People always ask what SAMA means. It started as kind of a joke. It was a sleeting, snowy day in early December. My friend and I were surfing a swell in Grand Haven. I looked over at him knowing we were supposed to both be at pre-Christmas family functions soon, and said "We are like Self Absorbed Michigan Adventurers." That kind of stuck, and like many of our friends we have a common passion for outdoor sports in Michigan, and we go out in any weather to get our sessions. He replied "Ya, SAMA!"

So it was born, the SAMA logo was fashioned by another like minded surfer friend from Grand Haven. SAMA is for all of you year round Michiganders and vacationers who know, love, and respect all the outdoor activities there are to do in Michigan. No matter the weather you will find us us out enjoying all the benefits of our unique freshwater paradise.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

U.P. Snowboard Trip 2008

Hey bros,

As you may already know, the annual U.P. snowboard trip is just around the corner (Jan 31st - Feb 3rd). This year we have decided to take it to Mt. Bohemia and thanks to Buck, we've already secured one of the ten-man yurts to stay in slope-side.

Dig out your gear and make up whatever excuses you need to...it's on!

Give a shout with any questions.

muskegon luge open today

samaniacs: the muskegon luge is opening for the season today from 11am-5pm all you can slide for $30. that includes a lesson from a luge coach. all you need is proof of health insurance (no joke) and an ID. brennon and i are going to check it out this afternoon. give us a ring if you come up north today!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

More Arctic Photos



Here's a few more photos from last Sunday. I especially like the one with Bramer and the cross-country skier.

Holiday Happenins





Our Sunday soup session was taken up a notch this week when we added a little holiday spirit with a pre-soup cookie baking par-tay. By the end we were getting a little delirious and pretty much "over" the trees, reindeer, and bells. Always looking for a way to incorporate surfing, Braymer turned the gingerbread men into little surfer dudes and "free-handed" some awesome boards with 3-D fins and all!

Monday, December 17, 2007

SAMA Holiday Festivities


If anyone is in GH this Friday evening and have nothing planned, Natalie and I are having our good friend John Troast do a mini concert for some of our friends in our home. John's been traveling the country doing in home shows for the past couple months, and we're pretty excited to have our friend join us this Friday the 21st. The SAMAnation is more than welcome to join in on the festivities. We'll have food and a few warm cider beverages prepared, but if you'd like to BYOB that would be great too. We'll be getting things started around 7:00PM for those intersted in some good listining. Bring your suit's if you want to jump in the hot tub out back too. Let me know if your interested in joining us. (I posted the wrong date yesterday, Sorry)

Sunday, December 16, 2007

US Steel issue

Well after hangin' with the Oahu Surfrider Chapter I can truly say this... WE ARE NOT THAT DIFFERENT!

The only difference I have seen (in the past) is that they have acted, whereas for the most part we have not... UNTIL RECENTLY, so now the task is to follow up and make sure they know we are not just here for the moment, we will be watching them and questioning them for the long-run!

Keep the faith, ride the wave of change!

peace - V~

Artic Surf Session












Snowy sessions here in Grand Haven today. The swell came up quick and died out quick too. Since we have not had much surf in the past few weeks, most of us were ready to suit up. It started to get some nice size and all of us dropped in on some nice sized icy lake surf. For sure the SAMA crew represented today!! We also made some sweet surfboard Christmas cookies too. Photos of those coming soon. Great day team!

Friday, December 14, 2007

Frozen Feet


Mitchy and I scored some fun, icy rides this morning in Grand Haven. We rode for two hours until we both realized our feet were too numb to stand up. It was good to get out after our couple weeks of flat water. Doc took these pictures of us and Mitch found them on the forum.

U.S. Steel proposing to dump cyanide and mercury into Lake Michigan

Well crew,

After the formation of our new Surfrider Chapter here in Lake Michigan we are up against some major corporations that plan on discharging some of the most toxic chemicals know to man in our fresh water oasis. It is hard to imagine this being true in todays day and age, however, here it is. We have the opportunity to voice our opinion on this until December 28th. Our Surfrider Crew made a great showing the U.S. Steel hearing down in Indiana. Kudos to Ryan at Third Coast and all the surfers that were in attendance. Please take some time to type your concerns in the comment box on this link. We have already succeeded in putting an exemption for surfers in the pier jumping bill. Together we do make difference. Please visit the link below. It only takes a minute to do.

