Central Texas Surfrider Participates in Adopt a Beach Cleanup
 
Meeting Location: small pavilion (covered picnic area) by the Padre Balli Park headquarters just north of Bob Hall pier (map link)
When: Saturday, April 28, 8:30 AM
Directions to Padre Balli
Park:
Coming from Corpus Christi take South Padre Island Drive onto
the island, watch for the park sign and turn left.
Coming from Port Aransas on Hwy 361, turn left on South Padre
Island Drive / Park Road 22 and look for the park sign.
Volunteers will sign up and get bags, trash inventory sheets and gloves.
From there, we'll probably car pool up to South Packery.
State Rep and Coastal Bend chapter member Juan Garcia will meet with us
for 15 minutes before we start the cleanup to answer any questions we
have about bills in the legislature.
The cleanup usually lasts until 11 AM, when volunteers can go back to
the pavilion for their free lunch.
If you want more info on joining this line up, contact Rick Thomsen.
|
Fundraising Raffle
Congratulations to the winner of our surboard raffle. The drawing was held recently at the benefit concert at Scholz Garten and Jim Wray of Austin had his name drawn.
We would like to thank everyone that bought and sold tickets, and give a special thanks to our sponsors Mike Doyle Surfboards, Scholz Garten, Three Balls of Fire and Wahoo's Fish Taco.
Proceeds from the raffle will go to help fund our education efforts.
|
UPDATE - Postponed Event . . . Austin showing of Mullet Gumbo
Due to a scheduling conflict, the benefit showing of the DoubleJay Productions (contact info) Mullet
Gumbo will be postponed for a couple of months. This is the all Texas film featuring footage from the epic 2005 year of
hurricane swell.
View some clips here.
|
Statewide Surfrider Benefit Raffle
We now have tickets available for our last big fund raiser of the year.
Three renowned surfboard manufacturers, Robert August, Senator and Midget Smith, have teamed up with talented artists Wade Koniakowsky, John Olvey and Jon Steele to create three beautiful boards worthy of adorning any wall.
The boards will be raffled on December 21st to benefit the four Texas chapters of the Surfrider Foundation and the Texas Surf Museum. Proceeds will go toward the Surfrider Foundation’s efforts to educate the public on the importance of the Texas Open Beaches Act and work to maintain a healthy ocean and beach ecosystem, as well the Texas Surf Museum’s preservation and celebration of the surfing legacy in Texas.
Raffle tickets are $10 each and only 3,000 tickets will be sold. They are available at Surf Club Records next to the Executive Surf Club and through members of the Surfrider Foundation.
The surfboards will be on display at the Texas Surf Museum until the day of the drawing.
When: The drawing will be held on Friday, December 21 at 9 p.m., following a slide show of surf photography by Jon Steele.
Where: Executive Surf Club, next to Water Street Market, 309 N. Water Street
Corpus Christi, TX
|
Surfrider Foundation Central Texas Chapter
Welcomes New Executive Committee Members
We would like to welcome our new Executive Committee members that
were elected in our annual elections on April 4th. Randy Hillin (randyh@pvco.net), Randy
Martin and Kat McCourt (katmccourt@gmail.com) begin their new two year terms. Manny Alvarez and Kat were elected to
the Secretary and Treasurer positions, respectively at our April 18th
Executive Committee meeting. We would also
like to thank our outgoing members Lila Hillin, Karen Thorwaldson and
Keeton Turner for all their hard work in the past.
|
December Holiday Party
It’s the time of year to gather with friends and share good times. Our chapter has had a successful year and we would like to celebrate that success, visit with our regulars and welcome our newcomers. The December monthly meeting will not be on the first Wednesday of the month, but will roll into our holiday party on Saturday, December 8th. Come join us at Wahoo's Fish Taco from 5pm til whenever for food and cold beverage specials, along with door prizes. Come early and beat the parking rush.
|
International Surfing Day Celebration in Austin
 
Along with other Surfrider Foundation chapters around the world the Central Texas Chapter celebrated International Surfing Day by doing a "beach" cleanup. On June 21st we gathered to
clean up Barton Creek from below Barton Springs pool down to Town Lake.
About half of us walked the banks and picked up debris while attempting to avoid the ever present poison ivy. The other half paddled the Barton Creek outlet and made good use of our surfboards which allowed access to the steep bank areas.
A big thanks to all who came out and helped out with the pickup and a big thanks to Wahoo's Fish Tacos for providing dinner for all participants.
|
Click on image above for larger view
|
New Central Texas Surfrider T-Shirts
Thanks to all who contributed to our T-Shirt design. During the
August meeting the votes have been tallied and the winning designs will be highlighted here shortly.
| Click on image for large picture
| |
|
|
Federal Court Ruling Favors Access to Texas Beaches
 
