Monkey Cove/ Surf Shop 6 Board Design Contest

Its that time again, Surf Shop 6 is holding its 3rd annual Surfboard Design competition. This contest is for amateurs only. If your interested the contest has a L$7500 first prize! Please contact Syx Toshi for a contest pack. All entries should be given to Syx by July 20th. Contact Syx for additional info.

This year the boards will be judged at Surf Fest III 2011

Thanks

Thanks all for the comments on the Drama post. Some got it some didn't but it was all good. Great to hear people's perspective on the subject. I'm changing my profile to "Yes Drama" ;) not really

Surf Drama

Surf Drama

Surfing and Drama we all know that this is a big myth! We never have any drama in our tight-knit, supportive, got your back community we’ve built. Ok that was total bullshit just like your profile that says “No Drama” really?? You’re really delusional or your clock is permanently stuck on 4:20. If you don’t get the 4:20 reference your delusional.

Come on embrace your drama, own it, you know you want to. Think about it; anyone that is partnered here in SL has drama. There is good drama! The moment your significant other proposes, winning a competition, waiting after you’ve voted 43 times in the same director election, whatever. (Insert SLSA drama here at the mention of the election)

Anyway we shouldn’t all be saying we don’t get involved in drama. The other day when I was reading a few profiles, because that’s what I like to do, it seemed that everyone’s profile has the standard “No Drama”. Most of these people are drama wizards (I can’t think of a better name) they stir a dramatic pot rivaled by no others! Here’s the thing though it would be really boring without them. Now I’m not talking about hurt that may have been inflicted, that’s just wrong, but the general gossip that’s created by the inter workings of the SLSA alone is fascinating. Additionally some of these same people are major contributors to the SL surfing experience.

The flip side to the negative drama experience is a short conversation I recently had with, lets just call her Bobbi, it was about nothing in particular and we’re not close buddies. In the course of the conversation she said something that was incredibly sweet and dramatic. Not about me or necessarily because it was me but it was what she was feeling for someone right at that time. That’s Drama! Its good! Its real!

Without drama life would be void of passion, spice, flavor! You don’t have to let it consume you be your own drama master. Drama is the cayenne pepper of life. Just as in life add to taste and you’ll be fine. Remember you’re the chef

If you enjoy this little blog post awesome if not let me know by IM in world we can create our own DRAMA! I look forward to hearing from you.

SURF FESTIVAL III UPDATE July 23-31

From Mick Lunasea:

Contact Syx Toshi, Sponsor Manager for sponsor info. Sunshine Zhangsun is Exhibition Manager. Colleen Brennan and Lissa Sands (Lissa Pinion) are Co Publicity Managers.

Mick

GO SURFING :)

SURF FEST III 2011

Hi all,

Mick and Rev are hard at work preparing for Surf Fest. While they're busy with that I've volunteered to work on sponsorships and general money stuff. So here is a call for sponsorships. As you all know the point behind Surf Fest is first and foremost the stoke and good time we all have there, but there is a financial aspect to it too. My goal is to have a minimum of L$1500 for a sponsorship. What you will get is you Logo and ability to give objects and landmarks in the sponsor areas. Second I will post all sponsors at Monkey Cove for a year until next Surf Fest Rolls around. Finally you'll be a part of keeping Surf Fest going for next year!

Please remember this is a minimum if you'd like to donate more please do! I'm matching all sponsorship donations up to L$100,000.00

COMING JULY SURF FEST III

Second Life 8th Birthday Celebration

As you may know Second Life turns 8 years old in June. This month SL will be opening up its Exhibit Sims to the public. There you can see the best Second Life has to offer. I am lucky enough to have and exhibit there located at "Electrify 25" Heres a sneak peek at what I'm working on.

Tough Call

This is a companion to the Business of surfing series I'm doing here. Just to give you some perspective on the types of issues that come up when you rent parcels to the great people here in SL. At Monkey Cove I use the Rent/Buy model, which allows the tenant to have almost as much control over their parcel as I do. This is a great way to go because you don't have to do a lot of maintenance on the parcel once its rented/bought.

