See the original article here: NASA

“I just wanted to reach out to you and find out the best way i can help promote or rave about your company. i left a dope review on amazon but if theres a more beneficial means i would gladly spend the time. I ordered the travel bag blindly because it looked like a legit product for an approaching trip and the price was by far the nicest. seamed win/win.

The service was amazing with a conformation email and an email with tracking info, AMAZING.

Even so far as to send me an email letting me know it was delivered!!!!! unreal this day in age.

Then i open the package to find the SICKEST travel bag ever with exrta goodies and stickers.

i am absolutely blown away with your company. Amazing product and pleasant service.

JKeep it up!!!!

I look forward for the arrival of the rack that is on the way and to the many future prchases i plan to make (i literally want almost everything u guys make, haha).

Anyway, i’ve showed and bragged about the bag and your company to evryone i ride with, and wish you the very best. thanks again.”

Big thanks to Rodney Westerlaken for opening the new eco inspired surf shop in Bali and for including Wave Tribe gear. However, the eco surf shop is just a small part of a much bigger vision that Rodney has for for Soul Surf Project Bali, a program that gives kids living in Balinese orphanages environmental lessons and surf lessons—dude, what a gift that is for any kid.

Wave Tribe Gear Displayed At Soul Surf Project Bali

Soul Surf Project Bali goes one step beyond just teaching the kids how to surf, where they can they also provide a personal development program for children, which can result in a job at one of their surf schools or at a company within their network.

SSPB is having an event on January 2012, so if you are in the Bali hood please take the time to check them out and support this awesome program and be part of the celebration—trust me, there is nothing like a Balinese celebration.

For more information on this wonderful project, check out www.soulsurfprojectbali.com.

Two things will change your life, the books you read and the people you meet. 

This email tells you about one friend (and surfboard) that changed my life, and also suggests one book that may impact your life positively. 

I wanted to let you know a little more about my journey and how you fit into it, give you something to think about, maybe even something to ‘feel’ about.

That’s what friends are for, right?

Friends share stuff with each other . . . dreams, sacrifices, challenges.

I also wanted to thank you for being part of Wave Tribe’s journey.

It’s my little present to you for hanging with Wave Tribe.

So here it is . . .

I have been traveling to Baja, Mexico, since I was five years old.

My family used to have this ranch high in the mountains of the Sierra San Pedro, about eight hours from the US border.

My great grandmother came over from Norway with her sister Bernie Johnson, one sister went to Long Beach (where I grew up) and Bernie landed in the mountains of Baja, Mexico.

I am not sure about the details of her story but she must have been one wild woman to make a go of it in those rugged Mexican mountains. I do know that she originally went to Mexico looking for gold in the late 1800′s.

Ironically, generations later I would travel to Mexico looking for a different kind of gold, liquid gold.

But before my own internal gold rush, I’d spend my summers riding horses and shooting stuff on the Meling ranch in Baja and getting into trouble as young boys do. One summer, while hiking with two of my cousins, one of them said something that pissed me off. So I shot him in the leg with my pellet gun.

I think he still has that pellet in his leg to this day, sorry bro.

I spent many years in those mountains, but something would soon take place that would change the course of my life.

Back in Long Beach I was just a punk kid growing up playing football and baseball. One afternoon while chilling at the casa I got this call from my friend Dave and he said come over right now, you got to see this. He was super excited and stoked.

We used to call Dave Captain America because he wore this red, white, and blue wetsuit. Remember those in the 80s?

Anyway, I rode my bike over to Captain America’s house and there, perched up against the wall, was this 7’10″ single fin surfboard called Crazy Horse.

People talk about love at first sight, dude, I experienced it right then and there.

It had this big-ass wild looking horse logo and I wanted it like nothing else.

Some how I got the money to pay for that board and it became my first.

I googled Crazy Horse while writing this and couldn’t find any trace of the shaper, if anybody has any information please email me.

I was still too young to drive, so on those summer trips to Baja my dad would drop me off at the beach, usually at San Miguel just north of Ensenada. Sometimes he stayed with me and other times he would leave me a tent and food while he went on to the ranch in the mountains.

I’d surf morning to night.

Nothing else mattered.

After I discovered the sea, those mountains where a forgotten memory—I traded a saddle for a surfboard.

First Baja Trip

Years later I turned 16, I got my driving license on a Thursday and that Friday we packed the VW van, my first car, and drove to San Miguel in Baja—the inaugural surf trip was born on that weekend and it would become a focal point in my life—Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America, Central America and Europe—I have surfed them all.

I have even surfed Cuba, Jamaica, the Galapagos and Azores Islands. Yea, places the tour does not go. Hit me up if you ever need advice.

What did I learn from all that travel?

Well, traveling takes you out of your comfort zone, it teaches you about yourself in ways that staying at home cannot—-surfing does that too.

What I love most about surfing (and traveling) is that it exposes your fears, it brings your character to the surface and, if you pay attention, it will help you understand yourself and others and you’ll gain a clearer perspective on life.

