From Carlsbad-based documentary filmmaker Brooks Venters comes the film "Finding a Way". It's a biographical documentary exploring the life of Pete Gustin, a world-renowned blind voiceover artist, surfer, and Youtuber. The 26 minute documentary follows Gustin's life from childhood to present, and documents the major challenges he's faced due to his blindness.
"Finding a Way" premiered on January 26 on Pete Gustin's self-run "Blind Surfer" Youtube channel. It's the only channel produced, shot, and edited by a blind person. 
The documentary release comes on the heels of an exceptional year for Gustin. He won two Voice Arts Awards from The Society of Voice Arts and Sciences: Outstanding Movie Trailer of the Year for the film "Unhinged", and Outstanding TV Promo of the year for the TV show "Archer". His new Youtube channel has reached over 10,000 subscribers. He also got engaged to his longtime girlfriend Maggie Carpenter. Gustin boasts a storied voiceover career and has been heard on ESPN, Fox, Fox News, CBS, ABC, Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, FXX and many major movie trailers. The documentary is both a documentation and a celebration of Pete's journey and accomplishments.
"Blind Surfer" Pete Gustin said: "I'm super excited about this documentary. It captures the full extent of the challenges I've faced due to my blindness. I've had other media outlets cover my voiceover career and my surfing separately, but this is the first piece that covers it all. It captures the true message that I'm trying to get across, that I've been able to find a way to do what I want through hard work and never giving up."
Brooks Venters produced, directed, shot and edited the documentary. Venters is a North Carolina native and Digital Marketing professional. He moved to Southern California 7 years ago. Venters met Gustin through Instagram in August of 2020. He's been shooting drone footage of Gustin for the "Blind Surfer" Youtube channel since. After learning Gustin's story, Venters saw the potential for a great piece. He has produced several other documentaries covering subjects like homelessness, the life of Bill Walton, and solar-powered homes.

Finding a Way" is now available to watch in full 4k on the "Blind Surfer" Youtube channel here: https://youtu.be/8pD_9Ym6k70. Brooks Venters is a Documentary Filmmaker and Digital Marketing Professional. Contact him at [email protected], on his website at www.dronesesh.com, or @dronesesh on Instagram. ​Pete Gustin is a world-renowned voiceover artist and runs the "Blind Surfer" Youtube channel. He can be found at www.petegustin.com, @realpetegustin on Instagram, and in weekly Vlog episodes on the "Blind Surfer" Youtube channel.

Surf fans will have to wait longer to cheer for their favorite pro surfer, with upcoming contests in Hawaii and Northern California affected by coronavirus concerns.
The World Surf League announced it has cancelled the Sunset Open and is postponing for now a new event in Santa Cruz.
The news follows a short, but shaky, start of the pro surfing season with the Billabong Pipe Masters having to be paused following staff members testing positive for coronavirus. The event was allowed to eventually finish.
The women’s event, the Maui Pro, had to change venues after a shark attack on a recreational surfer near the contest site.
Hawaii suspended all surfing competitions until further notice, the WSL, which is based in Santa Monica, announced. The Sunset Open was supposed to happen between Jan. 19 and 28. The Big Wave Jaws Championship Pe’ahi has also been canceled.

With the ongoing surge in California cases, the WSL has postponed the Santa Cruz Pro, which would have run Feb. 2 through 12.
“The decision to postpone the Santa Cruz Pro, the last planned event of the US leg of the Championship Tour, is based primarily on the surge of COVID-19 cases in California,” league officials said. “The postponement is also heavily influenced by the length of time our athletes have been away from home, and by the complexities of global travel during this pandemic, which would have caused significant logistical challenges for athletes and staff to travel home and return to California for the event.”
The Sunset Open in Hawaii would have been the first time a men and women’s championship title was held there since 1991. It has also been about three decades since the world’s best competed at Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz.
“It is a testament to our surfers, staff and the local community of Hawaii that we were able to successfully complete both the men’s and women’s opening (competition tour) events of the 2021 season, and we would like to thank the communities in both Maui and Oahu for their support,” the announcement said.
Still on the schedule is the Australian leg, kicking off with the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach contest in April.

