About three years ago the author of the Encyclopedia if Surfing, Matt Warshaw, asked for some funding via Kickstarter to take his tome of all things surfing online. I quickly pledged 50 bucks, partly out of guilt (I had quoted his information in around 100 articles) but mostly due to the fact that Matt is one one of the most respected men in surfing and the best man to collate a definitive surfing history ( and then keep it updated.)
Later that year Matt got back to me with the news that the funding had been successful. He had raised more than 50k, to fund what Matt says would be, “No ads. Fully independent. Viewer supported. A huge, writhing, yet amazingly well-organized digital world of all things surf. Woodstock meets the Met meets Wikipedia.”
However after three years I thought Matt had simply taken the money and bailed to Mexico, laughing and surfing all the way to bank. I was happy for him. But today it transpires he has in fact been working non-stop and the site www.encyclopediaofsurfing.com is due to launch on September 30. Trust us when we say it just might be the best thing in digital surfing, after surfeurope.com and Bobby Martinez’s twitter account. As Matt says, “Take the day off and lose yourself.”