Volume 1, Issue 6
“The Hawaiian South Shore Experience” the most fun and exciting place for surf
September 2008
What Up!!! The “Hawaiian South Shore Experience” Sept…. yes I know I’m little late on the newsletter. I promise to be more on top of it and we will have more content on the next newsletter… working on that right now. Hopefully in the next newsletter we will have a different layout. I got lucky and I’m working with someone that is giving me her expert advice. Actually she volunteered to help me out because the last newsletter she said “Dave you had a lot of open space on the last newsletter, you need some help?”. Well of course I’m not going to turn down some help especially with the experience she has…. So next issue will be better and as time goes on it will improve. Hey if you have any comments or suggestions e-mail me at hawaiiansouthshore@gmail.com... I’m totally serious about suggestion. Also if you know someone that is into art and wants to do a cover for our newsletter please tell the person to call 597.9055 or email us.
By the time you get this newsletter we will have changed the inside of the store to give you a better experience. We are calling it the “Hawaiian South Shore Experience” • More open space in the Board Room with a couch for you to sit with one of our guys and figure out your next board… (Hey just to let you know Saresa & Keith are in the water surfing at least 3 times a week on their short, long & sup boards so they will be able to figure out what board will work for you.)
• FCS Free Demo fins – just bring an ID and Credit Card, 12 sets of new fins. • Future Fin Demos • More accessories from Da Kine, OAM, Ocean and Earth, FCS , Future Fins… (you think our wall of accessories was big come down and check it out now!!) • Board Works will have demos for all their boards so if you need one just let us know. Surftech moved right down the street from us!! Yeah!! Yes they do retail boards out of the show room. Why would I be happy about that? Surftech is a retail showroom but at a higher cost, having them open the doors to you is an advantage because we are not able to carry every single board they have in stock. This is a benefit to you because: 1) You can demo one of the many boards for free. 2) Get an up to date list of inventory: 3) Pay for it right up the street for less and pick it up at the warehouse (no need to wait for delivery.) I think that is a win win situation for you. Mahalo David Kelly
inside this issue
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Calendar of Events
pg 2
Product Feature Board Racks
pg 3
customer profile Dale Okumura
pg 2
Shark Sightings lorem ispom dolar con
pg 4
surfing Injuries Surfers Neck
pg 2
Movie Review Stranger Than Fiction
From Vendors like... Da Kine, Billabong, Vertra, Globe, Sticky Bumps, HSS and Cheater Five. For more information go to:
pg 4
http://hawaiiansouthshore.blogspot.com/2008/09/spend-10-and-win-prize.html
Cale n d ar of Ev e n t s
Customer Profile: Dale Okamura
OCTOBER 11TH
Dale Okamura Surfing: 4years Age: 44 Weight: 220 lbs
2nd Annual Blood Drive Place: Hawaiian South Shore Mauka parking lot When: Oct 11 9am -1:15 What: 2nd Annual Blood Drive last year 22 people this years goal 40 people.
..................... OCTOBER 18TH surf movie night Place: Hawaiian South Shore Mauka parking lot When: Oct 18th 7pm What: DVD Release “Fiji Pro” Sponsored by Globe.
I purchased my first board from HSS four years ago, that is when I weighted about 200lbs, I bought the Surftech 9’6’ Infinity. I used that board for about 2 years and was surfing about 3-4 times a week. I thought I progressed pretty fast on it. Then for about a year I only surfed once or twice a month and gained some weight and bought the Surftech 10’ Infinity. I liked the board easy to catch waves but I didn’t really like the length so after using that for a while I decided to get the 9’0” Secret Weapon. Man that board paddles just as good as the 10’ Infinity Surftech but turns way better. I went out when there were some waves, and had a lot of fun. I’m able to take off late on the wave and still make it down the line because the board is so fast, sometimes it’s a little to fast for me. I guess I need some more practice. My wife has just started surfing with me and she uses the 9’6” Infinity she is able to catch waves but she says the board is a little to big for here but she is still having fun… Dale Okamura Dale Okamura is our contractor for the store. His Grandfather started the business and it’s been going strong for 30 yeasrs now. They do very good work. Best of all is that the work is done on time and the quality is awesome. Need some commercial or home improvement I highly recommend Dale, you can call him at 949-8492 Okamura Contractors. ...........................................................
