarding?

ALLISON – Well I started about 1988 when I was living… I grew up in New Jersey, so I was eleven years old back then and I had a little foamie board from one of the hardware stores I guess that my mom got me.

LISA – Oh, wow! Uh-huh!

ALLISON – Yeah! And I’m thirty-three now so I guess that’s, you know, do the math! (laughs)

LISA – Oh, right – so you’ve been bodyboarding for twenty-some years now, right? Did I do the math right?

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – That’s awesome! So you’ve really devoted yourself to the sport, haven’t you?

ALLISON – Yeah, I guess it’s been my main passion. It’s what made me move to Florida after high school graduation because I mean, even though Florida is not known for the best waves, but growing up in New Jersey with the freezing weather, I kind of, you know, I needed to get away from that.

LISA – Oh, right, right! Well the water’s so much warmer down here, I know. I mean, I know when I’ve gone up north and gotten in the water up there it’s like, “Oh! Gosh!” you know?

ALLISON – Yeah! In summer it’s okay, but yeah…

LISA – Sure. So what was bodyboarding like in New Jersey?

ALLISON – Well there were a lot more bodyboarders up there than there are here in Florida, especially at the time when I started. There were a lot of kids out in the water that….you get inspired to ride, you know.

LISA – Okay! One of the questions that I had was what are some of the usual spots that you go to?

ALLISON – Around here…Lake Worth…

LISA – Around here / in New Jersey – whatever. The usual spots; when you’re up in New Jersey, or when you’re down here, you know, what are some of the spots that you frequent?

ALLISON – Well in New Jersey I usually go back to Belmar which is where I started, and sometimes Long Beach Island…

LISA – That’s right…

ALLISON – And Long Beach Island which is in South Jersey. But around here, Lake Worth is the local spot, you know, the closest spot. So I… usually it breaks pretty good; it’s not that consistent, but when we do have a swell it’s always fun there.

LISA – Oh yeah!

ALLISON – And other times I go up to Fort Pierce or sometimes Indialantic. I lived up there for a while so sometimes I do daytrips up there.

LISA – Okay, that’s right! I know they have competitions in Cocoa Beach and places like that, you know, fairly frequently it seems like.

ALLISON – Yeah, those are more surf competitions though.

LISA – That’s true, that’s true.

ALLISON – Yeah, but the FBA does like… they have contests like Flagler which is North Florida, and Melbourne and Vero – those seem to be the spots that they have the contests at.

LISA – Oh, okay. So you’ve done some contests with FBA, right? What are some of the other contests that you’ve done?

ALLISON – Yeah, I’ve just done a couple with the FBA. I’m always the only girl! (laughs)

LISA – Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well actually, now that you bring that up there, what do you think – this is a question I have been kind of wondering, as I’ve been talking to people on Facebook and elsewhere – is like what’s your vibe on like the female bodyboarders here in the United States, elsewhere? You know?

ALLISON – My vibe on it…

LISA – What’s your vibe on it; I mean like I’ve noticed when I got out and I’m on the beach and stuff like that, it’s like 99 percent guys. I mean, I think the only times that I’ve actually seen other female bodyboarders is when we’ve gone to like women’s surf events or bodyboard events. So, you know, is there a difference between the attitudes here as opposed to other countries?

ALLISON – Yeah, it seems like it. I mean, Brazil obviously has, I mean, it is probably fifty/fifty there with male and female… maybe more toward women…

LISA – Oh is it?

ALLISON – I don’t know because I haven’t been there – it’s stuff that I’ve read over the years. And apparently Australia has a pretty good population of women bodyboarders; I was just talking to somebody from Australia recently about that.

LISA – Oh, yeah!

ALLISON – Here it doesn’t seem to be that many, especially on the East Coast.

LISA – Especially on the East Coast, yeah. Well you mentioned some of the Australian bodyboarders, and I know that there’s some like – I can’t remember the name of it and I’m probably going to slaughter it – but it’s something like the Women’s Bodyboarding Association that’s located in Australia. Because I know there’s…I know I’ve been talking to a couple different people on Facebook – and if anybody wants to check out BIM Web TV on Facebook it’s www.facebook.com/BIMwebTV – and I know there seems to be a strong presence on the web, anyway, I see a lot of the Australian riders; I see a lot of the like Port Macquarie – I’m going to slaughter the names here, I’m sorry…

ALLISON – Yeah, I’m not sure how exactly it’s pronounced, but I know what you’re talking about. (laughs)

LISA – Yeah, that’s our Americanism; (laughs) we slaughter anything… yeah! Alright, yeah! But I guess that’s one thing that I find is just interesting – is that there’s not as many of like the female bodyboarders here, at least, like you said, on the East Coast. Now, if I recall, you went out to the West Coast – where did you go when you went out there?

ALLISON – Oh, to California.

LISA – Yeah!

ALLISON – I surfed in the San Diego area; and T Street…Newport…40th Street, Newport. Yeah, there were definitely more down female bodyboarders out there, especially at T Street I remember, and Newport as well.

LISA – Ahh, okay.

ALLISON – Yeah. I mean, around here, especially ever since that – what was that movie, Blue Crush that came out…

LISA – Oh yeah!

ALLISON – There’s been an explosion of female standup surfing, but not so much bodyboarding. So I’m usually the only one out there, you know, locally. But I don’t know… I don’t really mind being the oddball out in the water riding something different and doing dropknee – because very few people do that around here. And I get questions about it which is cool.

LISA – Yeah!

ALLISON – It’d be nice to have a little… some more women out there bodyboarding or just people bodyboarding in general (laughs)

LISA – Yeah, more representation out there.

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – Now you mentioned that you do dropknee. I also know that you do other like, what do you call it, like “alternative wave riding” as opposed to the standard stuff.

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – What are some of the things that you… tell me a little bit about that.

ALLISON – Yeah, I’ve been the last few years, maybe three or four years or so, I’ve gotten into paipo riding and kneeboarding, just to do some different stuff; to experience new ways, different ways of riding the waves. I mean, bodyboarding is still my favorite but I like to do… you know, I like to dabble in the…

LISA – Mix it up a little bit!

ALLISON – Yeah, exactly!

LISA – Very cool, very cool. Well I think… I’m just going down a list here of questions – and I apologize if it sounds like I’m reading them off a list – it’s because I am!

ALLISON – Ha ha! That’s okay!

LISA – Ha ha! And I’m like, okay, what other questions do I ask? So one of the things that I especially wanted to get you in here for, for an interview is I wanted people to get to know “Allison,” you know. What I bring to the BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! is my experience with web stuff; you know, I was working at a sports website like back in the late Nineties…

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – So I’ve been doing sports on the web for a long time, you know, I have that experience. But, you know… and I love bodyboarding; to me it’s such a cool sport that really… it is open to everybody – and you have the recreational riders, you have the hardcore riders, you have the contest riding. To me all that stuff is really, really… it is very inspiring for me, to be a part of it and to do this venture.

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – And what I’m really counting on in BIM is YOUR expertise; because I know, like I’ve seen some of your posts on the Fan Page – and if you guys ever want to, you know, chat up with Allison, she posts some stuff on, again the Fan Page, which is www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV – I promote that again; and I know you did some really good discussion on the dropknee and some other posts there.

ALLISON – Yeah!

LISA – So it’s like I’m really hoping to tap into your expertise; I mean, twenty years, you’ve been bodyboarding for over twenty years now. I mean, if there’s anything that you could say to people out there who, you know, either they’re just finding the podcast or they’re kind of catching some small waves; nothing major – what would you tell them, in terms of YOUR love of the sport? That was a big question, wasn’t it?

ALLISON – Hey, one sec, my dog…

LISA – Okay, alright!

