We're in the midst of winter and I know one of the furthest things from your mind is what bathing suit you're going to strut your stuff in on the beach this summer. It's just I have a pretty good feeling good old Punxsutawney Phil isn't going to see his shadow this February, which means your ass better be ready for summer, in more ways than one. This excludes all you people who live in places like Hawaii, you're probably reading this in a bathing suit.

Anyway, summer's around the corner, and Chama swimwear has you covered, but hopefully for guys like me there's not too much coverage. Now, I don't know that much about woman's swimwear, but I do know one person who does, co-founder of Chama, Sofia Beschen. She lives on the Hawaiian island of Oahu's North Shore with her pro surfer husband, Shane Beschen, and their two pint-sized rippers, aka their sons. Translation; she spends a lot of time at the beach, and in swimwear, which is what you want from someone who is creating your bathing suit, right.

Here's a little more on Chama straight from their GrindTV profile chamaswim:

Chama is a word that comes from the stunning beaches of Venezuela, it is often used to greet good friends. Sofia Beschen grew up in Venezuela as a ballet dancer and moved to south Florida when she was 17. She was quickly noticed by a top modeling agency and began her professional modeling career.

Sofia has been modeling swimwear for the past 10 years and has worked for many of the best brands: including (L*Space, and gottex) just to name a few. She has walked in New York fashion week, has graced the pages of Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and was featured on the cover of the Surfing Magazine swimsuit issue.

Sofia was recently featured on America's Next Top Model as a special guest and modeling coach to the girls in the competition. Sofia has now teamed up with good friend, artist and designer Alexandra Gutierrez to bring all of her experience and knowledge of the swimwear industry to life in a new brand of swimwear "CHAMA".
CHAMA is dedicated to designing unique and chic pieces that accentuate the curves of a woman's body. The 2010 collection has a very contemporary feel with bold prints, creative detailing, and a custom fit.

Here's a little video to help you visualize, and to see why Shane is a lucky man:

The other day at the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro I ran into one of the all time legends of Lower Trestles, Shane Beschen. He's been killing it at the place for most of my life, and still is. The guy has won the Lowers Pro more times than anyone, four times to be exact, three times when it was the 2-Star Body Glove Surf Bout, and once when it was the 3-Star Foster's Cup.

Now that it's a 6-Star Prime, I figured I'd get one of the Godfathers of the place to talk about how it has changed over the years. The contest just like the spot is all about progression, it's been as low as a 1-Star, and now for the first time it's as big as it gets, as far as the WQS goes. Over the years Lowers has been the place where a good portion of the progression of surfing has gone down. Names like: Fletcher, Archy, Andino, Matteson, Crimo, Lopez and Ward have changed surfing at the end of the trail.

And of course, Beschen. He's been pushing the level of surfing, and questioning how heats should be surfed for most of his career. Guys like: the Irons brothers, Dane Reynolds, Josh Kerr and Jordy Smith have taken notes, and now the tour is as far from three-to-the-beach as it has ever been. Here's a little trip into Shane Beschen's head, so pay attention.

You've won this contest four times, that's more than anyone. How much has it changed over the the years?
I think no matter what venue you put here on the point at Lowers you're guaranteed to see some good surfing. I mean even though this a 6-Star Prime, we watched Christian [Fletcher] win thirty grand here when it was a PSA a long time ago. It has always been about performance surfing here, and it's the same thing today. It's really great that Nike 6.0 stepped up and made it a six star prime event. We've been lucky enough to have some waves, even though it's a little small and inconsistent, it's Lowers, and there's still some rippable sections. It's just a great event.

Out of all the heats you've surfed here, are there any in particular that stick out in your mind?
One of my gnarliest heats out here was with Andy Irons, it was actually a WCT contest, I didn't win it, but I made the Quarters. I came in as a wildcard and took Andy out in the 17th round. It was just a really crazy heat, we were both doing airs, and lip slides and all the good stuff. It was actually one of his world title years, so that was definitely one of the heats I'm most stoked on.

Any others?
In one of the Finals that I won out there, I was comboed with like twelve minutes left. I think Richie Collins and Jeff Booth were in that heat. I ended up getting three really good waves in like 10 or 12 minutes to win the Final. It was one of my most memorable wins, just because I was so far behind, and just kicked it on. Stuck a couple airs, I forget what, just a combination of maneuvers. Back then it was best three waves, so I had to get three scores.

You grew up in San Clemente. What does Lowers mean to you?
Lowers to me, it is straight up one of the most high performance waves in the world. That's my whole focus when I come down here. Whether it's a contest or a free surf, it's all about pushing the envelope of surfing, just combining different radical maneuvers together. That's what it means to me. The surfing you see out here during the event, is some of the most high performance you'll see, CT' or WQS. I used to surf T Street all the time as a grom, and when I would come down here it was special thing. It's kind of like a mind thing, you get psyched, it's like OK, I'm going to Lowers, I have to bust out right now. That's the vibe of this place, I think everyone feels that way and they try to up their surfing when they come here. I'm so glad Nike upped the anty, whoever wins here is going to have a good shot at qualifying.

Have you and Matt [Biolos] made any changes to your signature ...LOST models?
There's two boards in the Shane Beschen 5 Star Series, The Deal and The Rocket. They tweaked the Rocket and made a few different boards out of it. I think they call one of them the Grocket, it's a Gorkin mutation of the Rocket, and they have another one called The Scortcher.

I've ridden a couple Rockets and liked them a lot.
Yeah, I was just on the Gold Coast riding one, it's just ridiculous how fast they go, and they still have a lot of sting. You can do a proper carve or gouge, and it's just lightening quick. I ride a 5'4" so it's a lot shorter, and I'm able to just whip it around.

You still with TAVIK?
Yeah, we're just getting through this rough economic time. Everyone's feeling the same pain out there, we're just staying busy and looking to the future.

Still living in Hawaii?
Yeah, I'm living on the North Shore. In the next couple of weeks I will be launching www.shanebeschen.com, and I'm going to get into professional coaching as well. I want to offer my services, I feel I have a lot to offer to the next generation. I mean, at this stage of the game I have like a twenty year education, so I've pretty much gotten my Master's Degree in surfing. I'm excited to spread the knowledge.

You have your son in the game now too.
Yeah, my little boy, Noah, he's been going off lately. He had a feature on Surfline with Kalani David. I talked to him yesterday and he said he scored V-Land the other day. He's amped, he watched my heat online, and he said to my wife, 'That looks really fun, I want to do that when I get older.' He's getting psyched on surfing, we go out all the time. He's already into his form and technique. It's rad.

Who do you think is going to win the Lowers Pro?
At this stage, it has just been such an inconsistent swell that there's a lot of luck involved to get the waves. On surfing standards Dane Reynolds is really good, I've been liking the way Sabastein Zietz has been surfing, and Machado just blew up in this heat, he's riding a really good board. It's all about who gets the waves and who puts it together.

Alright see ya around.
Later