Making Friends With The Neighbours

My clever friend, Holly , showed me this short film yesterday. From the Youtube post: Oumaima Erhali is a 17-year-old Moroccan woman determined to surf. She’s part of a generation pushing boundaries in a country where many believe a surfboard is no place for a young Muslim woman. But Oumaima won’t let stereotypes hold her back from the sport she loves or the life she wants to lead.

If you know anything about surf blogs, then you know that the best of all of them is The Endless Bummer NY . Toddy (and co.'s) view of surfing has taught me a lot about what surfing is, how it fits into our sense of self , and where it can be found in our everyday lives. While he always seems to have some awesome surf project or other on the go, Toddy's latest film is something quite close to home - teaching his son about surfing. This isn't just a 'how to surf' education, but is about the ways of seeing the world that come with a relationship to surfing culture, experiences, history, technology, places and people. As I watch my niece grow into surfing through her own love of the beach and waves as well as watching and copying me , I've been intrigued to see what she adopts and how my own approaches to surfing are absorbed into shaping her own. It's a pretty awesome thing to weave into your relationship with the kids in your life, that's for sure. ...

If you live in Sydney are have no plans over the next couple of days, you might like to check out the Duke's Day centenary celebrations of Duke Kahanamoku's surfing demonstration at Freshwater. There are a bunch of events and talks on , and I'm pretty stoked to be part of it too. As per usual, I'm on a panel that is called The Women of Surfing and Swimming (as though every other panel is about men!), but there are some cool women participating, so I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say. I also get to talk with Jemma Piggott, Nick Carroll and Phil Jarratt about surfer and water woman, Isabel Letham, which is pretty exciting. I've talked about how awesome Isabel is on this blog before , but I'm looking forward to learning loads more about her from Jemma, whose passion for Isabel's legacy is unparalleled. Anyway, if you're there and you see me, please come and say hello!