ALLISON – I’m sorry, what was the question again? About what would I tell them?

LISA – Well, you know, you’ve been bodyboarding for twenty-plus years and I know you’re very dedicated because I know you go out constantly, and I mean, that’s a great thing. What would you tell to other bodyboarders out there who are interested in, you know, getting more involved in it beyond just the little dime store, they’re not dime stores anymore, but, you know, the little cheap foamies – if they really wanted to get into the sport, what would you tell them?

ALLISON – Well, if there’s a local contest around – not that contest riding is everything, but that’s a good way to meet other people that are into the same thing…

LISA – Oh that’s a great idea, yeah!

ALLISON – And it’s also a way of seeing better… because if you surf with better riders then it kind of pushes you to do maneuvers that you might not have seen otherwise. So, yeah, that would probably be a good place to start.

LISA – Right, checking out the contests.

ALLISON – Yeah, yeah. I’m more into free surfing myself but I like to go to the contests once in a while.

LISA – Oh it’s always fun to see.

ALLISON – A little bit of both is good.

LISA – Exactly, exactly. Anything else that you want to tell anybody before I wrap up for today?

ALLISON – Not really; I think that’s…

LISA – Yeah, I think we got it all, huh?

ALLISON – Yeah, I think so!

LISA – Alright! Well thank you so much for putting up with my interview style! As I continue podcasting here I’ll get a little better, and better, and better – and this will be AWESOME, right? And I’ve got some big shoes to fill because I know Patti’s an awesome interviewer, so I’ve got a lot of responsibility there to live up to that – and I’m sure I will. And I want to thank you so much for taking the time. I’m really appreciative of your participation in BIM and I’m sure that our fans are going to see lots of great things coming out of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! coming up soon.

So for anybody who wants to check us out, you can check us out on the web at www.BIMwebTV.com. And of course I’ve plugged the Facebook Page several times – that’s www.Facebook.com/BIMwebTV. We’re starting to get into Twitter; I haven’t really done a lot of that yet, but that’s www.Twitter.com/BIMwebTV. So stick around – we’re going to have lots more fun stuff coming up! And we’ll catch you guys next time on BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live!

Source: Bodyboarder Int’l Magazine – Live! – Introducing Allison Cohen

Check out this awesome Trevor Solberg Interview by our own “West Coast Correspondent” Aaron I-Dk Surf Victorian – this is GREAT!

Trevor Solberg Interview from Surf Victorian on Vimeo.

Source: BodyBoarder International Magazine – BIMWebTV’s Facebook Wall – Check out this awesome Trevor Solberg Interview by our own "West Coast Correspondent" Aaron I-Dk Surf Victorian

PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

LISA – Well hey everybody, and welcome to BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live!  You’ve found us!  We are now in our new location – that is Podcast number 85770 – and I’m your host, Lisa Smith – yay!  And I have with me our wonderful BIM founder Patti Serrano.  How’re you doing Patti?

PATTI – Hey I’m doing good!  And you sound great Lisa!

LISA – Oh thank you, thank you!

PATTI – You got your own Podcast!  Yay!

LISA - You have no idea how nervous I am kicking this off!  But that’s okay!

PATTI – Oh you sound great!  There’s nothing to be nervous about!  It’s all organic, you know, the waves come in, the waves go out – Lisa comes on, Lisa goes out…

LISA – That’s right!  You know, some days the waves are great and some days they aren’t!

PATTI – That’s right!  It’s all organic!

LISA – That’s right!  What is it – “Some days you own the waves, and some days the waves own you!”  But, yeah, okay! That’s my cheesy quote of the day!

PATTI – It’s all about the stoke!

LISA – Yeah, exactly!  I’ll get to THAT one in a second. Patti, I just wanted to say first off – and first thanks to everybody for listening and for putting the time in with BIM, it’s been a great adventure so far – and I am completely honored and indebted to you, Patti, for this incredible opportunity.  She has done like incredible stuff with BIM over the years and I just… I’m speechless because I just… want to do you right, I want to do BIM right, I want to make it, you know, something even better than – not that it could be any better than what you’ve done!  I need to stop!

PATTI – No, no, I know exactly what you’re saying.  In fact, you know, that’s exactly how I feel about Chris Granone and the BIA; you know, I turned the gavel over to Chris around 1999 on the BIA after I founded it.  And you know, look at that – I mean, if that’s not a testament to, what is it, eleven years of doing some great events; nice website – he’s still doing great.

And that’s kind of how it is here – for those of the people that are listening to this for the first time, or maybe found it on iTunes or Talk Shoe or whatever – you know, I’ve been involved with BIM and BIA since, well, BIM ’91, BIA about ’94.  So you know, I’ve watched them grow.  And also I’ve watched the sport grow.  So you can imagine what it’s like for me, if you can; if you can even imagine, to know that someone as great as Chris Granone, who was just this incredible judge, had taken over the BIA and, you know, kept it alive and gave it a life.

And now with LISA taking over BIM; I mean, can you imagine what it’s like for me to see her go and just, you know, create this incredible website, www.BIMwebTV.com; go in and start a Facebook Page?  And I could never catch up to her in the thousands of people that she’s got on the Fan Page!

And you know, it’s all because it’s wonderful Lisa!  And so if you can imagine how I feel, Lisa, and everyone that’s listening, to be able to, you know, pass the gavel on to her and know that BIM and BodyBoarder International Magazine is going to have a life – and it is going to have a WONDERFUL life, you know?

And so I’m honored just to be able to actually even BE here today!  This is YOUR show now!

LISA – Oh well, you know…

PATTI – Go for it!

LISA – I am excited, I am so excited!  I am glad to have you here with me today because I just want everybody to know; I mean, I get so much inspiration from working with you, you know, you’re doing a lot of YOUR projects and YOUR training, and helping me to be a better business person as well, and, you know, as I continue developing BIM in the background.  I mean, there’s a lot of stuff that peo0ple aren’t seeing that I’m working on in the background: the website, you know, it’s a great place holder; there is lots of information that is out there about what is going on in the bodyboarding world.  But it’s like I have so many plans for BIM, it’s going to be exciting, I know!

PATTI – Yeah, I can hear you on that too!  And I was just thinking as you were saying that, that a lot of people that have been listening to the old show, which was the one I created – you know, still BodyBoarder International Magazine, still you can go back there and listen to some of the old podcasts of some of the people I interviewed; Tom Morey, and Pat Caldwell, and Guilherme and all this – but what I’m thinking is what they might be thinking is, “Where’s the beef?” you know?  “Okay, so you guys have been…”

See and I think, by you just saying that, we’ve had to ease Lisa into this; you know, this is a whole new thing of broadcasting, it’s a whole new thing of internet and all that – so when you ask where the beef is (and I just thought of that – I don’t think anyone’s even asked it!”

LISA – Ha ha!

PATTI – But you know, what she’s got coming up, everybody; the interviews that she’s got coming up… She’s got Aaron now kind of being the northern California correspondent; he’s doing interviews and posting video… so where it’s heading, to me, Lisa, sounds very exciting, you know, it really does.  So I hope everyone stays with us on that, and subscribes, and so on and so forth.

LISA – Well, yeah, I mean, absolutely.  I mean, keep watching! What you’re seeing is really only the tip of the iceberg.  I mean, what I really am trying to tap into is the stoke of the sport.  I mean, that is REALLY where it’s at.

You know, the interviews that Aaron posted on Facebook that I reposted on the Fan Page – if anyone hasn’t checked that out, that’s www.facebook.com/BIMwebTV – and there you’ll see the most recent video interviews that were done at… I believe those where done at or around the BIA Tour event that was happening over there, on the…

PATTI – Oh yeah, I think it was, yeah, down in Huntington.