The World Surf League previously announced many changes to this year’s tour, including bringing professional surfing back to Lower Trestles, one of the mainland’s best spots for waves, for the first time in three years since the Hurley Pro was last held there. It swapped for an event at the Surf Ranch, a man-made wave pool in Lemoore, near Fresno.
The Lower Trestles event is still planned, though it will depend on the state of the pandemic. The event south of San Clemente will bring together the top five men and top five women for the new surf-off format at the high-performance wave. The WSL Finals will have a window from Sept. 8 to 17, with the contest to run on the day with the best surf conditions.

​Surfer magazine, which helped legitimize wave-riding as a global sport through its lush photography and California-cool stories, printed its final edition and suspended operations this month, to the dismay of the legions of baby boomers who once lingered at newsstands waiting for the latest issue.
Founded in 1960 and beloved by pre-internet-age surfers from Mission Beach to Biarritz, the magazine furloughed staff Friday and ceased further print and online content offerings. Though founded in Orange County, the magazine was based in recent years in Carlsbad.
“The whole staff got let go yesterday (no, nothing to do with the heat from the Biden endorsement, just the COVID economy), but I feel like we’re ending on a high note with this one,” Editor in Chief Todd Prodanovich said in an Instagram post about the final issue.
“Funny how you can work a job like this for 10 years and each issue is a completely new and different journey. I’ll really miss that part, and the mag in general, which ends on this issue after 60 years of publication.”
Though many in the surfing community say they saw the end coming, the demise of Surfer still stings for aging surfers who couldn’t wait for the monthly magazine to arrive.
“I have watched many great publications go out of business over the past few years, but this one hit me really hard,” said Steve Hawk, who edited the magazine for eight years in the 1990s. “It was so much more than just a magazine for a lot of surfers of a certain generation. It was a cultural touchstone and groundbreaking in a lot of ways.”
Surfer was among the first niche sports magazines of any kind to be successful, with a pedigree akin to Hot Rod and Field & Stream, Hawk said.

In an emailed response to questions, a spokesman for A360 Media said that “due to pandemic’s economic impact on the industry and the cancellation of live events, staff furloughs and the suspension of operations for some brands are necessary for the time being.” 
Bass, executive director of the Boardroom surfboard show in Del Mar and a longtime industry executive, recalled that the first issue of the magazine contained a photo of a surfer paddling out toward a glassy pristine wave. It became a signature of what the magazine was about. 
“That kind of set the bar for this ideal of going out and finding your own little slice of heaven,” Bass said. “Searching for that, this idea of adventure, of freedom, of individuality, of being different, a little bit of counterculture, all of those things. That is what Surfer magazine was draped in. It was very important.” 
John Severson, an art teacher, photographer, writer and cartoonist, founded Surfer magazine to promote a new surf film, said Steve Pezman, who worked at the magazine for 20 years before founding the Surfer’s Journal. The artistry of the magazine captured readers’ imaginations, he said.

