Tuesday, February 9, 1999



A new surfing magazine debuts.



New surf mag
for Hawaii

Warning, there's a High Surf Advisory being issued for the North Shore every six weeks. Not big waves, so don't get your hopes up for major June swells at Waimea Bay.

High Surf Advisory is the latest -- and perhaps the only -- surf magazine now being published in Hawaii. (H3O, another surf magazine here, hasn't published an issue for several months.)

The premiere issue of High Surf Advisory -- 32 color and black-and-white pages in an 8-1/2-by-11-inch newsprint format -- has just landed at surf shops and restaurants around Oahu. Eight issues will be published annually, said Diane O'Rourke, 28, one of the handful of writers , photographers and a graphic artist who created the magazine.

"We wanted to have a surf magazine that Hawaii can call its own," O'Rourke said from her Kualoa home. "Surfing is an industry in Hawaii; it's how people identify the state. And there's no magazine published here about the sport."

The core staff members include O'Rourke, Melissa Rawlinson, Reggie Hodgson, photographers Pete Hodgson and Bernie Baker, and graphic artist Quinton Alsbury. The only paid staff member is Alsbury whose home is home base for High Surf Advisory.

"We're all partners and right now we share in nothing," O'Rourke said. "Eventually we hope to make some money off the magazine. But we have no delusions of grandeur.

"It's the talent who owns the company and not a businessman paying six people with talent," said Hodgson, who owned the production company which did the H3O television show. "There was a hole needing to be filled" with the absence of the H3O magazine.

"There is definitely a market out there. There also will be a High Surf Advisory half-hour television show."

That first show is slated to debut this month or next and will feature the North Shore's Backdoor Shootout. High Surf Advisory staff is negotiating with a local and national channel and debating how often the show will air, Hodgson said. The staff also plans an extensive web site.

The first issue, which features a cover shot of big surf at Waimea Bay, cost $3,000 to assemble and print 10,000 issues, O'Rourke said. Issue number two should have more pages and also be available at advertiser's outlets. Eventually, the magazine will be printed on better paper and distributed to the neighbor islands, she said.

High Surf Advisory is decidedly youth oriented with its tight shots of surfers performing radical maneuvers, and small type in many of its articles. It's also advertiser friendly, allowing the companies' logos to be printed on the editorial surf shots.

The core staff have been longtime friends and some worked together at H3O, said O'Rourke, who has a degree in public relations from the University of Hawaii.

High Surf Advisory can't compete with Surfer and Surfing magazines, but it's mission is to be "the only and best one" specific to Hawaii, O'Rourke said.

"We have something for grandma to grandpa to the grand kid. High Surf Advisory is a stoker for people in Hawaii."

And the name? The group brainstormed making several lists with front runners being "Blue Surf" then "High Surf."

The obvious happened.

"It was the middle of the winter surf season and we heard someone say a high surf advisory was being issued," O'Rourke. "Then Quinton pulled out the state warning sign for high surf and we had our name."

Tim Ryan, Star-Bulletin

Tapa

DA KINE

Valentine treats for all

The Brothers Cazimero will appear at Don Ho's Island Grill this weekend in two Valentine's performances.

The performances are at 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Aloha Tower Marketplace restaurant. There is a $5 cover charge per person, and dinner reservations are being taken at 528-0807.

Meanwhile, singles need not feel left out of Valentine Day festivities. In fact, singles can mingle during what is being billed as the World's Largest Meet Your Valentine party, which will take place simultaneously on-line and at 20 party sites worldwide.

Honolulu matchmaker Shalaine Young of Shalaine International will host Oahu's event, 4 to 8 p.m. at Coffee Haven, 1026 Kapahulu Ave. You'll be able to view the action at events in Europe, Asia and South America via computers.

Admission is free. For information, call 599-1773.

If you're too shy to attend the party, you can at least peek by logging on to http://www.as.org.



AIDS Walk needs teams

Team packets are now available for companies and community groups interested in being a part of AIDS Walk '99.A benefit for the Life Foundation, which runs AIDS prevention and client services programs, the 5k walk around Kapiolani Park will be March 14, at 9 a.m. The AIDS Walk team that raises the most money wins the "Team for Life" award, courtesy of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The trophy will be presented the week after the walk at a party to honor the winning team.

Sponsors of the ninth annual AIDS Walk include Charles Schwab, Kaiser Permanente, Starbucks Coffee and the Hawaii Newspaper Agency. The Life Foundation is Hawaii's oldest and largest AIDS organization.

To obtain team packets or more information, call Julie Jacobs at 521-2437, ext. 238.



Handball for teens

Learn to play handball at an instructional clinic, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Feb. 20 at Waimanalo Intermediate School. Teens will have a chance to enter a handball tournament being held 8 a.m.-1 p.m. March 20 at the school.

Call Kawena Mann at 259-9428.



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