"Mr. Cravens has been incarcerated since 2007 for the tragic consequences of his impulsive violence..."

Seventeen years ago, the tony San Diego enclave of La Jolla was rocked to its core after 24-year-old up-and-coming surfer Emery Kauanui was killed after being punched in the head then crashing to the pavement. Seth Cravens, 21, delivered the deadly blow. He was part of the “Bird Rock Bandits,” described by the local CBS affiliate as “a group of longtime friends from the wealthy enclave of La Jolla’s Bird Rock neighborhood who were known as a group of bullies who picked fights and taunted those in and around La Jolla.”

On May 23, 2007, Cravens and his crew got into a drunken altercation with Kauanui at local watering hole La Jolla’s Brew House after he accidentally spilled a beer on one of them. The initial fight was broken up by staff and Kauanui’s girlfriend drove him to his mother’s home in his car. When she returned to the bar to get her car, she saw the Bird Rock Bandits getting ready for scrap and testified that she heard Cravens say, “Don’t call him. I know where he lives. Let’s go fuck him up.”

By the time she returned to Kauanui’s mother’s house, the group was already fighting. She said it paused briefly, her boyfriend yelled at Cravens who, in turn, threw the punch that knocked Kauanui to the ground where he started bleeding from his head.

Five days later, he died from what was determined “blunt-force head trauma.”

Cravens was charged and went to trial where a history of unprovoked violence was uncovered. Multiple unprovoked attacks leading to serious injury. In February of 2009, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder and he was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

On January 8, 2025, he will receive a second parole hearing. His attorney, Laura Sheppard, declared, “Mr. Cravens has been incarcerated since 2007 for the tragic consequences of his impulsive violence, and he has taken the opportunity to mature and reflect on his actions and change his ways. He has expressed to me his deep remorse for his actions that night, the unintended consequences of a single punch was that Mr. Kauanui was knocked unconscious and unfortunately died because of the impact of his head on the pavement.”

She added that her client has been sober for years and has had no prison rule violations for at least five years.

San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan disagrees, feeling that the now mid-30-year-old is still a menace and stating, “It’s not just about that brutal murder. It started two years earlier with Mr. Cravens assaulting, threatening, brutally knocking out women and men for no reason whatsoever. He caused fractured noses, fractured cheek bones, caused a lot of pain and fear. He and the Bird Rock Bandits acted like a criminal group that was terrorizing the neighborhoods.”

Tomorrow, a parole board will decide his fate at Corcoran State Prison which just so happens to be very close to Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch.

But what are your thoughts on the matter? Is prison for rehabilitation or pure punishment?

More as the story develops.

Are we back?

Just yesterday, surf industry fans around the world lit candles hoping beyond hope that the ongoing apocalypse might just might be coming to an end. Years upon years of contraction had met its darkest moment ever when management firm Authentic Brands Group and snatched up market leaders Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, Volcom and more then driving them even further into the ground.

A true highway to hell.

But yesterday, oh yesterday, a light through yonder window broke. The Beach Boys, a 1960s musical act introducing the joys of surfing to landlocked masses, experienced their highest-ever ranking on Billboard’s global music charts soaring all the way to 69.

And today, the world’s premier surf trade show has announced that its registration is tracking “significantly above” last year’s show and is forecasted to be largest since 2020.

Reef, Oakley, Bajio, Olukai, VISSLA, Melin, Outerknown, Sector 9, Firewire Surfboards, Slater Designs, Chubbies, FLORENCE, Rhythm, Rusty, Katin, goodr, Tommy Bahama, Birkenstock, Sun Bum, Jetty, THRILLS CO., Salt Life, Elan, Simply Southern, Hook & Tackle, Exist, Guy Harvey, ALOHA Collection, Sanuk, Dark Seas, HUK, Fahlo, Salty Crew, Body Glove, Seager Co., BN3TH, Free Fly, Vineyard Vines, Baja Llama, Dippin Daisy’s, INSTINCT, Roark, Costa Del Mar, I-SEA, Skullcandy, Sharp Eye, Haydenshapes, TAHE, Goorin Bros., GCI Outdoors, Smith & Quinn, and more will all have booths inside the expansive Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. Thousands of giddy shoppers just waiting to test and try wares.

Surf Expo SVP and Show Director Roy Turner told Shop-Eat-Surf, “We are excited to see everyone in Orlando this week. Our buyer registration is tracking significantly above last year, and retailers will be looking to find new brands and solidify relationships with existing vendors. There are also lots of events, parties and Happy Hours planned for networking and mingling.”

I once mingled and networked at Surf Expo in 2019 and credit that experience for the record-setting 2020 show.

World Surfing Champion, best-selling author, entrepreneur, environmentalist, and leadership expert, Shaun Tomson, will deliver a session titled The Code – How to Empower and Unite Your Team this year.

An Industry Party featuring Rage Against the DJ will place on January 9 at 6 p.m. on the lower level of the convention center near registration and there will also be multiple Happy Hours and fashion shows each day.

We. Are. Back.

P.S. I don’t know why Surf Expo capitalizes “Happy Hours” in press releases but certainly another harbinger of good times ahead.

Lucky number 69!

2025 dawns, for the surf industry, much like 2024 darkened. Scorched earth, doom and gloom, empty coffers, sad faces, poverty, fear, hunger, depression. In a word, apocalypse. Billion dollar Authentic Brands Group purchased the majority of our once-iconic brands Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, Volcom, etc. a few years back, though each of their fortunes continued to crash. Hurley, owned by BlueStar Alliance not doing any better what with the lucrative beard oil market failing to fully materialize.

Lower level professional surfers, once paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to professionally surf at a lower level, have been forced to turn to their upper-middle class families for support or worse, surf coaching.

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It’s the east and The Beach Boys are the sun!

Yes, the musical group responsible for bringing the surf lifestyle into homes far, thus planting the seeds for the aforementioned surf industry, is back and hotter than ever.

Tunes like Surfin’ USA, Surfin’ and Wipe Out ruled family rooms across the inlands, thrilling the corn fed in the middle 1960s, but none ever climbed as high as Little Saint Nick which just hit number 69 on the global Billboard Charts.

Christmas music, of course, gets hotter and hotter every year and The Beach Boys ode to a souped up Santa Claus ticks all the boxes. But who doesn’t swing when hearing the falsetto croon of a tale about Christmas that we’ve all been told? That real famous cat all dressed up in red who spends the whole year workin’ out on his sled. It’s the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick). It’s the little Saint Nick (little Saint Nick).

While the main subject of the jingle is a candy apple red sled with a ski for a wheel, not a surfboard, hope is in extremely short supply and, thus, the news is being celebrated by the three interns left in charge of Quiksilver, Billabong, RVCA, Volcom, etc.

Though do you feel the thrill in your bones?

A return to cultural supremacy?

Here’s to the new year!