Surfing hit me hard from day one. So coming into SL, the first thing I did was venture to the beaches in my pasty, white goth skin and tatts and somehow met some of the warmest and friendliest people in SL… Good thing.

A new friend gifted me with a swimsuit so I could get out on the water that day, but afterwards, I discovered how difficult it was to find surf clothes and swimwear that I would wear. There’s a big difference between the kind of bikini you’d wear for sunning at Laguna and what you would wear surfing the breaks at Amore. It’s a different look, a different fit, and a completely different lifestyle…

So it became a bit of an obsession… the desire to create surf clothes and swimwear that would reflect a kind of lifestyle that is fresh, healthy, youthful and natural… embracing natural, organic and sustainable fibres and textiles… designs that were inspired by diverse surf destinations like Indo, Japan, India, Ireland and South America. And flowing out of all of this was the need to ensure that the time spent in SL wasn’t purely hedonistic… that it had a purpose. A real potential to make a difference. To help change things in real life.

And here we are… opening a new surf company, Namiko Surf Co., in Second Life with the mission to bring a portion of the profits to a real life cause — to support the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches worldwide via Surfrider Foundation.

Have a suggestion? A criticism? Wanna surf for the Namiko Surf Co. team? Come on and IM Keala Mimistrobell in-world.

See you on a wave,
Keala

So. Very. Exciting. I just picked up my three brand new surfboards!

Since coming to SL, I’ve loved using the boards that are lying around at Quan Li… but travel being so inexpensive (read ‘free’) in SL, I’ve wanted to take a board with me to other waves. Sebastian Saramago makes fantastic ‘advanced’ SL surfboards — you can paddle out, carve, and do tricks, whatever. You can buy one of his boards off the rack at Quan Li or have him design a custom board for you. Me being, well, me… I wanted to design my own board. By the end of nearly two dozen design options, I settled on three and couldn’t choose between them. So. I got all three.

From the left, they are now called Dragon (because dragons bring me luck), Tendril (because I wanted something organic), and Sakura (because I wanted something hot pink and super girly). They all have the new company name on the front and the logo on the base… I contemplated slapping on some RipCurl and Roxy logos, since SL *is* my dream life… but nahhh… this is so much better.