Keith Melville makes the news!

thanks Bob!
It was indeed one heck of a weekend.
Saturday was the 3rd annual Sway's get together, that was a bunch of fun - pictures are posted on another thread.

Then Sunday I went to 13th annual UCSD Cancer Center Luau, which raises money for cancer research.

You may have seen this board posted here recently:
http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/detail_page.cgi?ID=1664

Well, it sold at auction Sunday afternoon:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060820-1641-surfbenefit.html

Which may be a record of some kind, I dunno.

After the auction, the board was signed by John Peck, Carl & Woody Eckstrom, Rabbit Kekai, Debbie Beacham, Jericho Poppler, Rusty, Robert August, Wingnut, Hank Warner, Joe Roper, Gidget, Jock Sutherland, and Micky Munoz, among others (can't remember all of them at the moment).

Anyway, shape on!!

ALOHA

Right on Keith, was that the La Jolla longboard event?

Cheers.

See? I told you the nose looked just fine...

Yes, that's great Keith, and for a great cause!
how does that look on your shaping resume?! or your pricelist? HA!
Congratulations!

Hi Keith -

That really is wonderful news. A generous buyer, a generous board maker and a heap of money for a worthy cause. It doesn't get much better than that!

Great board and a great gesture!

Way to go Keith!!

Any pics of this event?

With the Swaylocks get together & the Charity Auction, that's alot of karma points!!

Cheers,

Rio

A few points to the 'blank' builder and the finmaker too ?


.

Thanks guys. At the event I had the auctioneer specifically mention Richard McCormicks' fantastic fin work. I had gotten the fin from him some time back and was saving it for something special. The board was glassed at TNT glassing here in San Diego, and they do fine work too (in fact they were VERY stoked to hear how much $$ the board auctioned for; I called them the next day). My friend Kevin Eslinger helped template and rough shape the board so he deserves credit too.

My mom died of cancer so this was very much a labor of love for me. Heck, I love making surfboards anyway, so it was not that big of a deal. I am grateful that there are people out there who are willing and able to contribute so much to funding research, and I was stoked that this board was a catalyst to keep that generosity happening...

aloha,
Keith

Good on Ya Keith!!

Roger

From south Az. to you Keith,


ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Herb

Sounds good to me Keith.
There are surly enough of us to make a real diffrence. An Annual Sways event at La Jolla or the such could rake in some cash for a worthy cause. What should the charity be?
SurfRider Foundation?
Here is a list of things they have done.
[*]Winning the second largest Clean Water Act suit in American history in 1991, brought against two pulp mills in Humboldt County that were charged with over 40,000 violations of the law.

[*]Successfully blocking a marina which would have destroyed historic natural wetlands as well as miles of sandy coast at Bolsa Chica, CA.

[*]Preventing an Imperial Beach, CA breakwater and a Seal Beach, CA breakwater which would have degraded water quality, eliminated surf and destroyed miles of pristine coastline.

[*]Gaining approval of the federal BEACH Act in 2000 to require a uniform national water quality monitoring, reporting and beach posting program.

[*]Getting the Orange County Sanitation District in California to agree to drop their Clean Water Action Section 301(h) waiver and stop the ocean discharge of 240 million gallons per day of partially treated sewage.

[*]Winning a lawsuit against Chevron Oil Company in El Segundo, California that represents the first time a government agency, department or office at any government level, has recognized the significance of a breaking wave as a natural resource deserving of protection.

[*]Securing passage of legislation to create "Reserva Marina Tres Palmas de Rincón" in Puerto Rico. The law will establish a marine reserve in the Tres Palmas area of Rincón and devote $100,000 for the development of a management plan for the marine reserve.

[*]Working with the city of Laguna Beach, CA to establish and implement a 10 point program to reduce non-point source water pollution (runoff).

[*]Winning the national 'Renew America' Award, for our nationwide efforts to clean-up the coasts.

[*]Paddling out in 38 degree water to protest a dioxin dump off the New Jersey coast.

[*]Successfully negotiating surfing access previously denied in California, New Jersey, Florida and other states.

[*]Restoring natural dunes habitat located along the pristine Outer Banks, North Carolina coast.

[*]Mapping the location of storm drain outfalls at coastal beaches for use in city planning and regional water quality control boards.

[*]Educating thousands of school children on beach safety, coastal pollution and beach ecology.

You're on!

Now we just need to convince RB to play along. I have a plane ticket that would get him out to California, but I like your idea even better, ha ha!

Can we make the group bigger? Don't suppose any balsa guys out there want to contribute a stick or two? I have a couple of nice ones already (light, too, 9lb) but not enough yet. Maybe if RB comes out he could get Jim to do some chambering, I think they are old buddies!

aloha,
K