Byron Rohrer is the inventor of Dummy Mount, a
simple Mouth Mount solution to carry your GoPro Camera between your
teeth.
— Rick NoconDo you own a GoPro Hero 3? You know
the one. It’s the little hi-definition camera that is the world’s
best-selling camera. San Diego surfer Byron Rohrer has one, and after
using it and finding that the accessories available to him didn’t meet
his needs, he created the world’s first mouth mount for the device. The
creation, called the Dummy Mount, is a molded mouthpiece made of soft
silicone and rubber that the user can easily breathe through and film
their favorite activity hands-free.
Every idea starts somewhere,
and for Rohrer that moment came in early 2014 when he suffered a knee
injury. During the recovery, he started tinkering in his garage,
fabricating prototypes for a mouth-mounted accessory that would fit his
GoPro camera. He wanted something that he could use and keep his hands
free to push up on his surfboard. Eventually, it all clicked, and the
breathable mouthpiece mount was ready for research and development.
Byron Rohrer is the inventor of Dummy Mount, a simple Mouth
Mount solution to carry your GoPro Camera between your teeth.
— Rick Nocon The little item with the funny
name is making its debut to the public after months of R&D and
grass roots marketing. I asked Rohrer how the name came about and the
bushy-haired surfer said, “When I was first using the prototype, my
buddies would give me a hard time saying that it looked like I had a
baby pacifier in my mouth. On my trips to New Zealand I remembered that
the Kiwis called pacifiers dummies, so right then and there I knew I had
my name.”
I also asked what the response was like when he first
used it in public, and with a smile Rohrer said, “Everyday, 15 people
would paddle up to me and ask what it was and where they could buy one.
It turns out many other people have GoPro cameras and share the same
frustrations.” With that bit of inspiration, Rohrer rolled the dice, got
a loan and decided to quit his dead-end job and make a fresh start.
Within the week, he filed for a patent and started on the fast track to
producing the world’s first breathable mouth mount for the GoPro camera.
After
Roher got his production samples, he knew he needed to get some backing
from professionals. The tenacious Rohrer booked himself a flight to
Fiji at the same time as an ASP world-tour surf event, chartered a boat
and paddled into the Cloudbreak lineup with his invention. He knew he
had to make his own luck.
Right away, the pros were asking him the
same question as the kids back in Pacific Beach, “What is it?” and
“Where do I get one?” Rohrer passed out his samples and explained the
device to top pros Kelly Slater, Joel Parkinson and many others. The
positive feedback was immediate, and it didn’t stop in the surf. The
demand for the Dummy Mount has grown outside of water sports, finding
traction in tennis, golf, fishing and biking. These are a few other
sports that are discovering the little accessory with the unforgettable
name, what would you use it for?
Surfer Josh Kerr, 30, who lives in Carlsbad is one
of top surfers on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) tour.
He will compete in the upcoming Hurley Pro at Trestles.
K.C. AlfredOne of the first things you learn as a kid growing up in San Diego is
if you want to get good waves in the summer, you’re going to have to
drive an hour north or south. If you’re at Crystal Pier in PB and it’s
waist high, you can jump in your car and make the 50-minute drive north
and score pumping overhead sets at Trestles. Just know that 50 of the
best surfers in Southern California will already be out, and there won’t
be a scrap left for the old, the weak or the kooks. The young lions
will take what they want.
Lower Trestles, while only a few hundred
yards away from San Clemente and the grind of the OC, is in north San
Diego County. Locals like Kolohe Andino, Christian Fletcher, Chris Ward
and many others have built their careers there due to its consistent
surf and proximity to local surf magazines — making it a favorite for
surfers and surf photographers alike. While it’s known as SoCal’s cradle
of modern surfing, the other thing that makes the wave so special is
that it picks up almost all swell angles, and the summertime south
swells focus on the rugged cobblestone point like no other.
Sunset view from Trestles in North San Diego County.
— John Gastaldo / John Gastaldo
During
the 1960s, access to the area surrounding Trestles was restricted
because of military activity, so determined surfers would paddle great
lengths to surf the wave. Unfortunately, it was a time before leashes,
so if you lost your board and didn’t get to it quickly, some angry
military police would chase you down. In 1970, President Richard Nixon
signed a bill allowing access to the beach at Lowers, thus forever
changing the surf scene in Southern California.