Surfer’s Neck So, I haven’t had a real surf now for 17 weeks and 3 days, and I have 6 weeks and 4 more days to wait before I get the official green light to hit the surf again (you bet, I’m counting). My staycation from surfing was actually booked a couple of years ago, when I started experiencing occasional numbness in my right fingertips, but I didn’t realize it at the time. The numbness always occurred when I had been surfing for a couple of hours or more, so even though it seemed a bit odd that only my right fingertips were a little numb, I blew it off as just being a bit cold from having been in the water for awhile.
..................... november 2nd fall swap meet Place: Hawaiian South Shore Mauka parking lot When: November 2nd What: Annual Swap Meet. Sell anything you want in the Mauka parking lot. Fee $15.
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More recently, in addition to the numbness, I began experiencing some soreness in my upper back that seemed disproportionate to the amount of surfing I had been doing. I’ll be turning 39 this year, I thought, so maybe it’s just my age. But the soreness began to spread, and became more frequent and more severe as time went on. I began to wonder sometimes if something was wrong, but then I’d have some pretty pain free periods too, which led me back to thinking that maybe I was just getting older and slowly losing the ability to recover from physical activity. I was also enduring an extremely dysfunctional and somewhat abusive work environment at the time, so stress tension was also a serious factor to consider. Anyway, following a pain-free period of about a month, my last bout of severe pain began. I hadn’t actually surfed at all for over a week before the pain started, and work was going particularly bad at the time, so when I saw my doctor after several nearly unbearable days he began treating me for stress by prescribing muscle relaxers. A couple of weekends later, without much help from the muscle relaxers, I went bodysurfing at Sandy’s. Understandably, I felt pretty sluggish in the water, but I was surprised to find out that I couldn’t lift the one gallon jug of
water over my head that I usually use to rinse off after a surf. I could with my left hand, but not my right, and I’m right handed. I spent the next week pretty worried about how my job was affecting me, and I started looking for an alternative. The following weekend, still in a fair amount of pain, but amped to burn off the stress of the week, I tried to go for another surf. After sprinting to the water’s edge and launching over the small on-coming shorebreak, I was caught by surprise when I quickly collapsed into my board chest first, unable to gracefully glide over the top into a smooth paddle out. A little shocked from the impact, I proceeded to paddle out and noticed that I was having a really hard time. I could hardly keep up with my girlfriend, whom I would normally have to wait for a little, and no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t go any faster. I decided to hang on the inside and quickly found a little peak to give a go. I barely stroked into it, and as I attempted to pop up at the top of the wave, my right side just completely gave out. I couldn’t even get my chest off the deck. With a firm grip on the rails, I kept trying to pop up until the bitter end. At full speed, I just penetrated at the trough. After a good little roll, I came up and looked at my girlfriend who was right there to witness it all. I told her that I think something is seriously wrong. She agreed, and we went in. That night, I noticed that the muscles on my right side looked like they were slightly smaller than the muscles on my left. At the time, I had to look really hard to see it, but I was sure that my right pectoral and triceps muscles had atrophied a little. The next day I made an appointment with an alternate doctor (my regular physician had gone on vacation) to pursue another possible diagnosis. Although a bit skeptical that my muscles might atrophy so much so quickly after the onset of the initial pain, he quickly confirmed that my right side was smaller and weaker than my left, ordered x-rays of my cervical spine, and set me up to see a neurologist the following week. The neurologist, Dr. Thomas A. Drazin, looked at my x-rays and said that he suspected I had developed what he called “surfer’s neck,” cervical arthritis from arching my neck when paddling. Turns out he’s a surfer too, with a really good understanding of the cause of the condition, and he sees a lot of such cases. After examining the xrays, he said that it looked like the openings in my cervical spine, where the lateral nerves come through from the spinal cord, were starting to get kind of small, possibly pinching off those nerves which connect to the muscles that looked to be wasting away. He performed some nerve conduction tests, which confirmed that I did have some severely pinched nerves, sent me for some physical rehabilitation, and ordered some MRI’s. After a week of rehab that produced no positive change, I saw Dr. Drazin again to look at the MRI’s. They revealed that the disc between cervical vertebra number 6 (C6) and C7 had herniated and blown directly into my spinal cord. Having done some rehab with no effect, we knew that my only real option at this point was surgery. After being told that because we were talking possible nerve damage that may never fully heal or heal at all, I was looking forward to surgery as soon as possible to give myself the best chance for a full recovery. Dr. Drazin introduced me to the neurosurgeon Dr. William Obana, who concurred with Dr. Drazin’s diagnosis, and promptly scheduled me for surgery. By the time of my surgery, 7 weeks had passed since the onset of the pain that led to it, and my right pectoral and triceps muscles were all but gone and completely useless. Other muscles in the area were also beginning to visibly waste away, and I was very worried that they would remain that way for the rest of my life. The surgery went perfectly however, and I have been hitting the rehab hard from the moment I awoke in my hospital bed. I literally started flexing my muscles the second my head cleared, and after I got home from the hospital that afternoon, Dr. Obana called to check on me. I told him how my muscles were responding already and it sounded like he was jumping up and down on the other end of the line. I don’t think he was surprised, as he performs 60 to 70 of these a year with a fantastic success rate, but I could tell he was stoked because as he said, it’s just not too common to have so much improvement so quickly.
