Happy New Year, Pecos!!! (The Year in Review)

Some of you might remember back in June of this year, when Pecos first joined Kantbe Thursday's family and we announced it here in SurfWatch.  2009 has gone so quickly.  Altho I had been part of the SurfWatch staff previously,  on March 6, 2009, I had my first official posting as Editor in Chief with "New SLSA Director Board Seated".  Throughout the year, we covered the loss of Boneyard, the new Second Life Surfing Assocation (SLSA) sim, changing SLSA competition formats and many competition heat draws and results, even posting the heat draws from the very first SLSA competition in 2007. 

Over the year, we interviewed Colleen Brennan, Mick Lunasea, Bobbi Laval, SexyBoy Oh, Analog Jun, Driftwood Miles, Robin Mapp, Yendor Destiny, among others.  We've covered elections, lectures, surfing venues, techniques, whitewater kayaking, the Alter-gate scandal, arrests and resurrections.  We experimented with pieces on relationship advice, announcements, partnerships, real estate, calenders, births and deaths.  Two of our most commented stories were on the Metaverse United Surfers Tour (MUST) piece and surprisingly, the most commented on, was a simple real estate piece on Mori with 42 comments. 

We've covered the SLSA, the Vibrations Surf Alliance (VSA), MUST, Xtreme Surf Alliance (XSA), Associacao Brasileira de Surf no SL (ABSSL), Australian Surf Association (ASA), Pacific Coast Xtreme (PCX), Sharkbite mini comps and whitewater kayak comps.  We delved into Real Life (RL) with the Brophy licensing texture piece.  We've covered technology from waves to boards as well as various concerts, parties, events, teams and surfers.   We rolled out as regular features Mari's Mailbag, introducing Marianna Monentes of Boracay Islands, as well as Surfing 101 from Mick Lunasea of Pacific Coast Hwy, and wave technology and other pieces from Syx Toshi of Monkey Cove.  We rolled out our advertising options and linden winning contests.  One of the highlights of my year was the realization of SurfWatch In World Edition, headed by the talented in-world edition editor, Ashleigh Dickins.

Looking back thru this year on all the fun times, the fierce competition, the challenges, the improvements, the failures, the achievements, I can only say how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to share this with you.  My goals for this year were to publish an in-world edition of SurfWatch (check); put together a top notch staff (check); create a mission statement (check); and involve more of the surfing community (check).  My failures are too many to list, altho I have no doubt there are some out there that are adding to that list daily, but thru those failures, I have learned and continue to learn and grow.  I'm not perfect, and I know I have not made perfect decisions.  But I have kept SurfWatch reporting on what is happening in SL surfing.  And personally, I am thoroughly honored to also have been inducted into the SL Surfing Hall of Fame in 2009 for my contributions to SL surfing.

For 2010, in addition to what we currently do, we are looking at adding some form of competition video coverage, to include live coverage and a highlights video.  We are looking to begin our merchandising division to generate additional income to cover SurfWatch costs.  We are always looking for talented people with a love of SL surfing to join our staff as writers, photographers, columnists and now, video specialists.  We will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary in February of 2010, and our first 2010 in-world edition will highlight the best of SurfWatch over two years.

On behalf of SurfWatch and our staff and special contributors, we want to thank you for your continued support.  Have a safe and excellent New Years Eve celebration and we look forward to an exciting 2010!!!

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