Year in Review, Year to Come

Thank you for sharing 2017 with SurfWatch!

SurfWatch's first year in 2008, we had 162 posts for the entire year. In our peak year of 2010, we had 660.  We had 0 in 2013 and 2014, 1 post in 2015 and 0 in 2016.  We'll end 2017 with approximately 420, give or take some posts changed after this writing, the most since officially closing SurfWatch in September of 2012 with 338 for that year.

This has been the largest staff ever working on SurfWatch with 11 active members as of this writing.  While we've added and subtracted to the staff over the year and will always do so as contributors' schedules and interests dictate, it has been the largest group ever on staff, all being taken care of by the amazing Kantbe Thursday, and we'll continue to add new people, new ideas and new technologies through 2018.

I look back with such gratitude at 2017 and the SurfWatch staffers and contributors that made it such a special year for us:

We started 2017 with remembrances, replaying videos, honoring the coolest beach kitty we lost too soon, sharing some posts from the past.  We began the year covering Second Life Surfing Association (SLSA) champions and current surfing sims, as well as introducing the new surfers to the past SL surfing movers and shakers with "The Legends" series.

We covered current events, fundraisers, activities, updated products, conversations, fashion, interviews with current beach combers, and all those hilarious SL surf moments that can only happen on a virtual beach.  We tossed in a little music and club life, a bit about the struggles of mesh, wrestling, and Rez Days.  People and their beach pets made it onto the pages along with weddings, parties, favorite music videos, breaking news, new surfing innovations in terms of technology and competition formats.  We included a new type of photo journalism coverage and experimented with new media.

SurfWatch added a calendar of events to the sidebar and in the postings to make it easier for beach lovers to see what was happening at all of the surfing sims.  We covered events like Surfin' Safari, Surf Camp, workshops, SLSA elections, and sponsored Haunted Beach and Surfella '17.  We updated the Wave Report to reflect current changes in surfing sims. We've added beach rental information to the sidebar. We even joined Facebook to expand the reach of SL surfing and beaches, making hundreds of new friends and introducing SL surfing to a new audience, many who have come in-world to hang out with us and try surfing.

As the year winds down, we share vintage and current holiday wishes, beach holiday decorations, and are excited to announce SurfWatch 2017 Person of the Year, Editors Pick of someone not on SurfWatch staff who, throughout the year, has selflessly contributed to the continuation of Second Life surfing through their time and efforts.

Join us through 2018 as we look forward to rolling out more ways to bring you the latest in SL beach and surfing news, new outreach efforts, in-depth staff introductions, and whatever it takes to generate new interest in SL surfing, bring back former surfers and integrate new surfers, feature events, fashion, products, sims, technology, businesses, and things of interest to SL surfers to be the link that connects all the various beach lovers and surfing community together!

Thank you for reading the pages of SurfWatch!

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