Yea this sounds esoteric but it’s a fact, and heck, I am allowed to be a little esoteric at Christmas, no?

I guess what I wanted to say is that you should get out there and travel, experiment with life. But don’t just do it haphazardly, be aware of what you are feeling and seeing and take note of how you move through life. In Zen and other Eastern teachings they call it awareness or one-mindedness. Check out Zen Mind, The Beginner’s Mind for a great read on this.

Surfing is a great time to practice awareness. When you are surfing, on that wave, driving down the line, in a way you disappear into yourself. Dancing with the ocean while riding the Earth’s energy is sublime and it’s that connection to something greater than us that makes us feel so alive.

Now that this year is coming to an end, you might be thinking about 2012, and I encourage you is to make plans to travel this coming year, you’ll be stoked you did. Also take some time to learn something new about yourself, become aware of that rogue set on the horizon of your life.

Thanks for listening, thanks for sharing the love for waves, and thanks for being part of Wave Tribe.

Oh, and Dave thanks for helping me get that first board, bro. Your friendship and that board changed my life.

Happy holidays.

Derek and Wave Tribe Crew

PS. If you do travel next year we’d be stoked if you took some of our eco surf gear along. (Now available in Europe & Australia direct.)

Cork Board with Tribal Design

Cork Surfboards contacted us a few weeks back and I was blown away at what the have been able to achieve with cork. The boards aren’t all cork, they are a composite of materials allowing for sustainability, functionality, and beauty—all the right elements for surfboard design and riding (which is what matters most).

We like cork, as you know we created the world’s first cork deckpad a few years back and we think it’s a fine material to incorporate in sustainable design and surf technology.

In 2010 we assisted Sector 9 and Arbor with their development of cork traction technology for skateboards. Arbor released their cork traction board in 2011 and it has been a great success and Wave Tribe was proud to help push yet another industry towards cork.

In Spring 2011 we visited the cork forests of Portugal to deepen our understanding of the virgin materials and to learn more about cork cultivation—we even got to see some cork trees up close (see the video here).

So yea, we know a think or two about cork.

Cork Surfboards is using compressed mold technology, slamming two fiberglass molds together wrapped in layers of Kevlar, diolen, and cork and then stuffing those arranged elements into a vacuum bag creating a tight seal (melding the layers together). The two halfs are then glued, stinger and fin box installed, and then the whole cork sandwich is laminated and polished. (see image below for more info).

We like what these South Africans are doing and we hope to help them bring their technology into the market.

Check them out at Surf Cork for more info.

The Method

Tiger Glass is putting together some of the most EPIC eco wood surfboards in the industry.

Here is Mark in action, a pure artform (Dude, put your shirt back on!).

Glass Tiger boards are designed to lasts 2 or 3 times as long as a ‘regular’ surfboard, which in itself is cost effective and an environmental saving. Because the board doesn’t need to be glassed, this significantly reduces the amount of chemicals and man-made products involved in the process of making each board. Mark constantly reviews the materials he uses, so that they are of the highest quality and have the least amount of environmental impact

You can order a board through our website, do it today!

Wow.

Super nice work from Noah at the Progress Project.

Custom fish bags for Wave Tribe customer.

For more info click here!

We searched far and wide for the right organic wax, when we found this one made in the U.S.A. on wood stoves we were super excited to test it out. Unlike most eco waxes, when we tested this one we discovered that it really worked fantastically. Wave Tribe Eco Wax goes on the surfboard easily and does its job, it keeps your feet where they are supposed to be eco style—a great eco wax made in the USA.

We partnered with an American company that spent 5 years perfecting the formula, and one thing you will find is that wax companies aren’t giving up any secrets. The Wave Tribe Eco Wax is 100% organic. We use beeswax as the primary ingredient. Coconut oil is used to soften the beeswax, the more coconut oil used, the softer the wax, the softer the wax, the colder the water temperature. We use other natural ingredients to add “tac” to the wax and we believe this is what sets our wax apart from the other less functional organic waxes on the market. The thing about using natural ingredients like beeswax is that the materials costs are usually 2-3 times more expensive than petroleum based wax. Hence the price difference.

While exploring design ideas for the wax packaging we came across a surf artist and we asked him if we could use a few of his paintings on the wax covers. We wanted surfers to feel that a lot of care went into the whole concept of our wax, from the ingredients to the packaging. Each time someone purchases a bar of Wave Tribe Eco Wax a portion of the sale goes to the surf artist Olivier Longuest—supporting creativity and ecology is at the core of Wave Tribe’s values and we thank you for joining us in this wonderful eco journey and great product.

We offer delicious flavors in basecoat, cool, cold, and warm wax.

HE travels the world living simply, immersing himself in the culture, language, and life of each sacred place.

He is the leader of Black Feet Music and creates much of the music while abroad with the inspiration and spirit of the people, animals, plants, and Ocean Swells.