According to the U.S. State Department, Afghanistan has an estimated 5 to 7 million land-mines scattered around the countryside. Food shortages are prevalent; infrastructure is basically nonexistent; and bombings in Kabul, especially around the U.S. Embassy, are commonplace. The U.S. State Department, has blacklisted Kabul as a tourist destination - if you go, you’re on your own.
Bullets have been whizzing back and forth between Taliban and security forces, outside a U.N. building just yesterday and amidst a destination blacklist, fear of kidnapping and Taliban strongholds, a band of volunteers with skateboards in hand and education at their core - stand defiant.
Skateistan, Kabul’s first skateboarding school, determined to offer kids with bleak futures, an alternative activity that breaks existing taboos. Instructors have their motorcycles piled high with skateboards, helmets and knee pads and young kids gather around waiting for a go in the newly built halfpipe. It’s an initiative of a bunch of multinational skateboarders, they wanted to change things, give back and do it with some trucks and a maple wood deck.
Sophie Friedel did a bit of work experience here at Finisterre and then she decided once she finished, that she was going to push her love for skate and work with children. She volunteered, jumped on a plane and she’s now in Kabul, working with little Afghan children, bringing them education and teaching them some skills on a skateboard.
She’s been wearing some kit for a while and we’ll be sending her some super fine merino vests for the kids, in support of all the work they’re doing out there.
She managed to get behind a computer and fill us in on some of her recent happenings:
The Skatepark is going great, we finally managed to get control of the flow of students and the regular class set ups. Sometimes lots of kids turn up and things are pretty crowded and other days, like after a terrible day we had last week on monday, people were scared and stayed at home. But life goes on and things are quickly returning back to normal. Class is always well attended and we sadly have a waiting list of 200 kids. Hope to have the capacity for them in a few month.
Loving Kabul, it’s a fucked up world but met amazing people. Here is a link to the skatergils website, if you interested in any recent interview. http://www.skatergirl.co.uk/?p=2113 I am not frequently updating my blog but if your interested in some pictures of Kabul have a look at: www.sophiefriedel@blogspot.com.
Went snowboarding at the Salang pass a few weeks ago. Been incredible! So stunningly beautiful! The mountains are just so big and clean and wide. Seen a bit to many bullet shots in the rocks though and got slightly scared. Great snow and despite the fact we had to walk up for hours in over 3000meter (my lungs had trouble) we got a few great runs in.
Me during my first class of teaching back than when i arrived.
Another Skateistan instructor, firing out some basics and flying the flag of team work.
This was taken during the summer - a big swimming pool on top of a hill. (not sure if you read the kite runner but he always met with his friend on this hill).
One of the street girls. I think she is beautiful. She sadly still wears the same shoes, even tough it gets so cold now (Don’t worry S-train, we’ve got a little plan on the kicks front).
Sophie, your emails fired us up, everyone in this tin shed have been talking about you. So stoked, sending you loads of love and look forward to hearing more positive stories - Loads of love xx
Drivers and pit crew are featured wearing the Matanuska Polycotton Jacket , (our toughest jacket yet) and the Red Sastruga - All of our garments are now GP tested!
Matt Smith is from St Ives. He’s understated, is respected, surf’s well, fishes well, lives life well. We can happily say, he is a friend, we’ve supported him over the last couple of years and just recently, him and a mate, have taken to the sea.
They patched together a small sailing boat in Gweek, a small boating and fishing town on the South Coast of Cornwall and set sail - no real plan, just throwing a little caution to the wind.
Tommy Kay and I went and saw them before they set off, exchanged a few smiles and hugs and haven’t heard much since, nor did we expect to. We received a lovely letter just before Christmas and since - nothing.
Then to our surprise a little snippet from his journal was shared with us via email, probably sent from one of those archaic, post utopian cyber cafes. In any event, he sent it and it arrived.
Cabo Finisterre,,
Their are many beautiful happenings that happen on land, watching a clustering group of a thousand starlings settle at dusk. I am a creature of land and i feel at home there. But equally i feel i am born to be with the ocean, we’re friends, we’re tight. It has been and always will be true, it can be counted on. Cape finisterre, and the bay of Biscay were true. Truly beautiful, Crossing the channel in Gale force 9 winds and very rough sea, surfing our way through the tail end of a Atlantic pressure system was the only way to start our voyage, i was aware there would be days like these.
