Watch: The Positive Vibe Warriors’ Magnum Opus

In all honesty, the success of the Positive Vibe Warriors’ Can’t Steal Our Vibe surfboard drive surprised everyone. Even Dane, Pat and Tanner Gudauskas, who masterminded the endeavor with Michael February, weren’t expecting what happened.

In the end, nearly 800 surfboards and a heap of fins, wetsuits and other gear were delivered to disenfranchised South African communities around Durban and Cape Town, as well as into parts of Mozambique and other regions of Africa.

Early on in the initiative, the boys made the right connections on the ground, partnering with Waves For Change and Surfing Not Street Children, both African non-profits utilizing surfing as a means to help reach at-risk youth. The groups would eventually help properly distribute all of the boards. After all, one doesn’t just show up in Cape Town with 800 surfboards.

The Gudauskas boys handled all of the logistics like seasoned pros. During the summer and fall of 2017, they put the word out via Instagram. That’s basically all it took.

“We didn’t do anything else to promote it, things just took off. The tribe rallied. People wanted to help,” said Dane Gudauskas.

The boys then spent their time driving up and down California, listening to Waylon Jennings and picking up boards at surf shops that served as drop-off locations. Donald Brink made a quiver of beautiful custom boards, Flea contributed a couple of Barney’s old boards, like Dane said, “the tribe rallied.”

Passing on the stoke with Patty G.

“Think how much joy all these different boards brought people,” continued Dane. “And then think that each one of these boards was made by hand, by a shaper. And now they get a new life and are reborn. How’s that for magic?”

Once all of the boards were collected, the boys convinced San Clemente High School to let them take over the parking lot for a Saturday and get everything organized. They had a Matson container delivered to the lot, where they sorted, organized and cataloged all of the boards. Once the container was loaded to the gills, a semi hauled it to port in Long Beach, where it was loaded onto a freighter. It took a couple months for the boat to finally pull into harbor in Cape Town, but once it did, Dane, Pat and Tanner flew to South Africa to begin the next phase of the mission.

Working with brilliant teachers, social workers, caregivers and surfers at Waves For Change and Surfers Not Street Children, the boards were busted out and finally, it was time to surf. Needless to say, the kids were stoked…Dane, Pat and Tanner probably more so.

Cinematographer Graham Nash joined the crew to document the process. Together with Vans they’ve produced a very compelling, very touching documentary film.

The film, aptly titled “Can’t Steal Our Vibe,” just went on sale on iTunes. The story is reason enough to drop six bucks on the download, but proceeds from the sale are going right back to Waves For Change.

You can watch it here.