How you can donate to Positive Vibe Warriors and Jamaica’s Jamnesia
By Davis Jones
Yesterday, my first call with Tanner Gudauskas dropped because of faulty FaceTime Audio connection. We tried a second time. Leave it to one-third of the perpetually sunny Gudang brothers to pick up and praise the magic of the technology instead of riffing on its limits. “Have you ever noticed that FaceTime Audio is way more crisp and clear than a normal phone call?” He said. His optimism has a trademark ring that runs throughout the Gudauskas clan. It may be scientifically impossible for poor phone connections, or for any inconvenience, to bog the three down.
So when Tanner, Dane, and Pat took a trip to Jamaica’s Jamnesia surf camp two years ago, they chose to see a shortage in the camp’s equipment as a realized goal for their foundation, Positive Vibe Warriors – to help hundreds of already-stoked youth feel the joy of riding waves by collecting donated surfboards from the States. Once our audio picked up, Tanner talked more about the surf culture in Jamaica, this month’s surfboard drive, and how you can help.
How’d the vision for the drive begin for you three?
It was a trip with myself, my brother Dane, Dylan Graves, and his brother Josie to Jamnesia Surf School, which was for a SURFER profile piece on the Wilmot family there, a humongous staple in the Jamaican surf world. We got to kind of absorb their energy when we stayed there, and it was so good. The level of surfing that they’re at is so high, and when we were down there, they said that tariff taxes on incoming goods are so high, that they can’t get new equipment, so we left a couple boards with them. We later thought about how we could possibly help the community thrive. It wasn’t just the Wilmot family. There were little kids who always came to Jamnesia to hang out. Billy “Mystic” Wilmot had this eclectic library of surfboards that he was taking upon himself to fix up and lend to the kids as they came by. He has a super-deep passion to continue forward the surfing heritage of Jamaica. It was wild. There wasn’t too much surf community there. There isn’t a surf shop down there. There isn’t anyone shaping boards down there. There are fewer parts of surfing that we totally take for granted, being from around here in Southern California. But it hasn’t hindered at all their stoke for it and their forward progression with the sport. For the little kids growing up in Jamaica, it would be cool if they could get onto equipment and surf with each other and have enough boards so kids can start creating their own communities with each other. If the kids can stay together and keep pushing themselves, it won’t be long before Jamaica becomes permanently on the radar from their own doing.
Once more surfboards fill the lineup, Jamaica’s clear lefthand walls will continue to groom the island’s next generation of rippers. Photo: Ellis
Was there a moment when you really understood the need for boards there?
Totally. The setup at Jamnesia is, like, a couple rooms, a jam area – it’s an insane compound. People come to Jamnesia to get the vibe going on. Billy has this outdoor library of surfboards that he’s collected since he started surfing. The surfboard equipment has been weathered, and he’s doing the best he possibly can to keep it going. One of the kids would ding a board, and he’d bring them over and literally teach them how to fix dings, how to keep the equipment as good as they possibly can. There’s so much love there. Billy has taken his own time and knowledge and is passing it forward to the kids. It was so inspiring. I was thinking, Holy moly, this is all for the pure love of surfing and for wanting to continue surfing. I’m sure those boards have been there for decades. But he’s still got them, they’re still surfable, and the kids are learning on the same equipment that he learned on. I was so stoked. It fully fired us up, and we thought if there was anything we could do to help with the situation down there, we were going to try our best to do it.
What’s Billy like?
Holy moly, the guy is a legend. The whole family is so nice. He’s fully a rockstar with The Mystic Revealers, which I didn’t know until I went down there. We’d go surf in the morning with the crew, come back to Jamnesia, and they’d practice in the afternoon. The guy creatively oozes all this good JuJu. He was surfing amazingly, had good spirit, and was jamming. I was like, This guy is almost more than human.
Billy Wilmot has opened up his home to the entire surf community, as well as his saw horses for any ding that needs fixing. Photo: Ellis