Invoking a Retro Vibe for a Modern Cause
The 10th annual Cosmic Creek Surf Festival was held last weekend, bringing together surfers, musicians and artists while raising money for the Surfrider Foundation’s redirected youth service programs.
On Saturday evening there was music by Donavon Frankenreiter, Honk, and others, as well as a silent auction for guitars donated by Cordoba that were painted, or otherwise made into art pieces by artists John Van Hamersveld, Wolfgang Bloch, Art Brewer, Herbie Fletcher, Jay Alders, Kevin Short, Daniel Chang, and Timmy Patterson, among others.
The guitar by Bloch, a local surf artist whose minimalist seascapes were exhibited at the Laguna Art Museum recently, brought the highest sale price at $1300. Attendees paid $50 for tickets to the event at Seven Degrees in Laguna Canyon and raised money to continue water quality testing in Laguna Beach.
While initially Billabong’s Enich Harris envisioned the benefit to go towards water-quality testing, he agreed instead to support Surfrider’s new initiative to recruit student environmental activists, said Laura Mazzarella, the foundation’s marketing manager in San Clemente.
In April, Surfrider suspended funding of local water quality monitoring, including a long-running program at Laguna Beach High School. But since September, the foundation has started a broader school strategy aimed at establishing a more formal network of high school affiliates with members whose interests range from surfing to recycling, said Denise Erkeneff, of Dana Point, who chairs youth services for the south-county Surfrider chapter between Laguna Beach and San Clemente.
Too many schools, including LBHS, maintained informal clubs that lacked formal affiliation with Surfrider, even though students looking to perform community service relied on the local chapter to fulfill school service requirements, Erkeneff said. Ongoing water testing will not be part of the new program unless it’s part of school curriculum, she said.
Andrew Shapiro and Mikey Rubel, LBHS students who led water monitoring on local beaches, are currently in talks with Laguna Ocean Foundation over possibly restoring funding to continue their efforts.
While a tally of the proceeds from the Cosmic Creek event was not yet available, the national foundation and local chapter will both be beneficiaries, according to Erkeneff.
Water testing aside, Mark Christy, co-owner of the Laguna Beach surfwear retailer Hobie’s, took advantage of the event’s entertainment line-up. He coaxed his friend Frankenreiter into performing an extra gig at the store the night before. Racks were cleared, the doors opened and the speakers cranked up. Frankenreiter’s band was joined by local guitarist Kenny Garcia and his friend. “Donnie and the band were great, the crowd was ecstatic and our buddies at Billabong nailed it with the refreshments. A ridiculously perfect evening,” Christy said.
Sunday featured the finals of the surf contest, with competitors riding surfboards from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Among the 200 contestants were former world champions Tom Curren and Peter Townend, as well as contemporary surf stars like Rob Machado and Pat O’Connell. Nearly 1,000 people watched from Salt Creek Beach.
Paul Naude, president of Billabong, one of the event sponsors, won the Cosmic Legends division (age 45 and over), while Yadin Nicol took the pro division. Lulu Erkineff won the VZ Grems division (16 and under), Jensen Hassett won the Jr. Space Cadets (17-24), Jeremy Hansen won the Rocket Men division (25-34), and Tristram Miller won the Honolua Groove Masters (35-44).
Some of the coolest moves weren’t in the water at all.
“The goal was to give everyone on the beach a chance to be creative,” said Eric Diamond, the event’s founder and creative director at Honolua Surf Co., an Irvine surf wear maker. He referred to a group mural created during the surf contest.
“The local artists do the outline and then moms, dads, kids, competitors, can have a creative outlet during the event, and then the cool thing is we set it up on stage for the concert that night. So it becomes a living entity that everyone contributes to during the whole weekend.”