While there have
been contests held at the break for decades, none is more legendary than
the 1989 Body Glove contest when San Clemente surfer Christian Fletcher
took skateboarding tricks off the ramp and into the water, shattered
the status quo and unknowingly poured the foundation of today’s modern
surfing maneuvers. At the time, the world’s best surfers were lucky to
get their fins out on their top turns. Today, pros like Hawaii’s John
John Florence and Brazil’s Gabriel Medina have built their careers
flying six feet above the waves. In recent years, the one surfer who has
owned the spot competitively is 11-time world champion Kelly Slater. He
won his first professional contest at Lowers in 1990, and has since
gone on to win the event six times.
The tour comes to town
Kelly Slater greeted by fans at the beach after finishing
off Kalani Robb in the quarter finals in 2005 surf competition at Lower
Trestles.
— Peggy Peattie This week’s ASP World Tour
stop, the Hurley Pro, is Southern California’s only chance to watch all
the top-ranked surfers compete at the legendary break. It is also where
the pros break out the most cutting-edge equipment and progressive
maneuvers. To say the pros look forward to the Lowers event is an
understatement.
One of the first things you’ll notice is that
Hurley pulls out all the stops with this event. It builds a huge,
three-story compound on the point and provides every amenity for
traveling surfers, their families and the surf industry insiders who
hang from every corner of the scaffolding. This event is where the ASP
first started putting surfers’ names and world rank on the back of their
jerseys, helping the unknowledgeable to differentiate the competitors.
It’s those little things that make an event step up from good to great.
2014 Hurley Pro
When: Sept. 9-20
Where: Trestles (in San Onofre State Beach)
Online: aspworldtour.com
Some
differences this year will be the presence of larger non-endemic
blanket sponsors such as Samsung, which was a decision made by the new
controlling entity of the ASP, ZoSea. This move was once controversial
within the surf industry, but the “new” ASP has done a nice job with its
newfound professionalism. The increase in prize money, the return of
great venues and a static announcing crew are all things that have the
pros nodding with approval and keep the surf fans tuning in to every
contest.
What it takes
I recently spoke with Josh Kerr,
the gregarious Australian surfer now living in San Diego’s North County
who also happens to be ranked in the top 10 on the world tour. Kerr
lives right down the road from Lowers in Carlsbad with his wife and two
children, and is a team rider and brand ambassador for a number of local
companies, including Arnette sunglasses in Encinitas, Fish 101
restaurant in Leucadia and Rusty Surfboards and Saint Archer beer, both
based in Miramar.
I asked Kerr what he thinks it takes to win the
Hurley Pro. “Lowers is such a rippable wave, you really have to be on
point with your surfing, otherwise it shows,” Kerr said. “At other
places you can rely on wave choice and just be on the good ones for
barrels and such, but that doesn’t apply at Lowers.”
I also asked
Kerr what his favorite memory at Lowers is, to which he replied, “Just
every time my family and friends cheer for me after riding a wave. It’s a
great feeling.” If you were looking for someone to root for, I think
you just found your man.
Previous winners
2013 – Taj Burrow
2012 – Kelly Slater
2011 – Kelly Slater
2010 – Kelly Slater
2009 – Mick Fanning
2008 – Kelly Slater
2007 – Kelly Slater
2006 – Richie Lovett
2005 – Kelly Slater
Kelly Slater came from behind in the final round of 2005
Boost Mobile Pro Men's World Tour competition at Lower Trestles to win
the event, beating out Australian Phil MacDonald, who was ahead for 32
of the 35 minute final.
— Peggy Peattie
What to bring
Going
to the comp? Be aware that this event is in San Onofre State Beach and
there are limited amenities. It’s a fair walk from the parking area to
the cobblestone point so plan accordingly. Here are a few items you
should consider taking with you:
• Beach umbrella
• Beach chair
• Food and refillable water jug
• Surfboard (while you can’t surf Lowers, you can surf the cove, Uppers or Cottons)
• Zinc-based sunscreen SPF 50 or higher
• Sunglasses
• Good sandals or walking shoes
• A Sharpie and a surf mag for autographs
When
you’re on the beach make sure you take a selfie with Slater or one of
the touring pros and tag it with #discoversd. After the comp, stop into
The Riders Club restaurant in San Clemente for the best hamburger you
will ever eat, hands down.
Wilbur Kookmeyer cartoon by creator Bob Penuelas.
— Courtesy Photo
Comic-Con week is here! Soon you will be spending countless hours
wandering the convention center floor and will be bumping into your
tubby neighbor dressed as Han Solo, or your buttoned-up receptionist
walking around half-naked and painted blue like she’s in the X-Men. Yep,
this week rules.
