Swell Events

I enjoy letting people know about all the fun things that occur on our beautiful paradise island of Maui. It’s not just surfing, surfing, surfing although that’s extremely blissful too! This past weekend was the annual Haiku Ho’olaulea Flower Festival, a benefit for the Haiku Elementary School, that’s also some good local fun. It’s a big community-building event. Its goals are twofold: to raise money, and to celebrate each other and the community.

Here are some of my favorite pictures:

Can you guess what these are?

Marty Dread a Favorite Reggae Band

Children Dancing...can anything get better than this?

Brown Chicken, Brown Cow and yes, that is their name. They rock.

It's whale season on Maui!

If you are going to be on Maui this Saturday, you should definitely check out the Maui Whale Festival. A big deal for Maui! Here’s some information. 

Saturday, February 21, 2009
Maui’s biggest and longest running celebration of its famous wintertime residents, the humpback whales — now in its 29th year! This free, all-day festival-in-the-park is hosted by the non-profit Pacific Whale Foundation and includes live music by some of Hawaii’s top recording stars, great food by popular Maui restaurants, a gigantic craft fair featuring more than 100 local artists, environmental displays, activities for children, a parade (at 9 a.m.) and lots of information about whales! Whale Day is free and open to all. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Kalama Park in Kihei.

ATTN: All east coasters! 

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 12 June, 2008 : – - New York, NY ? The inaugural year of the New York Surf Film Festival will be held at Tribeca Cinemas on September 26th-28th, 2008.  Located in lower Manhattan, Tribeca Cinemas is an arthouse rental theater in operation since 2004. 

The theater hosts between 12-15 film festivals annually including Tribeca Film Festival, Brazilian Film Festival and the NYC Horror Film Festival. In addition, Tribeca Cinemas hosts a variety of private tastemaker screenings and events throughout the year. 

Ayler Young, Manager of Tribeca Cinemas says, "We are excited for the opportunity to host the 1st Annual New York Surf Film Festival. Over the last few years, surfing in New York has exploded and it is exciting to see the east coast surfing community come together to support this event."

The submissions deadline is less than one month away, closing June 25th, 2008.  The New York Surf Film Competition is open to independently produced feature-length and short films in the surf genre.  In order to be considered for the Festival's Film Competition for U.S and International films, submitted films must have been completed after January 1, 2003.

The running time for features must be greater than 30 minutes. Short films under 30 minutes in length are eligible for participation in the Shorts Program. The submission form and complete information regarding eligibility and entry rules for the 2008 New York Surf Film Festival are available on the New York Surf Film Festival website at NYSurfFilm.com

New York Surf Film Festival
The New York Surf Film Festival is the premier showcase for international independent surf film. The mission of the New York Surf Film Festival is to provide filmmakers who are exploring the diversity of surfing an opportunity to present their work to a larger audience. As surf culture becomes more popular, the notion of what it means to be a surfer expands.

The New York Surf Film Festival's aim is to build upon and shape the idea of what a surf movie is, while fostering the growth of this global community in NYC.

The New York Surf Film Festival is an event consisting of three days of independent short and feature films, cult classics, and world premieres from established surf filmmakers. The official Website of the New York Surf Film Festival, will bring the festival experience to the surf community through the streaming of trailers, current news, photos and box office information.

The New York Surf Film Festival is pleased to announce support from Board Sports Management, Mollusk Surf Shop, Sundown Surf Shop, NewYorkSurf.com, Surfersvillage.com, NYNJSurf.com, NYBB.com, & Dukestorm.com.

The New York Surf Film Festival is looking for volunteers. If you would like to get involved please email info@nysurffilm.comto join the mailing list and attend the next volunteer meeting. For submission, media, and sponsorship inquiries please contact: Morgan Berk Don't Drop In, LLC info@nysurffilm.com 917.658.2927 Don't Drop In, LLC P.O. Box 310361 Brooklyn, NY 11231.

Last week was a really fun day here in Maui. Most people living on the island have a profound consciousness regarding our island and the earth.

We started the day with a boat trip from Pacific Whale Foundation. They offered a eco tour, to teach people about the ocean and it’s animals. While we were out on the boat we saw Hawaiian Green Turtles and a Baby whale and it’s mom. Our good friend Lasha and her mom joined us for the tour, as did my husband and father-in-law.

Next was off to the Earth Day celebration in Paia, Maui. There was so much great music and educational booths to teach people in the community about being more friendly to our earth.

Here are some photos from that day taken by my husband, Mike from MangoTree Photography.

A view of Maui from the boat.

Mike, Father-in-law Jesse and Me!

Lasha and Nautis.

Baldwin beach park.

Earth Day in Maui.

Drums and dancing.

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year and I don’t know why? Perhaps it’s due to dressing up and letting my alter ego enjoy one day out of the year or perhaps I become inspired by everyone’s creativity in designing the most lavish and comical costumes. Halloween in Maui is absolutely a must! The entire town of Lahaina which is just minutes away from our retreat location is shut down to cars and people. Thousands walk the street in costumes from the scandoulous to the scariest to the weirdest and everything in between.
Enjoy the pictures from Halloween Maui Style 07′

This is a picture of me and my sister…can you tell what we are?

Monica and her boyfriend, Dale.

Super Heros!

Las Vegas meets tennis pro

This is a teaser video to get you fired up for winter waves.

Here is a clip from last years Billabong Pro Maui. My Husband Mike and I were on the lower ledge, just above the break watching the event take place. He was shooting photos, and I was on hand to watch Layne win her 7th world title, and see some amazing women surf huge Honolua. I look forward to the event coming up again this year. click here for event info.