LISA – Yeah, that’s right!  So it’s like BodyBoarder International Magazine, Bodyboarder International Association – I mean, we’re alive, we’re well; we’ve got a lot of stuff coming out of the pipe here soon.

And I’ve got some more interviews that are lined up here shortly.  I don’t even know where to begin in trying to describe some of the different things that I have going on, so…

PATTI – Well I guess we really don’t have to today; but just to really let everybody know…

LISA – We’re here!

PATTI – The new Podcast number…

LISA – Yeah, okay!  The new Podcast number is 85770.  So you can come over to Talk Shoe; 85770.  It’s the new location.  We still have the original podcast location for all the archives – so all of those awesome interviews, like you said, with Tom Morey and… the other names are escaping me at the moment – but I’ve gone through them and there’s some awesome names there!  And that, the archives, is 36729.

Is that how we do that Patti?

PATTI – Yeah!

LISA – Perfect!  So, anyway, keep checking back with us; there’s going to be a lot more coming up.  We’re going to have more podcasts, we’re going to have more interviews, we’re going to have more stuff on the website…

Oh wait a minute!  There IS one more thing I wanted to say:  speaking of the website – and I’ve got to slow down because I love to talk really fast, because I get really excited about this stuff!

PATTI – Ha ha!

LISA – What I have going on next for the website is that I want to… actually I want to have contests.  And I’m going to post the details of the contests here shortly – I’m working on them right now – but the idea is that I want to have Fan-designed splash page for BodyBoarder International Magazine, the website.  And the splash page can be graphics, video, Flash, etc. – not too much, but, you know, something that kind of encapsulates what people see, what people feel when they think of BIM.

So I want to do a contest and I want it just to be you guys can submit your stuff; we’ll have a handful of people taking a look at it… And again, the details of this are going to be posted soon, but I really want BIM, BIM Web TV, to be YOUR site.  And the way that I can make this YOUR site is by YOUR participation.

PATTI – Oh, cool!

LISA – And I’ve got, like I said, we’ve got Aaron doing video; we’ve got a handful of other people actually that are working on video behind the scenes – so there’s a LOT coming down!

PATTI – Sweet!

LISA – And if you want to submit anything to me you can send it to BIMwebTV@gmail.com.  Is there anything else, Patti, that I need to cover?

PATTI – No. I think that’s all for this first launch… and probably after a couple of podcasts it will be up on iTunes.  So for right now just keep checking back with this one.

LISA – Yeah.  And that’s Call ID 85770.  And Patti, I just want to thank you for this incredible opportunity for me to take on this venture.  I’m very excited about the future and I’m… you’re staying on with me, right?

PATTI – You’re rockin’ girl!  I don’t need to!  You rock!

LISA – Alright!  Well I hope that everybody…

PATTI – If anybody wants a Fan Page with lots of people on it, see Lisa!  It’s incredible!

LISA – That’s right!  I can do your Fan Page for you – you got it! That’s right!

PATTI – Alrighty!

LISA – Alright, thanks so much Patti.

PATTI – Okay!

LISA – And thank you to you ALL for listening in.  This has been another Episode of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! at our new location of 85770.  We will catch you next time!

Source: Bodyboarder Int’l Magazine – Live! – Weekly Update 7/26/10

PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

Coming Soon!

Source: BODYBOARDER INT’L MAGAZINE – LIVE – BIM is now Talkcast #85770

PODCAST

TRANSCRIPT

PATTI - Hey everybody and welcome to BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! I am Patti Serrano here with Lisa Smith, with your Weekly Update!  We’ve got a lot to talk about this week don’t we Lisa?

LISA - Oh yeah!  There’s tons going on out there!

PATTI - Yeah!  And it’s all being brought to you by BIM Web TV.  You need to go over to the website – Lisa’s doing a great job of it.  So it’s http://www.BIMwebTV.com – it is that easy!  And you know, I just want to plug you, Lisa, for doing such a great job garnering thousands of bodyboarders for the Facebook Fan Page!  That’s amazing!

LISA - Oh I know, I know!  Let me tell you, I’m like so excited – the numbers have jumped!  I was so excited last week; I said, “Oh, wow, we’ve got three thousand members!”  Wait a minute!  No, not quite!  It’s 1,258!  I was like, “Oh my God – I can’t believe I said three thousand!”  I was really projecting here!  So come on guys – three thousand; that’s what we want!

PATTI - Well that’s good because you… think about it though; that’s a LOT of people!  And it’s a lot of people all over the world being stoked by the continuum of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! online so it’s great.

LISA - Oh I know, I know.

PATTI - It’s great!  You’re doing a great job!

LISA - And let me tell you, it is one of the things I love. I love chatting to everybody online – I have told Patti this offline as well; I am on Facebook 24/7, one way or another, whether it is sent to my phone, it is sent to my email or I’m actually at the computer, I have access!  Maybe when I’m sleeping I’m not!  But I love it when people chat with me.  A lot of people have said “Hi” to me and I just want to say Hi back – and thank you guys for checking us out, checking out the podcast, the website, the Fan Page, you know – I love you all!

PATTI - Well you know, it’s really exciting to see a younger person come onboard now and gain just such popularity, just yourself, from being just you, Lisa Smith – that is really, really exciting.

And you know, I meant to tell everybody you can also go over to Twitter.  We don’t Tweet as much as Facebook but there is a Twitter account…

LISA - Yeah, that’s true.

PATTI - BIM Web TV.  Go follow that.  And we haven’t mentioned Café Press in a while – are you still doing that?

LISA - Oh yes I am!  I still have that.  I have a link to that; if you go to the http://www.BIMwebTV.com and to the Home Page there is a nice little link right there at the top navigation that says “BIM GEAR” – get your BIM gear there.  I have got already… I have got like several T-shirts, a beach bag, a water bottle – I’m all set!  When I go to the beach I’ve got my BIM stuff ready to go!

PATTI - You’re the BIM Girl, huh?

LISA - I am!  That’s right!

PATTI - That’s cool!  Heck with Hooter’s Girl – you’re the BIM Girl!

LISA - That’s right!  When you see that girl at the beach with the BIM shirt, that’s me, yeah!

PATTI - Ha ha!  Well that’s cool, that’s really cool.  Well I thought we would start first with just something that came down the pipe this morning was this Bodyboard Museum of Magazines.  Did you see that?

LISA - Yeah I did.  I’m trying to think who posted that…

PATTI - Isn’t that cool?

LISA - Yeah it is!  I really, REALLY like that!  I’m like, “Oh my gosh!  One of the magazines, the BIM, the original BIM, it’s sitting there – I can grab it right now – I have it right in front of me, literally…

PATTI - I know, isn’t that awesome?

LISA - Yeah!

PATTI - Well there are a lot of people like right throughout the world that are like real purists, originalists or whatever, they have got copies of all these.  But I thought what I would do is just go down real quick for those that are just, you know, our listeners – some of them are just getting into the sport; some people will go, “Oh, yeah, I recognize that…”

LISA - Right.

PATTI - But the thing of it is what is really cool, there is quite a history, and it is also interesting to note which ones are still publishing – like BIM, anyway…

LISA - That’s right!  It’s still going!

PATTI - I mean, it’s an online magazine – but it’s still going!  Alright!  So we started out with Bodyboard Magazine, and that was the era that I came out of – 1986 was its release.  And, hey, you know, it was “THE magazine.”  It was the one that really, Lisa, anointed the sport; “Wow, we have a magazine now!”

LISA - That’s awesome!

