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Santa Monica High Surf Team

At Santa Monica High we enjoy the privilege of the beach being a short four blocks away. With this luxury comes amazing opportunities where students can easily get the incredible ocean experience that others cannot. One of these opportunities is our Samo surf team.
By Sophia Falk
Samo surf shreds into season

At Santa Monica High we enjoy the privilege of the beach being a short four blocks away. With this luxury comes amazing opportunities where students can easily get the incredible ocean experience that others cannot. One of these opportunities is our Samo surf team.

While most students can be found sleeping in on late start Wednesdays, Samo surfers are up bright and early, ready to jump into the freezing cold water to get in their extra morning practices. They also have additional competitions on the weekends.

The team is completely inclusive, and zero prior experience is required to join. Many come to surf competitively, learn a new skill or simply explore their love of the ocean. The Samo surf community even extends beyond high school, with a lot of past team members coming back to coach the next line of Samo surfers. Either way, all are welcome.

Along with competitions the team is also involved with community service, and they plan to host five “Urban Luau’s” for Los Angeles Parks and Recreation (who are affiliated with The Surf Bus, a non profit organization in Santa Monica). They are also hosting five Santa Monica “Surf Days”.

In order to expand the program, the team added a junior varsity division in the South Bay Scholastic Surf Association (SBSSA), and they continue to grow every year. Coach Marion Clark said that the team’s goal is to win their division in the SBSSA, where they have previously done very well, winning four out of five events last year.

“We want to show the Westside surf community the meaning of Aloha by how we take care of the ocean and of each other,” Clark said.

Surf team captains Tess Goddard (’19) and Gabriel Ramirez (’19), seniors who have been part of the surf team since middle school, are very familiar with that incredible community. Both feel that the surf team has been a very significant part of their high school experience.

“I met one of my absolute best friends on the team in ninth grade, so I would say it’s had a pretty big impact on my high school experience,” Goddard said.

Ramirez also loves the surf team, and says that even the struggle of waking up at 5 a.m. is bettered by getting to watch the sun rise and jump into the ocean.

“I’m on surf team because I love spending time in the ocean and surfing with friends. It brings me to a place where I can truly relax doing something I love,” Ramirez said.

Venice Beach Cleanup


On Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 10 AM – 1 PM, Surfrider LA will be posting up on the north side of the Venice Pier to clean between the lifeguard headquarters and Ballona Creek. Come clean the beach and reward yourself with a bite and beverage at The Whaler afterwards!

Visit the Surfrider Event Page for details.

Bay Street Boards Super Bowl Sale



All weekend, Bay Street Boards is having a sale in store, and then on their website if you use the promo code: GoRAMS

Bay Street Boards
🌴☀️Santa Monica ☀️🌴
Surf & Skate Shop
3216 Santa Monica Blvd
310.310.2485
Mon-Fri 10a-8p Sat 10a-7p Sun 10a-5p

Storms And Swell Coming


New shorter-period NW swell-mix adds more size for Friday morning, thanks to a stronger, more consolidated low dropping south along the West Coast Thursday. We anticipate exposures will be in the waist-shoulder high range with sets shoulder-head high+ for focal points.

The Truth About The Venice Leash Pull - Part 1

Rhonda Harper of Black Girls Surf lied. The NBC camera crew lied. Sea Maven Mag lied. The Inertia did a piss poor story on it, using the lies told to them by NBC's Jeff Mercado. Every site that followed just reposted those stories. Absolutely no site or news agency got any info from anyone who was there. Everything posted came from the vicious Rhonda Harper and her crew. Now the following is compiled from interviews and casual chit-chat with people that were present at the Venice Pier when this incident occurred. We talked to surfers that were in the water, people that were on the pier, and to Wagner Lima himself. DISCLAIMER: Shacked Mag is not defending the actions of any of the parties enveloped in this incident, or in the incidents that resulted from it. We do feel that the public needs to know the truth of the entire story, from before the leash pull to all the drama that happened following it, and that will continue to happen due to Black Girls Surf's Rhonda Harper's constant use of her false version of what happened to get money to fund her fake surf coaching business.

Rhonda Harper of Black Girls Surf lied. The NBC camera crew lied. Sea Maven Mag lied. The Inertia did a piss poor story on it, using the lies told to them by NBC's Jeff Mercado. Every site that followed just reposted those stories. Absolutely no site or news agency got any info from anyone who was there. Everything posted came from the vicious Rhonda Harper and her crew (in PART 2 and 3, evidence will be revealed why Harper is not a person to trust, and what her true agenda is: $$$$).

