Get Geared Up For The GO211 LIVE US Open Of Surfing With IPEVO
July 21st, 2008 by Adam
The 15th annual US Open of Surfing competition kicks off today in Huntington Beach, CA, and runs through Sunday, July 27. As one of the world’s biggest surfing and action sports beach festivals, the US Open of Surfing is North America’s only 6-star ASP WQS contest and attracts crowds of more than 400,000.
Helping to kick off the event, we have one of IPEVO’s prize packs to give away to our readers. IPEVO, a designer of devices to enhance the Internet experience, will be at the US Open of Surfing’s Vendor Village hosting a ‘Scar Search’ contest along with ROCKSTAR Energy Drink. The two companies will be taking pictures of the most impressive scars, as well as showing off their latest products. Check out a map of the US Open of Surfing Vendor Village.
Enter the sweepstakes now:
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Tell us all about your worst surfing related injury
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How it happened?
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Most importantly – how it hasn’t kept you from getting back on the board!
Enter your story in the comments section below for a chance to win an IPEVO PoV Web Camera and FR-33.1 USB Handset for Skype. The winner with the best injury story will be selected on Friday, August 1, so get your entry in soon.
More GO211 US Open of Surfing Info
Any questions please contact The Surf Blog Spot:
info@surfblogspot.com
This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 10:08 am and is filed under Win Free Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:43 am
We all know how stressful the holidays can be, especially when the surf is cranking and you’re trying to stuff a full session in before the family comes over for Turkey and football. Thanksgiving of 2000 was such a day for one surf crazy adolescent.
I awoke at dawn and convinced my buddy to paddle out with me. With slightly offshore wind, a 16 second head high swell, and crisp winter barrels at my local Socal beachbreak, I was in heaven. After 2 hours of dropping into bombs, my buddy had to go do the family thing, but I just couldn’t get out of the water yet. I paddled over to the jetty where a nice right kept setting up long walls to ride.
After several great rides, I hopped to my feet yet again only to see I could not outrun this one. Head high and reeling, I hesitated for a moment, in awe of the backlight beauty, before leaping over the backside of the wave. It must have been only half a second before I realized I hadn’t jumped far enough, and I got that awful feeling of being sucked back over the falls. As I went weightless, my fall was cut short by the rail of my surfboard as it attempted to dissect my abdomen. The pain wasn’t unbearable, but it felt different than anything before. I emerged out of breath but grabbed my board to paddle back out. A wave approached. I attempted but could not catch my breath for a duck dive. Seeing a five wave set stack up forced me to go into the beach. That, and a unique feeling that something was wrong. Way wrong.
No, I would be all right. I just had to get home. As I walked the two blocks back to my Grandfather’s house, I became increasingly hunched over, grabbing my upper left stomach. By the time I got to the house, things were getting confusing. I laid down, closed my eyes, and found peace.
“He doesn’t look well,” I could hear my Granddad saying on the phone. Within minutes, my mom sped over in the family car. An ex-nurse, you could see the face that recognizes something isn’t right. Very calmly, she reassured me, “Shawn, we’re going to call an ambulance and everything will be alright.”
Breathing became harder, the ambulance ride was an eternity, and there was nothing that could be done.
In the hospital, I took a urine test for blood, which lit up like the first lighting of the town Christmas tree. Uncertain of my future, my 16 year old body was being prepped for surgery as I said “I love you’s” to Mom and Dad. A nurse placed a clear mask over my face, and everything ceased.
In my five day hospital stay, I was told three times that I was lucky to be alive. Staring at a nine inch scar from my sternum to pubic region, the surgeon informed me that upon palpation, my spleen disintegrated. However, I was one of the lucky 10 percent of people that have two spleens!
6 weeks of being laid up in a recliner watching surf videos is horrible. I was constantly badgered with the same question, “Shawn, will you ever surf again?” Come on people, injuries are a part of sports. If you love something, then nothing should come between you. I’m surprised when people still ask this question after shark attacks. Sharks have been in the ocean for millions of years and there have always been attacks. Nothing has changed.
Despite the entire ordeal, I never doubted that I would surf again. Surfing makes me who I am. In addition to the pure joy and excitement, surfing drives me to finish tasks, washes away my troubles, and gives me perspective. It is both my drug of choice and my religion. At the same time, I am a devout addict, and nothing will come between my love of surfing and me.