Hey, what's up there? Quick note. If you like my show The Grit with Chas Smith of Beach Grit fame,

it is now available on its own feed. Pull up your podcast app, search The Grit, and click subscribe.

On iTunes, the image hasn't populated yet, but that should get sorted out in short order.

We have a new episode coming this Monday,

so if you like it, subscribe, and you'll never miss a show. And for all of those who loathe it and all the controversy that spins out, Debategate 2018, you can now avoid it all together.

All right. Thanks.

Also, in even bigger news, in today's episode, we're introducing a partnership with Spy.

Spy has pioneered a technology that they're calling the Happy Lens, and it fits perfectly both with their company ethos, but also the surfers that they sponsor. Their team consists of Mason Ho,

Cocoa, Ho, and Alex Gray, all very happy, happy people. Considering that the focus of this podcast

is long-form storytelling, we thought it might be fun to hear Alex Gray sharing some of his

quote, happy stories, happy boards, happy trips, and then I can kind of tell you about the happy

lens along the way. The problem is Alex is a super busy guy. Hawaii was great. I was there for a total

of 48 hours. I flew home on the red eye last night and then I'm leaving for Africa at 5 a.m. in the morning.

There's a large swell moving across the Atlantic to Europe and it just conditions like insane.

Like it could be their best swell the winter.

Okay. So Hawaii was fun. I got, I think, what would be the peak of the swell in conditions,

and end up getting some really good waves, and just flipped out and jumped on a plane to head

across the world. When I caught him, he was in between those flights, and he was unpacking his

Hawaii boards, repacking boards for Africa. And Alex explained to me that getting new surfboards

is something that retains the exact same thrill as it did when he was a kid. The best board I have

ever ridden would be a Channel Islands. It was five foot eight and really meant just for tube riding.

I picked purple as a choice. I love color on both boards,

...