Now the following is compiled from interviews and casual chit-chat with people that were present at the Venice Pier when this incident occurred. We talked to surfers that were in the water, people that were on the pier, and to Wagner Lima himself.

How is a little site like Shacked able to get info that sites like The Inertia or LA Times were unable to? Because they don't know this spot or the people like we do. And they were just too eager to jump on this race-baiting bandwagon, they don't care about actually reporting the truth, they just want the clicks.

So grab a big ol' bucket of popcorn, because this whole fake racism drama is kind of long, and this is just the first part of all this ridiculous drama.

PART 1: The Leash Pull

Here is the entire true story about what happened that day:

Rhonda Harper, the self-proclaimed surf coach and founder of Black Girls Surf, shows up at the Venice Pier with Khadjou Sambe. Khadjou is a mediocre surfer from Senegal, one of the only female surfers from that country, therefor by default she can try out for the Olympics (even though her surfing has been describe as average at best). So Rhonda brought her to California to "train" her for the Olympics (we talk about that laughable "training" in one of the next parts). The reason we are to believe for them coming to the pier is that they are shooting a news piece on Khadjou's Olympic dreams, even though Harper makes many comments stating it is a Black Girls Surf shoot (as she is just using Khadjou to get donations for her "coaching" company).

Danielle Lyons, a surfer from San Diego, was asked by Rhonda to come up to Venice and be a part of this shoot with NBC.

Once at the Venice Pier, Khadjou and Danielle go out to surf, not Rhonda though, because Rhonda doesn't surf. Yup, that's right, a surf coach that can't surf. According to some of her ex-friends, they all say "Rhonda can't surf for shit", and that's putting it nicely. More on that in one of the next parts of this ridiculous drama.

Now Rhonda has stated that this was a "closed set", meaning only her surfers are supposed to be surfing. Yet, neither her nor anyone from NBC have any permits for this shoot. She still goes around telling others they can't surf right now. One parent said her son was told he can't surf because they are filming for the Olympics.

A few surfers in the water, as well as some people watching on the pier have all said that the two girls with the film crew were snaking a lot of the other surfers.

"I'm surprised that #######(name withheld) didn't do something, because he got snaked a few times", one of the surfers that was in the water said.

Everyone we talked to that was there that day pretty much said the same thing, that Rhonda and her crew came and tried to take over the spot. "She does that shit all the time", stated one person that knows Rhonda from previous encounters. It seems Rhonda is infamous for barging into spots with her crew and trying localize the spot, there are comments on different surf forums dating back prior to this incident that say the same about her.

So it's not the scenario that the feminist blog Sea Maven lied about it being. It's not the scenario that all other websites stated it was. It is not the scenario Rhonda Harper tells all the news sites it was.

Eventually Wagner Lima shows up, and as most surfers usually do, he goes onto the pier to check the waves. Upon seeing the camera crew, he asks what are they filming. He is told that they were filming a "professional Olympic surfer". Wagner fancies himself a competitive surfer, so he checks out the surfing of this so-called "professional Olympic surfer". After witnessing some poor surfing on some weak waves by the "professional Olympic surfer" he tells the camera crew "That's professional Olympic surfers? They know nothing about surfing, they're a joke." Wagner throws up the peace sign and says, "Later" and he walks back to his vehicle.

Now this is where NBC's Jeff Mercado starts lying about everything. Yes, that is correct, NBC's producer/cameraman is flat out lying about what went down. One of the lies Jeff has been quoted saying is that Wagner threw up V for Venice (gang sign) then went to maliciously attack the girls. Jeff Mercado doesn't know one thing about surfing, that's for sure, but not knowing what the peace sign is? And this is NBC's news producer. He also claims Wagner had malicious intent to go harm the girls.

That is one of the many lies Rhonda keeps using to promote her agenda, as seen in this comment of hers:
That comment of Rhonda's was one reply to someone on Instagram just questioning the fact that the leash pull was probably not racially motivated. You can see right there the type of individual Rhonda really is (and there's a lot more screencaps of her bully and belittling people to come, as well as a bunch of her hateful and racist posts about white people, men, and the surf industry, in general).

Wagner was clueless about Rhonda and the NBC crew trying to insinuate he threw up a gang sign. When asked about it, Wagner was surprised. We asked him did he throw up his usual shaka or a V for Venice sign to the cameraman, he replied, "I did peace. I would never do Venice, that's ridiculous...they're lying, bro."

