Riding the tarp-surfing tsunami for a good cause

By ISAIAH GUZMAN

Posted: 09/05/2010 01:30:14 AM PDT

SANTA CRUZ — For years, the Grind Out Hunger campaign has been asking kids to fill barrels with food donations. Now, to get them to donate over the Labor Day Weekend, it’s offering to put them in a barrel — a plastic, blue, “surfable” barrel.

Riding the wave of a recent worldwide tarp surfing trend that began here in Santa Cruz, Grind Out Hunger will host an event Monday where kids can donate either a pound of food or $3 for a ride through what campaign founder Danny Keith calls “massive, kegging tarps.” The event will be held in the parking lot behind Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop on 41st Avenue and will run from noon-3 p.m. All food will go to Second Harvest Food Bank, and cash donations will be split between the food bank and local youth nonprofit, The Core.

“I think there’s other boring events kids are going to get dragged to this weekend,” said Keith, who also owns the skate and surf shop. “But kids would probably rather be tarp surfing than going to an airshow — I’m just saying.”

Started in 2004, Grind Out Hunger aims to get kids in local schools to donate food to other kids in need. More than 500,000 pounds of food have been raised through the campaign, Keith said. As incentive, Keith gives winning schools gift certificates to his shop.

More than 150 people have confirmed they will attend, according to the event’s Facebook page, and more than 200 are listed as maybe.

“At first, I didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal,”  Keith said. “Now, I’m getting calls from people in San Francisco asking if the event is going on.”

Grind Out Hunger works closely with Second Harvest, which feeds about 60,000 people each month, said Bly Morales, the bank’s food drives and events manager.

“Any way we can get people involved is a good thing,” she said. “I’m going to be taking my son out there.”

Tarp surfing requires one person to run and pull the corner of a big, blue tarp. A tube is formed and another person can then ride a skateboard in and get “barreled” much like a real wave.

A tarp surfing tsunami has formed worldwide since well-known local surfers Homer Henard, Omar Etcheverry and Nic Lamb and friend Chris Killen released a spoof video on YouTube on July 19. Henard, Etcheverry and Killen will all be pulling tarps Monday.

Their video has received nearly 2 million hits, and media outlets throughout the world continue to contact them for interviews and TV segments. Tarp surfing is featured on the new Apple iPod Touch commercial, and Keith, who runs TarpSurfing.com for the group, said French-German television station ARTE recently did a piece on Henard for its music program, “Tracks.” The Los Angeles Times also wants to do a story on tarp surfing, and a Japanese TV station asked to film the event Monday.

“When the kids end up seeing how much they’ve raised, they realize, Wow, we really can make a difference,’ ” Keith said.

IF YOU GO

First Annual Tarp Surfing Extravaganza
Where: In the parking lot behind Santa Cruz Surf and Skate Shop, 912 41st Ave.
When: Noon-3 p.m. Monday
Grind Out Hunger: www.grindouthunger.org
Extravaganza info: Facebook page:www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=141396115897090&ref=mf;

Santa Cruz Skate and Surf Shop website: www.santacruzbuilt.com

Catch the tarp surfing tsunami: Visitwww.tarpsurfing.com or check the YouTube video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6-vb20srZI