The surfing industry is seeing a boom in business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One place where business has boomed is at Drill Malibu Surf and Skate.
Craig Clunies-Ross said he and his staff will be riding the surf frenzy wave as long as they can. "It's exploding," Clunies-Ross said. The shop owner said surf lessons and board and wetsuit sales have quadrupled.
"People are chasing the delivery truck to our shop and there's a line before we can even get them off the delivery truck," employee Christian Pflaum said.
After losing both his homes to the Woolsey Fire in 2018, the Malibu business owner thought his luck was turning around in the spring.
"We felt like we'd really righted the ship and got things back to normal and then the pandemic hit this spring," Clunies-Ross said.
Clunies-Ross was forced to shut his doors for a few months, but with the pandemic pushing most outdoors, people want to hit the water.
"I was just stuck in my apartment all day. I'm a musician. I've been working from home and I just wasn't getting outside, so I'd always been thinking about it and just decided to teach myself," surfer Sam Saunders said.
"During COVID, there's not as many ways to be social or be in a community and so for me, surfing has kind of become that way to just connect and just to be around people," surfer Mattie Peña said.
"As stores started to open up and down the California coast, the demand got crazy and companies like O'Neill wetsuits, Catch Surf, Storm Blade, Rip Curl - they started running out of product because stores like mine were seeing elevated business," Clunies-Ross said.
"Before, we would do one-time lessons for first-time tourists who just want to get the California scene. Now, it's more like surf coaching and surf training with people that are renting the beach houses in this area, so we'll have clients that'll stick around for months with us," Pflaum said.
Clunies-Ross said sales have been record-breaking in September. He's on his way to his best year since opening his shop in 2009.

​Statistics received from the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles show that total revenue from all specialty plate sales in August, 2020 actually decreased to $2,701,403.00 from $2,798,122.00 for August, 2019. However, Endless Summer was the highest grossing plate in August, 2020 with $182,075.00, increasing from $171,250.00 for August, 2019.  The next highest was University of Florida with $159,775.00 (falling from $172,825.00 in August, 2019).

​This continues to follow the increase each month which will ultimately result in Endless Summer taking over the top selling plate spot from the University of Florida, which they have held for over 20 years. The University of Florida license plate was authorized in 1986, Endless Summer was not available until 2011.
In 2019, University of Florida raised $2,188,575.00 while Endless Summer raised $2,006,075.
So far in 2020, through August 31, University of Florida has raised $1,321,950.00 and Endless Summer has raised $1,367,650.00.
​Nearly 100,000 Florida vehicles should have the Endless Summer specialty license plate on their vehicles in 2021.

Revenue from sales of the license plate go to Surfing’s Evolution & Preservation Foundation, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, which was established in 2008. The primary funding source for Surfing’s Evolution & Preservation Foundation is the Florida “Endless Summer” specialty license plate. The plate is one way to show support for the sport of surfing, as well as keeping Florida’s beaches healthy and clean.
In the enabling legislation, and following the Foundation’s mission, the primary use of the funds from the specialty plate is to support the proposed Surfing’s Evolution & Preservation “Experience” project, which will be located in Cocoa Beach. The Surfing’s Evolution & Preservation “Experience” will be an interactive encounter telling the story of how surfing has evolved and its role in the creation of two new sports: skateboarding and snowboarding, among other sports.
This project, currently estimated at between $15 million and $20 million, is in the initial
concept and planning stages.  So far, $10,674,302.20 has been raised from sales of the Endless Summer specialty license plate in Florida.
In addition to the Surfing’s Evolution & Preservation “Experience” project, the Foundation
has assisted organizations and events whose missions parallel the Foundation’s goals:
keeping beaches healthy and safe through education and action. The Foundation has
researched opportunities to help and has found a number of partners, including the Marine Discovery Center, whose mission is “To protect and restore the Florida coastal and Indian River Lagoon ecosystems through education, research and community stewardship.”
The Foundation also supports Special Olympics Florida with its board sports programs, and a number of beach cleanup organizations, including local affiliates of Keep America Beautiful, which allows participation in annual events such as Earth Day and the International Coastal Cleanup.

Taking the Drive in Movie Theater experience to the next level, the Newport Beach Film Festival is screening the world premiere of 'A Life of Endless Summers: The Bruce Brown Story'. The film features a look back at the famous filmmaker, his career, his friends, family, and the art of surf film-making.
The event is scheduled for Thursday, August 13, 2020, 8:00 PM PDT. Doors open at 6:00 PM, showtime is approximately 8.00PM (sunset). The event will be held at  Fashion Island, 401 Newport Center Dr., Newport Beach, CA - on top of the parking structure at THE LOT Fashion Island.
The audio for the movie is broadcast through a Professional Grade FM transmitter (radio), so make sure you have a good sound system in your vehicle. If you don't have an FM transmitter in your car you can bring a battery-operated stereo with speakers to hear the movie. Tickets must be purchased online, in advance. Tickets will be scanned through car window when entering.
For ticket information, click here.