PATTI - And I think that as people walked by the grocery store – I know for me I went by the grocery store – I just can’t believe that magazines are still being PRINTED, you know, with all the stuff on the Internet now; but it goes from one end of the store – my store that I shop at – to the other, still publishing, you know, Quilting, and Travel, and… you know, every magazine is still being printed!

LISA - Magazines are not going away.  They are not going to go away.

PATTI - They are not going away for a while. No, I don’t think so.  You’re right.  But the point is that this really, when it made the publication, it was really kind of an anointment that the sport was alive and well.  And that was the BodyBoarding published by Western Empire out of San Clemente, California.

I know them well because when they folded in 1991, which was five years later, this is when I came out with BIM - so there was a lot of the same editors and people helping out that really felt bad about Bodyboarding going under and wanted to help me.  So that’s why BIM got off to a great start.

But anyway, Riptide out of Australia; they showed a REALLY strong presence in 1989 and are still going strong today – so I would say probably kudos to them for hanging in through all the financial messes and stuff like that, and still…

LISA - Oh, they’re still going, right?

PATTI - Well, Riptide at the time when I came out with BIM was just this solid, thick paper, beautiful magazine – it was just really well done.  So I have always really honored them for being able to do that.  It was Australia – but it was waves and it was bodyboarding, so a lot of the Americans still felt pretty highly of the mag.

LISA - Oh yeah!

PATTI - And they shipped them off to America Lisa, and they would be, you know, the word on the street was, “The new Riptide’s out!” you know?  I mean, it was really like that.  It’s not like today where you can go on the Internet and you can Facebook it or Twitter it – it was the word on the street.

LISA - That’s right, yeah.

PATTI - That’s how people found out that it was out.  And of course then Australian Bodyboarder – and this was when Australia REALLY started showing its domination in the sport because, you know, you figure, here’s a country that’s surrounded by water.  And so with Australian Bodyboarder coming out, that was pretty cool.

And then on this page, if you go over to Facebook and follow PMBA – that stands for Port Macquarie Bodyboarding Association – they have been around for like twenty-three years, something like that; they posted this archive of magazines today on Facebook.  So follow them when you hear this later, scroll down and look for this.  Because it is pretty cool.  They’ve got all the magazine covers; there’s BIM which is fourth in line, which is 19… they’ve got it pretty much right.  They’ve got, “Came out in the early Nineties,” which is 1991…  everything looks right here – except for they’ve spelt my name wrong!  They’ve put Pati and then Ser… with only one “r!”

LISA - Two “t”s, two “r”s!

PATTI - Yeah, yeah, they don’t like that double stuff over there I guess!

LISA - Yeah.

PATTI - And then Trace 360 which would be 360, was I believe a Portugal magazine.  They didn’t know here either – but it looks like it’s Portuguese Vert was from Brazil.  That was an awesome magazine!

LISA - Yeah.

PATTI - BB Life also from Japan… You know, look at what happened with the sport!

LISA - It exploded!

PATTI - It went completely worldwide!  Then you had Flipper.  Flipper was a REALLY good magazine.  But the name kind of like, nah, you know?

LISA - Nah!

PATTI - But it came from Japan; but it was a really good magazine with some really good shots.  Bodyboarding Hotshots comes out, was a predecessor to Rush. Rush comes out and focused kind of on the lifestyle.   And then Fins Magazine comes out, which was the Sunshine Coast; and Fin-Air coming out of France – I mean, this is like going worldwide now we’re talking…

LISA - Yeah, you can see it.  I mean, you can just trace it; you can trace it across the map by looking at these different stages.

PATTI - Yeah!  And Bodyrider was Keith Sasaki’s baby…

LISA - Oh yeah!  Okay!

PATTI - Yeah. And then 360 – the Bodyboard Magazine was one that was coming out of England!  And now we’re going, “England?”  We really had a hard time wrapping our heads around that!  And then Pit, of course when Pit came out it was right up against BodyBoarding Magazine.

LISA - Right.

PATTI - So here we are; and it might be a good segue to talk about the whole hype with BIM, because we were like all bodyboarding, sheer unadulterated fun.  What was that one thing that Allison said?

LISA - Oh yeah!  It was the… let’s see… “It’s not the size of the wave – it’s the size of the stoke,” you know.

PATTI - Yeah, that was so BIM! It was so BIM!

LISA - Yeah, that’s right.

PATTI - So can you imagine now, two magazines out; BIM, which was just the stoke of bodyboarding – girls, guys, everybody; small waves, big waves, postcards… and then Pit comes out and Pit was just this real offensive… they had… they didn’t even bleep anything out – you know, naked women, you know – you get the picture?

LISA - Right, right.

PATTI - It was just the total opposite of BIM. And so they both had their own lives.  You know, it was… there was a market for both.  So it was very cool.

LISA - Yeah, I mean, it’s amazing; there’s definitely a huge, I guess, thirst out there for seeing some of those huge waves and seeing whether it is someone taking a wipeout or whatever – I mean, I know people LOVE that stuff!  But you know, at the same time, it is like… I want to… I love seeing it when the kids are like first catching the waves and they’re like, “Oh my God!” you know?

PATTI - Yeah!

LISA - We’ve got these couple of little girls out here that go with our group to go bodyboarding, and it is just like, you know, when they are… we started off with like a stack of the foamies and we had good boards, Custom X etc., and then we had a couple of the… the handful of the foamies.  And, you know, they started off on the foamies and said, “Yeah, yeah…”  And then Allison let them borrow her board – and that was the end of that!  They are like, they don’t want to use their boards any more!  It was just… it is just the stoke!  It is exactly… to me that is what BIM is.  It’s the stoke!

PATTI - Yeah.  That’s totally awesome. That’s it!  That’s really it!  I mean, that’s what it’s all about.  And you know, that’s what Tom Morey said on his original poster that was put in the original Boogie Board – it said, “Enjoy a Morey Boogie!”  It was all about enjoyment!

So, you know, like I said, when Pit came out and started doing all that kind of stuff, well, you know, there was a market for it.  But it was not really… it was great waves, big riders, good conversation – and so be it!

LISA - That’s right!

PATTI - Then we move onto Australia and Bodyboard Stars. And then we move over to ROT which was the Riders of Tube – Sean Manning had some real good ideas and real artsy.  But he was only able to come out with a couple of issues.  And I think what most people have to realize is that, you know, when you look at a magazine you are not looking at just the sport, and the people, and the color, and the graphics; you are looking at a BUSINESS.  I mean, like a business of publishing.

LISA - Oh yes.

PATTI - And so a lot of people when they want to do these things, they realize, “Oh, I really want to do that,” but they forget to take the business classes.  And so I think that is one of the… was the demise of Sean Manning.  However, he did come out with a very successful ROT video series…

LISA - Oh yeah, that’s right!

PATTI - He was a videographer.  So that was cool for Sean!  And then over to Movement Magazine – they’ve got a picture of that.  Again, if you want to look at this, it is over on Facebook under Port Macquarie Bodyboarding Association – a really great job!

And I know we are running out of time here so I just want to say one more thing.  They did leave out – and I just want to honor him because he did such a great job – was Soonim Kim with his magazine, Option.

LISA - Option, that’s right.

PATTI - That pretty much took the American people… really stoked them out; all the American writers, or the United States writers.  And I believe he sent some overseas too. But it was a great magazine.  You know, Soonim knew about business.  I mean, Soonim was a good businessman – and he continues to be a good businessman today.  He just happened to come into that period where, remember, this is a business; you know, don’t put down the mag for folding…

LISA - That’s right.