Back at his vehicle, Wagner suits up and heads out to surf. He says he got "snaked a few times, but whateva." Wagner is in the same area as Khadjou and Danielle because that's were the waves are. Not because he is targeting the girls, like Rhonda and NBC's Jeff Mercado claim, but then again, neither of those two know anything about surfing, so maybe we can give them the benefit of their ignorance. Hell, Rhonda said in one of her most recent interviews that the best wave in Southern California is Huntington Beach Pier.

It could be that Wagner wanted to show off to this Olympic camera crew or that he wants to show them that he can surf better than this "professional Olympic surfer", so is that why he was near them? We asked him what's up with that, he said, "That's where the waves were. I don't care about the filming. A lot of photographers always filming here, I just ask any of them if I want video, I don't need to show off to them (the NBC crew)."

So they're all surfing the same area. Now on this one mushy 1-2ft wave, he and Danielle want it, she gets it, Wagner still wants it. He lets Danielle go by and he then goes for it, but he is too close and his board goes through her long leash. He gets up seeing that the leash wrapped on his board, so he grabs it and starts pulling it. Danielle turns back to see what's going on, Wagner gives the leash more of a tug while looking the other way, he lets go and they both fall of their boards.

This did not happen dangerously close to the pier, as Rhonda is claiming. You can clearly see from the photos it was not near the pier at all. Where the sun is on December mornings, there would be the pier's shadow covering them and the photos would be looking more downward at them if this was even near being close to the pier.

"She goes around me, so I want to go that way, but her leash was around my board", Wagner said. It's as simple as that. Wagner further explains, " I know you going right. And I'm behind you, I'm gonna go right too...Because there is only one road in a wave. She did like this: went around me and in front of my board, you know. And that's when the leash got caught in my nose in like..then I was like oh fugghhh... uuummm... tried to move the leash, it didn't move, we fell."

Here's an image that was posted in the comments section of Surfer.com's story on this, you can see here that they show the leash is definitely wrapped around Wagner's board:

Wagner did not go out there to harass the girls as Rhonda is stating to all the news sites. It's not about race, it's not about localism. Ironically , it was Rhonda that was trying to localize this spot as her own, as she is infamous already for trying it at other spots in California. Same can be said about this race thing as well. It's actually the other way around.

Wagner is known in the area, and some like him, some don't, some just don't care about him, but the one thing they will all say about him is that he is not racist. So the claims by Black Girls Surf, NBC, and that feminist blog Sea Maven about this being a hate crime is false. They are just race baiting, because Rhonda knows she can get more publicity from it to solicit donations to her fake surf coaching company.

After they fall, Wagner told us, "bro, I tried to tell her sorry right there, she yelled at me, and then some lady on the pier starts going crazy yelling a bunch of things." And that would be Rhonda.

Eventually Wagner leaves the water, he had a friend he was meeting and some errands to do nearby. He also gets a smoothie. As he is walking back to the pier parking lot, he sees Danielle and Rhonda at a vehicle. Wagner tells us, "I saw her, I go to tell her, you know, I'm sorry. Bro, they're both cursing at me telling me stuff." And the Rinse Kit? "She sprayed me all with water. Soaking wet, bro. Sprayed my face, my shirt, pants."

But in reality, looks like Rhonda wasn't mad at all. She was f@#King happy as Sh!t! Why? Because it appears she finally got what she has always wanted, a white guy to make an example of, a white guy she could finally take all her anger out on, and it'll be pretty damn good way to get more donations for her company. She couldn't wait to start posting on her Facebook.



But Wagner isn't white, he's Brazilian. He speaks with a strong Portuguese accent too. But Rhonda don't care, he's light skinned enough to be the white guy she needs.

She changes her tone just a bit and goes for the sympathy angle in her next Facebook post on it:



Now this is where it all goes crazy.

Rhonda returns to the Venice Pier the next day to hunt down Wagner.

"I'm going to ruin you!" she yells to Wagner.

She then starts her online vendetta to destroy Wagner... and to use this incident to raise money for her company:

Those screencaps above are just a snippet of what is to come next. Rhonda just goes full throttle on her vendetta. Hell, even Danielle who is the victim in this eventually this ends her friendship with Rhonda due to Rhonda's desire to try to profit off of this. The good thing is that Rhonda is not smart enough to keep all her lies in order and ends up contradicting herself, plus she gets some important facts incorrect, and she let's her anger expose her true nature quite often.

To Be Continued...like in 2 days.

DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys Pre-Order

In the early 1970s, the sport of skateboarding had so waned from its popularity in the 1960s that it was virtually nonexistent. In the DogTown area of west Los Angeles, a group of young surfers known as the Zephyr Team (Z-Boys) was experimenting with new and radical moves and styles in the water, which they translated to the street. When competition skateboarding returned in 1975, the Z-Boys turned the skating world on its head. DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys is a truly fascinating case study of how an underground sport ascended in the world. These are the stories and images of a time that not only inspired a generation but changed the face of the sport forever.

"DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys was originally put together in 2000 and eventually hit the streets just before the the movie DOGTOWN AND Z- BOYS ... but although I worked on making this book for years before, it wasn’t until the movie started that Stecyk was convinced to go along with the idea if i would also agree to make it half my work too, that was Craig’s idea, I originally just wanted to print all his original stories... in the end this did make a lot of sense, i had discovered so many cool photographs that i had never published before and of course his stories and photographs as well will always stand up to the test of time. So around 20 years after i first started working on the original edition we will have THIS new edition. New cover, new bigger size (now 9”x9”), lots of updated designs, and some never before seen photographs as well, besides a few killer surprises. Even if you have the original it’s very likely you will want this new one.

This book contains 100 pages of the OG DogTown stories, “Who’s Hots” and interviews that C.R. Stecyk III wrote and photographed masterfully during the mid-seventies Skateboarding explosion, and i believe these stories are part of the reason skateboarding became what it has, to this day. Another 130 or so pages are my DogTown photographs from beginning to end, most of all never before published before this original book, and now I’ve added even more that have been rediscovered or never seen! More thorough captions too. This book is just being sent to the printers as i type this, but i too can’t wait to see it in my own hands. It’s gonna be amazing and you will be STOKED to have this expanded edition. " - Glen E. Friedman

This volume has been described as “the DogTown textbook” and an indispensable companion piece to the Sony Pictures Classics film Dogtown and Z-Boys. Now spanning 1975–1985 and beyond, the first section of the book includes the best of the DogTown articles written and photographed by C.R. Stecyk III as they originally appeared in SkateBoarder Magazine. The second half compiles hundreds of skate images from the archives of Glen E. Friedman—many of which appear in the movie. (Stecyk and Friedman acted as executive producers and advisors for the film.)

The bigger, newly designed edition of the book includes many never-before-seen Friedman photos, along with a new postscript by Stecyk. It is available for pre-order now on Amazon

Stolen Board Alert!



"Tonight the pickle was stolen off the top of my car in front of Ralph’s. I love this board, it’s the board i learned to surf on, and put many hours and dollars into fixing it. More than anything is the sentimental value of this board. I feel violated. Cheated. Heartbroken that someone would do this. Please share this post and do anything to help get it back. The surf community wouldn’t do this, i hope not at least. If it shows up, no questions asked. Please please help me get my baby back. The board was taken while i was in Ralph’s on Lincoln in Venice." - Patrick.Lucas.Selsted

Wipeout Wednesday

It's Wednesday, so here's some recent Wipeout photos from the local spots.                                                                                        

It's Wednesday, so here's some new Wipeout photos from the latest round of swells to hit our local spots. These were shot by Six12 Media.










      We post new sets of local wipeout photos every Wednesday (more or less).   Click: Wednesday Wipeouts to check out the previous Wipeout Wednesday photo sets.   

Venice Leash Pull Truth: Intro


We never wanted to run stories like this, but we now feel we have to.

Since non-surfing surf coach Rhonda Harper wants to continue milking this made up hate crime to fund her very questionable Black Girls Surf and Inkwell Clothing companies and her many GoFundME accounts, we decided to not stay silent any longer. Rhonda keeps doing interviews, is constantly in contact with news sites and just keeps lying about what happened (in one of the more recent ones, she is now saying the board was grabbed from under the surfer's feet). Always promoting it as a hate crime, which it was not. All the news sites love her story, because it's a good race-baiting headline for them. It's got to stop.

She is not even the victim in this, she is just exploiting the situation for herself and because of her hatred of white people and the surf industry. Unfortunately since she is playing the race card, we will have to address that.

This is such a huge ridiculous dramafest that we have to break it into several parts. The first five parts will be:

Part 1: The Leash Pull
We talked to surfers that were in the water, people that were on the pier, and to Wagner Lima himself about what happened. And did some digging up of info. We are the only site that actually did that. The NBC cameraman lied and Harper is not telling the exactly what happened.

Part 2: The Real Rhonda Harper
Rhonda starts her online harassment and doxing of Wagner Lima. She finally has a white man she can make an example of, even if he isn't white, but he's good enough to use to promote her agenda. Her Facebook page is filled with her making hateful comments.

