Director Elect Harbor Piers

submitted by Lissa Pinion

On June 1, 2010, the Second Life Surfing Association (SLSA) will elect three new Directors to fill the seats of three departing Directors who have fulfilled their 6 month terms. Although only three candidates stepped forward with their intent to run for the three soon to be open seats, the election will still be held per the SLSA constitution. SurfWatch is conducting in-depth interviews in order for the members of the SLSA to better know the new Directors who will be representing them. We will not begin posting the interviews until all of the candidates wishing to participate have turned them in. As this is a voluntary process for the benefit of the group as a whole, SurfWatch will note if a candidate wishes to decline the interview when the interviews are posted.

Director Elect: Harbor Piers

SurfWatch: You are currently ranked #3 for last season's SLSA surf rankings and you've been SL surfing for more than a year. We understand you have announced your intent to run for SLSA Director this term. What qualifications, skills, competencies, traits, etc. would you bring as a director and why are you running?

Harbor Piers: If you count the time I had surfed before ever competing, I have been surfing for about a year and a half. All in all, rankings don’t mean all that much to me, only the feeling of being satisfied with the surf. As far as my qualifications in SL surfing, I am currently Captain and Owner of Team Boracay, surfing out of the beautiful Boracay Islands sim owned by Marianna Monentes. I’ve also recently began to write short pieces for SurfWatch Magazine. Although those things are okay, my true qualifications to be on the Board of Directors lie in my qualities of being a good communicator, a highly motivated personality, and creative abilities to think outside of the box.

This season I have decided to run for a SLSA Director spot because I feel like I can help bring something back to SL surfing. My first and foremost aim is to improve communication within the surf community. By improving communicability, it will in a way make the SLSA more “user friendly” for new surfers and experienced surfers alike. Another one of my aims is to bring the SLSA Board to the surfers, to put the power back into the surfers. My overall goal is to promote what we all love…. surfing.

SW: What areas of improvement do you currently see for the SLSA as an organization?

HP: The SLSA as an organization has been run very well, although there is always room for improvement. As I said before, one very easy thing to accomplish that would improve the SLSA tremendously is to close the gap of communication. Even as a current surfer who reads every notice sent, there is still much confusion among the community. Mainly, we need to look past communication and really aim to help surfers become aware of what the community has to offer. Simple postings of new links, perhaps an SLSA subscriber, would be easy to do and would benefit everyone.

SW:  What do you see as the top issues facing SL surfing in general, and what would be your first priority as an SLSA director?

HP:  For SL surfing in general, I don’t believe there are too many issues. I suppose the main issue would be that surf sims take a lot of work to run, in a financial sense. One of my priorities as an SLSA director would be to think of a way that we can raise more money for the SLSA, perhaps throwing a benefit and raffles. I would also like to bring in more items for the SLSA store. Let’s face it, without our very generous sponsors and individuals in the surfing community, SL surfing would not be the same.

SW: Why are you the best candidate for this job?

HP: Simply put, I am an extremely motivated individual who loves to surf and WANTS to promote surfing to the best of my ability. Surfing is a huge passion of mine and I want to make a difference. Given the opportunity, I am confident that I will.

SW: What were you most satisfied with as an SLSA member last season? What were you most dissatisfied with?

HP: Last season, I was most satisfied with the effort and time put in by the SLSA staff and surfers. As far as dissatisfaction, off the top of my head, I’d have to say I was dissatisfied with the lack of communication to surfers. All the work gets put into the SLSA, but surfers, especially new surfers, are generally unaware of things such as mod board issues, scoring issues, rules, and even how to register. We need to promote new surfers by making it easy for them to learn how to surf and learn how to sign up.

SW: Anything else you would like voters to know about you?

HP: I will get the job done or work really hard trying.

Give us a brief statement or opinion on some of the major issues the SLSA faced in 2010 and possible issues moving into Season 2 (listed below):

1. Were you concerned with the low number of competitors signed up for the SLSA R1 May 15 Tai competition, and what do you foresee for the future of the two-round, two-weekend SLSA competition format?

HP: I wasn’t too concerned with the low number of competitors. However, everyone should do their part in promoting surfing. If this becomes a trend, then we should worry a little more, but for now, I really like the two-weekend format and think it will be okay.

2. Do you have any concerns or opinions on competitors also working as officials during the same comp?

HP: Honestly I used to have some concern, but overall, let’s have fun surfing. Officials are putting in huge amounts of time making the competition possible. I really don’t think this is too much of an issue, but if there are ever concerns, I am more than happy to look into them as a Director.

3. Should SLSA HOF members be required to be SLSA members?

HP: SLSA HOF members should have made an impact to the SLSA in some way, but not necessarily SLSA members. SLSA HOF members could be anyone we feel deserving, and generally AGREED UPON in the surfing community.

4. Should alts be prohibited from entering competitions as "new" and upcoming surfers?

HP: In my opinion, anyone should be allowed to surf.  Anything to promote surfers and surfing.  Anything to have fun.

5. With the lack of available full sims to host SLSA surf comps, should we rely more heavily on the SLSA sim? What other activities should the SLSA sim be used for?

HP: Yes, I think the SLSA sim could be used more often. At the same time, we must promote all sims. The SLSA sim should also be used for surfing events, parties, benefits, and for a new and improved SLSA apparel store. Another way we could use the SLSA sim would be to help new surfers learn to surf, with perhaps notecards with step by step instructions.

I look forward to being a new SLSA director.

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