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.

Friday, July 27, 2007

First Blood Rights

Our good friend and fellow SAMAnaic Brian Scott has earned first blood rights at the new bowl at the GH skate park. First drop in...three walls...flat bottom wash out...head to concrete...911...backboard removal from said bowl...you get the idea. He's gonna have a headache for a while, but seems to be alright. Give em' a shout if you can and wish him well. Don't bother with giving him any grief about not wearing a helmet though - Angela was there watching the whole thing. He won't be allowed out of the house without one now:)

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Grand Haven Photos




Some random photos....from top to bottom
1. a few weeks ago the sunset at grand haven was awesome.
2. & 3. photos taken in the water of Mitch playing in some waves.
4. Brennon falls off to let his wife take the wave. how nice.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Take a look at this shreddddder




Maybe we could start up a fund to help get this poor guy some kiteboarding gear. Looks like he's not moving too fast on that old longboard. :)

Friday, July 20, 2007

Braymer broz surfing the White Street


Well, we surfed good old white street for a killer session yesterday. I am sure some of you guys got out there but we had to pick people up at the airport so we were out to Grand Rapids. It was super warm, and great until the wind picked and turned it into a sandstorm at the beach. Maybe some kiting later today??

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Rip'nnnnnn







My buddy, Dale, sent me this photo from last weekend. Who is this SAMAist?

Monday, July 16, 2007

Flat Water Alternative

Any SAMAnians have a kayak? I bought a kayak last Spring and haven't really used it much. Last night I was bummen that the wind never came up enough to kite so I threw my kayak in at White Street and paddled out for about 45 minutes, took a swim, watched the sunset, then paddled in. I got in just as it was getting dark and rode a tiny little wave in all the way from the outer sandbar. It was fun and a nice workout. Let me know if anyone is ever up for a quick paddle session.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Parrot in Austria




I don´t happend to see parrots in my yard everyday. I was sitting at the computer while a parrot enjoyed some plums in my yard.


Dont know where "Harry" came from. All he knows is "hello" "papagei"(parrot in German) and "harry".?????


Pretty interesting!!!

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Back in GH

Hey everyone, Kristen and I are heading to Michigan this Saturday so we can get into town before the big day. We should be in GH on Monday after a one night stay in the Kzoo. Looks like everyone had a great time in ski-town the other day, really makes me miss home. We are pumped to see everyone and can't wait to drink beer around back yard bond fires. See you all soon.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Monday's Mini Tube


Wish I was shorter

Last Hurrah in Austria











Well folks, it looks like you all had a nice Michigan summer session! We just got back from the Zell. Great place, you all would love that town! Anna and I picked my buddy Johan from Salzburg and headed to Zell am See. The hostel was right on the lake and we could swim in the clear warm water while looking up the mountain at a glacier peak, windsurfers, and boaters were out enjoying the typical summer lake scene. But, as luck would have it the next day rain moved in and we only had a few hours of sunshine to hit some climbing. So, we headed to this spot that is overhanging and protected from the rain. So even in a down pour you can still climb dry rock. Pretty sweet. After a day of climbing we headed into St. Johan, a local killer town for needed vittles and chilled. Then headed to Katrin`s house for ice cream and a chill session with the fam. Then back to the hostel to drink some beers and crash. Johan actually ended up hanging with Katrin longer instead of flying back to Sweden, and they are going to go on down to Itlay and Largo Di Garda for more climbing and swimming in the Dolomites. I am jealous I dont have more time to go on that trip. But, I may be flying to Santa Barbara in the end of July for a four day Baja surf trip with Johan and some of his friends, and I have to get back to rage some Great Lakes wind and waves. Here are some photos, and lets get together at my house Saturday night if nothing else is going on!! I will be home Friday sometime. Cant wait for perseveration sessions with the crew!

Mad Moose Trip

Hey! Ben had suggested a Mad Moose trip in August, is anyone still up for that? Brennon and I would like to go and I'm willing to make a reservation for a weekend up there. Surfing, climbing, biking, kayaking, whatever....

We were thinking the weekend of August 11th?

Monday, July 9, 2007

ultimate summer day










A beautiful day at "North Mo" beach...kiting AND surfing ...honestly, does it get any better? Sunny and I took several shots of the action and caught some rays for about a SIX hour sessy...[braymer, how I am doin' with the LINGO? ;-)] I have about 40 photos I wanted to post but the blog scene is apparently above my techie "skeels" at this point. I will load the rest to snapfish.com and send the link... got a few fun shots. I am hoping to get more video footage before I attempt the movie version but will plan to at least add these to the "Best of '07" DVD coming out this winter :-)
Looking forward to seeing all the SAMA gear in the near future!
Lese
Be sure to click on the photo of "da Skinny brother" to see it enlarged for full effect ;-)
*If anyone else wants the snapfish link and didn't get an email from me just shoot me a message and I'll forward it.