I have a small waiting list at Monkey of people that want a spot when one comes available, well to make a long story short a very nice parcel became available and the out going tenant wanted to hand it off to a friend, against my better judgment I did this. Not a great decision by me.

Well the new tenant did and awesome build, beautiful in fact, but there were a few problems; ie fencing off access across the sim boundary and building a physical barrier in the water. The second is strictly prohibited in the covenant. Well needless to say the neighboring parcel owner was not happy. This I could handle, just one person. Unfortunately more complaints came in and I was forced to make a decision.

My choice was to revoke the new tenants lease and satisfy my long term residents or just tell everyone that what's done on an owner's parcel is their business.

I revoked his lease and paid him all the money he put into the rent even the used portion.

I was very unhappy in making this decision, but this is why I did it; The residents that complained had been some of my very first residents, they had gone through the ups, downs and changes in the way I do business. I felt a loyalty to them that was more important then being totally fair and objective. The new tenant was really angry, and I don't blame him, but ultimately I had to do what was right for the existing residents and my business.

Business of Surf Part 4.5

I overlooked one group not to piss off! Vibes, Lissa may seem nice and sweet, but I heard that her enemies are buried under the deck.........I'm just say'n

THE BUSINESS OF SURFING

Part #4 Life is Hard

So I’ve given you a few things to think about now here comes Syx’s 6 cold hard facts.

Fact#1

If you’re renting a HS sim, running waves and hope to break even or make money its not going to happen! Sorry its life here in SL running more then one or two shops will kill your waves and people will not come.

Fact#2

If you’re renting a Full sim, running waves and hope to break even or make money its probably not going to happen! You’re going to have a ton of prims to work with, but just not enough space to make it work.

Fact#3

Man/Woman cannot live on donations and events alone! The SLSA has a Board of directors, Team of Sim managers, Event Planers and a large membership and only in the last 4-6 months have been successfully running their sim on Donations and Events. You don’t have those types of resources!

Fact#4

If you want to be a popular well-known beach you are at some point going to have to host a surf comp. Now you say “YES!” this is something I can finally do. Sorry no you can’t, you can if your HS sim is connected to your Full Sim, but its likely you don’t have that either. Remember an HS sim holds about 20 people, where is everyone going to watch the competition from????

Fact#5

It takes a lot of effort; probably more then one person can handle. I would highly recommend you have the help of one or two trusted SL friends.

Fact#6

Don’t piss off the; SLSA, SSI, ASSSBL, ASA, HP, SLSA HOF, Surfwatch, other surf sim owners, CIA, FBI, MI-6, The Mossad, KGB, NAACP, …. Well you get the picture. (I live my own rules) DON’T PISS PEOPLE OFF!

Next I'll tell you how I've managed to make it all work!

SLSA Returns to Monkey Cove

The SLSA Surfing Tour makes its annual stop at Monkey Cove for an Open and Pro event. May 7, 2011 @ 11:00am SLT and the following Saturday May 14, 2011 @ 11:00am. Remember the open event is "open" to anyone that wants to sign up.

Hope to see you there!

The Business of Surfing Part 3

The Business of SL Surfing

Part #3 Rules to live by

So you’ve decided to jump feet first into Surf Simdom! There are a few rules that you may want to follow. Now if you’re doing this just for you and your friends, make your own Damn Rules! If you would like to attract more then you, your alt and that girl you met at the strip club that’s really a dude here are a few things to think about;

It seems simple, but be nice! Be nice to the people that come to your beach have free activities for them. Example; have free rental surfboards. This is great for new surfers and board is a big investment for someone new to SL or surfing. Make it an environment you would like to visit.

Design a beautiful environment. This isn’t hard to do; with the advent of complex sculpties there are lots of low cost/low prim objects out there to make your beach a paradise.

Start a Group for your beach. You’d be surprised how this can help spread the word about your beach and at the very least it will build camaraderie with your regulars and people that love your beach.

