Laird Hamilton Workout: Get SUP ready, get Life ready.

Check out Laird's Fitness training.

Inspiration from the Bella Bella Workshop

I flew in yesterday to Bella Bella for some meetings to determine the direction for the Virtual Rainforest Initiative project. It is cold and clear in Bella Bella right now with a nice coating of snow on the coastal mountains. I was pretty excited today to come in to Chris Williamson's class to check out the wooden standup paddleboards they were making.

Aki hand planning his SUP
I completed my Standup4Greatbear expedition here in Heiltsuk territory last May and the students in Chris's class were inspired to each build a standup paddleboard so they could explore their local waters and traditional territory. I told Chris as soon as i had the chance i was coming down to meet him and the class. Kudos to Chris who took on the project of teaching his students how to build a wooden SUP. This is a huge task which Chris figures the students have already put in 120 hours of work each on their own boards. It is tough enough building one board but Chris is not only building his own board but guiding 12 other students to each build their own board. Really amazing and inspiring leadership by Chris with his class. The boards are made up of a combination of red cedar, yellow cedar and spruce. The students are glassing in the fins and some are getting really close to finishing the boards. I had a chance this morning to meet the class and talk to each student about their boards.The students are also building their own wood paddles which complement the boards beautifully. The students are also designing their own logo's to personalize each of their boards.




Ross, Ian and teacher Chris discussing board design
I will come back in May when the boards are done to do a Mountain Surf standup paddleboard clinic for the kids so they can get out in their own territory to explore, adventure and have fun safely. At one time large traditional cedar canoes were used here for transportation and food gathering. Now, the Heiltsuk youth will be traveling by SUP to carry on their tradition of paddling the oceans and rivers. With 13 new boards ready to be launched this spring Bella Bella has become the SUP paddling capital of the coast. I am so excited to get back here to paddle with Chris's class.


Thanks a lot to Ian MacAllister who came over this morning with me to get video footage of the students and boards to be used for my upcoming documentary, Stand Up.

Ross's beautiful red cedar, yellow cedar and spruce SUP

Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival

What an incredible evening we had this past Wednesday at the VIMFF. It was an evening dedicated to the Greatbear Rainforest and keeping oil tankers off our coast. There was a really amazing collection of people there who were passionate and active in standing up for our coastline.


This is was the program for the evening.
Program:
Presentation:
Whales, wolves, spirit bears, wild salmon and the worlds largest intact temperate rainforest. Photographer, author and veteran conservationist Ian McAllister (Conservation Director—Pacific Wild) discusses the irreversible environmental impact oil tankers would bring to the BC north coast’s wildlife. You can see Ian’s photography at www.pacificwild.org
Film: Oil in Eden
Garth Lenz’s multimedia presentation, Canada’s Tar Sands, captures stories of the environmental issues, threatened wilderness, devastation and the impacts on indigenous peoples through photography. Check out Garth’s online gallery at www.garthlenz.com
On the Line multimedia presentation by Frank Wolf about his fact finding mission that takes a ground-level look at the pipeline from the perspective of the people who live along the proposed route. Frank is in the process of putting together film about his journey, watch the trailer here: http://www.onthelinemovie.com/
Marven Robinson, Gitga’at First Nation, presents his people’s view of the proposed pipeline and tanker project, charted to run through their traditional territory
Film: Uncomfortably Numb (Canada, 2010, 18 min, dir. Michael Reid): Chris Rhodes and Michael Reid explore BCs coast by kayak, connecting you to not just the issues, but the places and the people most affected. Check out the trailer: http://aclexpeditions.org/
Stand Up 4 Great Bear multimedia presentation by Norm Hann. www.standup4greatbear.ca . This presentation introduces you to the people and wildlife of GreatBear Rainforest and highlights this unique, inspiring, standup paddleboard expedition to keep tankers off the coast.
Caitlyn Vernon, Sierra Club BC Coastal Campaigner, describes her experience at the Great Bear Rainforest RAVE (Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition)
Film: Spoil (USA, 2010, 44 min, dir. Trip Jennings): Spoil follows a squad of the best wildlife photographers in the world to the Great Bear Rainforest as they team up with Coastal First Nations in the fight to save this coast from a catastrophic oil spill. Check out the trailer to tonight’s feature: http://www.ilcp.com/events/vancouver-international-mountain-film-festival

It was a really inspiring evening. Thank so much to everyone in Vancouver and area who came out to support the evening. We had over 700 people there and the theatre was packed. The highlight of the evening for me was the Canadian premiere of the EP Film, SPOIL who i worked with this past September in Hartley Bay. They were hired by the ILCP to create a film on the Greatbear RAVE. Please watch this film but if you have a chance watch it on a big screen with good speakers.


SPOIL from EP Films on Vimeo.

http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/articles/violating-the-sacred

Great article by Wade Davis on what is at risk in the Sacred Headwaters of Northern BC. The same can be said for the Greatbear Rainforest.

http://www.alternativesjournal.ca/articles/violating-the-sacred