So how does the surf guy have anything to write
about this week that doesn’t involve tubes, bros or sunshine? While I
admit I don’t know what Mindcraft is or what a 20-sided die can do, I do
know that surfing and comics are not as far apart as you might think.
Surfing
and art are in the same grouping and one of the most famous surfer
artists that comes to mind is the legendary Rick Griffin. Griffin
garnered acclaim in the ’60s and ’70s for his “Murphy” comic, that ran
in Surfer magazine and later gained mainstream popularity with his
concert posters of rock ‘n’ roll greats Frank Zappa, The Grateful Dead
and Jimi Hendrix. Decades after his death, Griffin’s art still can be
found on t-shirts, posters and movie covers, and chances are Griffin’s
influence can be found somewhere on the tradeshow floor at Comic-Con in
2014.
Local artist Bob Penuelas created Wilbur Kookmeyer.
— Courtesy Photo
Another great surf artist is
local Bob Penuelas. Penuelas is a well-known airbrush artist who has
been coloring surfboards in San Diego for 35 years. At some point in the
mid-’80s, Bob developed a character that became the wildly popular surf
cartoon strip, Wilbur Kookmeyer, which was also featured in Surfer
magazine. In the comic, Wilbur was like many young surf grommets:
mouthy, dumb and full of himself. The gangly Wilbur always found himself
in bad situations because of his attributes, but his exploits kept
readers coming back each month to see what trouble he was going to get
into next.
Many of the comics were great social commentary on how
the beach was changing from a sleepy town to something bigger and with
less soul. It was very much what he was seeing right in front of his
eyes, in Pacific Beach at the time. Eventually the comic ended but
Wilbur is alive and well and can still be found on Facebook at facebook.com/pages/Wilbur-Kookmeyer/110447028469
I
could go on a bit about that obvious choice of the Silver Surfer and
how he is drawn as both a goofy-footer and as a regular-footer. That may
not mean much to you, but to a surfer, it is a glaring mistake. But he
is an alien, so I wont complain much because we too have an alien in
surfing; we call him Kelly Slater.
So there you go Comic-Con
homies. We’re practically the same people! How about we make a deal, you
let me roam around your convention in my flip flops and buy me a
corndog and I’ll take you surfing and buy you a fish taco. Deal?
In the late summer of 1992 my dad, Hal Lewis
was in his last days with his battle with cancer eventually passing away
on Aug 11. The lymphoma caused by long undiagnosed Melanoma had
destroyed his once spartan physique and took him at the young age of
62.
Before he passed he got to say his apologies, his goodbyes and tell
countless stories about his lifes adventures and decades of spearfishing
and body surfing in La Jolla from 1950-1990.
Pops partying in the Cove
After his
death, I didn't keep very many things. The other family members sold the
stuff that one collects over a lifetime and the haggling for big
appliances and his car wasn't what I wanted to be involved in. All I
wanted was what he and I spoke of before his passing. His wooden spear-gun and
an old box of slides that were in his closet.
My dad with his world record Totuava
The teak wood gun was made by Riffe way before he had a
factory. I remember going up there with my dad in early 1984-85 to pick it
up from Riffes garage in Laguna Beach. It still hangs on the wall in my
house by a picture of my old man.
The box of slides was more of a surprise. I had never seen
them before. Ever. My dad had moved to Belize in 1980 after divorcing my
mom and these must have made the journey with him.
Once in my
possession, I opened the old weatherproof box and started to go through
the slides. I thought they would be of old family events or your
everyday run-of-the-mill pics of days spent at the zoo or park. What
they were was a time capsule of La Jolla Cove circa 1964-1965. The
majority documented body-surfing at Boomer Beach just around the corner
from the Cove.
The Box of slides
There were pics of my dad body surfing along with many others
who names did not ring a bell. My mom said that Bud Miller was the one
who took the photos but didn't remember when or where my dad may have
come into possession of the slides. There are only a handful of the old
LJ Cove crew around but im sure they can shed some light on this
mystery.
One of the unseen slides
These have been in my possession now for 22 years and I have
never showed anyone these images till last week when my friend PMK asked to see
them. I hope people smile like I did when I first saw these. He will be sharing these this weekend at his new movie premiere "What the Sea Gives Me"
You ever buy a beer because of the label? You might be out shopping
at your local store staring at 100 different IPAs and then one label will catch
your eye. A few years ago that happened to me because I saw an amazing image of
a fish. It was a red and orange Sculpin swimming over some cobblestones. I
bought it and it turned out to be the most delicious IPA I had ever enjoyed.
