SURFING SOAPBOX: Good to be back home

As always it’s beautiful to be back in town, but what an adventure it was getting home.

After flying from Madrid, Spain, into Heathrow in England “” an airport notorious for being a nightmare always “” beginning and ending with huge security lines and tight connection flights. This time was no different.

For once I was lucky enough to be taken through the express line as I only had 35 minutes to catch my flight.

I made it to my gate only to have my flight delayed and delayed and delayed again, before they finally canceled the flight some seven hours later at midnight. Then we had to reclaim our luggage “” and all four of my surfboards had gone missing.

Shuttled to a hotel, I finally went to sleep at 3 a.m., and shuttled back to the airport the next morning at 9 a.m. to catch my noon flight “” only to have it delayed again for two hours.

The thrills and spills of travel are always exciting, but not as exciting as traveling through the coastlines of Portugal and Spain filming for the soon-to-be documentary titled “ECO-Warriors: Guardians of Surf,” a documentary about the environment and surfers who give back to help preserve our oceans.

Save the Waves founder Will Henry and I traveled together while filming, meeting with fellow environmentalist and groups regarding waves threatened by development in the area, including such waves as the famous Rodiles and Mundaka, Spain’s sister wave.

What strikes me the most is how clean the beaches were in Portugal, with recycling bins on every corner of the beach. I wonder why we don’t have a similar system on our beaches here in Laguna.

Speaking of clean beaches, Ocean Minded is having a beach clean up this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon at Thalia beach.

Together we can all make a difference “” and we are!

Peace.

JAMES PRIBRAM is a Laguna Beach native, professional surfer and founder of the Aloha School of Surfing. He can be reached at Jamo@Alohaschoolofsurfing.com