Looks like surfers are again getting the drug rap.

Two men, three boards and 141 pounds of marijuana —- that’s what U.S. Border Patrol agents found when they stopped two surfers off the San Diego County coast Thursday night.

The men were illegal immigrants, and they were trying to smuggle six bales of the drug on one of the surfboards. It’s one of the more creative ways criminals are trying to sneak drugs into the country via the ocean, said Mike Unzueta, special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s San Diego office.

“We’ve seen marijuana that was hidden within surfboards,” Unzueta said. “We’ve seen compartments built into boats. We’ve seen people smuggling on Jet Skis, too.”

Just nine months into the federal fiscal year, nearly 54,000 pounds of marijuana have been intercepted on their way to local shores, Unzueta said.

That’s double what agents would expect to find in a 12-month period, he said.

Officials from multiple agencies say smugglers may be heading out to sea because of increased security at the land border between the United States and Mexico

read more at north county times

Australian author Tim Winton has won the nation’s most prestigious literary prize for a record fourth time, taking the 2009 Miles Franklin award for his novel “Breath” that is centered around his passion — surfing.

Winton, 48, a lifelong surfer and environmentalist, won his first Miles Franklin award 25 years ago for “Shallows”. He also won the annual accolade in 1992 for “Cloudstreet” and in 2002 for “Dirt Music”.

Winton, who has twice been shortlisted for the Booker prize, said the Miles Franklin award has tried to do its part to stiffen the resolve and bolster the confidence of Australian writers and their readers.

The award, which comes with prize money of $42,000, recognises novels which “present Australian life in any of its phases.”

read the full story at reuters

Haeundae Beach in Busan, one of the nation’s most famous summer vacation destinations, will use a device to drive away sharks, for the first time in Korea. The measure comes after the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute warned of great white sharks off the coast here between May and September when the warm current flows to the Korean Peninsula.

read more of the story at surfersvillage