Invest in a nice wave. A lot of us that have been here a while can appreciate a nice set of SSI pipes or fluffies, but most will not. Give them a newer wave to surf. Understand a wave investment is going to be between L$8,000-L$25,000.

Buy a few Surf Board vendors. Not only is this a nice convenience for people that may want to buy a board, but it also may provide you a little spending money. Don’t get too excited no one ever made their fortune on surfboard vendors.

Be attentive to your guest's needs. Be a helpful person, engage the people make them feel comfortable, answer questions, listen to suggestions. Don’t be an ass! Again seems simple but I see this rule broken all the time. Remember there are a lot of new people that have no idea of the customs, rules or even how to properly work their AV. If someone does something wrong talk to him or her and explain it. Your first reaction shouldn’t be to ban them for life!

Banning: Banning should be a last resort and you should be willing to listen to someone that wants to be permitted access again to your sim. If they're a well known griefer, copybot, or generally bad person then by all means don’t allow access, but if its someone that just didn’t know the rules give’m another chance.

Get involved with Surfing groups and organizations.

SLSA is Second Life’s premier surfing organization. They hold surf competitions, have classes to teach surfing and are a well-organized group.

ASBBL is the Brazilian surf group that also holds surf events and is a very friendly and welcoming group.

ASA is the Australian Surfing Association. They are an extremely fun and welcoming group. This group’s mission is to be fun first and foremost.

All of these groups look for sponsorship every season. SLSA and ASA also look for beaches to hold their competitions. The quickest way to get your beach exposure is to host one of these competitions. There are requirements to hosting an event so be sure to check with each group

Part#4 Next Week

Surfing Like You've Never Seen Before

http://www.grindtv.com/surf/blog/25938/a+dreamlike+wave+found+in+an+indonesian+river+is+stunning+surf+world/

Surf Shop 6 Reopens

Surf shop 6 Reopened on April 1st, no joke, I've really tried to open the store up so its easier to see all the great boards.

There are also some new fun elements like the crashed Sea Plane in honor of my friend Dee and Huey the Surf God, Be sure to visit Huey before your comps for luck ;)

I've also added the Hot new LSD boards and Waves by Luscious Starship. These Boards will give you a different feel while surfing.

Also added are brand new tanker designs by FAKT, Pray for Surf and "Real" Fish Designs by SSI. The SSI Fish boards debuted at Surf Festival last year but have not be widely available until now.

I really have a love for the store and it wouldn't be possible without the support of creators and designer. These people put a lot of hard work in to provide entertainment for all of us, so enjoy the new shop I had a blast building it.

News Flash

Just a quick note for all you SSI fans. I'm getting reports that SSI has been hard at work and delivered a few new vendors to designers like FAKT and DW Surf. Be on the look out for these new designs they are AWESOME!

Be sure to Visit FAKT and DW Surf Co. Main stores to see and buy the new boards!

Surfing as a Business Part 2

Part #2 I want my own surf sim!

Ok, you love surfing and decided that you want to own your very own surfing destination there are a few decisions you need to make upfront.

The most important question: Do I want to;

a- Have the place of my dreams knowing full well that I’ll have to pay for the sim myself.

b- Have the place of my dreams and hopefully break even.

c- Make tons of money, and retire from my vast Sim Empire.

If you answered “C” stop reading now, you need counseling. If you answered “a” or “b” I can help you. Now that you’ve decided you really want to run your own surf sim there’s another very important question.

Rent or Buy?

This seems a relevant question in SL and RL these days. Here are a few pros and cons;

Rent:

If you rent its more then likely that you will be renting a Homestead sim. Currently the price your landlord will be paying for a HS sim is $125 USD/Month roughly 32,500 Lindens so you can bet your price will be higher. For this you will have 3750 prims at your disposal and can accommodate 20 people at one time without crashing the sim.

Pros-

Renting is easy; you don’t have to invest the large chuck of cash buying the sim. Even if someone gives you a sim, which is more common then you would think, there is still a $100 USD transfer charge and you can’t own a HS sim without owning a Full sim.

