Joshua Holley, a 28-year-old surfer, was attacked by a 10-foot shark off Oahu's North Shore today.  The tiger shark bit Holley repeatedly, letting him go several times before finally latching onto his foot.

Holley's father said his son punched the shark twice and made his way back to the shore where his foot was bandaged up.

Holley was treated on the beach before being taken to Wahiawa General Hospital.

He is due to have minor surgery on Wednesday.

Ocean safety officials are warning people to stay out of the water in the area where the attack happened. 

Warning signs have been posted at several North Shore beaches.

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Every now and then a surfer stands out as epitomizing what the heart of this sport is about. It's even better when one is found that is not just a surfer now, but is also the future of the sport.

You may remember our post back in September about the 6th Annual "Ashlyn Would Go" Ashlyn Shoemaker Memoria Grom Roundup in Galveston Texas.  One of the young surfers we were fortunate to meet and watch perform was (at that time) 10 year old Garrett Carswell, a young man just overflowing with personality and a love of surfing. 

We were happy to hear from his proud father this week telling us about Garrett's latest mission and we urge you to read this story and then support Garrett in his endeavor.

When you think of sports for kids growing up in Texas, surfing would probably be the last one to come to mind.  However, for 11-year old Garrett Carswell of Kingwood, Texas, surfing has become a favorite pastime. Garrett caught his first wave at age 9 on Galveston Island and has been hooked ever since.  Soon after, Garrett began surfing competitively.  He placed 3rd in his first season competing in the TGSA (Texas Gulf Surfing Association) State Championship, and is currently ranked 4th in the season standings.

 In the summer of 2011 his family took a trip to Florida so Garrett could surf in the AAU National Championship.  Although he did not make it to the finals, it was a great experience.  “Garrett surfed at least 200 waves during those two days at Cocoa Beach,” says Garrett’s Dad.  “Once he starts surfing, he usually doesn’t want to stop.”  His passion for surfing, and other similar sports, is easy to recognize.  Currently, Garrett’s arsenal includes surfboards, ripstiks, a skateboard, a flowboard, a powerwing, and a   trick bike. 

Garrett also has a love to serve others and genuine thoughtfulness not often found in 11-year old kids.  His parents first took him to serve a meal to the homeless when he was just 6-years old.  He loved it and never hesitated or thought any differently about the people he was serving.  He was just pleased to be able to do something for someone else.  As opportunities arise, Garrett continues to serve.  For his 9^th birthday, he collected over 500 can goods for the local mission and is the only kid serving dinner to adults on Friday nights at the church.

It was a natural fit when Garrett’s family decided to sponsor three children in Haiti through an organization called New Missions who has been serving Haiti since 1983.  Garrett has a younger brother and sister, so each sibling was responsible for writing letters and providing a shoebox gift at Christmas.  Garrett wanted to do more and thought of how to combine his love for surfing and desire to help the children in Haiti.  As a result, Garrett will surf 100 waves at the Pleasure Pier (formerly the Flagship) on Galveston Island on June 2nd.  They are calling this event “Hang 10 for Haiti.”  Garrett is asking people to sponsor him in this surfing marathon.  For every $360 that Garrett raises, he will be able to sponsor a child for one year.  A sponsorship provides an education, 260 hot lunches, clean water, and medical care for the children in Haiti.

In October Garrett will be traveling to Haiti to meet his sponsor child.  He is very excited about this unique opportunity.  When asked if he was bringing his surfboard on the trip, Garrett responded, “Absolutely!”

If you want to donate to Garrett’s Hang 10 for Haiti event,  you can do so at www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/johncarswell/hang-10-for-haiti

To keep updated on this cause you can follow Garrett on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Hang-10-for-Haiti/129837677114878

To learn more about New Missions you can visit their website www.newmissions.org or follow them at www.facebook.com/newmissions

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If the world came to an end where would you be?  Would you be surfing?  One surfer took on the daunting task of creating a video of an imagined apocalypse from the eyes of a surfer.