​Surfing advocates and the California Coastal Commission rained ire this week on a bill that would allow San Diego and Orange county homeowners to build seawalls by right, sidestepping commission oversight.
Seawalls are highly controversial in California, viewed as a property defense against sea-level rise and the crumbling of coastal cliffs. At the same time, seawalls prevent the natural replenishment of beach sand from cliff faces and land runoff.
Republican Sen. Pat Bates, who represents portions of San Diego and Orange counties, brought SB 1090 before the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee allowing testimony from pre-selected speakers.
The father of an Encinitas family that lost three members when a cliff collapsed on top of their weekend picnic last year gave emotional testimony on behalf of the bill.
“There is no plan for sand replenishment or any other bluff changes to increase safety on this very popular stretch of beach where my accident occurred,” said J. Patrick Davis, a pediatric dentist.
Seawalls, or “hard armoring” as Surfrider Foundation’s scientist Jennifer Savage called the structures, do not make beaches safer, she said. “They destroy the beach by speeding-up erosion,” Savage said.

​The Coastal Commission representative argued the Encinitas incident was a tragic accident, not due to a lack of action by the commission to approve or deny a seawall in the area.
“The bill is designed to make it faster, easier and cheaper to build seawalls primarily to protect private residential development,” Sarah Christie, the commission’s legislative director, testified. “For every seawall that is built, the public loses a beach.”
There was no committee vote, however. Sen. Henry Stern, the committee chair, and Bates agreed ahead of time to hear the bill without the vote, and testimony was heard on May 26, 2020. said Josh Kirmsse, Stern’s communications director.
The Committee Analysis states that for Orange and San Diego Counties, this bill would effectively authorize by-right construction of sea walls/other hard shoreline structures and  only allow the commission or a local government to deny an application for a shoreline protective device only if they determine that the construction of a shoreline protective device would constitute a substantial threat to the public health or safety. It also seeks to prohibit a state agency or local government to adopt an ordinance, regulation, policy or rule that is inconsistent with these requirements.
Supporters of the bill include California Apartment Association, California Association of Realtors, Newport Beach Association of Realtors, North San Diego County Association of Realtors, Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, Orange County Realtors, County of San Diego, and ‘four individuals’.

Opposers to the bill included Azul, Azul was founded in 2011 by Marce Gutierrez-Graudins, to bring Latinxs perspectives and participation to ocean conservation, and are legally organized under the Trust for Conservation Innovation. After experiencing how mainstream ocean conservation efforts and campaigns were leaving Latinxs out, Marce decided to start Azul to engage her community in protecting coastal resources and marine life. In a joint sign-on letter expressing strong opposition, Azul, among others, writes that SB 1090 “would pave the way for private property owners to effectively hasten and accelerate the loss of public beaches from the Orange County and San Diego coasts under the guise of claiming to improve public safety.”
Others who registered in opposition to the bill were California Coastal Protection Network, Heal the Bay, California Coastal Commission, California Coastkeeper Alliance, California League of Conservation Voters, California Native Plant Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Clean Water Action, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Plastic Pollution Coalition, Seventh Generation Advisors, Sierra Club California, Surfrider Foundation, The 5 Gyres Institute, The Center for Oceanic Awareness, Research, and Education (COARE), The Honorable Betty T. Yee, California State Controller, and the Nature Conservancy. Heal the Bay is an advocacy group of activists based in Santa Monica, California. The focus is protecting coastal waters and watersheds of southern California.
Senators will do more work on the legislation at the committee level.
The bill analysis also states that "erosion will be exacerbated by the presence of sea walls on the seaward size of the sea wall. Public accessibility will be correspondingly compromised. Beaches need natural erosion and sediment transfer for their health. Living shorelines, soft armoring and managed retreat, if necessary, should be prioritized. How can shoreline armoring be 'designed to mitigate or protect against coastal erosion' as it is known to exacerbate that very thing?" It also comments that the bill "provides an implicit public subsidy to private landowners."
Click here for the full bill text.

