More Santa Cruz Kneelo Festival media coverage is coming tomorrow!
Check out The San Diego Union-Tribune's Tuesday, Nov. 25 edition. Terry Rodgers, the U-T's surfing and coastal issues reporter, told me today that he has written a kneeboarding feature for his twice-monthly surfing column in the Sports section. The feature, he says, will split time between talking about Jack B's win in the Open Division of the U.S. KB Champs in Santa Cruz, and talking about U.S. kneeboarding's newfound energy, made possible by the gatherings, the festival, the web site, etc.
If you're not in the paper's circulation area, you can read most of the U-T's news stories from the most recent seven days for free online at www.signonsandiego.com (although they usually don't include photos).
Kneeboarding event coverage from Santa Cruz Local Paper
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DarcyM
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Kneelo coverage
Terry did a nice piece on the second page of today's Sports section in the SD Union Tribune. The piece is written by Terry Rodgers of the UT. You can read it online at:
http://signonsandiego.com/news/uniontri ... rfcol.html
(You won't get the hot pic of Jack shredding a nice wave from this summer's Newport gathering in the online version, but you've no doubt seen the pic on this website)
The piece really focuses on Jack, with some much deserved praise and recognition for his talents, and on the resurgence in kneeboarding generated by this website. It's not so much a report on the Santa Cruz contest as it is a snapshot of the last 20 years of our sport. Still, it's really refreshing to see some mainstream media attention, and I hope others sit up and take notice.
thanks Jason for getting Terry on the ball on this one!
"we're not dead yet!"
dm
http://signonsandiego.com/news/uniontri ... rfcol.html
(You won't get the hot pic of Jack shredding a nice wave from this summer's Newport gathering in the online version, but you've no doubt seen the pic on this website)
The piece really focuses on Jack, with some much deserved praise and recognition for his talents, and on the resurgence in kneeboarding generated by this website. It's not so much a report on the Santa Cruz contest as it is a snapshot of the last 20 years of our sport. Still, it's really refreshing to see some mainstream media attention, and I hope others sit up and take notice.
thanks Jason for getting Terry on the ball on this one!
"we're not dead yet!"
dm
dm
"Push the button, Max!"
"Push the button, Max!"
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MWROBERTSON
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Article
Jack,
Great article and a real positive for you and a push for us!
Great article and a real positive for you and a push for us!
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DavidW
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Great article by Terry Rogers. He ususally glorifies kooks. This time he spotlighted a cool person who does a cool thing.
Also, Jack, good job giving Rex Huffman the nod as an early influence. For anyone who has not had an opportunity to see Rex ride Big Rock, he is an insane charger with no regard for his body and the best out there for years.
Also, Jack, good job giving Rex Huffman the nod as an early influence. For anyone who has not had an opportunity to see Rex ride Big Rock, he is an insane charger with no regard for his body and the best out there for years.
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Jack Beresford
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UT Story
I guess I owe Jason a raise (or at least a couple of clean ones at the Blacks gathering). 
Jack Beresford
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Jack Beresford
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Here is the story
Kneeboarders Rise From Obscurity
Kneeboarder: A surfer who rides waves on a stunted fiberglass board in a position usually reserved for changing a flat tire, riding a magic carpet or praying. Kneeboarders inhabit the remote fringes of the surfing world. Quirky and often eccentric, they are to be approached with an open mind. They prefer a steady diet of heavy waves. Will answer to "hey, kneelo."
Thirty-eight-year-old Jack Beresford of San Diego, the newly crowned 2003 United States kneeboard champion, doesn't seem to fit the Mr. Moonbeam image of his breed of surfer.
He's married with two kids and lives in the 'burbs. Sharp and articulate, he's employed as director of communications for San Diego State University. Despite his demanding job, he slips out to Black's Beach in La Jolla to snag thumping A-frames.
He rides a 5-foot-8-inch fiberglass board with four fins designed by Eric Schoelkopf of Oceanside. A squishy rubber pad is embedded in the fiberglass deck to ease the pressure on his knees.
"I'll surf in anything," he said. "With a job, kids and etc., I don't have the luxury of waiting for the waves to get good."
As you peel the onion, he seems even more grounded.
"My friends and I were the first generation of Boogie boarders," he recalled.
