Surfing

Our Coast
By Alex Pines
December 2, 2011 - 2:44pm
A journey along California’s 840 miles of coastline shows urbanization’s impact on communities, the environment and people's lives.

Extensive coastal development in the past 50 years has been a detrimental to California's natural landscape and the famous surf spots.

"There”s no question that California”s population has doubled in the 43 years since I’ve been here," said Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California-Santa Cruz. "It's gone from 19 million to almost 39 million people. And most of the those people, 75 percent of them are living in coastal counties."

'Soul Surfer' director talks about surfing, movies and religion
By Lily Betjeman
April 6, 2011 - 10:59pm
As his movie opens nationally Friday, Sean McNamara shares the challenges of bringing Bethany Hamilton's story to the big screen.

Thirteen-year-old Bethany Hamilton was surfing with friends when a 1,500-pound tiger shark attacked her, biting off her arm.

In the years following Hamilton gained celebrity by adopting a positive attitude toward her personal tragedy and continuing to surf despite her handicap. In 2010 Hamilton ranked 20th on the Association of Surfing Professionals tour and won the National Scholastic Surfing Association competition just two years after losing a limb.