HAWAIIAN SOUTH SHORE PRESENTS
SUP DEMO DAY ALA MOANA BEACH EWA SIDE SEPT 27TH 10AM TO 3PM .....................
surfboard
racks
A customer came in the other day and told us that he searched high and low for these things and he just happened to walk into the store when we were unpacking a new shipment. He suggested that I put this on the newsletter to let you know we carry them. The ones pictured above are the Double. The wooden dowels are angled 22 degress and all mounting hardware in included. Yes, it does hold a long board.
Now, with the herniated disc removed, a piece of donor bone in its place, and a titanium clip and screws holding it all together, I just have to keep up the rehab and wait my full recovery time for the bones to fuse completely (the hardest part, I swear). With 6 weeks, 4 days, and around 800 push-ups to go, I’m just amping to get back in the waves again. I’ve even left my old job for a much more nurturing work environment, so I’ll never have that to cause, cloud, or add to any condition that may arise in the future. 3
I know that I’m extremely fortunate to be getting my health back, and I am grateful. I want to thank my doctors, who did an excellent job, my girlfriend, whose support I couldn’t have done without, and Hawaiian South Shore for allowing me to share this story. I hope the information helps whomever may need it. My only unsolicited advice would be to start looking into things right away if you’re experiencing any numbness and/or pain in your hands or arms like I was. Don’t make the mistake of blowing it off like I did. Remember, numbness isn’t normal. And if you happen to have a job that causes the kind of stress that resembles what it’s like to have a herniated disc, get rid of it and get a healthier one. No matter what, you will be glad you did. Mahalo nui. Jason Keoni Verity
shark sightings I’m sure you have heard about the shark sightings on the Big Island, Kauai, and the attack on Oahu. Here are some tips from Starbulletin.com. • Swim, surf or dive with other people, and don’t move too far away from assistance. • Stay out of the water at dawn, dusk and night. • Do not enter the water if you have open wounds or are bleeding in any way. • Avoid murky waters, harbor entrances and areas near stream mouths (especially after heavy rains), channels or steep drop- offs. • Refrain from excessive splashing. Keep pets, which swim erratically, out of the water. Sharks are known to be attracted to such activity.
• Do not enter the water if sharks are known to be present. Leave the water quickly and calmly if one is sighted. Do not provoke or harass a shark, even a small one. • If fish or turtles start to behave erratically, leave the water. Avoid swimming near dolphins, as they are prey for some large sharks. • Remove speared fish from the water or tow them a safe distance behind you. Do not swim near people fishing or spearfishing. Stay away from dead animals in the water. • Swim or surf at beaches patrolled by lifeguards. • Do not wear high-contrast clothing or shiny jewelry. Source: State Department of Land and Natural Resources
MOVIE Review
Stranger Than Fiction New Taylor Steele DVD Is pro surfing a complete lie? Is modern wave-riding being faked for glory and profit? Is Dane Reynolds actually a robot? With trademark humor and a trend-setting soundtrack, Taylor Steele’s latest genre-defining action flick pulls back curtain on pro surfing’s deepest, darkest secrets. ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ is more than just the newest high-performance line-in-the sand, it’s an entirely new era of surfing. Brace yourself for the truth.
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