"Ten or twelve of us switched to kneeboards in July of 1981, when I was 15. We used to ride Boogie boards on our knees, so it was an easy transition."
He and his buddies weren't aware of George Greenough, a leading-edge kneeboarder, innovator and photographer from Santa Barbara. But they admired and emulat-
ed San Diego's then-radical kneeboard stylist Rex Huffman.
But perhaps the sport's greatest influence was San Diego surfboard designer Steve Lis, who revolutionized kneeboarding and stand-up surfing with his split-tailed "fish" designs. Lis' fishes were short and thick with twin-finned bottoms. They were quick and turned like race cars.
"The influence of the fish design still has a lot of bearing on what kneeboarders are riding today," said Beresford.
While others took up bodyboarding or stand-up surfing, Beresford stayed loyal to the sport and competed on his college surf team at UCSD.
His greatest rival was his younger brother, Chris, also a kneeboarder. The two pushed each other to get better. And they did.
By the mid-'80s, U.S. kneeboarding began to fade into obscurity. Two rival kneeboarding associations fought for members and ended up canceling each other out.
"It really lost its momentum," Beresford remembered.
Soon, kneeboarding was dropped from nearly every amateur and pro contest in favor of bodyboarding.
As knee riding lapsed into obscurity in America, the sport maintained a modest but steady interest among surfers in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
During this doldrums era, Beresford won a half-dozen U.S. kneeboarding championships. Sometimes, the title was decided by a mere six participants in a single heat.
Banished from the pro surfing contest scene and ignored by American surfing magazines, dedicated kneeboarders burrowed deep underground.
Then, quietly, almost unnoticed by the surf industry, American kneeboarders in 2001 began to organize "gatherings" where they would meet at various California beaches and
surf together.
A major boost came six months ago when Sausalito kneeboarder Don Harris created a Web site for brethren kneelo enthusiasts: http://www.ksusa.org
"We already have 300 registered members, which is pretty good for an eclectic group," said Harris. "We're a very unique population."
For the first time in a decade, kneeriders gathered in Santa Cruz to hold a U.S. championship contest on Nov. 5-8. It was as much a harmonic convergence as it was a competition.
Fifty-nine men and one woman, Darcy Murphine of San Diego's Clairemont community, competed in modest waist-to chest-high surf. Beresford placed first in all five of his heats to win the Open Division over his former college roommate, Bob Schiff.
"I like surfing in small waves. I find it a challenge," the champion said. "The key is knowing how to find the pockets of energy that are in every wave and being able to find that little burst of speed."
Beresford's friend and co-worker at San Diego State, Jason Foster, won the AA division for competitors with lesser experience.
Asked why his breed of surfer is known for being unconventional, Foster offered this explanation:
"Kneeboarders are a special breed bound by a certain combination of passion and resolve.
"You have the ability to handle the funny looks and drop-ins you experience, to deal with the scarcity of good equipment, comrades and recognition by outside entities, to resist those who insist you should ride waves 'their way,' and focus on the pure joy of what you do.
"If you're in it, you're in it. You're devoted to it."
Terry Rodgers: (619) 542-4566; terry.rodgers@uniontrib.com.
Kneeboarder: A surfer who rides waves on a stunted fiberglass board in a position usually reserved for changing a flat tire, riding a magic carpet or praying. Kneeboarders inhabit the remote fringes of the surfing world. Quirky and often eccentric, they are to be approached with an open mind. They prefer a steady diet of heavy waves. Will answer to "hey, kneelo."
Thirty-eight-year-old Jack Beresford of San Diego, the newly crowned 2003 United States kneeboard champion, doesn't seem to fit the Mr. Moonbeam image of his breed of surfer.
He's married with two kids and lives in the 'burbs. Sharp and articulate, he's employed as director of communications for San Diego State University. Despite his demanding job, he slips out to Black's Beach in La Jolla to snag thumping A-frames.
He rides a 5-foot-8-inch fiberglass board with four fins designed by Eric Schoelkopf of Oceanside. A squishy rubber pad is embedded in the fiberglass deck to ease the pressure on his knees.
"I'll surf in anything," he said. "With a job, kids and etc., I don't have the luxury of waiting for the waves to get good."
As you peel the onion, he seems even more grounded.
