The Collective Blog

The Collective is a Bodyboarding DVD, which aims to show off bodyboarding from all over the UK, so if you're reading this you're probably interested in the subject, so This post will eventually become a definitive list of UK bodyboarding websites, I'll start with the ones I know, and if you want yours added, or you know one that I haven't put up here yet, leave a comment on this post and it'll be added ASAP:

(In No particular order)

• kernowbodyboarding.co.uk - Good forum, regular updates, online-store, photo's and vid's from mostly cornwall but also the UK and world.
• rskonline.co.uk - my site, buy the RSK DVD, pictures, a couple of vid's and build your own housing details.
• jointhecollective.co.uk - find out about the collective project.
  
• pronebodyboarding.com - a few pic's, and mail-order details for Prone clothing, not updated for about a year though
• 360mag.co.uk - ThreeSixtys site is pretty good actually, but not updated very often, and when it is it's just info on the latest issue. Best part is the Orcashop:
• orcasurf.co.uk - takes you to the same page as the above URL, link to the shop, probably the best UK truely online surf/bodyboard shop. Good deals and a pretty good selection, getting better too.
• v-vid.com - Brighton based Bodyboarding site, updated fairly often, some nice pictures, some profiles, and the other usual stuff, the clothing range is growing all the time.
• mainlyboogie.co.uk - Flash based site, centred around Bournemouth, lot's of pic's from Cornwall and France, videos. Really nice design, not too frequently updated though. Don't bother if you're on dial-up.
  
• eastdevonbodyboarding.co.uk - a few pic's from the OPC comp, a forum and other stuff, growing...
• bodyboardhq.co.uk - a good site, lots of info, a good guestbook, a forum, some galleries and a vid or two I think, the shop bit is updated quite a lot, but the pic's and stuff aren't really.
• pbase.com/prisk/action - not updated for quite a while, good to see the rest of the photo's from sessions that didn't get into ThreeSicty, and often to see the pic's before the mag' comes out.
• k-town.co.uk - some pics of the Devon coast, go to the surf galleries and video pages for the bodyboarding pic's, nice design, but the forum doesn't seem to work for me.
  
• bteambodyboarding.co.uk - don't really know anything about this one apart from it's based in Newquay, some nice pic's and vid's featuring almost exclusively wedges, so can't be bad. Don't know if it's regularly updated or not?
• groups.msn.com/BODYBOARD-HQ/homepage - the BBHQ MSN group thing, there's a chat room, but you have to be a member, and each time I've logged in I've been the only one...
• www.yeahyou.com - some bodyboarding pic's a few of them are on the Kirstin Prisk Pbase page, haven't really had a proper look, just a gallery really, not maintained anymore I think.
• robbarber.com - learn to bodyboard
• jerseybodyboarding.com - frequently updated, nice layout, I haven;t looked at it before, but it's good.
• undagroundbodyboarding.com - a clothing label, site's OK, graphical interface can grind a bit if you're on dial-up, only just come online so can't tell if the updates are frequent.
• redefynd.co.uk - I hate the name!!! why oh why oh why spell it all crap!! I can never remember it, not that it matters at the mo' as it hasn't been updated forever, there's an ABC trailer, but everyone would have seen the whole thing by now anyway.
• Can't find the scottish one that was around the other day, bodyboardscotland isn't there anymore apparently.
  

Know of a site that's not here? leave a comment about it and I'll put it up.

I hope someone reads this some time, I'm going to post links to it on a few message boards soon. I'd like peoples views on this idea:

I made a version of RSK (called RSK Turbo*), which I could
carry around with me wherever I went, in my Wallet. Here it is:

It's an 8cm DVD-R that you use in those crap DVD video cameras, the capacity is 1.46GB, compared to a standard DVD-R's 4.7GB, so I had to take off the extra features like 2nd audio and commentary tracks and the slide shows, but it's got the whole video on there, with fully functional menu's.

So the question is... who'd buy a pocket version of "The Collective", or any other sponge vid?

just think, you're at a party and you're chatting to some female:

You: "yeah, I bodyboard"

Her: "OH, I've done that! it's fun, do you think you'll ever do real surfing?"

You: "Have a look at this DVD"

Her: "wow, that's loads better than stand-up, you're cool"

You: "shyu, wanna hit it?"

Could also use a light-weight plastic clam-shell type holder/protector for it and make it a key-ring or something. Sell them for about 1/2 the normal price, or as part of a special package.

Anyone who wants a custom mini-DVD of RSK or their fave vid get in touch, reasonable price: garthwembury@hotmail.com

and leave a comment about this, good idea? or lame?

* little known fact: the only other reference to this is on George Herons Bodyboarder.com page.

A few people have asked about music for the dvd, is it OK to use copyrighted music on it, and what I'm going to use, so I'll try and answer all the questions now:

• It is illegal to distribute other peoples copyrighted material. I'm sure everyone's read the legal blurb on the back of CD's and DVD's and stuff, so technically you shouldn't do it...
• However, as everyone knows it's not that simple, technically you shouldnt tape your CD's or the radio, or download music, or use a sample of a copyrighted track on your record, but plenty of people do it all the time...
• I'm not saying it's OK, or that no-one gets caught and punished for it - look at "the gray album", and Napster and the countless other examples (including Mickey Smith I heard).
• Basically to get punished you'd have to be sued by the copyright holder, which isn't out of the question in this increasingly litigious culture (I blame Ally McBeal), but first they have to 1: notice, and 2: be bothered by what you're doing.
• firstly I doubt any major labels will be checking out a UK bodyboarding DVD, so no worries there, but what if...
  
• What we're doing isn't going to harm their sales, no-one says, "I won't buy that Annie Lennox CD because I've got the best song on that wicked bodyboarding DVD already", if anything it'll improve them; I bet you know at least 2 people who have bought CD's after hearing a song on No Friends, That best of the Cure CD probably doubled in sales after NF1 came out.

So, I reckon we're alright, and anyone else, as long as you don't sell a few million copies, or broadcast it on TV, or show it at a festival or something.

There you go, I could have called it "Why I'm not guilty about ripping off music for the DVD", now my conscience is clear, any questions about the intellectual property issues involved in making a surf DVD, ask away, you can do it easily by adding a comment below this post.

Right then, the first real post, I've got to be up early tomorrow for work, so here's a short one, updated the rsk site with some frames from the weekend in Cornwall, I'll be using the footage for the collective, here's the link: rskonline.co.uk/action.html

And here's a pic that you won't see on the RSK site, it's Stu Thomas pulling in at a fun little shorebreak:

Hello, I'm Ben pascoe, and I'm putting together "The Collective" DVD, along with Matt Hawkens.

It's basically a DVD using footage from around the UK donated by people like YOU, all profits go to charity, and we'll be selling it for a low-low price, to get it out there to as many people as possible.

For more details about the project check out: jointhecollective.co.uk

This Blog is to keep people up to date on the project, as I'm being asked "when's it going to be finished" type questions quite a lot at the moment, so I'll update this pretty much every day or so with news or plans of where I'm going to be filming and stuff,

so bookmark this page and tell everyone you know, and ask any questions or add comments here and everyone will be happy!