Set to the track called "The Whales" the two minute clip opens with a dark scene as a surfer paddles through calm waters. 

Surfers straddle their boards and drift, taking in the scene as airships sneak in from overhead. Meteors begin to fall and all heall breaks lose.  

The surfers decide to stay behind to surf their last day on Earth. They die (or do they?) doing what they love, surfing.

Scroll down to watch an imagined end of the world by one surfer.

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The incident occurred in Blue Cliffs Beach off New Zealand.  Only one Orca or killer whale is shown in the video but Clinton Duffy of the New Zealand Conservation Marine Institute explained that several Orcas where most likely involved in the attacks on the Sevengill sharks (see video below).

Orcas are known to attack sharks around the world.  The most noteable event was in 1997 off San Francisco, California when an Orca killed a 12 foot great white shark.  The Video footage of that incident went viral.

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Sad news in the surfing community, Sean Collins, Surfline founder, died Monday afternoon near his home in Seal Beach, California.  According to Collins business partner, he suffered a heart attack while playing tennis.

Collins founded Surfline.com in 1985 and was considered the godfather of surf forecasting.  He was a true innovator of the sport.  Growing up in Seal Beach in the 60s, he got his start providing daily, phone-in surf reports for the Lifeguard Department in town.  He gained notoriety for his accurate reporting and insight.  He was the first surfer to manipulate NOAA’s weather and oceanic data to provide accurate surf forecasts.

Collins was a self-taught forecaster who scrupulously logged daily surf conditions, studied the National Weather Service archives and combed libraries for tidbits of data.  He relied on his experience from open-ocean sailing, tips from research papers and his shortwave radio to forecast swells.  

Surfline began as a phone service but became one of the first surf websites in 1995 which quickly grew to the most visited surfing site on the internet.  

Collins was born April 8, 1952 and leaves behind a wife and two sons.  He was 59 years old.

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Among the most anticipated match-ups was between 39 year-old, 11 time world champion Kelly Slater and Hawaii’s 19 year-old John John Florence.

Florence, who was born the same year Slater won his first Pipe Masters title, started surfing when he was 8.  By the age of 12 he appeared on the cover of Surfer Magazine.  Florence won back-to-back events at Pipeline clinching his first Vans Triple Crown of Surfing title.  Saturday, he became the youngest surfer to win the Hawaiian crown.

On Friday, during a Round Four matchup, Florence beat both Kelly Slater and CJ Hobgood thanks to a perfect 10-point ride.

During the final five minutes of Saturday’s sudden-death quarterfinal heat, Slater came from 10 point behind to rush past Florence.  It was a extraordinary comeback only Slater could pull off.

“I’m just trying to hold John John at bay a little long,” Slater reported.  “This kid is going to dominate here for the next 20 years.”  It meant a lot to Slater to beat Florence at his home break.  Slater’s last minute heroics are sure to be remembered as one of the fines in his incredible career.

Slater put on a great effort and finished third.  

It was the perfect fairytale ending for Florence earning him a $10,000 bonus and a custom jewel-encrusted watch valued at more than $10,000.

While many eyes were mainly on Slater and Florence there were other noteworthy surfers in attendance.  Many surfers come out to the Pipe Masters to either jump-start their career or break it.

Veteran Kieren Perrow, who desperately needed to make the quarterfinals this year, managed to keep his career alive with a 10-point ride to get him to the quarterfinals on Friday.  On Saturday after three consecutive days of competition, Perrow surfed his way to the final against Aussie Joel Parkinson and managed to nab the title –the Billabong Pipe Masters – which got away in 2010.

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How to Start a Successful Small Business

What is the perfect way to combine your passion of surfing into a full time career? Sure, you would probably say that the answer to this question is to become a professional surfer, but what if that isn’t possible? There is another way to be able to earn a living while still being able to enjoy your love of surfing, and that is to start your own business. You get to be your own boss, earn your own money, and still be able to go to the beach whenever you want. However, it takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and strategy in order to run a successful business. Come up with your plan, follow a few guidelines, and you will be able to be your own boss with a successful business.

