Surfboards For ZAF aka Some Of That Gudang Do-Goodery

It’s Friday afternoon and Tanner and Pat Gudauskas have both safely advanced it into the quarterfinals of the Van Pro in Virginia Beach, but that’s neither here nor there. Their non-profit organization, the Positive Vibe Warriors, just announced their second surfboard drive.

Last year the Vibe Warriors stole hearts and minds with a surfboard drive to benefit the tight-knit, up-and-coming crew in Jamaica. Setting up surfboard collection centers at surf shops around the U.S., by the time they were done they’d collected over 300 surfboards to bring down to the Caribbean.

“The response was crazy, it wasn’t anything like what we anticipated,” says Tanner. “We had to pack a whole container with boards.”

This year, they have their sights set on South Africa. Partnering up with Wave For Change and Surfers Not Street Children, two NGOs doing exceptional social work in South Africa, the concept came coalesced when the Gudauskas brothers were recently in the country for the Ballito QS contest.

“Michael February is really the driving force behind it all,” says Tanner. “He’s an ambassador for the Surfers Not Street Children group and we’d been talking with him about the idea. Then when we all had the opportunity to sit down and figure it out, it came together better than we could have ever imagined. We couldn’t be more excited.”

The slogan for the board drive is “Can’t steal our vibe,” which comes from February, who’s used it as a bit of a rallying cry as he’s climbed up the QS ranks. As a black youth in South Africa, surfing has provided him with a viable avenue forward when other opportunities haven’t always come in abundance. Currently ranked second on the QS, he still has a fair bit of work to do before the season’s over, but he stands the very real possibility of being the first black surfer to ever qualify for the CT. 

“In Jamaica, we were working with kids that were psyched on surfing but had a real problem getting equipment,” continues Tanner. “But South Africa is different. There are so many homeless kids there, and life for them can be so tough, but to be able to help share the stoke of surfing, I mean, hopefully, it provides some hope and something positive. Surfing is proof that it doesn’t matter what color your skin is, or where you come from, or what language you speak. It cuts through all of that, and to be able to potentially help these kids get in the water and have that hope and stoke that surfing provides, we’re humbled.”

As far as the board drive goes, keeping the vibe alive is simple. From September 1-30 you can donate any surfboard, softboard and boogieboard that is water tight (no stand-up paddle boards and windsurf boards due to size constraints) and the Gudauskas will deliver them all on their next mission to South Africa.  Below is a list of surf shops in California that you can drop boards off at, they’re looking at adding more locations and potentially doing an East Coast tour but that has yet to be nailed down.

Donation Locations:

Jacks Surfboards
101 main street
Huntington Beach CA 
The Surfer’s Outlet by JACKS Surf Shop
176 Avenida Del Mar
San Clemente 92672 

Surfride
325 N Highway 101
Solana Beach,CA 92075

Proof Lab 
254 Shoreline Hwy 
Mill Valley, CA 94941