PATTI - It is what’s going on with the business community; can the bodyboard manufacturers, the fins, the wetsuits sustain a publication?  And at that time it was not possible.  And there went a REALLY good mag.  So I just want to honor him because he did a great job.  And he did a great job, Lisa, of bringing the community together too with the Option Awards where he would bring everybody together for these like award ceremonies and they would give out awards for the like Grom of the Year and stuff like that.

LISA - That’s awesome!  I mean, that’s what it is; is it’s building community…

PATTI - Yeah, he really did.  So I just want to put his name in our podcast today because he did that.  So that took us all the way up pretty much to the end – but if you do get a chance to see it, you know…

Is there anything else you want to add in there today Lisa?

LISA - Oh my goodness; you know, I mean, look at these magazines and I am thinking, “This is the foundation of the bodyboarding world,” you know?  And I look at this, and I’m looking at the magazine there – I’m looking at it in front of me.  And I’m looking at, you know, “What is it that BIM Web TV or BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live!” what are we doing? And I just, I mean, it is this community; it is this community of people.  That is what I am really about; is building community and creating a place where we can all share our best rides, our best… whatever it is!  I don’t know – I’m a community person!

PATTI - Yeah, and I think, like I said earlier, you are building that reputation with yourself, just in the time that you have taken over BIM, you know, people are seeing that you are starting up conversations.  The one that you put up; the video that you put up this week with – this is a whole probably another show!

LISA - Sure, yeah!

PATTI - …but the one that you put up with Aaron on the DK…

LISA - Oh yeah!

PATTI - And then he got a couple of negative comments; which are okay!  You know?

LISA - It’s okay, yeah! It’s conversation, you know?

PATTI - But  it’s like, here’s this guy up in Northern California, which if you know Northern California it is not really known for having the best waves – but he is out at a local surfing spot doing some drop knee, and it was totally cool in my estimation!  But some guy comes along and says, “Oh, boring!” or whatever. Okay, well then the conversation starts, as you know!

LISA - Aha!

PATTI - And you know what?  It’s NOT boring, okay?  I mean, and the guy that posted that, if you’re listening to this, it’s NOT boring. It’s the stoke that Allison was talking about!

LISA - That’s right!

PATTI - It’s the stoke of just the people out there riding.  And so I guess probably the last segue would be (and I am sure you’ll agree with me Lisa) to send us your stokes…

LISA - Oh yeah!

PATTI - Send Lisa your pictures, send her your videos… she’ll put them up.  Don’t be afraid.  Don’t be shy. This is what it’s all about – wouldn’t you say Lisa?

LISA - The stoke is all… yeah, exactly.  The stoke is what it’s about. That’s what BIM is about.  And share your stoke – that’s exactly what it is.  And there’s always going to be people who like different writing styles; that’s… hey! We celebrate that!  That’s great!  And I really want to encourage the Groms, the newbies, the whatever… you know, you can be a firing professional, you know; these guys come out here and they want to compete…

It’s all about having fun, improving your game – and showing some good sportsmanship in the meantime, too.

PATTI - Yeah!  Awesome!  Okay, well this is all being brought to you today by BIM Web TV – that’s Lisa Smith you just heard.  Thank you Lisa!

LISA - Thank you!

PATTI - Out of Florida… I’m Patti Serrano here – and we will see you and talk to you on the next Episode.  And be sure and go over and follow BIM Web TV or BodyBoarder International Magazine on Facebook.  Check out that Port Macquarie Bodyboarding Association museum of bodyboard magazines.  Buy something on Café Press at BIM Web TV!

LISA - Oh yeah! www.CafePress.com – that’s right!

PATTI - Help Lisa support herself here folks!

LISA - That’s right!

PATTI - And Twitter BIM Web TV!  And we’ll see you and talk to you – we have a special guest next week – so we’ll see you and talk to you next time on the next Episode here of BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live!

Source: BODYBOARDER INT’L MAGAZINE – LIVE – Weekly Updates 7/14/2010

PODCAST

Hit Da BEAT from Surf Victorian on Vimeo.

TRANSCRIPT

PATTI – Hello everybody, and welcome to BodyBoarder International Magazine – Live! I’m Patti Serrano.  I hope everything’s good!  Got a special treat for you this week:  two shows in a week!  Yes!  Lisa and I did our Updates for the week; that was the last show – and today we have a special interview with Aaron Victorian.  And it looks like we’re going to slip a little nickname in there called, “Surf” so we’ll call him “Surf!”  We’ll be right with him.

But first I want to tell you a little bit about the website, http://www.BIMwebTV.com is the new BodyBoarder International Magazine. For example, we came out with the paper magazine in 1991 and moved on to publishing it worldwide; and today it is now online with this podcast and a videocast of interviews.  And Lisa Smith is the new Managing Editor / Publisher.  So let’s bring her in!  How’re you doing Lisa?

LISA – Oh I’m doing great!  I just love… I love having more than one podcast in a week – it’s so great!

PATTI – Well great!  Well, as you know, our numbers are chunking their way up there on iTunes, and I’m so excited because, you know, in those early days Lisa it was just two or three listeners; then it went to twenty-seven, and then like a hundred – and so today, making it into the Top 200 on this podcast is always something that I’m really proud of because I know we’ve done a lot of work in promoting the sport.  And for me it’s very exciting to be able to turn the baton/the gavel, whatever it is – the surfboard, the Boogie Board, the bodyboard…

LISA – That’s right!

PATTI – The piece of wax… whatever I’m turning over to you – it is really exciting!  So thank you!  Any other announcements before we get to Aaron?

LISA – Well, let’s see.  I think I might have a bit on the website, because I know the big thing I did this week was add the “Translate” button onto the website.  I have been getting so much news from Spanish, French, Portuguese sources – and I just wanted to have everybody have the opportunity to be able to read what’s going on in the bodyboarding world in their own language.  And so I added a little “Translate” button right up at the top of each little article, each little blog.  So you can just click on that and it can translate; and you can choose which language to translate it in.

PATTI – That is so cool!

LISA – And of course it is going to be translated by Google so it is not going to be a perfect translation…

PATTI – Yeah!  “Surf” might come out as “Olas altas” or something!

LISA – Exactly!

PATTI – What languages did you put up there?

LISA – Well it has… I have a whole… oh my goodness, there are about twenty or thirty up there!  I can’t…

PATTI – Is that all the bodyboarding countries?

LISA – Yes, I believe that they are all represented.

PATTI – It’s not like “Ukethuania” or something like that – they’re all like Portugal and…

LISA – Yeah; Portuguese, Brazil… let’s see, what else is there – Spanish, a couple of different versions of Spanish represented…

PATTI – Japanese?

LISA – Japanese is there…

PATTI – Oh cool!  Well that’s good – I mean, the main ones. That’s cool!  Alright, well great!

LISA – So that’s my big thing.  And I’m really proud about that this week, and I’ve already gotten some feedback, people like, “Oh this is great!” you know.  So it’s…

PATTI – Well I should mention, for those who are listening to this for the first time, because a lot of people are discovering that BIM is back!  I mean, it hasn’t really left – but it is now back on the Internet; that the Fan Page is REALLY… I mean, you are doing SUCH a good job on that Fan Page, I mean, it’s just amazing!

LISA – Yeah!  I’m just under three thousand!

PATTI – How many!

LISA – I’m just under three thousand…

PATTI - Oh you’re kidding!

LISA – I think I can take a break from promoting it… Before I was like promoting, promoting, promoting – and now I like take chunks; I’ll spend one week where I’m all about the Fan Page – posting, posting, posting; and this week I’ve been all about posting stuff on the website and getting it Tweeted and all of that.

So I’m laying low and seeing if it’ll build up on its own.  I’m going to keep pushing and… I mean, send it out to your friends; lets them know, “Hey, check this out!”  We’re still here, you know?  Even the Old School stuff – we’ve got it!

