ASR January 2008 (written originally on 1/26/08 for SurferMag's forum):
Yesterday, Friday, January 25, I was feeling well. I wanted to check out the visual overload that is ASR. What’s the ASR motto? “If we can’t assault all of your senses, then no one can.” I have no idea how those in the “industry” handle hanging out at this event all day for 3 days; I had a few hours and that was plenty.
Now, with all that said, the people of this industry are what make it so special. Everyone is there with a smile, to let you know that you are number one. So, with that said, here’s my limited pictorial from yesterday.
I tried to carpool down with Bonzer5Fin, but apparently he wasn’t really into that idea.
So, I gave SurfJunkie a call to see if he might be into the idea of carpooling. He said he was too busy to drive with me, too.
Anywho, made the drive down and met up with JJR and DK at the Lokbox booth. They said they were too busy to hang out with me.
So, I walked around and met some real legends. Right from the get-go, I knew this was a place of special people. Here’s Ian Cairns explaining to me what place he got at the 1973 Smirnoff Pro at 10’ Laniakea.
Sunny Garcia is a great guy. Here he is telling me his ranking in 2000!
I then ran into Taylor Knox. We got to talking about his new boards, and I mentioned that some people think Gorkin might be better than him…
Apparently he had more important things to do, so off I went to the Lost booth. I explained to Mayhemb3 that my last board was a C.I. I could tell he totally understood.
The cool part about the Lost booth is all the pros that come by. Check it out, even though Shane Beschen didn’t want to talk, he let me take his picture!
For whatever reason, the Lost people asked me to leave. I think they were really busy dude-broing with all the buyers; since I’m not a buyer, I totally understood their request. Great timing, though, since I really had to take a leak. And guess who I ran into just outside the bathroom? Rizal! I mentioned the whole hand washing thing to him, but I think he was too baked to understand since he held up his hand to show me how clean it was.
After Rizal, I was getting pretty worn out so I thought I’d hit the road. On the way out, I ran into the ultimate grom: Rabbit Kekai! I told him I thought he was the best. He said the same to me!
Man, that was the greatest! I knew I had to leave at such a high point; it would all be downhill from there. So I drove up to Oceanside from San Diego to say ‘Hi’ to Resinpinlines. He showed me his new “Shoplifter Ring” and demonstrated how it worked. Wow, that thing really hurts!
Resinpinlines is a real family man, too, in case you didn’t know. His daughter is only 5 months old, and already he’s teaching her how to greet customers like me!
After stopping off at Real Surf, I was getting hungry. I went over to The Fish Joint just down the street for some sushi. Apparently, Shawn called ahead to let them know I was coming! They greeted me just like everyone else today; it was awesome!
After a great sushi lunch, it was back to S.B. for this guy. Great day!
-ShShSh
p.s.: My thanks to all involved for playing along! So you know, some people at ASR weren’t real hip on the idea. Ian Cairns, however, asked if he could do it again!
-Yes, this was written tongue-in-cheek. Good times.