Killer SAMA Weekend

Hey Crew,
It was a great weekend. We watched friend-of-SAMA, Pete the Powerhouse Goers dominate and win the Muskegon MPVA volleyball tournement on Saturday. Sunday was a full day of kiting and surfing at North Muskegon. We closed it out by sailing and watching the fireworks on Hoeksema's new boat. Pretty epic. Maybe Lesa will even make a movie of the day's events... I'll try to get some pictures posted.

Friday, July 6, 2007



Well Samaestas,

I am looking at my last few days in Austria, and planning to end it in full stride. I am meeting up with a friend that I met in Costa Rica surfing the first time. His name is Johan, he is from Santa Barbara California, and we are going to hit up some more climbing in the Zell am See area. It is a gorgeous lake town in the mountains with glacier peaks (probably not much longer so I better keep my photos of that) , rushing white water rivers and enough climbing to satisfy even the most hardcore. Here is a little photo of the hostel we are staying at. It should be sweet, lots of ex. Boyne Austrian ski instructors live near this area so it is a little like a reunion. I will post some pics after the trip, but will be coming home the day after we get back so pics will be posted back in Grand Haven. I am super excited to get back and get in the water again, as soon as I collect all my gear that has been ransacked from my garage! Haha..

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

LABELED THREADS

Hey, I remember Anna dropping the idea of putting names on the back of the SAMA gear, so I went ahead and took care of that. At this point I only have one hoody with the custum name printing option on the back, but I can go ahead and make a shirt to your own personal request if you let me know ( mitchell.mulder@fredricks.com ). Otherwise the black hoody with red graphics has an option of changing the name on the back. Right now is says "Mulder", but you can go in there and change it to anything you want. This is a great way to keep other SAMA from claiming your goods!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Who is this masked man??


Can anyone tell me who this is and where the picture was taken. I am afraid if we let people like this out too often it could cause major problems for all of us. Please help me find the identity to this strange gumby style character!!

New Email Subscription

Alright!!

I have a set up a feed to our blog. All you have to do is subscribe to the email list and you will recieve all the posts when posted by email. I feel like a total computer dork, but the site looks sweet and I am stoked!! Besides, I can`t really speak German that well so what else do I have to do??? Hahaha.....

Emails

Hey Crew,

I am wondering if you can set up the recent posts and comments to be automatically emailed to your inbox? I had to go into Settings, and then click email. There is asks you to enter an email address. I just thought having posts sent to your inbox was a great way to keep everyone informed about what is going on. If not, you have to remember to check the site. I always liked getting emails from the recent posts. Let me know if you can set it up that way as well. If not that would be a major downfall of this blogger.

Monday, July 2, 2007

kitewing

Dude, the kitewing looks freeeeeekin awesome. And yet another thing for us to spend our money and time on. By the way, I have the album that the song in the movie is on. They are called The Postal Service and they rock.

SAMA spirit


Dude, nice blog, good job giving SAMA a little upgrade. Yesterday the Flordia based SAMA members went kayaking out to the beach and met another Michigander transplant. His name is Danny he's from St. Joe and lives with his wife Beth at Emerald lakes the same complex Kristen and I live in. We had a good time catching fish off the beach and even managed to catch and release a nice little black tip reef shark. Keeping the SAMA spirit alive on the Florida coast. p.s. this photo was taken in Puerto Rico not Florida, just wanted to practice posting pics.

GH Special


Samasters,

Nice riding last week with the SAMA crew at the GH Bathhouse last week. Even though it was small and far from perfect It was good to be in some warm water finally. I didn't have any pic's from that evening sesh, so I thought I'd drop this epic little day we all had this past winter. Killer times, Killer site Ben!

New Blog


Well team, I will be returning to the GH area on July 12th. It will be good to be back in the water, but I will miss the mountains over here in the Alps. I am stoked to do some behind the boat surfing and LOTS of kiting. My brother is getting married July 21st, so plan on lots of happenings! He will be home July 15th. Well crew, let me know what you think of this new blog. I still want everyone to be able to start posts, and add pictures. Not sure if it works like that but I`m sure it does. So feel free to join in and I will see if we can transfer over the old pics. I appreciate any feedback you can give.

SAMA rules!!