Part 3: The Fake SeaMaven Story
The complete BS story that this feminist blogger wrote using race that triggered all the backlash and harassment everyone was receiving.

Part 4: The Harassment and Backlash

Part 5: Rhonda Can't Surf
A surf coach that can't surf? Yeah really. People that have tried surfing with her told us how awful she is....at surfing.

Everyday or so we will post a Part of this ridiculous story.

PLEASE NOTE: Danielle is the surfer whose leash was pulled, she never wanted to make a police report or a huge fuss over all this. She actually wants it all to go away, unfortunately Rhonda Harper is the one who wants to keep milking this. They actually had a falling out over it, with Rhonda calling her a coward and such (it will be covered in on of the stories). We ask our readers to not harass any of the parties involved.

Topanga Vintage Board Swap


Boardriders Malibu and Vintage Surfboard Collector Club are hosting the Topanga Surf Swap. Mark your calendars on February 9 - 7am to 2 pm, for some epic vibes! Whether your looking to buy, sell or trade, there will be boards and gear for everyone! Special live performance by @themattson2 and tasty brews provided by @mspecialbrewco ... We will see you here!

Boardriders Malibu
18820 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, Ca 80265
310 - 359 - 8274


Check out photos from the last event: Topanga Vintage Surf Swap

Venice Pier - Sunday 1-20-2019


Here's some of the photos from Sunday morning at the Venice Pier. This set was shot by Six12 Media.
















You can find over 50 more photos from this session, all full size and in high-resolution, in this photo gallery:

Venice Pier - Sunday 1-20-2019 - Photo Gallery


If you were out there, we probably got some cool surfing shots of you, go check them out!

Wanna see photos from previous days at this and other local surf spots?
Click Surf Spot Galleries and look for the spot and then the date.


Authentic Wave Book Signing And Slide Show


On Saturday, January 26th, Mollusk Surf Shop is having a slide show and book signing for “Authentic Wave”. The beautifully printed surf photography book about traditional longboarding in California over the last 20 years by Tatsuo Takei. Come have a beer and listen to some insight behind this collection of amazing photos!

Mollusk Surf Shop
1600 Pacific Avenue
Venice Beach, CA 90291-9998
(310) 396-1969
Store Hours:
Mon to Sun 10am to 6:30pm

Beached Whale Euthanized After Being Rescued on Zuma Beach


A pygmy sperm whale had to be euthanized after officials rescued the beached marine mammal in Malibu following multiple attempts by a group of good Samaritans to save its life on Friday morning.

It was unclear how long the whale had been stranded on Zuma Beach, but Sky5 first spotted the beached animal just before 8:15 a.m. near Tower 14.


Within minutes, a group of four women were frantically working to push the whale out to sea, aerial video showed.

Their efforts, however, were stymied by the high surf that was pounding the Southern California coastline on Friday, as each crashing wave brought the animal back to the shore.

More bystanders near the beach steadily went down to the water to help; at one point, nearly a dozen people were working together to get the whale further into the ocean.

Soon after, an individual could be seen swimming into the pounding waves alongside the marine creature as attempts to save it grew increasingly desperate. But the whale appeared to be struggling and kept moving back toward the beach.

Other people also tried to help the whale until officials arrived at the scene.

Aerial footage showed lifeguards bringing makeshift gurney to the water around 9 a.m. and rescuing the whale, who was placed into an awaiting California Wildlife Center van.

Capt. Remy Smith with L.A. County Lifeguards confirmed to KTLA that his agency as well as personnel from the Wildlife Center went to the scene to rescue the 12-foot beached whale.

The animal, however, was found to be suffering from numerous health issues, including chronic wounds, diarrhea and blindness, according to Jennifer Brent, the Wildlife Center's executive director.

"We were advised by experienced veterinarians at Sea World in cooperation with NOAA that this species does not fare well in rehabilitation and combined with other problems ... the decision was made to euthanize," she wrote in an emailed statement.

The carcass will be taken to the Natural History Museum for testing, she added.

KTLA's Jennifer Thang contributed to this story.

Venice Pier - Friday 1-18-2019


Here's even more surf photos from another photographer at the Venice Pier. These were shot by Rocketfish Media - SteveChristensenPhoto








There are more photos, all full size and in high-resolution, in the Venice Pier - January 2019 Photo Gallery from Rocketfish Media - SteveChristensenPhoto.

Wanna see photos from previous days at this and other surf spots?
Click Surf Spot Galleries for a list of past days.