Here is the link:

http://www.epa.gov/region5/publiccomment/ussteel-pubcomment.htm

The comment period runs from November 9 - December 28, 2007. There are several ways for you to share your comments with EPA:
  • Use the online form below (This will e-mail your comments to David Soong and Peter Swenson in EPA's Water Division.)
  • Submit written comments on paper. They must be postmarked by Friday, December 28, 2007. Send them to:
David Soong
NPDES Programs Branch (WN-16J)
US EPA Region 5
77 W. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604-3590
  • Fax your comments to 312-886-0168

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

H2B Visa

Ben and I need your help.

Congress still has not passed the "H2B bill".
This week is our last chance for Ben and I to be together for Christmas.

http://www.savesmallbusiness.org/

You can find more information on the link above.

Thank you very much...
Anna

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Do you know who Tim Berners-Lee is?

Hey crew,

I email subscribe to this blog called Life 2.0. They are quite reflective about life and human nature. I stumbled across this in my email inbox, and thought it was worthy of sharing. If you have few minutes to read it please do.

Life 2.0 - (rss1)


A World Wide Web of Ideas

Posted: 07 Dec 2007 07:30 PM CST

Reading Stephen Fry's excellent post “Is this the greatest living Englishman?”, I find it incredible that it was as recent as 1990 that Tim Berners-Lee first cooked up the hypertext transfer protocol (http) and the complete architecture for the web. It's probably made the biggest change to our lives since the invention of the printing press... completely transforming commerce and the way we communicate.

Altruism

To me, his gift was not http (someone, somewhere would surely have invented something similar), but his decision to make his invention free for all. There were no patent dues, no royalties and no restrictions: it was an open book. His dream was a free interchange of information, and he stood by his principles.

It's others -- the Googles and Yahoos of this world, and a million more, that have built their fortunes on the back of his work. Meanwhile Sir Tim still works away today, as modest and as unassuming as ever, heading the WC3 Consortium towards an open, free and wholly public web from his base at MIT. Still driving around in his beat up old VW, I believe.

But lets just consider for a moment the difference he has made. Ten years ago money was synonymous with power. Brands, both political and commercial, got build through mass media advertising campaign -- TV, newspapers, magazines. Not any more. How much have Starbucks or Amazon spend on advertising? Word of mouth now rules. Or, perhaps more accurately, the hyperlinked word.

Influence

PageRank (now one of the main leading indicators of influence) is based on the number and quality of inbound links. But how many people do you think link to Proctor and Gamble, BMW, Intel or any mainstream corporate site? Would you, as a blogger, every have reason to link there? Probably not. Corporate sites have a hell of a job attracting links directly, because what attracts interest is rarely the products or the companies themselves, but the experiences and stories that people tell about them.

The upshot of this is that if someone writes an informative or revelationary piece about their experience (good or bad) with a company's products or service, that piece will quite easily hit the front page of search results for that company. Let's not miss the significance of this: An interesting and authentic article written by you can have a bigger impact and more immediate effect than the entire marketing budget and efforts of a global organisation.

Now THAT is influence. And although the potential of weblogs may not be fully appreciated by bloggers themselves, it's certainly not lost on many a head honcho in industry, marketing, PR and big media who are bricking themselves right now.

Freedom

But, at least to me, it's not the power to disrupt the status quo that's most interesting or significant. It's the ability to allow good ideas to fly. Blogs, being frictionless, can be catalysts for quantum leaps in our understanding. This opens up completely new opportunities... particularly in the way we work together, organise ourselves and create things.

People talk about Enterprise 2.0 being the democratisation of the work place and the replacement for the old hierarchies and control models, but I don't think it's about democracy. It's far better than that. It's a new meritocracy. And not a meritocracy of people but of ideas.

When ideas can come from anywhere we let go of our dependency on leaders and experts. Without the pressure on a few to deliver for the many, everyone benefits. We all become responsible; and people get valued for what they bring to the table now, not their resume or position.

An enterprise is the sum of its people and, like all living systems, it thrives on energy. This energy is the flow of ideas, of inspiration and also of love. This flow is the life blood of any organisation. As we learn at school, energy cannot be created or destroyed, it's always there. We don't do anything to make energy flow - it does that already. What we need 'do' is simply remove the barriers -- the systems, the doors and policies that cause the friction... and then get out of the way. Living systems thrive, adapt and self-heal when they become self aware -- when the connections are open and free.


All I can say is, that's pretty cool! Thanks Tim! Keep rockin!!