I soon found out that the artist behind the image was Paul
Elder an old friend and longtime Pacific Beach local. I caught up with Paul to
discuss the brand, his art and his life long passion of surfing and spear
fishing.One thing that many surfers
have in common is that they are very artistic, whether the medium is music,
paint or words, many surfers crave creativity and Paul is no different.
Spending his early childhood traveling across the world as
the son of a Navy man, he found a passion for the ocean while his family was in
Thailand. When he finally arrived in San Diego in 8th grade he loved
to fish. Fishing also lead him to discover something new; Surfing. His family
had moved to San Diego and as he was fishing off of Crystal Pier he saw some
guys catching waves on surfboards and was instantly entranced. He ran off the
pier and returned the rented rod and asked if he could rent a surfboard
instead. In the years that followed, Paul became a very accomplished surfer and
was known for having a very powerful surf style like that of BK or Jeff
Hackman.
Paul Elder and his secret Baja Point
His other passion was art. He found himself painting ocean
fish and comical t-shirts for many locally based businesses like Cass Street
Bar and Grill, Skip Frye and Joe Ropers Repair shop. Somewhere along the line
Paul began home brewing beer and would often stop at the Home Brew Mart on
Linda Vista Rd to get his supplies. He struck up a friendship with the owners
and they would talk beer and fishing quite often. Soon the Home Brew guys were
starting up their own beer label called Ballast Point and asked if Paul could
draw up a label for them. The first image he made for them was that of a
yellowtail for their new Pale Ale. It was an instant hit and a perfect fit for
the fledgling brand.
In the 18 years that followed, Paul has done dozens of beer
labels for the brand including Calico, long fin, Dorado and the now award
winning Sculpin, which Paul had a hand in naming. He was asked what would be a
good fish to represent this new IPA and he said the Sculpin , because it’s a
beautiful fish with the sweetest meat but you had to be careful because it also
packs a very sharp sting. Much like the 7% alcohol content of the new beer.
Then and there a new flagship beer was born.
Finding his passion in the sea and with beer has lead Paul
to live a very simple but fulfilling life. He is very much ingrained into the
DNA and identity of one of the fastest growing breweries and distillers in
Southern California and the partnership is really just beginning. Now you know
when you see a good label, give that beer a try, you just might find a winner.
Your local surf shop is something to behold. These local
bastions of knowledge and vibes are among surfings most important necessities
and I’m going to tell you why.
The basics. A person has to get the staples eventually. You have to buy your first Surfboard, wetsuit,
trunks and leash somewhere. You can buy stuff all day long on the web but you
don’t want to wait a few days for wax when the surf is good, do you? Go in and
take a look around. If the shop is worth is salt, there will be someone behind the
counter from the area who has spent years surfing the local beaches and reefs.
They will know what the tide is like and what spots will be good for that days
swell. The owner of the store will most likely be there because they never
leave. They work seven days a week and live and die by the slim profit margins
on the goods they sell. They usually are a little grumpy at first but they will
warm up eventually. Here’s a list of some things you may find.
Reality check. They will point you in the right direction
for the equipment you need, not what you want. The employees will know about the
history of the sport and can tell you who is doing well on the ASP tour. They
can tell you what the pros are riding and can tell you why you shouldn’t be
riding what the pros ride, because despite what you think, you don’t surf like
Slater.
Talking story. Reading something in an Internet chat room is
not the same as hearing a surf story from a guy who just lived it. While the
face of surf retailing has cleaned up and focused more on profit margins than
hanging out, everyone has a few minutes to chop it up and talk about that
mornings session or share a great tale from some recent travels. It’s how we
used to learn before the Internet stole our social skills.
Making friends and extended family. Many of us started
surfing because our families were screwed up or we didn’t like a coach telling
us what to do. It’s a very personal and individual activity and at one time it
was even considered anti-social. The surf shop is where you can find
like-minded people who see the world through the same set of filters. The best
friendships of my life came about because of surf and skate shops. Beware
though, The BS detector is very finely tuned and the shop owners can smell a
fraud a mile away. Be yourself and be real, it will serve you much better in
the long run.
Giving back. The local shop is the one who will organize a
beach clean up, sponsor your son or daughter and will enhance your community by
being active and supportive to your schools and events. Lord knows the people
who own shops do it for the love, not the money so remember that when you are
grinding them for an extra discount. You don’t ask for a bro-deal at the super
market so don’t ask at the surf shop.
So go forth and seek out your new shop. Find a good one and
tuck in for a while, you’ll see what I mean.