​Bruce Brown is widely known to have been the innovator of modern-day surf films.
The California filmmaker who directed "The Endless Summer" continues to fill seats around the world. "A Life of Endless Summers: The Bruce Brown Story" is a feature-length movie about the legendary director. Written, directed, and produced by Dana Brown, this film features a look back at the famous filmmaker, his career, his friends, family, and the nexus of surf filmmaking.

The documentary about Bruce Brown reveals details about the man, the husband, the father, and the pioneer filmmaker he was for five decades and features the likes of Hobie Alter, Gerry Lopez, Jack O'Neill, Kenny Roberts, Chad McQueen, Mert Lawwill, and a slew of other notable surf and motto dignitaries. 
"We are excited to be able to offer this fantastic film to our audiences at this unique time of transition," notes Henry C. Lystad, director of operations at Adventure Entertainment. "As we are all starting to carefully and conscientiously re-open for business, 'A Life of Endless Summers' is just the type of uplifting story film that we need now."
"A Life of Endless Summers: The Bruce Brown Story" will be released on digital platforms and select theaters on August 18th. Click here for a preview.

It's the year 1962. Bruce Brown, an ambitious young filmmaker has an idea for a new project - The Endless Summer. 
The concept: Follow the summer season around the world with two surfers on a quest for the perfect wave. As it turned out, Bruce was on to something. Not only did the film become a hit, it earned a cult following, became the most successful surf film of all time and arguably made him the founding father of action sports films. 
Directed by second generation, award winning and documentarian filmmaker Dana Brown his projects have included such titles as Endless Summer 2, Step Into Liquid, Dust to Glory, Highwater, On Any Sunday: The Next Chapter and Dust 2 Glory.
A Life of Endless Summers is the story of a man, a father, a husband, a filmmaker, a pioneer, a legend.

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Outerknown, a clothing brand co-founded by pro-surfer Kelly Slater, makes effortless and casual beach styles rooted in sustainability and transparency. Over 90% of Outerknown's products are made from organic, recycled, or regenerated materials. The company's manufacturing partners also follow strict guidelines of safety and working conditions.
Slater pointed out that "conscious development takes time and investment. There are added costs in creating quality product made to last, in finding and partnering with the right factories that value worker well-being, and in sourcing and leveraging materials that cause less harm." 
"At the end of the day, we're looking at the long run and what's best 'For People and Planet.' We're putting in the work to build a truly sustainable model rather than zeroing in on short-term trends or financials," he says. 
Outerknown has partnered with Bruce Brown films LLC to launch a new collection - Bruce Brown Films
available in store and online.

​A recent comment on the store's website stated: "Honestly, I hadn’t thought about Endless Summer for years. It’s always been one of my favorite movies and movie posters. I was recently in a VRBO and the owner was a Tower Records Exec. In a prior life. His home was filled with vintage concert and movie prints. I immediately was drawn to the Endless Summer print with its amazing colors and the silhouettes of the surfers. I went home and bought a framed print and watched the movie. Totally inspiring and the Soundtrack by The Sandals is so cool. Then...I get the email from Outerknown featuring Bruce Brown. I was like, this is too good to be true. Feels like serendipity! Needless to say, I immediately bought the shirt and it is fantastic. Feels good to wear it. Ahh, Karma." Jake'

The store is now open at The Point in El Segundo:
The Point Shopping Center, 850 S. Pacific Coast Highway, Suite D 106, El Segundo, CA 90245.
​Best of luck to Kelly on this new adventure.