Write a business plan

When you have the passion to start your own business, you should have the drive to come up with a great business plan. This will ensure that you set your goals before you are open for business. You will need to make sure that your plan portrays your enthusiasm so that potential investors and lenders will be excited about your business as well. In order to do this, you will need to cover all of the essential points of a typical business plan.

 Make sure you include your personal knowledge and skills, an analysis of your target market and your competitors, a detailed overview of your business and your goals, projected financial statements, and a great executive summary. Some investors may only look at the executive summary, so you will want to make sure that this section is exciting so that you will draw in anyone thinking about giving you money for your business.

The second most important section will probably be your financial statements. Investors will want to be able to see that you are realistic and that you will still be able to make a profit within the first few years. Make sure you take into account seasonal factors when you create these documents.

Start small

Once you’re finished with your business plan, you may be so excited that you want to take on everything full steam ahead. However, as cliché as this may sound, you need to learn to walk before you can run. Taking on too many tasks and spending too much money in the beginning will only be a recipe for disaster.

When you start small, you can learn the ins and outs of the business and learn from your mistakes without those mistakes costing you everything. Your business plan isn’t set in stone. It is a guideline to give you a good idea of what you want to do, so if something isn’t working, change it.

You also want to make sure that you don’t incur too much debt, and that you will be able to pay off the debt you will have to take on to start your business. Try to gather as much of your own money as possible before you start your business to avoid having to ask for too much money.

Hire the right people

You may be tempted to start your business with a close friend or loved one, but make sure you think very carefully before making this decision. Even the closest relationships can be ruined when business is involved. You will have different ideas of how to run the business, and conflict is inevitable.

Also, you should be weary of hiring a friend or family member to work for you. You never know what kind of employee they will be, and you don’t want to have that awkward conversation telling them that they can’t work for you anymore. On the other hand, you don’t want to just hire someone off the street either. Know what you are looking for when you hire an employee, and don’t settle for less. Have a list of qualifications, and find people with the type of personality that you want to represent your business.

Once you have found all of your employees, it is important that you keep a good relationship with every one of them. Let them know that you are there to help them, but you need to keep a firm hand to make sure they stay motivated to work. Finding the perfect balance may take some time, but keep making adjustments in your leadership techniques and you will find it.

Brooke Dennison is an author who writes guest posts on the topics of business, marketing, credit cards, and personal finance. Additionally, she works for a website that focuses on educating readers about how to improve your business credit.

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One of the newest styles of surf wear is to strap on glow sticks or wear wet suites wired with neon glow-in-the-dark tubes and take to the waves for some night surfing.   The stunning display of neon drifting on the surf is something to see.  

Watch the video created by legendary surfing filmmaker Jack McCoy capture surfers welcoming the summer season in Australia as hundreds of watchers lined the beach to observe the spectacle.

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The sport of volcano surfing became popular back in 2005 when it was discovered by Australian Darryn Webb.  Webb, who is a keen snowboarder, saw potential with the volcano and experimented with mattresses and boogie boards.  Webb discovered that reinforced plywood with Formica is best suited for hurtling down the side of the volcano with a 41 degree angle.  Now over 10,000 tourist have experienced the thrill of surfing the 2,388 foot Cerro Negro volcano.   

Cerro Negra, in the Cordillera de los Maribios mountain range in Nicaragua, last erupted in 1999 and could do so again at any moment.  Since its birth in 1850, the volcano has erupted approximately 23 times.

Cerro Negro is accessible from León, a colonial city historically known as a center of left-wing intellectualism.  The city was once a Sandinista stronghold occupied by poets, revolutionaries and university students. Today, aside from its magnificent churches, bright-hued colonial architecture and sprawling anti-corruption murals, León is synonymous with volcano boarding.

The volcano is not easily accessible.  It's a 45 minute drive to the volcano then another 45 minute hike to the top. By then you get to speed down the side at speeds up to 50 mph on a plank of wood wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and trying not to scream.  

Watch the video below to see Tim Johnson volcano surfing.

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