PATTI – Yeah!  That’s awesome!  Well one of the things I know that you were really into, and it is kind of segue into Aaron too, is the fact that BIM, my first vision was to have it as the whole sport of bodyboarding because a lot of sports just, you know, everybody opened up the mag and it’s all the Pros…

LISA – That’s right.

PATTI – We went so far as having a Postcard Section where people could send in their photos.  And I know on the website you’ve asked people to send in photos and videos.  So it’s always really a treat for me anyway – and I know you’re going to interview him – but it’s always a treat for me to meet new bodyboarders, you know, all over the world. Because you’ve got to remember, I can remember the days when there was only five or six bodyboards…

LISA – Oh wow!

PATTI - So to know that people’s lives have been changed, their pocketbooks have been changed; their meeting people on the beach and getting married has changed.  I mean, look at Vicki Reale… Vicki Gleeson and Jay Reale – two Pro bodyboarders who have met and created a life with each other.

LISA – Yeah! I mean, they are living the dream in my opinion, as far as I’m concerned; you know, two Pros, and they’ve got their E-Bodyboarding business.  That is really how to take your passion and make it into your… if you just saw me log out of the chat, I just shut my computer off!  Sorry about that!

PATTI – That’s fine, that’s okay!  Okay, well, super duper!

LISA – Alright then!  So, Aaron, I just had up the stuff we were talking about yesterday – how’re you doing?

AARON - I’m doing great!  I guess I’m still stoked on the interview!

LISA – Oh yeah!  I was real excited to hear from you.  I wanted… maybe really quickly – and again I apologize; I was going to have this information right in front of me so I could say, “Oh, Aaron, da, da, da…” but tell us a little bit about yourself.

AARON – Well I was born and raised in a small Eastside town in Oahu.  More Eastside but it is close to the North Shore. But I guess I really didn’t get started until I moved to California, and going to College and then I started more and more picking up bodyboarding.

I always went bodyboarding with my cousins and my friends – but it didn’t really like hit me too hard until I got away and I came up to college for some reason, then I just started getting into it.

LISA – That’s awesome!  I was looking at your Facebook profile which is out there; I just saw that you’re a fan of the BIM Fan Page.  But I saw a bunch of the fan photos and stuff; you’ve got a whole bunch of… there’s some really cool pics that you’ve got with the bodyboard wrapped around you and I thought, “This is really cool!”  So what kind of boards do you ride?

AARON – Actually I have a few boards, as you have seen in the pic.  I have a DDK board, and Roach LTD – just because, you know, Roach is one of the best to do it, I had to try out his work.  And then I have the Matt Lackey.  Those are my three main boards that I have.

LISA – Oh, awesome, awesome.  That’s right – and you do drop knee, right?  I think I remember seeing that.

AARON – Pretty much a hundred percent drop knee, yeah!

LISA – That’s awesome!  That’s awesome, yeah!  We’ve got some hardcore drop-knee-ers down here too, and I just really am so amazed by – I can’t even begin… I am trying to think what else to ask.  I know our pro at interviewing here is Patti – Patti, help me out!

PATTI – First of all, I’m always impressed by anyone that was born in Hawaii because, you know, I LOVE Hawaii, Aaron.  You know, as a girl I used to put on Muumuus and I used to do the hula – and my whole rooms were decorated in Polynesian look, you know, palm trees… and still today!  I mean, my logo is a palm tree!  I mean, I LOVE anything Polynesian.

So when you said that, I went, “Oh!” you know, that is so cool!  So did you grow up in Hawaii?  Or you were born there and then moved on?

AARON – Actually a little bit of both.  Yeah, I was born there.  And then my dad lived in Texas and so I’d go back and forth between Texas and Hawaii.  So that’s really the only reason that I didn’t get into it – because as soon as I’d live there for maybe a year, then I’d have to go back to live with my dad for a year and I’d just go back and forth.  So every time I’d have to re-start over, learning how to bodyboard.

PATTI – It must have been hard!  I mean, landlocked in Texas, did you ever go down to like the Gulf; did you ever go down to like San Padre or…?

AARON - Actually I went down to San Padre’s once but it was for a Boy Scouting trip!

PATTI – Ah, okay!  Well that’s interesting.  So you live in California today – is that what Lisa said, or you said?

AARON – I live in California today.

PATTI – What part of California?

AARON – Nor Cal; I live in San Jose but I pretty much live in Santa Cruz because I’m there with the surfing.

PATTI – What’s your favorite Break down there?

AARON – Right now I’m really loving the Lane.

PATTI – Who wouldn’t?

AARON – It gives me lots; you know…

PATTI – Yeah.  What’s the vibe down at the Lane these days?  I’ll give you a little bit of history on that if I can – but is it still like surfers actually out with bodyboarders?  Or do they have a special bodyboarding time?

AARON – I know the Lane in Santa Cruz was one of the first places for surfing to come into the Mainland USA – if it is not the first.  But yes, the Lane is still very… it might as well be in Hawaii.  Every time I think about it, they’re really localized there; if you don’t wait your turn and do what you’re supposed to, they will kick you out.  And after you have talked to a few people, like I have, I mean, it took me a pretty good year now to know enough people there… like I’m the only bodyboarder out there – I see maybe one or two bodyboarders ever come out, and I’m the only consistent one.

PATTI – Well that’s awesome. That’s really…because, you know, a lot of the people that listen to this are new, young bodyboarders, you know, they’re getting started.  And just the sound of what you said, you know, tells me that those surfers out there respect you.

AARON – Yeah!

PATTI – You know, they flat-out would not even… they would bide you out, you know.

AARON – Yeah, for any new bodyboarders that are listening; surfers really respect what you do if you do it well – and especially drop knee.  I think they realize how difficult it is to go down, you know, a five-foot face without a skeg and still be under control and then throw a big… It’s like, “Oh my gosh!”  And you throw a 360 in it, and they talk to you after that, and they wonder like, “Man…” they ask you, “Why don’t you surf?” and then you always just say, “Because of the drop knee.”…

PATTI – Ha ha!  That’s a classic question isn’t it?

AARON - Yeah!

PATTI – “Oh, well… because I don’t want to!”

LISA – Right, yeah!

PATTI – Well you know, I had the… I guess… I don’t know whether it’s the privilege – but the good fortune of putting on one of the first events at Steamers (Steamers Lane is Aaron’s “Lane” as he’s saying there) and – now visualize this if you can:  It’s a quiet, serene town; it’s got beautiful surf coming it.  It’s a hardcore town; I mean, Santa Cruz is kind of hardcore, it’s been known for being hardcore.

And here comes Patti, blond-haired Patti, with her entourage – and she sets up the big PA system up on the cliff at the Lane.  And we’re making lots of noise throughout the city… I look back on this and I go, “Oh!” I can’t believe I didn’t this!

LISA – Oh my God!

PATTI – And these surfers out in the water were flipping us off; yelling at us up on the cliff.  And I’m yelling back, “It’s not your ocean!  It’s like anybody’s ocean!  We’re entitled to be here,” you know?  And I’m just like, “Oh…”

And so one guy gets so mad, Aaron, he goes out and he takes a bodyboarder, one of the top bodyboarders – we had just gone Pro; you know, Pro wasn’t around in the early days when I was out there – we had just gone Pro and we’re in a Pro Heat.  The surfer paddles into the Heat, takes this one guy, Kevin Kline – I will never forget this as long as I live – and starts choking him and drowning him!

LISA – Oh my God!

PATTI - And everyone on the beach is going, “STOP!”  I mean, we had people running down the cliff trying to get this guy off of Kevin!