"My friends and I were the first generation of Boogie boarders," he recalled.
"Ten or twelve of us switched to kneeboards in July of 1981, when I was 15. We used to ride Boogie boards on our knees, so it was an easy transition."
He and his buddies weren't aware of George Greenough, a leading-edge kneeboarder, innovator and photographer from Santa Barbara. But they admired and emulat-
ed San Diego's then-radical kneeboard stylist Rex Huffman.
But perhaps the sport's greatest influence was San Diego surfboard designer Steve Lis, who revolutionized kneeboarding and stand-up surfing with his split-tailed "fish" designs. Lis' fishes were short and thick with twin-finned bottoms. They were quick and turned like race cars.
"The influence of the fish design still has a lot of bearing on what kneeboarders are riding today," said Beresford.
While others took up bodyboarding or stand-up surfing, Beresford stayed loyal to the sport and competed on his college surf team at UCSD.
His greatest rival was his younger brother, Chris, also a kneeboarder. The two pushed each other to get better. And they did.
By the mid-'80s, U.S. kneeboarding began to fade into obscurity. Two rival kneeboarding associations fought for members and ended up canceling each other out.
"It really lost its momentum," Beresford remembered.
Soon, kneeboarding was dropped from nearly every amateur and pro contest in favor of bodyboarding.
As knee riding lapsed into obscurity in America, the sport maintained a modest but steady interest among surfers in Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
During this doldrums era, Beresford won a half-dozen U.S. kneeboarding championships. Sometimes, the title was decided by a mere six participants in a single heat.
Banished from the pro surfing contest scene and ignored by American surfing magazines, dedicated kneeboarders burrowed deep underground.
Then, quietly, almost unnoticed by the surf industry, American kneeboarders in 2001 began to organize "gatherings" where they would meet at various California beaches and
surf together.
A major boost came six months ago when Sausalito kneeboarder Don Harris created a Web site for brethren kneelo enthusiasts: http://www.ksusa.org
"We already have 300 registered members, which is pretty good for an eclectic group," said Harris. "We're a very unique population."
For the first time in a decade, kneeriders gathered in Santa Cruz to hold a U.S. championship contest on Nov. 5-8. It was as much a harmonic convergence as it was a competition.
Fifty-nine men and one woman, Darcy Murphine of San Diego's Clairemont community, competed in modest waist-to chest-high surf. Beresford placed first in all five of his heats to win the Open Division over his former college roommate, Bob Schiff.
"I like surfing in small waves. I find it a challenge," the champion said. "The key is knowing how to find the pockets of energy that are in every wave and being able to find that little burst of speed."
Beresford's friend and co-worker at San Diego State, Jason Foster, won the AA division for competitors with lesser experience.
Asked why his breed of surfer is known for being unconventional, Foster offered this explanation:
"Kneeboarders are a special breed bound by a certain combination of passion and resolve.
"You have the ability to handle the funny looks and drop-ins you experience, to deal with the scarcity of good equipment, comrades and recognition by outside entities, to resist those who insist you should ride waves 'their way,' and focus on the pure joy of what you do.
"If you're in it, you're in it. You're devoted to it."
Terry Rodgers: (619) 542-4566; terry.rodgers@uniontrib.com.
Jack Beresford
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hart
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Response
Jack.
I've got to respond to your post for no other reason, but the energy is all so good..
Congradulations and keep up the stoke..and isn't sausilito something you guys put on a hot dog?
Sorry Don, eh?
Thanks to this US site.
I've got to respond to your post for no other reason, but the energy is all so good..
Congradulations and keep up the stoke..and isn't sausilito something you guys put on a hot dog?
Sorry Don, eh?
Thanks to this US site.
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DarcyM
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Black's gathering
Jason -
I've put in a query to a local surf photographer, so maybe we can all get shacked and not have to be stuck on the beach or the bluff handling the hardware.
If you know Black's that can be interpreted in all sorts of unsavory ways, but we're not going there ...
dm
I've put in a query to a local surf photographer, so maybe we can all get shacked and not have to be stuck on the beach or the bluff handling the hardware.
If you know Black's that can be interpreted in all sorts of unsavory ways, but we're not going there ...
dm
dm
"Push the button, Max!"
"Push the button, Max!"
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Eric Carson
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