The right of Texans to maintain access to the Texas coastline was preserved when U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by California attorney who purchased three Galveston Island homes in 2005. The houses were built on private property the state now considers public beaches, because of the encroaching coastline.
Under the Texas Open Beaches Act, state officials have sought to move or demolish buildings to ensure public access to the beaches. "This comes as no surprise," Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson said in a statement issued by the state General Land Office. "The law is clear: Texas beaches belong to Texans — all Texans." Read the full article from the Houston Chronicle archives here (registration required).
|
A State Land Grab or a Gambler's Loss?
Before anyone purchases coastal property in Texas, they are required to sign an agreement that they understand the ever changing coast line could render their property on the public side of the Texas beach.
A desire to live as close to the beach as possible is certainly understood, but the public's right to access an obstruction free shore line has been Texas' law since 1959. For example, a single sea wall build to protect a single beach house destroys the shoreline and renders that beach front unavailable for any shore access.
|
Surfrider Foundation Wins in Florida
A comprehensive beach preservation bill passed both houses of the Florida legislature and is now headed for a certain signature by the Governor. The significant beach management legislation preserves the public's right to beach access and should ensure that there is no further loss in beach access. Perpendicular access was recognized as vital as well as lateral access. Also in this legislation were additional permit requirements for the controversial geotextile tubes used to try to prevent shoreline erosion. Read the full text of the Surfrider press release here.
|
Surfrider Foundation Central Texas Chapter
Welcomes New Executive Committee Members
We would like to welcome our new Executive Committee members that
were elected in our annual elections on April 4th. Randy Hillin (randyh@pvco.net), Randy
Martin and Kat McCourt (katmccourt@gmail.com) begin their new two year terms. Manny Alvarez and Kat were elected to
the Secretary and Treasurer positions, respectively at our April 18th
Executive Committee meeting. We would also
like to thank our outgoing members Lila Hillin, Karen Thorwaldson and
Keeton Turner for all their hard work in the past.
|
Port Aransas Sand Fest 2007
This year's Sand Fest, often the occasion for the first sunburn of the year, proved to be a low turn out event due to the weather. But, wet weather can be an opportunity to get - wetter. The week-end lined up with some very nice surf and so if you opted out of making the trip down and volunteering for this year's Sand Fest you missed some great surfing conditions as well. Of course, not wanting anyone to feel bad . . .
|
Surfrider Texas Chapters Secures Grant
Last fall when the Coastal Bend Chapter was fighting to place an initiative on the city ballot to allow Corpus Christi residents the opportunity to decide whether the beach south of Packery Channel would be open to the public, all Texas Surfrider chapters appealed to the Surfrider national organization for help. The campaign to open the beach was successful and we all won with the recent announcement that we received $10,000 in grant money, to be split equally among the Texas chapters.
The grant was provided by the Lattner Family Foundation of Florida and will be used to help fund our educational outreach programs.
|
UT Surf Club Established
Central Texas Surfrider member Kristina Schlegel and volunteer
coordinator Nick Wiersema have established a surf club on the
University of Texas Austin campus. If you are interested in joining
please contact Kristina or Nick, and spread the word.
Kristina Schlegel - t-rex@mail.utexas.edu
Nick Wiersema - chaossurf1@yahoo.com
|
Supporting the Texas Surf Museum - Women Wanted
The Texas Surf Museum in Corpus Christi is looking for women who have
had a significant impact on the sport to spotlight in our June 2008
exhibit, tentatively titled "Texas Women's Influence in Surfing". We
are seeking women surfers, pioneering surf shop owners, mentors, etc.
and we need your help. Please contact the museum at
info@texassurfmuseum.com or 361-888-SURF with your nominations, be sure
to include the reason why they are significant to Texas surfing and
contact informatioin for your nominee or their descendants.
Thank you for your help. We don't want to overlook anyone.
General information on the surf museum is
available at http://www.texassurfmuseum.com.
|
Donation Request
We are looking for certain items for use by our chapter and if you have something to donate we’d like to have it and also provide you with a tax-deductible receipt. We did very well last year with our fundraisers, but also had our share of expenses with the new wave we built, buying of promotional material, and other things. One of our best fundraising activities in the past has been taking pictures of people on our wave for a modest fee. We’ve used a Polaroid camera but the film alone costs about a dollar a shot. We would like to bring ourselves into the new millennium and start using a digital camera. We will either post pictures online or use a stand alone photo printer along with it. If you have a pictbridge compatible digital camera and/or printer or a tripod to donate we would love to have them.
UPDATE: We would like to thank Randy Martin of ZEM surfboards for donating a new camera tripod and DVD player. Thanks to Doug Garwood of Accord Construction and Drywall who has come through and
donated a new flat screen monitor. Rather than show the VCR tape edition of the Sea to Summit video on a regular compact TV, as we’ve done in the past we can now present a crisp, digital version. One more thing we could use would be any surf movies on dvd. We have found that for some reason when we set up our information table and show surfing footage, people inexplicably are attracted. If you have any to donate we can sure use them.
Please help us make our hard earned dollars go farther by making a donation. If you can help, please contact Rick Thomsen at rickthomsen@yahoo.com.
Pictbridge compatible camera
Pictbridge compatible printer
Full size camera tripod (Already donated)
Flat screen monitor (Already donated)
DVD player (Already donated)
Surf movies on DVD
|
|