AARON - That is sick!

PATTI – It was gnarly.  I mean, it was really gnarly.  So, anyway, that is my classic remembrance of Steamers Lane in the early, early, early… this is late Seventies.  So you weren’t even born yet – but anyway…

LISA - Ha ha!

PATTI - So I know bodyboarding has come around in some areas a bit.  But on the other hand there’s so many bodyboarders now, it is not as good too – because remember, those were the early days when there weren’t that many bodyboards out there.

So are you married?  Have kids? Anything going on in that area?

AARON – No, I’m definitely single.  Actually I’m just living the college life; don’t have any kids – just get to do what I like when I want to.  I just go to school and… I was going to a junior college in San Jose, called San Jose City; and now I’m hoping to move on …

LISA – Very cool.  Very cool.  What are you studying?

AARON - I’m a History Major.  Hoping to become a…

LISA – Oh, History!  That’s cool!  Hoping to become what? I’m sorry…

AARON – A history teacher.

PATTI – Oh how cool!

LISA – That is so awesome!  Well yeah, because I know Aaron and I got into a little conversation in email; we were talking about some of the history of wave riding and stuff.  And he was like just getting right into it, you know; “We’re going to… it was really big in Hawaii, and the United States kind of owned it for a while… the world has kind of taken it over – but you know what?  We’re going to own it again!” Right?

AARON – That kind of got to me.  I was like, man, I always look back at videos like where bodyboarding was started to go; and now it seems like the Australians and the Canary Islands are all like coming in and taking it away from us and we don’t have anything to do with it – I mean, as Mainland United States.  And it’s just like, “Man, I want to watch people from we’re from do something instead of always watching like the Ben Players and so on.”

PATTI – Yeah!

AARON – I mean, I always watch Jeff Hubbard and stuff because they’re where I’m from – but I don’t ever see Mainland USA people.

PATTI – Yeah.  well it did lose it… you know, it was started in my area of North County of San Diego, and then we just kind of – I told Lisa, I was out in her area many times on the East Coast and Hawaii, putting on events and promoting the sport and everything – but it only made sense.  And we talked about this in the early days, how wherever there’s an ocean there’s going to be bodyboarding, you know…

LISA – That’s right.

PATTI – What went wrong for us Americans – and I know there’s a lot of Australians that listen to this, and Hallelujah to them because they have done SUCH a great job of promoting the sport – but their whole country is surrounded by water so it make sense, you know?

LISA – Ha ha! Yeah, true!  That’s true.

PATTI - And Brazil, Brazil; you know, when I talk to Guilherme in Brazil, it is HUGE, I mean, it is as big as soccer in Brazil!

LISA – That’s awesome!

PATTI – See in America, we don’t hear about all this.  When Guilherme lands in Brazil, he’s like a rock star coming home, you know?  And told me the women – the women in bodyboarding are actually bigger in Brazil than the men!

LISA – Oh really?  I didn’t know that.

PATTI – Yeah.  If he’s travelling with the women, or if there’s any… the women are just a big sport there.    So we had something going here in America; it kind of fizzled off.  I don’t know if Lisa told you, I used to do the BIA; I started the BIA…

AARON – Oh you did?  Because I actually surf in the BIA.

LISA – Oh, yeah!

PATTI – Oh, you surfed or bodyboarded in the BIA?

AARON - I mean I bodyboard; I compete in the BIA.  I go all the way down to…

PATTI – Oh, yeah.  I got to apologize because whenever anybody says “surf” in the sport of bodyboarding, it’s like going skiing and you go snowboarding; it’s like, “Oh, you ski?”  “No, I snowboarded.”  “Oh, you just said you went down the mountain…”  I always correct people – I’m sorry!

LISA – Ha ha! That’s true!

PATTI – I’ve been laughed about on that for years.  I’ve always corrected people and said, “No, it’s bodyboarding!”  But anyway, yeah, so the BIA was real big with women at the time because of course it was promoted by me, you know, so we had women’s heats and…

It is just, it is really… it is the direction of the leaders; really, to be honest with you, it is the leadership.  Where is it going?  You know, who’s leading it?  So like with Lisa leading BIM now you’re going to see more women of course in the sport; you’re going to see more coverage of women.  And it’s just that simple.  And I think you’ll see a resurgence of women bodyboarding, you know?  And in Brazil it has certainly got big.

LISA - Well I was going to say, head to Brazil, you know?  You might have some competition there, right?

AARON – You know, as long as a girl doesn’t do a huge spray and make me look bad, I mean, I’m alright…

PATTI – Well that was the problem!  The Brazilian girls were RIPPING, you know?

LISA – Ha ha!

PATTI - They’re slim, they’re shaped, their all fine-tuned – they’re machines!

AARON - Yeah.

PATTI – And they would go over to the North Shore and they would just rip the North Shore.  They would win every contest.  So you know, what was really neat about the Brazilian women coming, they could have had attitudes – and I’m sure some of them did – but they were really ambassadors.  And so some of the lovely people that I’ve met over the years from Brazil like Daniela and Neymara and all these women from Brazil were really ambassadors for the country.

And Guilherme is a good ambassador for the country, too.  Because when they landed they weren’t that popular, you know; they had to really build their own presence.

And I think like worldwide now, when I look at the sport worldwide – and I think Lisa when she interviewed me a couple of weeks ago I was telling her the same thing – it’s just exciting!  You know, it’s really exciting to see the sport go so big with the IBA and everything.

But it’s people like you, Aaron, and Lisa that really can do a LOT for this country, you know, for America in the sport; as being like a… it sounds like the way Lisa described you is you’re a really great ambassador, you know, you’re really living the life.  And people are attracted to that and they’ll want to be a part of it too.

LISA - Yeah!

AARON - Well I just love how in Australia (I don’t know about in any of the other countries) but Australia they have like clubs, you know, bodyboarding…

LISA – Yeah!

AARON – And that’s… I was just like, “Man, I wish I would have grown up in Australia!” where you could be at a club and compete; like at your school, you can compete in the club.  And you can actually GO somewhere with bodyboarding – it’s an actual real professional sport.

LISA – Yeah.

PATTI - Well believe it or not, it used to be like that here. And here’s where it went wrong – I mean, for me, because I’ve seen the whole history.  This is my opinion now; that when we’ve been in rooms of people that have wanted to push the sport forward, you’ve got to remember, we started out as a little club.  It was the Western Boogie Association – that’s what it was called!  It wasn’t… the name “Bodyboard” hadn’t come around yet.  So we had this little club; and it was Tony Prince and Roger Waller and Scott Evans.  And we would do these little events… it was like this little club.

And you know, that’s where the spirit is, in the younger people, you know?  And then we would go out to the Junior Lifeguards and we’d do these little events with the Junior Lifeguards.

But what happened, Aaron and Lisa, along the way, was it got hardcore.  And hardcore took over the recreational; you know, the recreational riders – really where the numbers are.

LISA – Right.

PATTI – You know, the recreational skier; when you go up to the slopes you see all these recreational skiers – that’s where the numbers are.  And then you’ve got the Pros and you’ve got the Mogul and the Freestyle people – there’s very limited numbers there.  But that took over in America.  And so it wasn’t cool any more to be a recreational rider.

And that’s why, when I had the BIA, there was an actual division called “The Recreational Division.”  So the little Joe or little Mary that wanted to enter a contest just to see what it was like didn’t have to go up against, you know, the A, or Triple A, or Double A or anything – they could just come in on the Recreational Division and see whether they liked it or not!

If they won the Recreational they had to move on to the next Division, which was like the A Division or whatever.

LISA - They worked their way up through the chain, right!