After punching through for a couple days the wind backed NNE and it was beautiful down wind sailing. The jackets were perfect they had me wanting for nothing. Nothing. Whilst writing this i am on land i have been for three days and i am itching for a passage, to be sailing, to be at the mercy, to be trusted. And to sleep, I find it hard to sleep, it takes me hours to, i get too excited, but whilst at sea i am like a baby as soon as i have given up my watch, the motion seems to be a perfect rhythm, Wether down wind rocking, or on her heel, its like time on the ocean has nurtured me.
The Idea of starting 2010 spent on a voyage passing the atlantic ocean seems more natural that drinking water or looking a person in the eye. I have dreamed and imagined this ocean deep and dark for most years of my life, it doesn’t scare me in the slightest, it welcomes me, that isn’t to say i do not fear or respect it. I do. I will not be bitter or disappointed as i have tried to leave expectation alone for a long time, its hard but necessary. I hope to find fish and i hope they find me, as so far i have had not bite, they say the oceans are being fished out.. I believe thats true.
this is just an extract from my diary but with a finisterre added.
Self made tattoo artist - wish we were with you Matty xx
We’ve been relatively untouched by the big freeze down here in Cornwall - The snow and ice conditions soon morphed into gales and heavy rain yesterday afternoon. We did get a couple of inches of the white stuff however into the weekend, leading the kids in the village to run to the hills and break down the farmers gates before the flakes even hit the ground. The roads were transformed into ice rings, jobs were abandoned, no one came to pick up the recycling, and a step into the local shop looked less like a rural village store to a scene from 28 days later as panic buying soon kicked in.
Snow was still causing chaos last night on the moors and just over the border in Devon. A customer from Wales just reported he was snowed in by four foot of snow!
With the surf just a messy couple of foot the best idea this weekend was to drag the hibernating stack of fish boxes out of the garage and convert them into towing sleds: Here’s a couple of photos and a video of the tow in session that went down
We’ve been sending out a lot of gear recently over the holiday season - as we shuttle it to the post office we have been known to descend into offbeat dreams of where in the world it will end up
Daniele sent us this shot of him in his Storm Track in Tokyo Fish market, Tsukiji - next to this huge tuna on New Years Eve in the small hours of the morning. Tsukiji is one of the largest markets in Japan, where hundreds of these huge and increasingly scarce Tuna’s change hands in rounds of fierce bidding.
“Definitely not an extreme or adventurous situation, still with my Finisterre gear kept warm and dry in a rather soggy, smelly and damp environment for hours. The friend that was accompanying me during this ‘trip’ took a pic of me near a huge tuna and half jokingly sent it to the ‘Corriere della Sera’ (the major italian newspaper) online edition and lo and behold it got published”.
This is what we could see coming our way yesterday! Awesome shot looking out from the workshops at Wheal Kitty (thanks Jadie). Still a bit of snow about and think there is more on the way. Been getting some classic shots of people out and about in it all. Keep ‘em coming and have a good weekend…
It’s been a busy few weeks. The workshop went quiet last week as the team made the exodus to Scotland’s frigid North Shore. Grabbing the latest stock fresh off the truck - Sastrugas, Beanies and Stormtracks, the guys trekked North, enduring some cold nights in the van, and frosty cold water mornings. Alongside Finisterre ambassadors, Tim Nunn and Ian Battrick, good waves went down followed by some classic pub and pool hustling sessions.
Wondering how you’ve still got your Finisterre package? Santa’s little helpers have been staying dry and hard at work packing orders late into the night, taking over the post office and keeping the office ship shape.
As 2009 draws to a close, its been amazing to see our gear put to the test in some dramatic locations in the last few weeks, so here’s a wrapup of what’s been happening, where we’ve been and who we’ve been working with.
Ian Battrick keeping it tight on the Scotland missions. Photo: Tim Nunn
Meanwhile Charlie Chambers has been working hard, shooting a new film for SAS to promote their essential work and the issues they are taking on. The film shot in 16mm looks to showcase some of the best surfing these Isles have to offer. The latest location, Scotland with a team composing of some of the most respected surfers in the U.K. Keep an eye out for our Boy Trev laying down some lines on his longboard on his hometurf when its released next year. Can’t wait to see it, keep up the good work Charlie and Co!!