Friday, December 7, 2007


 













Recent SB swell. Rincon was firing and Johan said he caught a few solid overhead barrels! As you can see even Kelly Slater dropped in to score some of the Rincon fun. Johan, killing it in Cali!! Man, we need to get out there soon.....Yo, thanks for keepin us Samainiacs up with the SB times!! I will be out there soon.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Sama Luge Team

The snow has fallen and the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex is about to open for the season. This means that there are less than 2 months to train for the Luge Championship! This year the sports complex is having a: winter triathlon (skate, xc ski, luge), 10k & 5k snowshoe race, 7.5k xc ski race, and a luge championship. I vote we get a team together, put on our games faces and represent sama in the snow!

Krampus und Hl. Nikolaus



Hi Samanians,


you can be happy that you are not spending time in Europe right now in paticular Austria. You could happen to run into creatures like you can see on the pictures below.
Johan and Schatzi beware when you come to Austria next time!!!!


I will attach a little link, which explains you the tradition behind the Krampus and Hl. Nikolaus on Dec. 5th and 6th......... every year.....

Sunday, December 2, 2007

K58 Baja Mexico


Here is a quick little photo Johan sent me today. This is the place we surfed in July, he went back down this fall. Man I would like to get tucked into that little barrel section! Nice work Johan!!

Monday, November 26, 2007

Florida Chunk







Well Ben and I had a chance to catch some little Florida chunky waves on the last morning he was here. I was definitely riding the wrong board for the waves but still managed to snag a couple good ones. Nice warm blue water, not a bad way to end the Thanksgiving weekend. Hope everyone's turkey day was a good one.

a sama thanksgiving in hatteras













a few samaniacs gathered together for turkey and some nice waves this past week in the outer banks. photos above are brennon and mitch. wish i had a better lens!! rock on sama friends!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thanksgiving in Florida





Happy Thanksgiving!!


Here are a couple of pics from the fishing trip yesterday. We had a mahi and a shark on, but could get them in the boat. Oh well, good for them. They will live to swim another day in the big blue.


We had a great Turkey Day. Cooper and I scored St. Joe Wed. afternoon. It was shoulder high and pumping on the sand bar. As soon as I got to Florida Beau and I scored a nice head high ground swell. It was a blast. The waves have been a little small and chunky the today and yesterday, but I should pick up tomorrow. I have been surfing Beau's little 6'0"Anderson Physh. Pretty sweet board, it is a little rocket sled down the face of a wave. Hopefully we will get some pics tomorrow morning before I have to fly home. Stoked. SAMA rules!!!!

Monday, November 19, 2007

SALZBURG Glühweinopening


It was on the 17.11.2007 and not on the 04.02.2005!!!
We had a beautiful weekend up there!
Enjoyed the fresh snow, the glühwein and the kasnockn! The Boys did some cool jumps!






Sunday, November 18, 2007

Real Men and Women, Real Neighborhoods, Real Football!



With a beautiful sunny Sunday here in West Michigan it was perfect for a little touch, or push to the ground football. Sispera, crashed and burned, Sarah almost blew out her knee, Marlow struggled to his feet several times, and I thought I ruined my ankle again. But, as luck would have it we all made it back to the house under our own power. Thanks to everyone for a great post game meal! What a blast! The pool table was in action after the sun went down, and another epic Sunday was in the books. Thanks again to everyone who came up and made it a great day. Let's do it again sometime soon!

More Pow!



Continuing to kill it in Zell am See!!! Dude, I want to fly over now!

Then they went to a rail jam at a castle near Kaprun. Followed by a battle of the bands until the wee hours of the morning. Check out the video on this site

www.backonboard.com

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Austria is Alpine Heaven






Here is a few pics that were sent to me by Stoffi. He was obviously scoring! I am starting to really think we need a SAMA jet to fly around and hit all the epic conditions world wide. Here is part of his email that explains the session.

hello my snow-friends

aus you can see - austria got dumped on last week. we have not had so much snow this early in over 40 year. it is great.
yesterday we skinned up the mountain and had a great powder run down from there. tomorrow lifts are opening here for the
weekend. we are probably hiking up tomorrow at 6:30am so we can lay the first tracks before the tourists do it. you just gotta
do what you gotta do.

Samainians keep up the strong work around the globe!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Corpus Christi Tx


Hey ben & all who care,

I think it would be great to have a Yankee party down here. These rebels could use to be taught another lesson. Come in the spring time the water is not in the eighties yet (100 degree days in the summer with water temp close to 90 gets a little uncomfy for my nothern blood.)

and the jetties are very clear for some great spear fishin! Also there seems to be good surfin here year round. Usually the wind comes out of the south which makes the north side of the padre jettie nice and glassy. My address is 101 Skipper Ln., Corpus Christi Texas.

See ya soon

Travis