PATTI - Yeah!  If they like it.  But they could only enter the Recreational a couple of times, and if they won it they had to automatically move on.  Because a lot of people were trying to, you know, get in there.  But see that’s what… it’s all about spirit.  The spirit was so much different then. And the spirit is in Australia!  I know because I see… Lisa and I see this lady that has the Port Macquarie Bodyboarding Association for twenty-three years – they just celebrated their anniversary…

LISA - Oh, that’s right!

PATTI - You can tell just be reading it on Facebook how much spirit those people have!  Well we need that back! We need that back!

LISA – Well we will!  With people like Aaron I think, you know, we can get that energy.  Absolutely!

PATTI - Yeah!  You need that spirit of fun, and just have fun events… We used to go away on camping trips; you know where Halama is up there, by Santa Cruz, way up in the North there? Have you ever been to Halama?

AARON – No I haven’t.

PATTI – Have you heard about it?

AARON - I believe I’ve heard it once or twice.  It sounds familiar.

PATTI – You drive into Halama; it’s a couple-hour drive into the Coast.  And it’s kind of a remote beach, and the waves get big but it’s very windy – a lot of windsurfers are out there.  But we would go in for the weekend; drive up for the weekend and have these like camps, bodyboarding camps.

LISA – That’s cool!

PATTI – And we’d have surf stories around the bonfire at night; we’d have watermelon… I don’t know if you’ve ever had a watermelon passing contest in the ocean when you put lard on it and you can’t even hold onto the watermelon?  We’d have tug-o-wars… you know – does that sound cool? No!  It doesn’t sound that cool!

LISA – No!

PATTI – But I’ll tell you one thing: you call up Pat Caldwell or any of these Pros that were there judging it and stuff like that, and they’ll say that was some of the funnest bodyboarding times of their lives.  And I see… I think a lot of that is missing today – the fun of bringing these junior kids up into the sport.

And then when people say, “Well why is it like not growing?” well, because Tom built… I feel like I’m on a rant right now!

LISA – Oh yeah!

PATTI - Tom built a board that was fun!  Come one!  Let’s have some fun!  It’s not just for the Pros – and it’s not just for the Amateurs that want to go Pro either!

LISA – That’s right.

PATTI - So anyway, if you wanted to know what happened Aaron, that’s my opinion, what happened.

AARON – Well that’s a lot better than I thought… I always wondered like, it seemed like it was so, so big and like everybody wanted to do it.  And then it seemed like at one point it just died and surfing and stand-up became just like the thing.

And it’s the same I guess, if you’re ever in Santa Cruz, and you see it in Santa Cruz, that’s the vibe that they give; it’s like these kids only grow up knowing that all you can be is a standup surfer, and once like the kids that are at the Lane, they always ask like, “Man, if I’d known I could have done this, I would have done this – it seems more fun, more practical; I don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a surfboard!”  And I was like, “It IS!”

PATTI – Yeah.  Well that’s all in the promotion, you know, because again, like I said, we would go in and get them early; in fact the Junior Lifeguards and the camps that we did on the beaches – the parents loved the idea that if they wanted to go into surfing after they’d been through this indoctrination to the ocean on a bodyboard they could, but like you said, a lot of people will say, “Oh this is so much more fun,” you know; and so much less cumbersome and everything.

And so a lot of people stayed with the sport.  But there is nothing like that going on.  Nothing.  It’s all competition.  There is no… just promotion.  And me being “Patti Promoter,” you know…

LISA - Ha ha!  That’s right!

PATTI - That’s where I’ve been all my life, in promotion, so I can SEE it!  Well where’s the promotion?  No wonder you don’t have any kids!  No wonder they go straight to surfing – there’s nobody up there promoting it!  You know?

LISA – That’s right.  And there needs to be a good transition between… because I mean, down here in Florida we definitely see tons of little kids with the little cheap, you know, foamies that don’t last more than one or two sessions on the beach, you know what I mean?  So we’ve got these kids we’ve been meeting up with and showing them – and they came with all their little foamies and stuff, and you know, by next week they’re going to have their own boards – like real, you know!

PATTI – Oh yeah! Oh yeah!

LISA – So there’s just got to be that transition, you know, getting these kids enthusiastic about it.

PATTI – Well Aaron, how would you like to be kind of like a contributing Editor or something – like the Nor Cal contributing Editor?

LISA - Oh yeah!

AARON - That would sound awesome!

PATTI – I mean, if you could just send us some – or Lisa – I know we’ve been talking about having… this was how the old BIM was; we’d have correspondence from different parts of the world and then they would just submit news and stuff like that.  You know, Nor Cal is so… people don’t… when they think of California, they think of Southern California…

AARON – Yeah, that’s true.

PATTI – And it really does need some not only exposure but just some news!  I mean, maybe you guys could just stay in touch and pass some news back and forth to each other.   I think that’d be awesome – don’t you Lisa?

LISA - Oh yeah, oh absolutely!  Aaron, was there anything in particular that you wanted to like really, in terms of what you’re doing and your passion for the sport, anything that you wanted to kind of put out there?

AARON – Well for me, I just have this great passion for the sport and I mean, I hope I can take it further.  I mean, I can always be a teacher later!

LISA – Oh sure!  Absolutely!

AARON - I always just want to thank… I make these little videos; I love editing and making videos – but I couldn’t do it without my best friend Anna.  She always is there filming me.  And I have videos on my Facebook…

LISA - That’s right!

AARON – And if anyone ever wanted to add me it’s just Surf Victorian.

PATTI – Oh is that what it is?  Okay – I’ll go add you right now.  So just “Surf Victorian” is the name of it? Is that a Fan Page or just your personal Page?

AARON – My personal page.

PATTI – Oh cool.

AARON - But the videos are right there.  I make about a video most every other month or every month – it is just depending how good the swell is.  I mean, it is just me and my progression on drop knee.  I don’t think there are many videos on drop knee.  I always look on YouTube – it’s the same videos of Mason Rose and Matt Lackey. And I just kind of got tired of it and I was like, “Man, I know there’s kids out there watching and they’re like, ‘I can’t do that yet!’”  And when you watch me you’ll see my falls; you’ll see me like trying and getting better.  But the point is that I thought if people would see me and drop that, you know, there is a point that you start from and you gradually get better.  Drop knee is, to me, besides standup bodyboarding, the hardest thing to do in surfing.  I mean, it takes a lot of effort and a lot of time of just progressing and getting better.  But once you pull that one move, you’re just like, “Oh my gosh!”  You’re just amped on it and you just keep on going at it.

PATTI – Well that’s awesome.  And you know, there’s probably a great segue just to say, you know, Sayonara, Aloha and Bon Voyage to everybody now!  We’ve gone WAY, way over on our normal podcast – but you know, as you can see, it has been a really interesting conversation with Aaron.

And we want to thank you so much.  I hope you and Lisa stay in touch with each other.  And keep supporting http://www.BIMwebTV.com – and we’ll go over and follow you on… it just came up I-DK Surf Victorian on Facebook – follow Aaron, follow us on BIM Web TV.

I’m Patti Serrano – Lisa Smith out there is our Managing Editor – Lisa, you want to say goodbye to everybody?

LISA – Oh yeah!  everybody – and be on the watch; I will be posting some of Aaron’s vids out here on the Fan Page so you guys can see what he’s talking about! So thank you so much!

PATTI – Well thank you Aaron so much for joining us.

AARON – Oh, thank YOU guys!

PATTI – Okay, and this has all been brought to you by www.BIMwebTV.com.    I’m Patti Serrano – and we’ll see you and talk to you on the next Episode.

Source: BODYBOARDER INT’L MAGAZINE – LIVE – Interview with Aaron “Surf” Victorian