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Girls' Gospel Advice:
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You’d think my mother worked for the Weather Channel. When I called her on Mother’s Day, she gave me the following report: "We’ve got sunny skies–a high pressure here, Kathleen. Why, the barometer is holding steady! I think I may just go out in my shorts today and plant some impatients…" While New York and Vermont were experiencing unprecedented 80-degree, perfect Lake Champlain windsurfing days, here in Utah we were getting pounded with snow. I know I should be hiking Alta as part of the local annual post-season snowboarding ritual, but after Boarding for Breast Cancer in Tahoe, I’m so over winter. The thought of "cold" is just not appealing, unless it’s from saltwater on suntanned skin. Who’s with me? [email protected].

Boarding for Breast Cancer, on the other hand, was a hot day in more ways than scores of beautiful women on-site. If you live in the northern California area, yet missed the greatest music and snowboard bash of the millennium, all I can ask is "Hello?" Read all about it on this website, plus our own at www.snowboarding-online.com/bbc. As co-founder, I’ve got some extra nuggets of BBC Gospel. More pro riders showed up than ever before, including Michele Taggart (who’s sporting auburn hair and having a hell of good time with her new sponsor RLX), Tina Basich, who won the Big Air (surprise!), Shannon Dunn, who ruled the pipe (surprise!), Circe Wallace, Leslee Olson, Nicole Anglewrath, and a special showing by Victoria Jealouse, although I didn’t see her ride. There were a bunch of guy pros as well, but this is the Girl’s Gospel and I’ve got way too much stuff to write. Kennedy, our hostess once again, did a spectacular job of curbing potential snowball fights and keeping the show fun and entertaining. I would like the give her a big thanks for her work and continued enthusiasm for the event. She’s also just completed her first book called, "Hey Ladies!–Tales and Tips for Curious Girls," out by Double Day. I just got done reading it. It’s packed with fun, helpful tips, personal anecdotes and geeky pictures of Kennedy. Chapters include, "Rebel Without a Clue," "How Not to Get a Man," and "Tina Don’t Play Like That"–a cool perspective/interview with Tina Basich. At the end there’s a very sensitive chapter called "Monica," about Monica Steward, our friend who died from breast cancer at the age of 29, from whom the BBC was initially inspired.

This year, the BBC raised more than $100,000 for breast cancer research and awareness programs for young women. We’ve also formed our own BBC Foundation and can accept donations. Make checks payable to Boarding For Breast Cancer, 431 Pine Street, Burlington, VT, 05401. The BBC Foundation is taking it to the next level this summer with the launch of the BBC Summer Music and Sports Festival connected with the women’s pro surf tour. Details forthcoming in Gospel 17.

Maëlle Ricker says Hi to all you Gospel readers. This is the first time I’ve actually chatted with the Boardercross Queen for more than, like, 5 seconds. She’s just had ACL surgery on her right knee and screws taken out of her left ankle–remnants from when she smashed it to bits a couple of years ago in the Whistler Skate Park Bowl. "I’m not a skateboarder, really," says Maëlle about her disastrous debut in the Whistler Bowl. "I was just fooling around."

As for the dual screw removal and ACL sewing, the premise was "to kill two birds with one stone." In the meantime, Our Lady of B.C. is staying positive, she says with poetry classes, correspondence courses, and sharing freestyle and boardercross board design ideas with her sponsor, Burton.

Speaking of ACL’s, Leslee Olson is in rehab after her surgery last month. Her plans for the summer include "getting super strong, healthy, focused, and ready for next year." She, too, is back to school, taking college classes in Bend in-between surf sessions in Southern California at the Shannon Dunn Beach Shack.

Tiffany Sabol (her boyfriend is Jeremy Jones) and Sky Rondenet (her husband is Mark Fawcett) joined forces and are launching their own all-girl film production company called Misty Productions. The concept for Misty came about after Sky decided to bag the Tahoe snowboarding patrol job due to "sexist, anti-snowboarding dickheads" and the agony of "saving people’s lives with a bunch of guys with low self esteem for 7 bucks an hour…" Misty Productions will offer sick footage of women’s multi-board sports across the country. "We aren’t going to stress on how we don’t get enough respect as females or any of that–we want the footage to speak for itself!"

Surfing, as some of you may know, is my nemesis. Yet I continue to try, despite constant denial by Mother Ocean, in a life-long attempt to achieve one, ultimate ride. In so doing, I have again (along with a small posse of like-minded girlfriends) signed up for a women’s surf clinic. This one, though, has the ultimate warranty: Las Olas, a really cool multi-day session, in Mexico from November 8-15, guarantees each person will be able to ride a wave to shore before they leave. Obviously, we’re going to test that warranty. Launched by Avalanche snowboard co-founder, Bev Sanders, in conjunction with Surf Divas, Las Olas takes place at a perfect break just north of Puerto Vallarta. The camp also includes morning yoga sessions, evening massages, snorkeling, kayaking, biking, hiking, and jungle excursions. I’m looking forward to the jungle excursions. You want to come? Go to: www.surflasolas.com. Cost: $1,295.

More news next month from the Summer X Games in San Francisco. Signing off, I’m at [email protected] or in fuller detail, www.wigmag.com.

Girls' Gospel Archive: Check out previous sermons of the Girls' Gospel