You have 99% of the rights that the owner does, so you can terra-form, select the media, subdivide your sim, ect.

When you get bored with your grand experiment, just give your landlord some notice and you’re done! No ties, customer service or trying to find a buyer to deal with.

I would recommend this to anyone that just wants to have a surf area to enjoy with friends.

Cons-

The biggest drawback is you’re at the mercy of your landlord. You never know when the landlords business (sim rentals) will go belly up. If you find someone you know or like it should be less of a gamble. If its someone that directs you in their profile to send all questions to another AV, think twice.

Another potential disadvantage is not being located adjacent to a Full Sim. We’ll discus later how this could potentially make or break your dream of having a successful sim.

Buy:

If you have the money buying gives you ultimate control, they don’t call them God powers for nothing! Anyone that purchases a Private Region (sim) must buy at least one full sim. So if your intention is to buy just one Homestead sim, it doesn’t work that way.

Pro:

Buying gives you total control of your sim. You and only you will be responsible for the success or failure of your venture.

Con:

The number one problem for someone wanting a little sim to call his or her own is that you can’t own a HS sim without having a Full Sim. The price to enter the world of sim ownership is a steep one! Full Sims from linden are $1,000 USD, Homestead Sims are $375 USD. If you can buy one from another resident you will have to pay whatever they are willing to sell it for and the $100 transfer fee.

Another point to remember is that Linden automatically deducts the amount from your credit card or bank account monthly; you can’t just forget to pay.

Ok so I’ve given you a sampling of the pros and cons. Now one of you will stand up and say, “I’m going to rent a Full Sim!” 100 people can be on the sim, I’ll have prims to burn and I can run my waves and have a few shops on there too, everyone wins!!

Again sorry to burst your bubble but at $295 USD/month or 76,700 Lindens you’ll need to sell a lot of bathing suits and boards to make that nut! I’m not saying it’s impossible, but something will suffer. When you have shops, rental houses and waves all one sim LAG becomes your business partner.

Lots of rentals usually mean getting 30 IMs a day about waves not running right, lost boards, music, finding people screwing in your rental house bed, some strange naked guy hovering over the beach. Whatever you can think of I’ve already dealt with it. This isn’t all bad just keep that in mind for later.

Don’t give up hope yet! Look for Part 3.

Surf Sims a Business?

Hi whom ever still reads this! Sorry its been so long. I have thought long and hard about SL and surfing and decided to pass on a little of what I know. As most of you know Surf Sims have been dying off recently and the following is my thoughts on how to make a surf sim work.

I'll post it in 6 parts so follow along if your interested and give me your feedback.

The Business of SL Surfing

Part #1 A little history

If you’re reading this you probably have more then a passing interesting in Surfing in Second Life. If you are a Surf Sim owner your probably a little more interested. Surfing in SL has evolved from out of the primordial Linden oceans like that first animal to craw up on land and take its first look around.

Thanks to the work of few very talented people waves rose from the serine ocean and changed the way we look at the sea forever. From the early days waves, boards and surfing has evolved at a breakneck pace, but there is one thing that really hasn’t evolved. Where do we go to surf?

From the beginning there have been kind souls that provide beautiful beaches to surf, but only problem is that like so much in our real lives the whole idea of a surf sim is unsustainable. To provide the best environment for surfing and performance the sim has to be barren of all other objects and scripts. So how does that sim owner pay for the sim??

Well before one of you shout out from the back “donations!” Please let me stop you from embarrassing yourself. Anyone that has surfed more then 6 months has witnessed beloved, popular surf destinations sink back into the sea. Ahh you might then say “events!!” Sorry to disappoint you again but no, again I point to not only popular surf sims but many other entertainment sims could not sustain their existence with events.

There are ways to make surf sims work! I have been trying to figure this out for almost 3 years and this is what works for me. Its not easy and it isn’t just going to happen on its own. The mantra “Build it and they will come” is Bull Sh#t!