Dane Gudauskas (left), with brothers Tanner (middle), and Pat. Photo: The Inertia//Trautweain
Positive Vibe Warriors has once again partnered up with the non-profit program Native Like Water for a 24-hour surfboard flash drive this Saturday, November 16, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Hobie Surf Shop in San Clemente. Both groups invite people to drop off used, watertight surfboards, leashes, complete fin sets, and girls and boys boardshorts. All the equipment donated will be given to youth on the Nahua Coast of Mexico.
Many surfers are familiar with the brand Positive Vibe Warriors (PVW) founded by the three Gudauskas brothers. PVW’s brightly colored, soft, recyclable surfboards line the beaches of California and beyond. Besides being a surf and lifestyle brand, the foundation of the same name promotes surf access and ocean education through strategic partnerships and providing equipment, funding, and support to emerging surf communities around the globe.
However, nowadays, the two missions have merged. Dane Gudauskas explained, “we’re not operating as a foundation as we have in the past. We’re just supporting a group of people that are doing incredible things, getting the youth out there, and we’re just trying to facilitate them getting the access to equipment that they need to pursue their dreams.”
This crossover came naturally, as Positive Vibe Warriors was founded over a decade ago. The original mission was to share the power of the ocean in a meaningful way. Along their journey of building a brand, the community outreach, education, and non-profit work came naturally.
“My brothers and I started Positive Vibe Warriors quite some time ago, just for fun,” Dane said. “But then, we saw communities that didn’t have access to the equipment that they really needed to fulfill their hopes and joys of going out and surfing on functional surf equipment, whether they lived in a remote area or whatever the reason was.”
One of the communities they saw was in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2016. “We were spending time with the Wilmot family,” Dane said. “We left that trip with an understanding that there was this amazing crew of kids who were already doing air 360s and loving it. They were looking at surf mags and emulating what they were seeing on high performance surf craft, (but) on equipment that was totally trashed and beat up. They had worked so hard to try and put these boards back together because when you’re doing airs, you go through boards so fast, and it’s just tough when you’re in that pivotal developmental stage.”
Although doing a board drive was “not an original idea… it started us thinking on that path as a way to contribute,” Dane explained. “In California, kids up and down the coast have access. We’re very privileged to have access to all the equipment that we need in surf shops and (within the) culture and doing repairs. A lot of these places don’t have access to that.”
Even so, those kids from Kingston went on to be sponsored by big brands in the industry. Dane spoke for everyone in PVW, saying, “we’re so proud. Ivah [Wilmot] rides for Roark. Shama [Beckford] is on Hurley. They’re in international campaigns. It’s just beautiful to see that they were able to continue the evolution of their careers and dreams just like any kid growing up on the cobblestones at Lowers who dreams of being a pro surfer.”
Dane explained that PVW started to turn its brand into a foundation, “so that we could facilitate the board drives and pay for the cost to ship and transport the boards.” The Positive Vibe Warrior Foundation ended up running a total of three board drives, collection over 1,000 boards in the course of 10 years to give to communities in need. However, PVW had not run a drive in several years. That is where Marc Chavez, the founder and director of Native Like Water, came into the picture.
Although the groups had already been in communication for a while, Dane explained that, “Marc reached out to see if we had any boards or if we could come up with some ideas. We were really inspired because it’s such a great crew of people and an amazing little collective of kids.”
Native Like Water has people they partner with in California, Baja, and into Mainland Mexico, and for this drive, the boards are going directly to the youth down on the Nahua Coast in Mainland Mexico. “It’s fun to know that those kids are going to get amazing boards for themselves, and they get to go flourish and do what they love to do on equipment that is their own,” Dane said.
Since this board drive is a single-day activation from 3 to 5 p.m., PVW and Native Like Water are hoping to raise between 25 to 50 boards. “It is a much smaller scale than we have done previously, which was a month of donating and hundreds of boards up the coast and even on the East Coast,” Dane said. “This is very specific, and we’re hoping that these can be a bit more realistic for us in terms of just a one-day activation.”
Marc added that the value of these up-cycled boards is immense. “These boards are so valued by the groms and the best gift to give,” he said. “To a grom, especially with little to no resources, a board is cherished more than gold.”
Marc also spoke to his gratitude of working with PVW. “Positive Vibes Warriors are the real deal,” he said. “It is always a pleasure to work with the Gudauskas Brothers and the PVW family that come out to support the board drive. We’re stoked to be on the receiving end of such a great effort.”
