WSD

Well, whoever gets a chance to be out surfing anytime is a winner, but I guess we gotta narrow it down sometime.

So, without delay, the winner for this year's WSD is:

BEN RAK

I'm not even sure if Ben made a 'stand-alone' WSD post, but I made my decision based on his reply to Tom. Here's part of it:

This was just one of many other reasons I thought Ben deserved it. Others include his long history of faithful, no AS BS, surf reports from Israel, showing the sincerety of his stoke.

Another reason is his recent world travels...Costa, California, and any others I may have missed. No better time to stoke out on some good surf destinations. Truely, appropriate timing for *World* Surf Day.

Finally, his stoke shown in his reply to Tom (Ofcourse, he almost blew his chances when he said TT seems like a great guy ). What better way to sum up alt.surfing and how it's like one big family, even if disfunctional, as was done in the part I copied above?

Not only did he point out the advantages of alt.surfing, but he hooked up with some other alt.surfers who never met before and paddled out on WSD. Sharing the ocean and the stoke on a given day with as many other brothers and sisters as possible....that's what WSD is all about. Ben's faithful stoke in the past added something even extra to that, and raised the standard a bit.

Ya got a 10 out of a 10 for your score, Ben. You deserve it.

Later,

Steve says...

Good choice. Ben has been an excellent contributor for years. I'm not sure he will be honored by a dented thermos though.

You mean:' a smelly dented thermos' Congrats Ben Lates

Ben does deserve it. He has displayed a great amount of stoke and is always willing to share it with the group.

But, Steve, I think you may have other motives here: ...it is clear that Ben is on an extended road trip. He has no permanent address, currently. Where are you gonna send the thermos? Yeah, thats what I thought, your gonna 'Hold it for him' until he returns to Israel. That way you get to keep the thermos...I'm on to you Steve.

Ben should plan on picking up his prize thermos at the GP2K1 in early October. Way to go, Ben!

Rod Rodgers

homepage: http://www.bcpl.net/~rrodgers/rodpage1.html

What can I say, i'm honored... Thank you. What now? Do I have any obligations (Am I supposed to do the compiling or anything else???)?

Best of waves,

OK, that's it, brah, you're *OFF* the payroll! I might have let this slide if this was an isolated incident, but this is your *second* attempt to dis' me.

For those of you who are wondering why I didn't submit a WSD report, it's cuz KR totally did me wrong. I sent him the final draft of my WSD report at least 3 months ago....*Plenty* of time to give it the final proofreading and corrections and get it back to me. Well, that sonuvabeetch kept stalling and said he had too much to do. He then told me a few days before WSD that he finally was done with it and was overnighting the final product to me so it should get to me just in time for me to submit it to AS.

Well, the day arrived, and no report. *NOW*, KR's giving me some lame excuse that it must have gotten lost in the mail. Likely story. I think he saw fame and fortune in his hands, and he's gonna wait for some period of time, change a few things to make it look like his report, and then you'll see an awesome masterpiece, maybe even published in a magazine, appear with *his* name as the author. DON'T BE FOOLED!! When said article does appear, realize it was MY work. The most awe-inspiring and stoke-filled story that you will have ever read was gonna be my certain clinch on the WSD thermos for another year. Curses to KR.

As if that thorough screwing wasn't enough, *NOW* KR's trying to dis' me again by attempting to spoil my fine, upstanding reputation by suggesting I chose Ben as the winner for selfish reasons. The freakin' NERVE! Well....actually I have a confession.....He's partly right; I *did* chose Ben with the hopes I'd have to keep the thermos for him. *However,* it wasn't cuz I like the thing. Instead, I was hoping that the statute of limitations (which, by precedent, was established by me to be the period from WSD to Guidopalooza) will have run out before Ben gives me an address to send it to.

Then, upon forfeit of the trophy if time did run out, it would be with me at GP2K1. At such time, we could follow through with SurfSarge's suggestion which I liked so much: We could toss, nah...Let's make that *launch*, that dented, smelly thermos into the ocean as one of the many GP2K1 activities. If Surffohio *does* show up, it might be even be an added bonus to lauch the thing at night, have a raging bonfire on the beach, and watch the light from the flames reflecting in the single tear falling from the corner of Surff's eye and slowly moving down his face as he sees his beloved thermos lauched into oblivion.

Yep, you were on to me, KR.

Later,

Well, as I mentioned in another thread, I think it used to be the responsibility of the winner to compile the reports for the *next* year's WSD, but I kinda abdicated that responsibility this year. Actually, I may still try and do it, but no guarantees on how soon that will be. If someone wants to do it sooner, I think it would be appreciated by all.

Other than that, Ben, all ya have to do is give me an address to send the <ahem> coveted thermos award to. On second thought, maybe forget about giving me the address (see my reply to KR in this thread)

Later,

Steve m. bravely bad mouthed the thermos:

The thermos light is too bright to be dulled by humaniod

Just great. And _I_ had to give the punk a ride to the beach that day. All right, Ben. Where's my share of the winnings?

Tom Keener

You are a nice guy, Tom. Pshaw on a bunch of survival junk.