We sponsor a few surfers in California. In each sponsor relationship, we have found tremendous product feedback. This letter below was received from Paul Pence January 18, 2008. Paul is a competitor in California’s CSF circuit. His latest competition update detailed his most recent competition where he nearly died in treacherous conditions. His story is a testament to our mission at Surf Drops. Read on….

“I had a contest last weekend in enormous closed out Mission beach. It was out of control huge, solid 10 - 15 feet and a closed out beach break was just the wrong venue for surf that size. We needed a reef really badly. I was able to get enough waves in the early rounds to make it to the finals, but ended up losing my board to a set wave and nearly drowning in the finals. It was a full scene with EMT, lifeguards, and other competitors trying to get to me, but I was in the worst possible spot making jet ski rescue almost impossible. There was a serious rip tide that kept sucking me back out (boardless) and then the waves would pitch me top to bottom, then repeat. Things looked pretty bad for about 10 minutes and I wasn’t actually sure I was going to make it in. After a 3 wave hold down, I nearly blacked out, but came to with enough grit to make it to the inside. This was probably the closest I’ve ever come to death. I ended up taking 6th in the finals for my near drowning performance, but I’m still ranked 3rd in the ratings and probably going to use this as a throw away score. I’ll get ‘em next time!

After getting all checked out, I flushed with SurfDrops so many times because I had swallowed loads. I was supposed to go to the emergency room, but didn’t due to temporary stupidity and ended up there anyway yesterday. The doctor said I had scars on the inside of my lungs from salt water asphyxiation, that led to an infection, creating bronchitis. He also said that it could have been a LOT worse had I not flushed with SurfDrops. “

Freezing….I run cold typically. I get cold easily in the water without exception. I wear my 3/2 well into May and sometimes April, maybe even booties. Trueness. I went out today in the 57 degree water in San Diego and was having a hard time with it. I got a new board [Third World Exotic-7′6″ quad-fish….AWESOME] and am still working out the transition kinks from a 9′2″ longboard. So as I am paddling around attempting to pull out of the frequent closeouts. I keep getting a scent…everytime a wave crashes near me. Next time I am in the same situation but this time take the wave. Crash, splash, whitewash…and…stench this time. What the??!! It was as if Shamu took a dump on my upper lip. My apologies…sort of. A few of us were looking around to identify the culprit, as if any one human being could produce such an odor. The culprit was us unfortunately, but not just one of us.

The fact is that partially treated sewage is dumped off of our coast every day. Millions of gallons of it. Some days are better than others. Some days you don’t smell it, but all days it exists. Whether you smell it or not, trouble is in the water. This translates how??? Well, surf sickness for one, ear infections for another and hepatitis and like gnarliness for third to infinity. When we get into the water, we are exposing ourselves to some of the worst pollutants we encounter in our days. That is the bad news. The good news is we can do something about it.

Surf Drops. No kidding. It works. Please read our respect page to get other opinions from our customers. Don’t let yourself remain susceptible to worsening water-related illnesses for any reason, the least of which for a cool, environmentally conscious company that produces a product for $5.95/bottle. We deliver to your door.

Surf Drops…Surf More. Stay Healthy. Drop ‘em in.

‘Tis the season to hit the road, pound the pavement, get out there and shake hands, make things happen and garner support for the cause…whatever that cause may be for the campaign. Ours is water-related health for the open-water user. Our campaign trail consists of informing surfers, swimmers etc. about how our product, Surf Drops, can help them prevent surf sickness.

Surf Sickness is no accident. There are millions of gallons of partially treated sewage [180 million on a daily basis off the coast of California] and in some cases, raw sewage pumped into our oceans DAILY. This is not a secret and certainly should not be for anyone interested in enjoying open water activities such as swimming, surfing, or the occassional dip in the water while sun bathing.

This problem is not going to disappear. As we know, the earth is comprised of approximately 80% water. With exponential population growth occurring throughout the world, and a vast majority of people seeking residence in coastal areas [National Geographic, July 2006], the problem is inevitably going to worsen.

This is not a doomsday message meant to scare, only to alert and educate. Those who know these facts and figures only have another threshold of discovery and that is proper preventative measures available to them. As the saying goes “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure,” or in the case of those old timers, “An ounce of prevention is better than years of annoying nasal congestion and eventual sinus and ear drilling.”….I’m sure you get the point.

These issues are now even more emergent in Southern California due to the recent wildfires. Airborne toxins that eventually find their way into the water and certainly into our nasal passages is yet another contributing factor to sinus complications. The message remains, by flushing your nasal passages you greatly decrease your odds of contracting sinus complications due to these toxins.

Now we have Surf Drops! It works. Read the “Respect” page on this very website for testimonials from a small dose of people Surf Drops has helped. We have found that by flushing your sinuses with Surf Drops [see “Use” page for proper instructions] after exposure to open water, you greatly decrease your chances of sinus infections and related complications like ear infections, throat soreness and diseases such as hepatitis.

Less sick days means more days in the water! I have been using Surf Drops for years and have never, NEVER, gotten sick after surfing, following rain, typical sewage dump days etc. But give it a try yourself.

Every once in a while I will find the ocean color, blue, gray and on occasion a brown. I never really knew why that was the case and still don’t quite know why that is. However, I do know that there are many things that effect the quality of ocean water on a day to day basis. One of those variables YOU. Now I’m not pointing fingers at anyone when it comes to their interaction with nature and specifically our beautiful oceans.

But for example, the other day, a friend of mine offered me some eco-friendly wax for my board. Tim is an outreach specialist with REI and is very conscientious about his impact on the environment. He does a great job at REI and is regularly recognized for his achievements. His job responsibilities include hiking trail clean up, trail preservation and outreach contributions through REI grants. But the remarkable achievement is on his off time, when he is not getting paid by his company, the choices that he makes. One, is that he drives out of his way, 20 miles from his home surf spot, to visit a small organic “green” store in Encinitas that sells this eco-friendly board wax. Why?

If you ask Tim, it is an easy answer. It helps reduce the impact on the environment. Surfing is a multi-billion dollar industry. For as long as I have been surfing and for as long as my friends have been surfing, I can’t recall a time when we used an eco-friendly board wax. And then to consider the amount of petroleum us surfers are placing in the water on a daily basis over years and years of waves…it is an impact to which all of us contribute.

I’m not sure if the wax has caused the different colors to the water, but I feel strongly that there is more we can do to be less impacting on the environment. Thanks to those who use the Matunas organic wax like Tim. Hopefully more of us can follow in his footsteps. Check out the link below to Matunas.

***Matunas website: http://www.matunasco.com/

So here we are in the Surf Drops camp looking at storms for the winter, dirty, contaminated waters as a result and resultant nasal infections, which lead to ear infections which lead to hassle time which lead to refrained surf expeditions [in some cases] which leads to less water time which leads to less stoke which is not what we want in the Surf Drops camp. We want stoke as much as possible.

We humbly suggest you give some Surf Drops a try. You can purchase it from this very website and have it delivered it right to your doorstep. From there, we encourage you to go about your surfing as if there were no issues associated with storms or partially treated sewage pumped into our ocean by the millions of gallons….EVERYDAY! 180 mullion according to a July ‘06 National Geographic article. This is not news, we all understand, but that doesn’t mean it boggles the mind any less.

So Surf Drops is here for you. Give it a try and let us know what you think. We know it works and want to give other surfers what we have discovered. This website should answer any questions you may have about our nasal protection solution, but if it falls short, click to the contact page and let us know what is on your mind. We are here for you.

Thanks for your support!