Out on a limb. Photo: Charlie Chambers
On Location. Photo: Charlie Chambers
Sometimes the best angle is halfway up a cliff. Photo: Charlie Chambers
The last few months have seen a small but dedicated following of film makers, and photographers using our gear on their expedition shoots. Hugo, who’s been putting our gear to the test sent these wicked photos through. He’s been busy in the Antarctic filming for BBC Life thats been on your screens this winter. Four years in the making the documentary shoots some of the finest natural footage ever captured and explores, what Darwin called the ’struggle for existence’ - the challenges living creatures face and their adaptations in the harshest of environments. We’re stoked to see when our gear helps towards keeping the guys on the ground dry and warm so they can keep doing what they do best. Amazing to see and its what we’re here for!
Ice diving with Finisterre Merino Base Layer under suit - extra warmth when you need it!
Again, we’re always stoked to hear your stories - be it surfing your local or a thousand miles from home. Send us your shots, drop us a line and tell us what you’ve been up to and where your going next.
Amazingly exciting to watch the most prestigious big wave event in the World go live with our boy Carlos in the thick of it. He was up round one and took some beauty drops and posted a few good scores, although there were not a load of big sets in this heat. Think he was about 4th/5th at the end of this heat. Up in the next heat were, amongst others, Kelly Slater. His fourth wave scored a 98 and ended in a huge Waimea shorebreak close-out barrel. Carlos’ second heat was even better than his first with him sharing the set of the heat, also ending up in the a whitewater foam ball the size of a big house, right on the shore. In the end, it went down to the last heat, with Greg Long snagging it from Kelly Slater in the last minutes of the last heat. Not bad for somebody who had only surfed Waimea for the first time earlier in the week!
We’re getting the low down from Carlos and some images in the next day or so - keep an eye on the blog.
Meanwhile it’s been pumping most of the way round the UK today. Most places down here suffering from way too much of a good thing, but there are some awesome stories from Ireland and Scotland. There’s more on the way over the next few days, so hope that you’ll be getting some time in the water.
The Eddie has only run seven times in the past 24 years.
It is the world’s longest running and most prestigious big-wave invitational.
It will take place on one day when waves exceed the 20-foot minimum threshold.
All forecasts point towards one of the largest swells to hit Hawaii in decades and Carlos is there, waiting for the green light.
The single lane highway that runs the stretch of the North Shore was bumper-to-bumper by sunrise yesterday. Many made the pilgrimage on foot and bicycle late the night before, sleeping under the stars to catch the action early.
“The biggest Waimea in years, hands down,” said North Shore charger Dave Wassel this evening after what he called “a remarkable day” of surfing. After a day that saw Sunny Garcia get caught inside by not one, but two, 25-foot closeout sets, the sun has set on one of the most memorable days of big wave surfing ever.
I couldn’t take my eyes off Waimea all day. In the morning it was huge: twenty to twenty five foot Hawaiian style.
And then it got bigger. And bigger. And just before sundown, even bigger. By the end of the day, a rescue ski had to be launched from the beach and through the treacherous shorebreak to assist a guy who was being swept toward the rocks on the Haleiwa side of the bay.
Miraculously nobody has perished thus far, although Tom Carroll’s ankle was ripped apart after a mountain of whitewash collapsed onto him. Carroll will now be replaced with one of the alternates.
The event is most likely to happen for the first time in five years. They’re saying this could be the events largest conditions and a guy who has helped shaped Finisterre, is there with board in hand and Finisterre sticker in view.
Carlos has had a string of successes over the last three years, both on and off the water and we’re behind him every little step of the way. He’s won practically every big wave event there’s to win, why not one more for Burle!!
Latest video on the event and warm-up - click here
Latest on the Eddie is that it will be going live today (around 7pm GMT). We’ve been in touch with Carlos who is fired up on all fronts - not only for the Eddie, but also his new baby on the way. Cannot imagine the anticipation out there after a
The wave buoys off the North Shore of Oahu are at 5.4m @ 16 secs - according to Eddie contest director Clyde Aikau, this will translate into about 25ft+ of swell at Waimea - one of the biggest swells for an Eddie. Meanwhile back in the North Atlantic, there has been a juicy low (948mb) brewing this week, sending in a 5.7m swell @ 16 secs to the North Coast of Cornwall - it’ll be big here, but thanks to the continental shelf, it won’t hit 25ft…should be some good viewing though.
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