JANUARY 9TH UPDATE

Hello everyone. We don't have a full, formal update from our crew in Padang, but there are a couple points of interest I'd like to mention.

Cathay Seas Information Service is working with Howu-Howu, Surf Aid, IDEP, and Sumatran Surfariis to coordinate helicopter support to Nias, Simeulue, and the Banyaks. It is still a very hectic time in Indo and it's tough to get everyone to get on the same page. But progress is being made, and expect to see a map of their efforts in the near future.

Also, concerned members of the Santa Cruz, CA surfing community will be hosting a benefit showing of Thomas Campbell's recent surf movie Sprout on Thursday, February 3, 7:30pm at The Rio Theater 1207 Soquel Ave. (at Seabright) in Santa Cruz.
Much of Sprout was filmed in the hard hit areas of Sumatra and Sri Lanka. Also featured will be recent footage of tsunami damage to the islands near Sumatra. All funds raised will be split between Doctor's Without Borders and the efforts of Sumatran Surfariis and our affiliated non-profit organizations. There will also be a HUGE raffle and surfboard auction. If you're in the Santa Cruz area, please join them in helping to raise money and express our concern for the survivors of this tragedy.

For more information or to donate, please call Jonathan Steinberg 831 247-2323 or email sockmonkey@cruzio.com
To learn more about Sprout go to www.trimyourlifeaway.com.

And last but not least, some really good news, which is official now...

"hello there chris,

we dont know each other but my name is mirsad and im writing to you from adelaide, im good mates with Ben and Sam Green and im not sure if you guys have heard or not but Ben found Sam!!..we got a call from Ben at about 11am yesterday saying he had found ben on sipora or siberut, info was a bit sketchy coz the phone line wasnt good...but the good news is he has been found and they should be back in oz on thursday. when we got the call we asked if hes sure its Sam this time and he said yeah i am coz hes standing right next to me!!

the funny thing is sam didnt even know about the tsunami..Ben walked up to him on the beach where he was camping and Sam asked what Ben was doing there!!!..anyway everyone is soooooooo stoked that he is ok.

I rang your mum a few days back after checking out your website and getting the updates...she was very helpful and really nice to talk to so just wanted to say thanks to her and to you guys for keeping us up to date with how things are going over there..keep up the good work.

cheers

Mirsad Abdic"