By Jake Howard
If you’ve spent some years living and surfing around San Clemente and Dana Point, chances are you have an old surfboard stashed in the back of the garage that you haven’t ridden for a while. And chances are you aren’t sure how to get rid of it. Well, that’s where the Positive Vibe Warriors’ South Africa surfboard drive comes in.
Last year, the Positive Vibe Warriors—founded by Dane, Pat and Tanner Gudauskas—ran their first surfboard drive to benefit the surf community in Jamaica. They set up surfboard collection centers at surf shops around the U.S. By the time they were done, they’d collected over 300 surfboards to bring to the Caribbean.
“The response was crazy, it wasn’t anything like what we anticipated,” Tanner said. “We had to pack a whole container with boards.”
This year, they have their sights set on South Africa. Partnering up with Wave for Change and Surfers Not Street Children, two non-governmental organizations in South Africa helping to give youth a brighter future, the concept coalesced when the Gudauskas brothers were recently in the country at a World Surf League QS contest.
“In Jamaica, we were working with kids who were psyched on surfing but had a real problem getting equipment,” Tanner said. “But South Africa is different. There are so many homeless kids there, and life for them can be so tough, but to be able to help share the stoke of surfing, I mean, hopefully it provides some hope and something positivity.
“Surfing is proof that it doesn’t matter what color your skin is, or where you come from, or what language you speak. It cuts through all of that, and to be able to potentially help these kids get in the water and have that hope and stoke that surfing provides, we’re humbled.”
From Sept. 1-30, residents can donate any surfboard, soft board and boogie board that is water-tight (no stand-up paddle boards and windsurf boards due to size constraints) and the Gudauskas brothers will deliver them on their next mission to South Africa.
Below is a list of surf shops serving as donation centers:
Jack’s Surfboards
101 Main Street
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
The Surfer’s Outlet by Jack’s Surfboards
176 Avenida Del Mar
San Clemente, CA 92672
Surf Ride Boardshop
325 N Highway 101
Solana Beach, CA 92075
Proof Lab Surf Shop
254 Shoreline Hwy
Mill Valley, CA 94941
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